Barcelona and farewell to “Guardiola School”

However, it is still worth discussing. The Barcelona leadership has appointed a man whose stint at the last club has ended disappointingly. After that, Koeman regained his position by helping the Dutch team play impressively.

The reason he received the call from Barcelona was similar to that of Frank Lampard with Chelsea, Mikel Arteta with Arsenal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with Manchester United and Andrea Pirlo with Juventus. When he played for the Blaugrana, Koeman was truly a legend, so he felt that he “understood the club” and “the way of Barça”.

But it’s been 25 years since Koeman left as a player and 20 years since he left the team as Louis van Gaal’s assistant. Since then, the Dutchman has managed Vitesse Arnhem, Ajax, Benfica, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia, AZ Alkmaar, Feyenoord, Southampton, Everton and the Dutch national team. Despite some successes (3 Dutch national championships), but this is not the leader considered in the best group in Europe nor the one committed to a philosophy like the Other Young Coach.

The fact is that in Barcelona there is still the silhouette of Pep Guardiola and although he left in 2012, what he left still exists. It was really four legendary years; After the first season, everyone always asked if Guardiola’s Barcelona was the best team of the modern era. And then he created an even stronger team two years later.

It is not unreasonable to wonder if we will see a more successful club again.

The disparity in European football has grown so large over the past decade that the superiority of successful teams has become a habit. Bayern Munich recently won the treble, winning 18 of the last 19 Bundesliga matches, winning all 6 DVB-Pokal matches and 11 Champions League matches. However, it is not entirely comfortable to put them on a par with Guardiola’s Barcelona. And if Bayern cannot be with that Barça team, who can the team?

Of course, comparing each modern team to Guardiola’s Barcelona is a special story for Barcelona itself. Guardiola’s spectacular success at the club was based on a combination of three things. First is the philosophy of controlling the ball throughout the club.

Secondly, a group of excellent players trained by the club itself, led by Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Messi, perhaps unlike any other club that has created it before. The third is a coach who revolutionizes, reboots old ideas for the modern age, and creates a class beyond anyone’s dream.

These three have become the core of the club and are rarely seen at the same time.

PHILOSOPHY

Barcelona’s philosophy has three things to say.

First of all, his true philosophy is always more flexible than most people think today. Barcelona has a tradition of soccer control, rising defense, and a 4-3-3 formation that originated from Rinus Michels, but different coaches have their own way of doing it. There were times when Barcelona relied on individuals and others on systems.

There were times when they constantly held the ball and played head-on. His style of play has not always been as stable as it is often described. Terry Venables led the club to the European Cup final in the 1980s with a 4-4-2 formation, solid defense, a prolific midfield and was never suspended in Catalunya.

Second, Barcelona is a victim of the success it creates. These days, almost all the best clubs in Europe play football that is more about attacking and controlling the ball. This was almost unthinkable 15 years ago when José Mourinho and Rafael Benítez were the most successful coaches in Europe, their boring style of play has led the team to the European Cup with deep and too deep defenses. Discrete attack state transitions.

They are widely recognized as the default and most beneficial game when played in the European Cup. Barcelona’s style of play is seen as a utopian change, a bet on entertainment.

Now all the clubs want to play that way. Clubs using priority-winning strategies such as Chelsea and Juventus have named Maurizio Sarri, a leader who did not win a title at Napoli but who has created attractive attacking football with inspiration. of Guardiola’s Barça. Therefore, the philosophy of Barcelona now is not only less unique, but other teams are also competing for the talent they want. Last year, a Sarri-style coach seemed to fit in well with Barça and he never had to compete with Chelsea or Juventus if he was before.

The third and most important problem is that European football has moved away from pure tiki-taka. There was a time when only Barcelona played that way, then all the teams in Europe played like that and now is a period when all the teams in Europe have combined those methods into a ball control game. donate more.

Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich is a good example, as is Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

Perhaps the highlight is that Guardiola created two collectives in Bayern and Manchester City with his previous Barca-based philosophies. Barcelona is now more interested in playing “the Guardiola way” than Guardiola himself. They were so determined with those who shared the same beliefs as Guardiola that they appointed their former “defensive partner” as head coach.

SELF-TRAINING SKILLS

In 2012, shortly after Guardiola’s departure, there was a brief period in which Barça entered the field full of La Masia graduates. His starting eleven are Víctor Valdés, Martín Montoya, Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Pedro Rodríguez, Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas.

There are some things to keep in mind here that Piqué, Alba and Fabregas have left the club before and returned. But nevertheless, it can still be seen as a talent squad formed by Barça itself. This is the era of Barcelona’s ability to create world-class players.

However, this is an exaggerated example of how Barcelona focus on young players. Yes, there is always a commitment to the development of young talent, but none can be compared with this age group. Barça’s 1992 European Championship is an example. Back then, only Guardiola and right-back Albert Ferrer came from the youth team and this was the period when the three foreign players rule required that teams definitely had to use self-taught players.

Also in the 90s, Barcelona had the appearance of the speedy left-back Sergi and the diligent midfielder Amor. But in terms of offensive talent, people like Iván de la Peña and Jordi Cruyff are not at the right level to play Barcelona the strongest team in Europe. Barcelona tend to combine hard-working players who train with superstars. Then they showed people like Puyol, Oleguer Presas in the back and people like Ronaldinho and Patrick Kluivert in the attack. Youth training products build a strong backbone.

Although Messi is classified at 17, other players of that age still need time to improve. At 17, Pedro had just joined the Barcelona youth squad and it took him five more years to start.

This season, the focus has been on youngsters like Ansu Fati and Pedri, who were hired in Las Palmas after a good season in Segunda. They could be the future of Barcelona because they are both 17 years old. Excessive expectations for a 17-year-old couple are likely to not only lead to a disappointing season, but may affect their development in the long run. And Barcelona cannot expect every talented teenager to automatically become a top player in the world.

Coach

The selection of the new Barcelona coach is closely linked to Guardiola’s legacy. In the past, Koeman served as Guardiola’s midfield partner. But one problem is that the Dutch strategist got the job just because Xavi didn’t want it yet. It would not be prudent for Xavi to agree on this point that, unfortunately, Josep Bartomeu is still the club’s president.

From November of this year to March of next year, depending on the progress of the vote of no confidence with Bartomeu, there will be a presidential election in Barcelona. And if he is elected, it is almost certain that Víctor Font will appoint Xavi next summer.

So there’s a chance that Koeman will only sit in the head coach’s seat for one season. The atmosphere at the club is extremely bleak, Messi expressed his desire to leave and stars like Luis Suárez and Arturo Vidal have left. If there is some value in the Catalan club that Koeman knows, it is that he understands the politics and history of this club, not just the tactical philosophy.

Still the tactical aspect is quite interesting. In the friendly match with Elche recently, Koeman used a 4-2-4, 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 diagram. Messi plays a virtual number 9 role like Guardiola’s, while Coutinho plays Iniesta’s left attacking position. Fati is a left forward, Antoine Griezmann is a right forward and Frenkie de Jong plays a deep side of Busquets. When Messi falls to the right, Griezmann will stay inside.

“The plan is to use Frenkie de Jong in his position in the national team,” he said. I remember going to a Barcelona game and seeing him in a position that he wouldn’t use as a coach. You spend a lot of money on a young player and you have to use him in the right position, where he can perform exactly as people expect. He showed it at Ajax and the Dutch team in a position that suits him best and will probably be where he will play in Barcelona.

Just as Guardiola built Barcelona around Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta, Koeman will do the same with the person he understands best. And maybe it will work.

Translated from the article “It is time for Barcelona to stop obsessing over ‘The Guardiola Way'” by Michael Cox in The Athletic.