Pep Guardiola agrees contract with Bayern

Cold_Boy

La Liga (3): 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11
Copa del Rey (1): 2009
Supercopa de España (2): 2009, 2010
UEFA Champions League (2): 2009, 2011
UEFA Super Cup (1): 2009
FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2009


At the age of 40!

Leg-End

Inherited a pretty good team though right?

Kaos

To be fair he's inherited what's probably the best team in the last 30 years, at such a young age to boot.

Congratulations to him, but I'd like to see him prove himself with a lesser team before we bestow high praise on him.

ha_rooney

A very good manager, he's fortunate to be managing such a great team. A very humble person as well.

rednev

You'd have to be pretty skilled to not win silverware with a team like that.

Man-United

He really won respect this week to many United fans I can imagine for the way he talked about us and Sir Alex. Great man.

SteveJ

Good to see the mutual respect between Pep and Sir Alex.

20solskjaer

A monkey could manage barcelona and still manage to win trophies, the team picks itself and just goes out and plays football, it doesnt really take any tactical mastery from the manager, he installs a bit of disicpline and reminds then to defend every so often

amolbhatia100

He's a done a very good job there, but lets be honest here, what a collection of players he has. Very lucky man.

He hasn't invented the tiki taka either right?

BAMSOLA

He should thank Frank Rijkaard every morning before he goes into training.

Xander45

I will say this, they could have won the champions league three years in a row if he hadn't have bought Ibrahimovic. That's the one thing that i hold against him, he changed a very good teams style to try and accomodate him and they weren't the same. Still bloody good though and he fixed it the next season!

20solskjaer

We could have won three in four years if we didnt have to play barcelona, its a shame that we keep getting all these finals at the same time this side dominate the game

Colin129

Apparently he might leave Barca, perhaps SAF should have a word in his shell like, ask him to come onboard at OT as manager elect in a year or so?

No pressure on him, work on the youth, discuss tactics etc?

He's the only manger around, apart from SAF, who I'd like to see at OT some day...

Cal?

He wouldn't even have won one Champions League if it wasn't for the scandal of Stamford Bridge & Bernabeu.

Cold_Boy

Why would he leave BARCA and come to United.

Plus he is only 40.

He can be untouchable as a manager with this Barca team.

Kaos

I don't want him anywhere near the Old Trafford helm until he's proven he can cut it with a much inferior side than Barcelona.

Ole's_toe_poke

I think he's inherited a fantastic team. But he's also forced his own personality on that side.

Colin129

I don't know why he would want to leave Barca, but apparently its not out of the question. Apparently the pressure on him is too much or something, there have been quite a few reports in the build up today.

Salvation

What's with the inherited a good side stuff? Rijkaard had Eto'o for Villa, Henry for Pedro plus Ronaldinho in the ranks and he managed to mess it up. Plus, haven't most of these players who came through been coached by Guardiola himself when they were young?

He's a brilliant first team coach. He would need to make the step up and become a brilliant manager, something which the likes of Benitez, Juande Ramos, etc. haven't managed to do from Spain.

amolbhatia100

What do you mean by highlighting Barca in bold. We're a better and bigger club than them. There's plenty of reasons to come to United over Barca.

He can't really. He can never reach Fergie's and many other great managers levels of greatness. The main pieces of this team that make it what it is haven't even been put together by him. He's a good manager but to be a great manager he has to build a good team and a few times from not the most privileged position.

Leg-End

Well if he can't handle that he would be no good to us, replacing SAF will be the biggest job in world football for many a year.

Kaos

Rijkaard also happened to win a few La Ligas and their second Champions league trophy.

Guardiola is also very lucky to have inherited this Barca team with Xavi, Iniesta and Messi all at their peak (well...perhaps not yet for Messi, but even then he's the best in the world)

Maajid

jrsenior

He could prove it with us ;-)

VoetbalWizard

it is the biggest job, but there's more job security. pep would get sacked if they went potless for one year.

pep could go potless for 2-3 years, and whilst the pressure would be great, he wouldn't get sacked.

Kaos

Id rather he didnt. The United managerial position isn't one for experimenting with.

amolbhatia100

That makes sense though because expectations are relative to the resources you have at your disposal. He really should be winning La Liga every year given he has only Real to compete with and they're nowhere near as good as Barca. At United there is much more competition from other clubs.

MacMUFC

He's not that good.

Colin129

Salvation

Fate had more to do with Rijkaard than with Guardiola. Rijkaard's stint at Barca coincided with Ronaldinho and Eto'o being at their primes. Once both had a tiff and were no longer arsed, it was no co-incidence to see it all come crumbling down for Rijkaard as well.

Guardiola made Messi and Iniesta the players they are. He groomed Busquets and Pedro. Plus, earmarking the likes of Pique, Alvez and Villa to integrate them into his revamped set-up.

Not really...

Sonny1972

He should thank Cruijff/Van Gaal/Rijkaard . it takes more then a few years to play like this .

Untied

I don't want to take away from his achievements but it has to be said that it is very hard to judge how good he actually is as a manger.

amolbhatia100

Care to expand on that?

Kaos

Messi was always going to be a superstar regardless of manager, same could be said about Iniesta with his immense natural talent. Pique isn't that great a defender IMO - its just that he very rarely gets tested because of the team he plays for. As for Villa - well lets just he say he was a lot more prolific at Valencia, I certainly rate Eto'o over him.

TheHorse'sMouth

You can't say he would have turned out the same player if he didn't come up playing the Barca way though. Look at the intelligence he plays with, the wall passes, the ability to find space and pass. The philosophy there is special, something money will never buy. It's lovely to see football once again getting the better of the notion that buying a group of superstars is the way forward. The philosophy is ingrained, something pure and unique.

jrsenior

Post SAF will be a huge fecking experiment any way you put it.

Salvation

Natural talent and realizing potential are two separate things. It's like saying Ronaldo would have been a world beater irrespective of his stint at United.

All that is besides the original point, which was about Guardiola having to thank Rijkaard for inheriting a great squad, which isn't true at all considering he chucked out all of Deco, Ronaldinho, Zambrotta, Thuram, Gudjohnsen close to his arrival and replaced them with the very reserves he coached for a year or so.

Without defining parameters for bigger and better, one cannot just brand Club X bigger and better than Club Y. Dunno how you can just off-hand say United are bigger and better than Barca.

amolbhatia100

Very true. But I reckon we'll go with someone more experienced or is more likely to be able to be comfortable with the English game.

I would be unsure about Guardiola but I think he has a lot of class about him so I wouldn't be upset. Fergie seems to like him a lot.

NJ1979

He comes across as a class act, regardless of whether he shaped this team himself or inherited it. He's got some great players at his disposal but he's still got them winning everything in sight so I think it's churlish to question his credentials until results prove otherwise.

Treble

He's developed Cruyff's philosophy further. That's no small achievment.

Barcelona are what they are because of their philosophy. They aren't the best team just because they have the luck to have the best players. Their academy has produced those players and it has produced those players for it has implemented Cruyff's philosophy.