‘Guardiola’s move to the Bundesliga seems to confirm the league’s new sexiness across Europe. The man himself casts a long shadow, one filled with hopes as well as doubts. Will he be able to apply his successful techniques at a club where himself and his ideals weren’t incubated? Time will tell.’ - We’re delighted to feature Dan Leydon’s work on AFR. Find him on: Twitter / Tumblr / Etsy.
It’s official. At the end of the season, the man we’ve all been waiting to make a comeback will join Bayern Munich as their new manager in July. After being linked with every club with deep pockets and billionaire owners, Pep Guardiola surprises us all once again. We’re going to let this one process for a moment, but what are your thoughts on the Catalan maestro making his return to football in the Bundesliga? Is success on the horizon, or will he await a challenge much more difficult than the one presented to him when he began his tenure at the Camp Nou?
By Jordan Brown
The chant rang around Tehrir Square over the weekend—the chant of the revolution, the chant that brought down deposed Mubarak, ‘The people want to bring down the regime!” They shouted it this time for a new leader, the democratically elected Mohammend Morsi—a man who is suddenly discovering the confines of power, the limits of his reach.
Somewhere in London a dour Frenchman was ending his day, and if he were to have seen the scenes in Cairo, heard the chant of the young revolutionaries, it would probably sound to him much like, “You don’t know what you’re doing.” A game as ubiquitous in global culture as football finds itself mirroring many other spheres of human society, none so often as politics, and no role in football is so neatly politicized as Manager.
Football is a republic built on popular momentum; it is the modern circus maximus played out in coliseums of steel and glass, and the mobs are still the masters. In every seat of the stands sits a revolutionary, a fan who holds their own individual ideal of their club’s perfection. They know the way their team should play, who they should sign, and exactly what great heights of achievement each season should hold. Their minds are filled with gleaming trophy cabinets and memorable performances, and to all of them the one standing in the way of the dream made life is the flesh and blood man in the puffy jacket pacing the byline in front of them. Everyone is the best fit for the job except for the one who currently holds the title.
By Max Grieve
Pep Guardiola’s first league match, away at Numancia, was confusing in its lessons. Barcelona boasted 70 per cent of the possession, and had 26 shots – two of which smacked against the woodwork – but lost; Mario Martínez Rubio, simply Mario, scoring in Eric Abidal’s absence at the far post.
“We played badly,” admitted Guardiola. “We were undisciplined and people were not doing their jobs. You have to open the pitch when the opposition plays with 10 behind the ball and we did not do that. We did not attack well. It was our own fault, but we can correct the errors.”
A reaction to an unfortunate performance, not to take anything from Numanica, the Catalan media were up in arms – they usually are, such is their fanaticism. Johan Cruyff, in his column for El Periódico, was more patient. “I don’t know which game you saw, but I saw one of the best Barça performances in years. Football-wise, Barça were of the best. Positionally excellent, moving the ball with speed and precision, and pressing well. You draw your conclusions but, to me, this season looks very, and I mean very, good.”
Superlatives fail. Barcelona won the league, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. The latter was breath-taking: deprived of Dani Alves due to the UEFA rules that threaten this year’s final, Puyol was indomitable at right-back, Xavi masterful in the midfield, and Messi supreme in attack. Alex Ferguson’s face was drained of its characteristic purple hue, and Pep Guardiola lifted the European Cup. At the beginning of the next season, Barcelona collected the UEFA Super Cup, the Club World Cup, and the Supercopa de España. In little over a year, Guardiola had won everything there was to be had in Spanish and European football. That he stayed for a further three seasons is testament to his will to succeed, and should serve as a lesson to those who feel wronged by his leaving.
Things move pretty fast in Spain. After losing to Real Madrid and getting knocked out of the Champions League in one week, today we found out that this will be Pep’s last season with Barça for the foreseeable future. I’m posting this conversation between Pep and legendary Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba from last September simply because the future seems to be terribly present in the present. Enjoy.
Selected words of wisdom from Pep and Fernando:
1) Trueba: “You reached the future you had imagined when you were 25. How do you imagine your future now?
Pep: “Not a day goes by in which I don’t think ‘I’m leaving tomorrow.’ I think whenever you’re in a position where you’re managing something, you have to think that if you want, the next day you can just walk away. I think I work best when I know I have the freedom to decide my own future.
2) Trueba: And for human beings in general: some age well, others less well. We all have our own rhythm: some people give their very best at 20, others at 80. There is no written rule.
3) Pep: It’s a game, nothing else. Know your opponent, and try to play better than him. The whole point is not to defeat your opponent and think ‘yeah, we beat them.’ I never think that, I focus instead, during the game, on thinking if what I imagined the day before is happening on the pitch or not. If it is, then I’m completely fulfilled as a coach. If it isn’t, it’s because I was wrong about something and I have to understand the reasons why things are not going as I planned.
Trueba: Yes, but there’s no such thing as “things went wrong.” Things just happen the way they happen, you have to accept it… Directors usually say ‘I’m going to direct a movie, let’s see if I can make the movie exactly as I imagine it in my mind.’ That movie is a dream, it doesn’t exist. What matters is not what you dream it will be, it’s the movie you actually MAKE… Try not to be to hung up on utopias. Utopias don’t exist… I’m not saying dreaming is wrong. But it’s also important to try to change reality for the better by bit by bit, realistically.
[posted by EB]
By Dominic Vieira, writing from Lisbon
Once a nobody, once irreplaceable and now an uncertainty. At the age of 24, the forward from Tenerife has played over 160 matches, kissed all the trophies and set a record which Messi didn’t, becoming the first player in history to score in 6 different competitions in one season.
After swiftly establishing himself during his first full season at Barcelona, it seemed evident that Pedro would remain up front for years to come. Last year he formed the lethal MVP trio which naturally and rapidly transformed into a menacing power scoring 98 goals. It was an effective combination with Messi moving to the centre enjoying a free role accompanied by two agile forwards, and they conquered everything.
However, it’s been another season of transition as the manager began rotating his attacking force with frequency, except for the untouchable ‘King Leo’ of course. The arrivals of Fabregas and Sanchez, the only summer investments made, offered Barcelona more dynamic solutions. In addition, Guardiola did not hesitate to promote two Catalan youth products, Isaac Cuenca and Cristian Tello. The pair of 20 year old’s have been enjoying a productive run of games, boosted by David Villa’s major injury sustained in December alongside shorter absences from Pedro and Afellay’s eternal calf curse.
Pedro no longer appears to be an “absolutely fundamental” element in the team. This past week has been defining for Barcelona where they frustratingly lost to Chelsea and were knocked out of the La Liga race by sacred rivals Real Madrid on home soil. Pedro appeared in both matches as a substitute, with limited time and opportunity to make a difference. Despite being fit, why was Tello selected ahead of the World Cup champion for the ‘El Clasico’?
One of the most entertaing matches of La Liga will shortly be kicking off, Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou!
Although this encounter does not embrace the same conflict, emotion and hype which revolves around an El Clásico, the quality of the 90 minutes will certainly be played at an equal standard, if not higher. Tonight two coaching masterminds go head to head, Pep Guardiola and Marcelo Bielsa. The Argentine who has been producing wonders for Bilbao, is an avid admirer of the Barcelona manager and is constantly speculated to inherit his throne in the future. Victory tonight won’t only prove that point, but will dramatically dent Barcelona’s title hopes where Guardiola aims to equal Cruyff’s record of winning the La Liga for 4 consecutive seasons.
The two visionaries are enjoying successful campaigns where both sides are favourites to win in Europe and will be clashing at the Copa del Rey final. As always they will be fielding players of boundless talent; we’re overly familiar the names on the back of the Blaugrana jerseys, but what about the red and white striped shirts? Bielsa’s Bilbao is receiving the grand praise it rightfully has displayed on the field where players such as Llorente, Martinez, Muniain, Susaeta and De Marcos have been consistent pillars and stars. Interestingly, ALL the players carry Basque roots and the majority are academy products where they’ve been menacing in the Europa League, a trophy which they have all the potential to lift in Bucharest.
Tonight is about this match, where teamwork, “tiki-taka”, flair, skill, and intelligence will be combined into 90 minutes of magic (and Messi magic). But what should this encounter be called? “La batalla de la autonomía”, ”el clásico de las canteras” or “súper total fútbol”.
Or what about… “El Cante-Clásico”? [posted by Dominic Vieira]
With only two months left in La Liga’s season, Pep Guardiola has yet to sign a new contract with FC Barcelona. Of course, this is his policy. He only signs one-year contracts because he says he cannot look more than a year into the future. However, things are starting to get desperate in Catalunya. This classroom of Catalan kids did a brilliant Barça-themed take on “Ai se eu te pego” telling Pep to renew, renew! How can you say no to that?
Arsenal fans, why are we so devastated by the protracted departure of Cesc Fabregas? Its not like we haven’t had three years to mentally and emotionally prepare ourselves for this, right? Yet, the idea of Arsenal will at the Emirates and abroad without Cesc Fabregas in the squad, let alone leading it, will seem very foreign, perhaps as foreign as it was not seeing Thierry Henry in the starting line up.
But at the end of the day, everyone and their mother (and their great-aunt and grandfather) knew this would happen. Barcelona are, as painful as it is to admit it, the best club side in the world, arguably in the history of football. Arsene knew they were too good to turn down.
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