In October 2014, Bayern Munich played Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. Roma were second in Serie A and a threat to Bayern in the Champions League, but not for long. At half-time Bayern were 5-0 up. They went on to win 7-1.
Afterwards Bayern’s coach Pep Guardiola described the result as a “fluke” and said it was “not normal”.
But Guardiola may not have been as surprised by the result as his comments suggested. In the latest instalment of his study of the coach, – Pep Guardiola: The Evolution – Marti Perarnau details how before the game, Guardiola told his players exactly what would happen.
Guardiola outlined a tactical plan to his players which involved David Alaba being named as the left-sided defender in a three-man defence but instead attacking down the left wing. With the left side overloaded, Bayern would switch play to the right. Pep told his players, “They’ll be completely exposed and won’t be able to cope.”
Afterwards Thomas Muller said, “The fact is that Guardiola showed us precisely where Roma’s weakness were and we exploited them.”
The great jazzman Ornette Coleman once told a musician in his band to “play what you feel”, but swiftly interrupted him once he began playing to tell him, “That’s not what you feel”.
Pep manages in the same way. He may have coached beautiful teams, but the idea that he would ever send a team out with the message that they should enjoy themselves, to just go out and play off the cuff would make no sense to him.
This does not make him unique. Football is full of coaches who have told their teams what to expect from the opposition without receiving the praise that Guardiola gets when it happens.
Some may be irritated by that, but it is partly why Manchester City pursued him, believing he is a man who can effect radical change.
The other reason is that when he achieves what he wants to achieve with a side, it can be glorious.
In the criticism Guardiola has received in recent weeks, it has been forgotten that he took over a team that was inert and almost wholly unsuited, not just to his methods, but to the methods of any manager who would demand adherence to some of the less glamorous fundamentals.
City played what they felt under Manuel Pellegrini, particularly in their stately descent from their last title in 2014 to the final days of last season when they were in danger of missing out on the Champions League, before finishing fourth.
There are those who will argue that the announcement during the season that Guardiola would be taking over added to the sense of drift, but he was also brought in to bring change, to tell players that playing what they felt wasn’t enough and to show them another way.
Against Spurs on Saturday evening, there was another glimpse of Guardiola’s vision and another example of the weaknesses in his side.
City should have beaten Spurs, but the adventure they showed in trying to do so was a reminder that Guardiola could still deliver what he was brought in to do.
Afterwards he talked about his side having ‘lost’, but also noted that for the second week in a row, City’s opponents had scored from every shot they had.
For that reason, the Claudio Bravo experiment will end in the summer, but Guardiola will need to construct another defence too or find other ways of defending.
When they won their first six Premier League games under Guardiola, City were declared champions already, while Pep’s methods were said to have had an immediate impact on the club.
Perhaps people had forgotten how far City had drifted when they finished fourth last season 15 points behind Leicester City.
City may have been putting a club structure together that would impress Guardiola, but they hadn’t been developing a squad which could do what he wanted.
Bravo and John Stones haven’t helped, while Nicolas Otamendi continues to play with all the composure and calm of man who sets fire to his hair while trying to light a cigarette off a gas hob.
In England, Guardiola has to adapt, to learn that so much analysis is concerned with the politics of the last incident.
On Saturday, he seemed baffled that the BBC – a ‘prestigious’ organisation – wanted first to discuss the referee’s failure to award a penalty when Kyle Walker pushed Raheem Sterling.
Guardiola was happier talking about what his players had done. He explained that Mauricio Pochettino’s side were “the best team in the league when you let them play.”
Pep’s City had done what he’d wanted them to do. They hadn’t let Spurs play and in doing so, they had shown what they are capable of under Guardiola in a fearless performance.
The display relieved the external pressure on Guardiola, even if it did nothing for his own mood. Victory would probably have done nothing for his own mood.
Pep wants City to win in his way and draws can feel like defeats. He says he needs time when we know that Guardiola never gives himself time. He is engaged in a more urgent exercise than that, an urgency that comes from believing he can change everything.
