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Pep Guardiola the master mind: Awareness and preparation key to Catalan's success as he gets ready to set up Manchester City 'bunker' to pore over footage of opponents
When he was awarded the Catalan Medal of Honour in the Parliament buildings hidden away in Barcelona’s Parque de la Ciutadella back in 2011, Pep Guardiola gave away one of his secrets.
True, it’s a version of the old ‘99 per cent perspiration, one per cent inspiration’ truism. But, as with most things, Pep phrases it better.
Without meaning to pinch Max Bygraves’ delivery style, I’m quite sure, Guardiola began: ‘I want to let you into a little secret...’
Revealing that he had a little bunker in the basement of the Nou Camp where he locked himself away, no windows, no noise, no company; just a DVD player, a seat, a desk and a photo of his family, the saturnine Catalan talked about poring over footage of upcoming opponents again and again.
Sometimes inspiration came slowly, sometimes like a jolt of electricity. But its arrival signified that Guardiola was 100 per cent sure that he now knew how to defeat whoever was up next.
‘That fantastic spark of inspiration, the joy of that single moment, is why I’m a coach,’ he explained. ‘Everything else is part of the daily grind — the stuff we all have to do.’
He and Bayern Munich are in the Champions League semi-final, facing Barcelona’s conquerors Atletico Madrid, partly because of just such a moment.
At his office in Bayern’s Sabener Strasse Performance Centre, ahead of the quarter-final second leg, Guardiola spotted an anomaly in how Benfica defended set-plays.
Facing corners, it appeared that their coach, Rui Vitoria, asked the entire defensive line, seven of his team, to run towards the ball en masse when it came into the box — rather than one central defender attacking it in the air. Presumably, the idea was that Benfica’s defenders should be ready to contest any ‘second-ball’ rebounds; perhaps it was an offside trap.
He and Bayern Munich are in the Champions League semi-final, facing Barcelona’s conquerors Atletico Madrid, partly because of just such a moment.
At his office in Bayern’s Sabener Strasse Performance Centre, ahead of the quarter-final second leg, Guardiola spotted an anomaly in how Benfica defended set-plays.
Facing corners, it appeared that their coach, Rui Vitoria, asked the entire defensive line, seven of his team, to run towards the ball en masse when it came into the box — rather than one central defender attacking it in the air. Presumably, the idea was that Benfica’s defenders should be ready to contest any ‘second-ball’ rebounds; perhaps it was an offside trap.
The lottery winner was Muller but it could easily have been Thiago or Kimmich, in splendid isolation with oceans of time and space to slot past the keeper, knocking the ball home.
That second away goal pretty much sealed the deal. Alonso was the man trusted to deliver that knockout blow.
His move to Bayern raised enough eyebrows to make you wonder if it was sponsored by Roger Moore. Yet he’s been a big success — a dose of ‘know-how’ and sang froid amidst a group of tactically and technically versatile mavericks.
He’s the sixth most-used player at Bayern in terms of Bundesliga minutes — not bad for a 34-year-old — and within the top 10 of appearance minutes in the German Cup and Champions League as Bayern stand to win their second Treble in three years — the only side left in Europe which can achieve that.
When Guardiola and Jose Mourinho were slugging it out on either side of the Clasico, it’d be fair to say that Alonso wasn’t the most popular of the Madrid Spaniards with his international colleagues who were playing for Barcelona.
Whatever Guardiola felt, he spotted that Alonso brings class, control, leadership and drive. Now, the appreciation is fully mutual.
Alonso says of his leader: ‘He represents my version of “perfection” in football. The day-to-day work, in how to “understand” football, how to play it, how to play well — you can see that his teams are all created with these things as basic principles.
‘And his sides aren’t so full of impact because they play in a particular formation, or because he always has good footballers. It’s because there’s a massive amount of work put in. He and his technical team are meticulous, extremely detailed and hard working. They know where they want to take their team, what they want to achieve and how, and that’s a vital base.
‘Pep and his guys have given me a massively accelerated “Masters” in football.’
Guardiola avoided drawing his next employers, Manchester City. But Alonso isn’t just ‘fascinated’ by what’s to come next season, he’s got insight to share.
‘It’s not just about hard work — with Pep it’s about repeating actions over and over until they’re automatic,’ explained Alonso.
‘You absorb his ideas because he’s microscopic in his teaching — when you’ve got a detail spot on and when he needs to correct you. If what he’s asked for isn’t working, then it’s not like he’s tied to a tactic, more to a philosophy.
‘In fact, you’ve got to pay absolute attention at all times and be very rapid mentally. All of us at Bayern are now much quicker at grasping and applying concepts having worked under him. Not just how to change tactically but understanding why, too.
‘Pep’s very demanding and if you don’t possess a quick football brain, if you’re not mentally fresh, then the speed and intricacy of what he wants to explain to you can bulldoze you over.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ker-pore-footage-opponents.html#ixzz464NyZopq
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
- Pep Guardiola will take over at Manchester City at the end of the season
- In 2011, the former Barcelona boss revealed the secret to his success
- He pores over videos of opponents until he works out how to beat them
- His meticulous preparation paid dividends in Bayern's win over Benfica
- Guardiola spotted a weakness in the way Benfica defended set-pieces
When he was awarded the Catalan Medal of Honour in the Parliament buildings hidden away in Barcelona’s Parque de la Ciutadella back in 2011, Pep Guardiola gave away one of his secrets.
True, it’s a version of the old ‘99 per cent perspiration, one per cent inspiration’ truism. But, as with most things, Pep phrases it better.
Without meaning to pinch Max Bygraves’ delivery style, I’m quite sure, Guardiola began: ‘I want to let you into a little secret...’
Revealing that he had a little bunker in the basement of the Nou Camp where he locked himself away, no windows, no noise, no company; just a DVD player, a seat, a desk and a photo of his family, the saturnine Catalan talked about poring over footage of upcoming opponents again and again.
Sometimes inspiration came slowly, sometimes like a jolt of electricity. But its arrival signified that Guardiola was 100 per cent sure that he now knew how to defeat whoever was up next.
‘That fantastic spark of inspiration, the joy of that single moment, is why I’m a coach,’ he explained. ‘Everything else is part of the daily grind — the stuff we all have to do.’
He and Bayern Munich are in the Champions League semi-final, facing Barcelona’s conquerors Atletico Madrid, partly because of just such a moment.
At his office in Bayern’s Sabener Strasse Performance Centre, ahead of the quarter-final second leg, Guardiola spotted an anomaly in how Benfica defended set-plays.
Facing corners, it appeared that their coach, Rui Vitoria, asked the entire defensive line, seven of his team, to run towards the ball en masse when it came into the box — rather than one central defender attacking it in the air. Presumably, the idea was that Benfica’s defenders should be ready to contest any ‘second-ball’ rebounds; perhaps it was an offside trap.
He and Bayern Munich are in the Champions League semi-final, facing Barcelona’s conquerors Atletico Madrid, partly because of just such a moment.
At his office in Bayern’s Sabener Strasse Performance Centre, ahead of the quarter-final second leg, Guardiola spotted an anomaly in how Benfica defended set-plays.
Facing corners, it appeared that their coach, Rui Vitoria, asked the entire defensive line, seven of his team, to run towards the ball en masse when it came into the box — rather than one central defender attacking it in the air. Presumably, the idea was that Benfica’s defenders should be ready to contest any ‘second-ball’ rebounds; perhaps it was an offside trap.
The lottery winner was Muller but it could easily have been Thiago or Kimmich, in splendid isolation with oceans of time and space to slot past the keeper, knocking the ball home.
That second away goal pretty much sealed the deal. Alonso was the man trusted to deliver that knockout blow.
His move to Bayern raised enough eyebrows to make you wonder if it was sponsored by Roger Moore. Yet he’s been a big success — a dose of ‘know-how’ and sang froid amidst a group of tactically and technically versatile mavericks.
He’s the sixth most-used player at Bayern in terms of Bundesliga minutes — not bad for a 34-year-old — and within the top 10 of appearance minutes in the German Cup and Champions League as Bayern stand to win their second Treble in three years — the only side left in Europe which can achieve that.
When Guardiola and Jose Mourinho were slugging it out on either side of the Clasico, it’d be fair to say that Alonso wasn’t the most popular of the Madrid Spaniards with his international colleagues who were playing for Barcelona.
Whatever Guardiola felt, he spotted that Alonso brings class, control, leadership and drive. Now, the appreciation is fully mutual.
Alonso says of his leader: ‘He represents my version of “perfection” in football. The day-to-day work, in how to “understand” football, how to play it, how to play well — you can see that his teams are all created with these things as basic principles.
‘And his sides aren’t so full of impact because they play in a particular formation, or because he always has good footballers. It’s because there’s a massive amount of work put in. He and his technical team are meticulous, extremely detailed and hard working. They know where they want to take their team, what they want to achieve and how, and that’s a vital base.
‘Pep and his guys have given me a massively accelerated “Masters” in football.’
Guardiola avoided drawing his next employers, Manchester City. But Alonso isn’t just ‘fascinated’ by what’s to come next season, he’s got insight to share.
‘It’s not just about hard work — with Pep it’s about repeating actions over and over until they’re automatic,’ explained Alonso.
‘You absorb his ideas because he’s microscopic in his teaching — when you’ve got a detail spot on and when he needs to correct you. If what he’s asked for isn’t working, then it’s not like he’s tied to a tactic, more to a philosophy.
‘In fact, you’ve got to pay absolute attention at all times and be very rapid mentally. All of us at Bayern are now much quicker at grasping and applying concepts having worked under him. Not just how to change tactically but understanding why, too.
‘Pep’s very demanding and if you don’t possess a quick football brain, if you’re not mentally fresh, then the speed and intricacy of what he wants to explain to you can bulldoze you over.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ker-pore-footage-opponents.html#ixzz464NyZopq
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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