MASKING THE LACK OF REPERTOIRE

Pep Guardiola FC Bayern Munichs Head Coach

By Jorge Vasconcelos, Pragmatic Football Analyst from Brazil. Twitter: @PragmaFootball
May 11, 2014
The last day of the Bundesliga finally passed and the trophy went for the long time known
Champions of the German season: FC Bayern Munich. After the final whistle of the ref an
apparently happy Pep Guardiola was showered with beer by his own players in celebration. But
apart from the hype of the moment can Guardiola really celebrate on a relaxed way? In my
opinion, no. Amongst the reasons for this conclusion we can start with the long period that
Bayern stayed without winning after they achieved the necessary number of points that made
them the Bundesliga Champions. Some could say this happened due to the simple lack of
motivation after they knew nobody could reach them at the top of the table. So let us pass to the
other (and more alarming) reason: the devastating defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions
League semi-finals by 0 x 4 (0r 0 x 5 if you consider the aggregate). After that game there was a
fair share of criticism toward Guardiola coming from the always composed Bayern and Germany
legend Franz Beckenbauer. The reply from Pep was "I can't change what I feel and what I feel is
we must play with the ball and attack as much as possible." This is a statement which tells us a
lot in terms of Pep's mentality. Pep is not willing to change but the game of football is dynamic.
It changes. And when the waters in which you are sailing your boat change you better change as
well and keep up. Pep's stubbornness is not unique, not one of a kind. He has the illustrious
company of Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers and also Chelsea's Jos Mourinho. Rodgers virtually
lost the title due to a defeat at home (Anfield) for Mourinho's Chelsea. Rodgers also did not want
to change what he felt, did not want to change his mentality and -- inflated by the Liverpool's
supporters' chantings and carried away by the past performances of his strikers -- launched his
squad to precipitately hammer down Mourinho's Chelsea who in their turn parked a bus in front
of their goal and scored twice using precise counter-attacks and lethally wounding Liverpool's
chances to grasp this season's League title. Right after, Mourinho himself was imploded at his
own home (Stamford Bridge) by an intelligent and valiant Atltico de Madrids side that was
very well trained by Diego "El Cholo" Simeone. Simeone's Atltico had the patience to strike at
the right moments (despite starting the game behind after suffering an early goal by Chelsea's
Fernando Torres). On the other side Mourinho could have already changed his mind but his
defensive tactics were so ingrained in Chelsea's gameplay for so long that created a momentum
that was not possible to revert in time. The fate of these 3 coaches -- Guardiola, Rodgers and
Mourinho -- shows how the excessive loyalty to one idea can lead to a complete lack of
repertoire and can block the perception of the need to change gears for a given match or even
during this match. Going back to Bayern's defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League
semifinals one can notice the insistence on the Tik-Taka style even when it was clear during the
match that that was a losing proposition against Madrid's well trained and lethal counter-
attacks. Then in my opinion there is a clear need for a new tactical approach that will broaden
the teams' repertoire and enable them to change gears during a match when needed avoiding
the suicidal tendency to insist on a gameplay that is not working and -- even worse -- is serving
as catalyst to the success of the opposing team gameplay (the case of Bayerns unproductive Tik-
Taka against Madrids lethal counter-attacks). Under this new tactical approach, for example,
Bayern would detect during that game that ball possession was going too far without scoring
goals considering they lost the first game to Real Madrid by 0 x 1 and had to score to win. Under
this new tactical approach, Brendan Rodgers would avoid launching his squad against Chelsea
and would prefer to play more cautiously then inviting Mourinho's side to play more of a
"midfield" game, even if this meant to end up tied in the scoreboard. Under this new tactical
approach, Mourinho would have prepared his Chelsea better so the squad could perform and
"deliver" the expected results playing a more offensive game -- as it was the case against Atltico
de Madrid. All in all, the new generation of victorious teams will have to have more repertoire
(and the capacity to change gears during the game oh, yes) if they nurture any intentions to
create a longlasting dominance in football.