GUARDIOLA DIDN'T INVENT ANYTHING

So written it sounds strange. And, after reading everything it's possible than more than one will curse or will  tell me that I have no idea, it can also be.

The fact is that, after seeing Guardiola many years as a player, coach and now as a lecturer, I have increasingly more clear that what he has always done the best is being a pupil. Cruyff, Capello, Lillo, Bielsa, Menotti, Van Gaal, etc.. Guardiola has learned from all of them. He has  heard, he has seen, with many of them in person, their ways of working, their methodology, their understanding of football. And having done that, it has gathered all together with his innate intelligence and leadership skills, communication and work and has made an outstanding blend.

Now, to invent, what is said to invent , I think he hasn't done it. The "1-4-3-3" is used for many years, the "1-3-4-3" was introduced by Cruyff, at the defensive rigor, Capello, rigor and control, of Van Gaal, the spirit of group by Lillo, the philosophy as a concept for working, from Bielsa or Menotti, etc.. But he has had this point to know what was the most profitable of each and then, and later, as a good student, he is best the known understanding the "Principles of the Game" and applying them. In this, I think he is the best, no doubt.

On the Web there are, in the last days, some lectures given recently in South America. Above all, one where he talks about why he changed the position of Messi, who has become a "TOP". I've seen it, as many people, and I come to the following conclusions:

1) Guardiola knows as any other coach how his players are. What "features" they have at technical, tactical level, etc.. What they know and what they can do. The strengths and weaknesses. If they are fast, explosive, patients, "diesel", if they good headers, to the right or to the left. If they run better with or without the ball, etc. This is something that all those who say we are, or want to be, coaches, should know very carefully.

2) Guardiola is a student of football. Of his team, of his opponents and, of any group of eleven guys who play football against another group of eleven dressed in different colors, whatever the place on earth. Scan everything he sees and always looks for the "why" Why do they do this move? Why they don't do that? Why do they go to the right? Why to the left? Why they do not go? Why ...?

3) And, as I said, Guardiola applies the "Principles of football" as anyone. Contrary to what people may think, Guardiola is the most orthodox of all coaches. All of him is pure orthodoxy "Rationa occupatios of space (The ball give us the order)", "Changes of orientation (start on one side, finish at the other)", "Walls (2v1)", "Free espces (winger comes in, full-back appears at the outside"), "Conservation of the ball", "Change of Pace", "support (the false "9")", etc.. and defensive principles, too: "Pressing (do you remember, don't you?)", "Cover", "Markings", "Permanent support" etc..

That is, Guardiola has not implemented anything we did not know, especially for  those who have done the Caoching Courses with the books of the Spanish Federation. What happens to us is that many times we want to be more Catholic than the Pope, and want to invent the "garlic soup" and, apply names to things that already exist and are already named. And all this is already invented. The concepts are the same for everyone. What sets us apart is how we apply and, above all, why we apply this or that way. In this, Pep it's a big "inventor", because he does what his teachers told him. He has achieved what the "Master" Johan Cruyff used to say: The hardest thing is to keep things simple. And he does.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP

THE BALL GIVE US THE ORDER

When Cruyff came to Barça as Manager, he said that so well known and simple: "If I have the ball, you don’t have it and, therefore, you have two jobs: get the ball and score a goal". Then, the "Dream Team" came.

Pep Guardiola, Cruyff’s pupil (and also of Van Gaal, Capello, Lillo, Bielsa, etc.) rewrote the sentence and said that of "The ball gives us the order" which seems silly, but that says 2 things very clear:

1)     If I attack well, that is, if I'm well positioned on the pitch, when the ball is lost you’ll have many more options to recover it quickly (the "rule of six seconds": if not stolen in 6 seconds, regain initial positions) 
2)     If my shape is good when the opponent has the ball, I have many more options to intercept, steal, cut the pass, etc.

All this is beside the point that there is much talk lately about Barça's Vilanova and further compared with Guardiola: now there isn’t this pressure that existed before, the team is less "positional" (shorter attacks) and vertically (more "stretched”, etc.). I totally agree with this, but for me this is not the problem of the current Barça.

Isn’t there high pressure? Well, if I press right at the back, I’ll catch the ball. Remember where turnovers were done by Mourinho’s Inter or by Bayern the other day. Not in defence, no: In the space between the "creation area" and "end zone", which is commonly known as ¾ of the pitch.

What happens there? Well, there are 5-6 men behind the ball and 5-6 ahead, i.e. if I steal the ball, I have plenty of room to run and few players to defend. Where Bayern pressed? At the same place. To which players? The same that Inter: Xavi and Iniesta. These could pick up the ball more or less quietly in their own half, but by the time they passed the centre circle, agonizing pressure and forcing losses.

Why here? Well, here is where teams generally tend to be more disorganized: neither the defenders are out, neither the attackers are at place to start the static attack. Consequence: disorganized team and facility for the opponents. As we have not order, problems.

If this can be done to Barça, Barça can also do it, and this is what they DID before and what they DON’T do now. We talked before about the "six seconds". If the team did not recover the ball, they recovered the position, but they CONTINUED PRESSING. Now the team "floats" on the ball holder, and press only when it comes near the box and, for me this is a problem.

Now, the team recovers the ball, generally, far from goal. This allows for, obviously, many more spaces (Barça does it when attacking static, the others do the same). As there are spaces, 3-4 players go to counterattack quickly. If the play is finished, perfect, but if not, now there are problems. Before, when the team was leaving out, was leaving ALL, the 11 players, so that, if you could not finish the play, always had support behind to begin static attack. Not now. The ones for the counter go out and the rest of the team is practically on own half, a little bit "you’ll do it" and, when they can’t finish the play, there are just 6-7 players to defend, as the others have already been overcome. It is not to attack everyone, but it is to maintain the proper gap between lines, and it seems that currently it doesn’t happen. The problem is not to be more vertical. The problem is to have the team in place. Again the same: lose the ball at ¾ of the field with space for the opponents and, with few people to stop them.

There is a third point: finish the plays. In Guardiola’s “manual”, this was a basic principle. If I finish the play, I go to place to re-start the recovery of the ball (in case the goalkeeper saves or goal kick). If you don’t finish, I'm back in the previous case: as I have separate lines, there are spaces for the opponents.

Anyway, it’s always the same: to have the team ordered, well positioned. And, always, depending on where the ball is. You can’t start static attack if you are not well placed, because if you're not well placed, you’ll not move the opponents from side to side, and you will not find the spaces. And if you do not find spaces, you lose your calm and if you lose your calm, you make mistakes and, if you make mistakes ...

And, to be well placed, you must be close the ball, because "the ball gives us the order."