Pep Guardiola Quotes

Solo sé que un buen líder es aquel que no tiene miedo a las consecuencias de sus decisiones, y que toma el paso que le dicta su intuición, pase lo que pase.

Ideas belong to everyone and I have stolen as many as I could.

«Si nos levantamos pronto, pero muy pronto, y sin reproches, y nos ponemos a trabajar, somos un país imparable».

No se dan cuenta de que el fútbol es un monstruo al que solo puedes vencer y enfrentarte si siempre te mantienes fiel a ti mismo, en cualquier circunstancia.»

Pep, for instance, created collective conditions to create one v ones for Messi. As simple and common place as that may sound now, it was not so at the time.

Under Cruyff, dominating the ball became the first and most important rule. ‘If you have the ball, the opposition doesn’t have it and can’t attack you,’ Cruyff would repeat daily. So the job became finding the players who could keep possession and also doing a lot of positional work in training.

Pep had analysed Real Madrid in detail and, an hour and a half before the game, he got Messi, Xavi and Iniesta together: ‘You three against Lass and Gago have got the game. If you do it right, three against two, we’ve beaten them.’ Lass and Gago were going to find a third man to defend, Messi would position himself as a false striker in between the centre backs and those two.

Why do we open up the field?’ Cruyff would explain. ‘Because if we have the ball and we are open, it is more difficult for the opponent to defend.’ Or: ‘People criticised me because I played with three at the back, but those criticisms were really ridiculous: what we did was fill the zones on the field where the game required it. If the opponent played with two up front, which was common then, and my team went out with four defenders, I had one too many, so I moved him forward towards the midfield.

I’ve got a problem,’ he told his mentor. ‘I’ve got these two guys who I don’t know if I can control, they don’t listen to what I say and that affects how everybody else receives my messages. And the problem is, they’re two of the leaders in the dressing room and the best players. I will lose without them on board.’ Cruyff ’s response was blunt: ‘Get rid of them. You might lose one or two games, but then you will start winning and by then you would have turfed those two sons of bitches out the team.

Although he wanted an element of democracy within the group, with players using their initiative, making suggestions and keeping an open mind to new ideas, Guardiola did not delay in imposing a number of strict rules in his first few days in charge: such as insisting upon the use of Castilian and Catalan as the only languages spoken among the group, arranging a seating plan at meal times to encourage the players to mix and to prevent the team forming up into different cultural or national groups and cliques.

It wasn’t enough for him to have had first-hand experience of the methods of Cruyff, Robson, van Gaal, Mazzone or Capello, so he travelled to Argentina to deepen his knowledge. There, he met Ricardo La Volpe (a former Argentine World Cup-winning goalkeeper and the former coach of the Mexican national team), Marcelo Bielsa (the much admired former Argentina and Chile national coach, and Athletic de Bilbao manager) and ‘El Flaco’, César Luis Menotti (the coach who took Argentina to the World Cup in 1978) to talk at length about football.

According to the principles Johan Cruyff introduced to Barcelona, coaches should lead by example: play football, be on the field during training and teach, because there is nothing better than stopping the game, correcting and instructing, explaining why someone needed to pass to a certain player, move to a particular position or change an element of their technique. That’s how Carles Rexach, Cruyff ’s assistant for eight years at Barcelona, explains it: ‘One word from Johan during a training drill is worth more than a hundred hours of talks at the blackboard.

1. Linus Malthus "Winning is just the snow that came down yesterday"   Founder of total football. Tactical revolutionary who created the foundation of modern football  저희는 7가지 철칙을 바탕으로 거래를 합니다. 고객들과 지키지못할약속은 하지않습니다 1.정품보장 2.총알배송 3.투명한 가격 4.편한 상담 5.끝내주는 서비스 6.고객님 정보 보호 7.깔끔한 거래 [경영항목] 엑스터시,신의눈물,lsd,아이스,캔디,대마초,떨,마리화나,프로포폴,에토미데이트,해피벌륜등많은제품판매하고있습니다 믿고 주문해주세요~저희는 제품판매를 고객님들과 신용과신뢰의 거래로 하고있습니다. 제품효과 못보실 그럴일은 없지만 만의하나 효과못보시면 저희가 1차재발송과 2차 환불까지 약속합니다 텔레【KC98K】카톡【ACD5】라인【SPR331】 The only winner in the international major tournament, Holland, the best soccer line of football 2. Sir Alex Ferguson Mr.Man Utd   The Red Boss The best director in soccer history (most of the past soccer coach rankings are the top picks) It is the most obvious that shows how important the director is in football.   Manchester United's 27-year-old championship, the spiritual stake of all United players and fans, Manchester United itself 3. Theme Mourinho "I do not pretend to be arrogant, because I'm all true, I am a European champion, I am not one of the cunning bosses around, I think I am Special One." The Special One The cost of counterattack after a player Charming world with charisma and poetry The director who has the most violent career of soccer directors 4. Pep Guardiola A man who achieved the world's first and only six treasures beyond treble. Make a team with a page of football history 5. Ottmar Hitzfeld Borussia Dortmund and Bayern are the best directors in Munich history. Legendary former football manager of Germany Sir Alex Ferguson's rival

Turno para Jérôme Boateng, a quien el entrenador considera un talento por pulir. A lo largo de toda la temporada el trabajo de Guardiola con Boateng alcanzará momentos obsesivos a fin de perfeccionar tres puntos débiles: mantener la posición en la línea defensiva, defender con contundencia y no perder la concentración.

Eran las 10 de la noche y Pep estaba solo en la ciudad deportiva del Barça. No quedaba nadie, ni siquiera sus ayudantes, solo él en un despacho iluminado de manera tenue. Imaginó a Messi moviéndose libremente por aquel enorme espacio vacío del estadio Bernabéu, a la espalda de los mediocentros madridistas y encarando en solitario a Metzelder y Cannavaro, petrificados sobre la línea del área, dudando si ir a por el delantero argentino. Tan clara vio la jugada que levantó el teléfono. No llamó a ninguno de sus analistas, ni a Xavi, el cerebro del equipo. Llamó directamente a Messi: «Leo, soy Pep, tengo algo importante, muy importante. Ven. Ahora. Ya», le dijo. A las diez y media de la noche, Leo Messi, de 21 años, golpeó suavemente la puerta del despacho de Pep. El entrenador le enseñó el vídeo y detuvo la imagen mostrándole la zona vacía que a partir del día siguiente iba a ser suya: la zona Messi, la del falso 9. «Leo, mañana en Madrid vas a empezar en la banda, como siempre. Pero si te hago una indicación te vas a la espalda de los mediocentros y te mueves por esta zona que te acabo de enseñar. Es lo mismo que hicimos en septiembre pasado en Gijón», le indicó. En Gijón, el 21 de septiembre de 2008, con el agua al cuello tras haber perdido el primer partido de liga ante el Numancia y empatado el segundo contra el también modesto Racing de Santander, Guardiola se jugaba su porvenir como entrenador del Barça. Decidió mandar a Eto’o a la banda derecha y jugar con Messi en la zona del falso 9, tal como el joven argentino había jugado muchas veces en su edad de cadete. Venció el Barça por goleada (1-6) y empezó la marcha triunfal de Pep. Siete meses más tarde, el entrenador rescataba la misma idea y se la explicaba en persona al protagonista: «Leo, cuando Xavi o Andrés se salten la línea y te pasen el balón, te vas directo a portería, a por Casillas». Fue un secreto entre ambos. Nadie más del Barça supo lo que Pep había transmitido a Messi aquella noche del primer día de mayo, salvo Tito Vilanova al día siguiente, ya en el hotel de concentración. Minutos antes de empezar el partido del 2 de mayo, Guardiola llamó aparte a Xavi e Iniesta y les dijo: «Si veis a Leo entre líneas y por el centro, no lo dudéis: pasadle el balón. Será como en Gijón». Aquel 2 de mayo de 2009, el Barça aplastó al Real Madrid por 2-6, Messi se convirtió en falso 9 y Pep sonrió, feliz.

The German team became more German than ever. They used in their performance the ‘Mia San Mia’ motto that the players wear on their shirts, which on the pitch manifests itself in a supreme belief, intensity and constant waves of attack.

Pep had realised that one of the few weaknesses of the Atlético defence was with second balls. They defended so deep that if his players attacked as a unit and were already around the box they could attack those rebounds.

Failure is when a player does not have a good training session, when the coach relaxes and stops caring, when the team doesn’t care either about whatever is going on,’ Manel Estiarte said.

He jokes about only wanting to see the restaurants, but it is all about learning . . . about new cultures, and how to then incorporate those cultures into his coaching.

You get the player, based on what we need, and I will make it work,’ has always been his take on signings.

Guardiola knows it is easier to work with a group hungry for victory rather than with one that has won everything, and he considered David Silva and Kun Agüero vitally important to the team if they were able to improve their defensive attitudes, as it is in these positions that the first line of pressure starts.

He was also excited about the prospects of working with Raheem Sterling. Pep had no say in his signing but Sterling was young, had lots to learn and was someone Pep thought he could convert into a winger, drawing as much out of him as he had with Douglas Costa. Pep intended to teach him to wait for the ball, so that by the time it arrived the lines of pressure would have been broken and he would have a one v one with the full back.

He’d apply his three basic rules, none of which related to what people know as tiki-taka: they were, rather, intense attack, quick pressure when the ball is lost and having one more player in the midfield than your opponents.

Pep organised his attack (creating the conditions for one v ones, or looking for superiority across the pitch) in a way that nobody else did in the Premier League, where attack was too often left to improvisation.

After Germany he would have to change direction and re-evaluate his ideals and accept that success would come in accordance with the quality and dynamic of the group of players he worked with.

Ramon Besa put it wonderfully: ‘He is a bit of a Quixote. In an era of fast food, Pep wants degustation football, as if it were a wine.

I became a coach because I thought I could dominate the game with what I say, what I do, what we train and how I try to convince players.

He arrived in Catalonia, to FC Barcelona, and we hardly had anything. And it was he who told us to do things that way, and to follow him on that path. And that is not easy. You have to have lots of charisma, a strong personality, a hunger, a faith in what you do and in what you believe, to every day convince someone to be convincing, every day, to accumulate more and more people who think like you.

You have no idea what it means as a player when you are losing, or things are not working, and a coach tells you the reasons. ‘And when things go wrong, he would insist on the idea, he remained consistent, even after a defeat. That is another lesson.

In 1974 Laureano Ruíz became general coordinator for youth football and one of the first things he did was to tear down a notice next to the entrance of his new office that read: ‘If you are coming to offer me a youngster who measures less than 1.80 metres, you can take him back.’ ‘Laureano prioritised the technical quality of a footballer, reaction times and, above other factors, intelligence, to learn and understand the game,

He wanted players who controlled the ball with their first touch, who had quick feet, who retained the ball and created superiority from individual technique and group work.

He said that if you pass the ball well, you receive it well and have good control; then you have far more possibilities.

(the difference between a good and bad footballer, according to Cruyff, is how well you control the ball and where you place it with your first touch, accommodating it for yourself in the right direction or sending it accurately to your team-mate). It needed players who were able to be in the best positions to receive the ball, capable of constantly assisting, of one-twos, of keeping their heads up, of looking for the next pass before receiving, of anticipating play. But, more importantly, they had to be footballers capable of understanding the game.

The players who go through La Masía are taught to behave with civility and humility. The theory being that, not only is it pleasant to be unassuming, but also if you are humble, you are capable of learning – and the capacity to learn is the capacity to improve. If you aren’t capable of learning you won’t improve.

In the junior categories we wanted to mould the player. You must know what his strengths and weaknesses are, work on them and correct them.

La confianza, la seguridad y la sinceridad son los pilares fundamentales para un buen entrenador.

Una columna en el periódico, o un titular de portada, a veces influye más en el estado de ánimo de los jugadores que mi propia opinión. Así que tengo que ver qué titulares han sido publicados acerca de un jugador, y si tengo dos estrellas y hay tres titulares sobre uno de ellos, tendré que hablar con el jugador al que no le han dedicado ninguno.

locked in his office, making decisions, using common sense, surrounding himself with good people, being demanding of all around him on a daily basis – it had all been worthwhile.

We have to transmit trust and security in all the decisions we make. ‘That trust, security and sincerity are the fundamental pillars for a good coach. The players have to believe in the manager’s message. He must always speak to the player fearlessly, sincerely and tell him what he thinks. Without deceiving him.

The secret is in the details and in observing a lot. You have to pay a great deal of attention, constantly, to what happens every day, more so than to the weekend’s game: we are always aware of every aspect, of a player’s moods, their expressions, of thousands of almost unfathomable things that could make a difference. Observation is key.

The same amount of time and study was dedicated to trying to find the weaknesses and Achilles heels of every opponent, no matter how poor or strong that team was perceived to be by the outside world.

During this period, Pep perfected other weapons that were going to be used during the rest of the season – and from then on. A high defensive line, quick pressure after losing possession and allocation of space for each player was the order of the day.

compositions

No quiere ser nada más que un entrenador, un buen entrenador. Lo otro, lo demás, lo bueno y lo malo, se lo echa encima una sociedad necesitada de modelos. Quizá hastiada de tramposos, de ventajistas, de canallas, de gente que impone valores de egoísmo, oportunismo y egolatría, desde la tribuna privilegiada de la televisión o los medios o los negocios o la política. Él pertenece a esa sociedad. Y la dignifica, de una manera muy simple, tratando de hacer bien su faena, ayudando a hacer prosperar el sentido común desde su parcela de exposición pública. Con la misma callada dignidad con la que un buen albañil, sin que nadie mire ni aplauda, pone un ladrillo sobre el cemento.»

David Gill, United’s chief executive, had held regular talks with Gestifute and was aware of Mourinho’s availability but he was not interested in him as a manager. He had told Mendes in the autumn of 2012 that Ferguson’s first choice was Pep Guardiola and had explained the reasons.

Perhaps it’s true after all that the best way of deepening your knowledge is to teach others what you know.

There is no equivalent at Bayern, at least not with the same level of uniformity either in terms of the language or the machine which teaches it – and this has a major impact on Pep’s plans. Domènec Torrent explains: ‘It’s like we’re showing them the numbers first, then the days of the week, then verbs, etc. This is a huge departure for them and we need to be flexible and cautious.

«No debemos perder de vista nuestra idea».

La vida, tal como se ha dicho a menudo, es aquello que pasa mientras estamos haciendo otros planes. También es esa cosa que te abofetea en plena cara y te derrumba cuando crees que eres invencible, cuando olvidas que caer también forma parte de las reglas.

Perdonaré que fallen, pero no que no se esfuercen.

La felicidad sobre el campo, el mayor número de decisiones correctas, como en la vida, parte del equilibro.

A veces, la historia se escribe sin títulos.

De las veinte decisiones que tomo cada día, dieciocho son intuitivas, a partir de la observación.

You are only as good as your last game.

Guardiola’s natural talent for innovation is a perfect fit with the German spirit of enterprise.

if I get the time I need, we can really plan where we want to go. I’m trying to implement something that flies in the face of the culture here. I’m from Santpedor and the players are from Munich, Greifswald, Rosenheim or Gelsenkirchen, so I have to convince them. And there has to be a mix of give and take.

If I had to define Pep Guardiola I would describe him as a man who questions everything, not through insecurity or fear of the unknown, but in the search for perfection. Although he recognises it as an impossible goal, it is nonetheless the force that drives him. As a result, he is often left with a pervading sense of unfinished work.

It is possible to conclude that Pep has betrayed his own principles, but when asked this very question after the game, his response is blunt. ‘What the fuck are you talking about, mate? We needed to win the game…

Bah, that Lahm is a scandal! He is super-intelligent, understands the game brilliantly, knows when to come inside or to stay wide. The guy is fucking exceptional,’ he says.

Pep was taken aback because he was so unused to getting this level of support from his bosses. During his time at Barça he had had to deal with numerous unwarranted and serious attacks on the team and the whole institution, and his was often the sole voice raised in their defence.

Gentlemen, this is tiquitaca and it is shit. We’re not interested in this type of possession. It’s totally meaningless. It’s about passing for the sake of it. We need our central midfielder and our defenders to move out with an offensive mentality and break the opposition lines in order to push the whole team high up. The U needs to go.’ The

It’s much higher risk but much more attractive like this. And it’s positive for the players because 11 straight months of competition is a barbarity and we need to place emphasis on the quality of the matches we ask them to play, rather than augment the quantity of them.’ Mirko

Guardiola has taken certain areas to another level – such as pressing the ball – and Barcelona’s disciplined style of play and work ethic have become a trademark of all his teams.

I’ve been successful at Manchester United for many years and it’s not without its problems – every hour of every day you have to deal with something.

anxiety to become good enough for Johan Cruyff to notice us cannot be put into words. Without that desire, none of us would be who we are today.

a passer of the ball positioned in front of the defence who could provide the platform from which every Barcelona attack would begin.

He also taught his players how to mark an opponent, teaching them to focus on a rival’s weaknesses – while accentuating what you were good at, to fight the battles you could win, in other words. It was a revelation for Pep, who lacked the physique to beat a tall, powerful, central midfielder in the air – so he learnt, under Cruyff, to avoid jumping with his rival, but to wait instead. Cruyff ’s theory was: ‘Why fight? Keep your distance, anticipate where he’ll head the ball and wait for the bounce. You’ll be in control while he’s jumping around.

He was a bit like me. You must have a lot of technique, move the ball quickly, avoid a collision – and to avoid it you must have good vision.

his leadership skills must not be forgotten either; as it soon became evident in his playing career; he didn’t just pass the ball to his team-mates, he talked to them constantly. ‘Keep it simple, Michael!’ shouted a twenty-year-old Guardiola on one occasion to Laudrup, the international superstar. The Danish player had tried to dribble past three players too close to the half-way line, where losing the ball would have been dangerous. ‘That was simple,’ Michael replied with a wink. But he knew the kid was right.

Before heading out on to the pitch, Johan Cruyff gave his players a simple instruction: ‘Go out there and enjoy yourselves.’ It was a statement that embodies an entire footballing philosophy and was central to Cruyff ’s principles; yet for others, its simplicity, ahead of such a key game, might be considered an insult to the coaching profession.

I saw Guardiola as a mystical type of person. The way he dressed – always in black – he was sometimes very quiet, constantly analysing things, thinking things over: why we won, why we lost, why he’d lost the ball. Sometimes his obsessiveness was excessive.

touching the ball a thousand times a match and never for more than a second each time,

My role was to move the ball around the pitch for my team-mates to finish off the move,’ he says. The

Nobody has paid any attention to the fundamental fact that Guardiola is a bricklayer’s son. For Pep, his father, Valentí, is an example of integrity and hard work.

some key principles were quickly instilled in him: ‘Don’t stamp on anybody but don’t let anybody stamp on you; keep your head high; two-touch football; keep the ball on the ground.

He was given one more chance, invited back for a third day. The coach moved him into central midfield where, suddenly, Pep was a magnet for the ball, directing the forward play and dictating tempo. He’d done enough. Barcelona decided they wanted him to join them.

He continually learnt from everything he saw around him, from other teams, from coaches, from older team-mates. On one occasion, he asked a couple of his colleagues to repeat a free-kick routine he had seen the B side perform the previous weekend. The move led to a goal and their coach asked, ‘Whose idea was that? And where did you pick that up?’ ‘From the grown-up players,’ responded a fifteen-year-old Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola remained a lanky teenager with little muscle mass, the opposite of the ideal footballer’s stature. But great art is always born of frustration and since he lacked the pace and strength to overcome the opposition, he substituted physical power with the power of the mind: instinctively developing a sense of spatial awareness that was second to none. He was capable of leaving behind three players with one pass, widening or narrowing the field at will, so that the ball always travelled more than the player. Usually when children start to play football, they want to learn to dribble. Guardiola didn’t: he learnt how to pass the ball.

The ball runs faster than any human, so it’s the ball that has to do the running!’ which, in seventeen words, just about encapsulates his philosophy.

Look at him! Him, that one there! He’s hiding! Your team-mates need to know that you are always available!’ he’ll shout, pointing a finger at the culprit. ‘Before passing the ball, you need to know where you’re passing it to; if you don’t know, it’s better to keep it; give it to your goalie, but don’t give it to your opponent

Ingla and Txiki set out a plan for the rest of the season which saw them working and consulting simultaneously with both Rijkaard and Pep, talking about players, injuries and recoveries and principally how to shake up the working model of the club. The primary goal was to professionalise the first team.

I can see that he is capable of doing it because he has made a great deal of decisions in a short space of time.

Guardiola believed in handing greater responsibility to the footballers, trusting that their intuition could help solve a great amount of their problems. As a coach, Pep remained true to this idea and was determined to let his charges take the initiative.

I only ask this of you. I won’t tell you off if you misplace a pass, or miss a header that costs us a goal, as long as I know you are giving 100 per cent. I could forgive you any mistake, but I won’t forgive you if you don’t give your heart and soul to Barcelona.

We are one. We are not little groups because in all teams this is what ends up killing team spirit.

When we have the ball, we can’t lose it. And when that happens, run and get it back. That is it, basically.’ The squad, the group, was seduced. Not for the last time; far from it. Upon leaving the room, Xavi commented to a team-mate that everything that they had needed to know was there in that talk. A breath of fresh air, order and discipline. A reminder of the style he wanted to reinforce. All that was established from day one.

What you can’t do is study the talks, learn them by heart. Two or three concepts are all you need . . . and then you have to put your heart into it. You can’t deceive the players, they are too well prepared, intelligent, intuitive. I was a footballer and I know what I’m saying. In every talk, from that one in St Andrews to the last one, I have put my heart into them. And when I don’t feel it, I don’t speak, it’s the best way.

This is the beautiful thing about this job, because each rival, each situation, is different to the previous one and you always have to find that special something, to say to them “Guys, today is important

Football was his passion, his obsession, the thing he knew best, and Serie A was considered the league that practised the most advanced defensive tactics since Sacchi. His Milan of the eighties were regarded as having set the benchmark in terms of work rate and defensive strategy over the previous two decades – and Pep was determined to learn as much as he could from his time in Italy.

Guardiola signed for Roma in the summer of 2002, motivated less by the opportunity to play for a bigger club than to be coached by, and to learn from, Fabio Capello, a manager he greatly admires despite their differing approach to the game. Pep was eager to experience Capello’s defensive rigour and discover his secrets in terms of how to apply pressure upon an opponent.

Pep used to feel unprepared when it came to certain topics like defensive concepts or particular training methodologies. When he needed answers he would turn to Lillo at any time of day: ‘How do you solve this type of situation?’ ‘If I do this what will happen?’ According to Pep, Lillo is one of the best prepared coaches in the world and a leader in his field when it comes to developing a vision of the game, despite the fact that the world of elite sports hasn’t been kind in rewarding him.

I’d love to work with the youth side, with the kids, because I’ve no pretensions that I’m ready to work at a higher level yet. You have to respect the fact that this is a process, a learning curve. The first steps are vital and there are no second chances once you step up.

Pep and Bielsa have much in common: they love teams that dominate, that want to be protagonists on the pitch, to seek out the opposition goal as the main priority.

Bielsa’s teams ‘can play badly or well, but talent depends on the inspiration and the effort depends on each one of the players: the attitude is non-negotiable’, Marcelo, ‘el loco’, told him, adding that his sides cannot win if he cannot transmit what he feels. Pep agreed, taking notes all the time.

At the end of his spell in Argentina he felt that he was better prepared than ever before; not totally, because Pep will never allow himself to be completely satisfied, but he felt ready enough to start putting everything he had learnt to the test.

that coronation of the team’s achievements paradoxically heralded the beginning of the end for Rijkaard’s Barcelona, as the first signs of indiscipline became apparent.

Rijkaard and Ten Cate made the perfect double act; the ultimate good cop/bad cop routine, but without Henk banging his fist on the table, Rijkaard’s nice guy routine led to chaos.

Rijkaard was aware of the stars’ behaviour, but indulged them, ever the optimist that the players were mature and responsible enough to know when to draw the line. It was a mistake. And, by the middle of the 2006–07 season that started poorly in Monaco, it was a trend far too late to reverse as Barcelona’s results and their performances reflected the breakdown in discipline.

With Pep’s help and his own intuition, Messi started playing football with an accordion-like movement: the further the ball was away from him, the more distance he would put between himself and the ball. The closer it was to him, the closer he would move to get involved.

He could live with them playing badly now and again, he told them, but he demanded 100 per cent on the pitch in every single game.