5 differences between Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti?

If there was a discussion about the greatest managers of all time, then the names of these two would always be there among the nominees. While Ancelotti’s Milan were a European powerhouse, Guardiola’s Barca revolutionised modern football.

Both of these managers have been successful as coaches and are among the most revered figures in the football fraternity. However, both of them have their differences – obviously – and this slider intends to list them out as here are the 5 differences between Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti:

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#1 Tactical styles

Let's begin with the most glaring difference between the two coaches. While Pep Guardiola prefers a more passing brand of football, Ancelotti generally likes his team to be strong on the counter, which is why he was more successful with Real Madrid than Bayern Munich.

Every team that played under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola had a distinct brand of passing. One could actually say that his Barcelona and Bayern Munich were the connoisseur of a brilliant brand of passing football, something that we can now see in Manchester City.

Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti likes to build his team based on a strong counter-attacking ethos. It is not that he is defensive, but, for example, his Real Madrid team didn't really mind not having possession.

Indeed, that Madrid team relied on quick breaks and turned defence into attack within no time whenever they got the possession.

#2 Takeover style

A Goal For Peace - Charity Football Match

While both these managers are two of the most successful managers in the history of football, the two have rather contrasting styles. The Italian is more of an adapter as he doesn’t really change the dynamics of a team when he takes over.

For instance, when he succeeded Mourinho at Real Madrid, he just made some minor tactical tweaks and focused on improving the core of the team: an already-brutal counter-attack system that the Portuguese had implemented at the Bernabeu.

At Bayern, as he sat on the throne vacated by Guardiola, he continued with the pass-and-move ideology implanted by the Catalan at the Allianz Arena. As a result, it could be claimed that he adapts to the team rather than the other way around.

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola won’t stop at anything until he has achieved what he has wanted. He turned Bayern from a quick-transition vertical-attacking team to a more pass-and-move oriented unit. And now, the former Barca tactician has done the same at Manchester City after spending trunks of cash to get his way.

This City team is completely different from the ones under Manuel Pellegrini and Roberto Mancini – they are much more beautiful and brilliant.

#3 Man-management

The Real Madrid players adored Ancelotti

While it has been reported that Carlo Ancelotti had lost the dressing room at the Allianz with at least five players turning their backs on him, his history makes it impossible to deny that he is one of the best man-managers in the game.

The fact that he managed to subside the egos in Real Madrid’s dressing room and forge a winning machine at the Bernabeu is a good enough testament in itself to claim that the former Juventus boss is great when it comes to managing players.

It is of little wonder as to why every player at Real Madrid was upset with his sacking, which is what happened at Chelsea when he was shown the door by Roman Abramovic. Also, you will find it very hard to find a player that insults the Italian.

And this is where Pep Guardiola loses out.

Even though the former midfielder left Bayern on good terms, there have been a number of players who insulted him during or after being managed by him. Some of them include big players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Samuel Eto’o and Yaya Toure.

This just proves that when it comes to managing the egos of the stars, Ancelotti is perhaps the better man.

#4 Training methods

Guardiola's training sessions were always intense

One of the main reasons as to why the Italian lost the trust of many players at Bayern Munich was due to his easy-going approach during training sessions. The Italian has always exuded the etho that the players he manages are already at a world-class level and don’t really need instructions or complex training methods to be barked at them for them to flourish.

At Real Madrid, it worked. It was supposed to anyway as the Blancos have always had quality players; what they needed was a manager that could keep the morale of the team high. At the Allianz, he had a player of similar class, but he had the misfortune of succeeding Pep Guardiola.

As Raphael Honigstein stated, the Bayern players wanted a lot more after being trained by Guardiola for three years. They might not have won the Champions League under the revolutionary Catalan, but his training methods were so intense that it improved every single player in the squad.

And after three years of being accustomed to working with new and innovative methods, Carlo Ancelotti’s easy-going approach wasn’t enough for them. So much that the players actually asked the board to instruct Ancelotti to train on Sundays, which he usually left as an off-day.

#5 League titles

Barcelona v Real Valladolid - La Liga

In his 8 complete seasons as a manager – the current campaign is his 9th – Pep Guardiola has only failed to win the league twice. Ever since he took over the reins of Barcelona's first team in 2008, he has won the league title an astonishing 6 times in the last 9 years.

If you leave out his yearlong sabbatical, then that is 6 titles in 8 years – a record that is far better than what Ancelotti could claim. Despite being one of the most decorated managers in the game, he has only three league titles in his 21 years of management.

For someone as reputed as the Italian, that’s a really poor return of league titles after being in management for so long. Ancelotti might have won three Champions League titles as a manager, but that is only one more than Guardiola, who has managed for 13 years less than the former Parma boss.