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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 virtuallylost 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

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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.