Guardiola, And His Unique Style Of Play, Nearing An End

Bjorn KochPep Guardiola is highly regarded as one of the best coaches in the sport of soccer. He has led successful campaigns for two of the top clubs in existence, Barcelona and now Bayern Munich. Much of his success can be created to his style of play, a style that often frustrates players at first.

Bayern Munich midfielder, Xabi Alonso, believes that Guardiola, and his style of soccer, is “ahead of his time.” His possession-based style of play has been effective when the players buy-in, but Alonso says that the initial transformation is “not easy.”

Guardiola will be leaving Bayern Munich at the end of the season, taking his talents to Manchester City. It will take some time for City to implement this style of play, as Pep Guardiola will need to mesh together the players on roster and his system to make the most effective team as possible.

It was a similar situation with Bayern Munich three years ago. It was not until he had all the players he needed did Guardiola have a team that could run his style of play to near perfection.

“Pep is ahead of his time,” he told Sky Sports News HQ. “He is very demanding of himself and his players, but once you get to know it [the style], then it is the way we like to play.

“He likes the team to be in control of the game because he thinks that is the best way to win games. During his time here he has built something, a style of play, I think many players will have learnt a lot and improved and for sure those fundamentals will be very useful in the future as well.”

Guardiola looks poised to secure his third straight Bundesliga title. With seven games left in the regular season, Bayern Munich leads by 5 points.

With so much on the line at this stage of the season, no one is really thinking about what the future holds for Guardiola and Bayern. Carlo Ancelotti will be taking over as manager of Bayern Munich next season, but Alonso says that “nobody is thinking about next season,w e are just thinking about the challenges we have right now.”

Bayern Munich as grown a lot over the past few season with Guardiola at the helm. It has been great to watch his style of play in full effect.

“At the end we will have enough time to give him a proper farewell that he deserves. He will leave in the best manner, no doubt about it, and his time here will be a good one to remember.”

 

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Bjorn Koch is a businessman, world traveler, lover of fine dining and soccer fanatic. Born in Germany, where he fell in love with Bayern Munich, Bjorn currently resides in Boston, MA.