Five reasons why Pep Guardiola isn't as good as he's made out to be

Love him or loathe him, Pep Guardiola is widely recognised as not only one of the best managers in modern day football, but some would also claim him as one of the all-time great managers. After all, he’s the man who led possibly the best club side of all time in the form of his late 2000’s Barcelona side, he practically invented tiki-taka, and then he went on to dominate the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich.

He’s won a ton of trophies and a ton of acclaim along the way, but is he actually as good as people make him out to be? Or is he a lot of smoke and mirrors, a man who’s simply benefited from picking the right jobs at the right time, and then cutting and running when he knows the house of cards is about to fall? I’m inclined to believe the latter, and here are five reasons why.

#1 He’s a short-term solution who never builds dynasties

Guardiola's dynasty-building pales in comparison to that of Sir Alex Ferguson

While Guardiola won plenty of trophies at both Barcelona and Bayern Munich – and may well do the same at Manchester City – for a man supposedly responsible for building Barcelona’s monstrous success, he didn’t actually stick around for that long. The length of his reign at Barcelona? Just four seasons, from 2008/09 through to 2011/12. And he spent even less time at Bayern Munich, lasting just three seasons before moving to Manchester.

Hardly the work of a dynasty builder. Compare his reigns to those of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United (27 years) or Arsene Wenger at Arsenal (21 years and counting) and you’ll see the difference – granted, Guardiola hasn’t faced as much criticisms or hardships as Wenger over the years but is he ever likely to given his short-term nature?

The fact is that when the going got tough at Barca – his side lost both La Liga and their Champions League crown in 2011/12, his final season in the hotseat – Guardiola got going. And when it became clear that he couldn’t lead Bayern back to the Champions League title – the title they won in 2013 right before he arrived – he abandoned ship there too. Where Ferguson built three truly great sides at United (the initial double-winning side in 1993/94, the treble winners of 1998/99 and the Champions League winners of 2007/08) Guardiola only built one, at Barca, and then inherited one at Bayern Munich.

To be a true great you need longevity and unfortunately, with his current track record – remember he’s said he doesn’t want a long-term reign at Manchester City either – longevity just doesn’t look like it’s in Pep’s dictionary.

#2 He’s never done it the hard way

Guardiola only takes jobs where he's blessed with great players

Remember the legendary episode of The Simpsons when Homer plays softball for the Power Plant team, only to lose his place when Mr Burns hires a team full of ringers – professionals from the MLB? One of the most memorable parts is when Mr Burns’ team talk consists of him telling his ringers to “go out and win!” and of course they do, and Burns hails himself as a tactical genius. Well, to many, Pep is a real-life Mr Burns.

Was it Pep’s tactical genius that allowed his Barcelona team – comprised of the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets and the like – to dominate Europe during the turn of the decade? Or was it more a simple case of Guardiola dropping lucky and finding himself with a team filled with world-class players at the same time? The jury is out there as admittedly, Guardiola’s Barca were a pioneering side due to the innovation of tiki-taka. But there can be no doubt that in his subsequent jobs, Guardiola has simply taken the easiest route possible.

Bayern Munich had already won the Bundesliga at a canter prior to his arrival and when he did arrive at the Allianz Arena, one of his first acts was to sign Mario Gotze from Borussia Dortmund – immediately weakening his side’s biggest rival while strengthening Bayern with a player they, arguably, didn’t need. The same happened the season following as Robert Lewandowski was signed from Dortmund. Bayern simply have the financial clout to ride roughshod over the rest of Germany – as do Manchester City in England, so is it any surprise Guardiola would choose those clubs?

Of course not. And unlike Jose Mourinho, who gets equal criticism as a “chequebook manager”, he’s never done the business at a smaller club like Mourinho did at Porto when he led them to the Champions League.

#3 He arguably made Bayern Munich worse

Jupp Heynckes won the Champions League with Bayern Munich - Guardiola never came close

Okay, so Guardiola won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in all three of his seasons at the Allianz, but did he really make them any better during his reign? I’d actually argue no, and some have even argued that somehow, he actually made them worse. Granted, in his first season – 2013/14 – his Bayern team won the league by a record amount of points, but the record belonged to Jupp Heynckes’s Bayern the season prior – and that side also won the Champions League.

Basically, Bayern were already hugely dominant over the Bundesliga before Pep arrived, and obviously, his signing of the top players from their closest rivals Borussia Dortmund only made that domination larger. Essentially then, you’ve got to look at the results Bayern had in Europe to make a fair judgment, and when you do that, it could be argued that if anything, he actually made Bayern worse during his time there.

In his first season Bayern made the semi-finals of the Champions League but were comfortably put to the sword there by his old rivals Real Madrid – who put five past Munich over the two legs and didn’t concede one.

And in his second season, while he made the semi-finals again, not only did his side lose to Barcelona in the semis, but they also suffered a 1-3 first-leg defeat to Porto in the quarters at home. Granted they won the second leg 6-1, but it’s Porto, hardly Real Madrid. And in his final season it was another semi-final loss to a Spanish side – this time Atletico Madrid – but Bayern also stumbled in games with Juventus and Arsenal, who they’d comfortably defeated just a couple of years prior.

Add in the fact that the chasing Bundesliga sides – Dortmund in 2015/16 and Wolfsburg in 2014/15 – managed to cut the gap to just ten points compared to nineteen in Pep’s first season, despite Bayern continuing to splash the cash – and you could argue that he didn’t improve them at all and perhaps made them worse.

#4 He failed in his first season at Manchester City

Guardiola spent a monstrous amount of money at Man City in his first season, including buying John Stones

Guardiola’s arrival in England prior to 2016/17 was considered a formality after he’d completed his short stints in Spain and Germany, and unsurprisingly it wasn’t a dark horse like Everton or Tottenham that he ended up joining, it was mega-rich Manchester City, who had previously won the Premier League in 2013/14 under Manuel Pellegrini. Unsurprisingly, Pep immediately splashed the cash, signing Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito, Leroy Sane, John Stones and Claudio Bravo as well as some smaller names. Gabriel Jesus followed in January and by the time things were said and done; Guardiola had spent a massive £171.5m on new players.

What did he achieve for all that spending? Well, practically nothing. He didn’t win a thing, and Man City found themselves finishing third in the Premier League, were eliminated from the Champions League in the round of 16, and didn’t make the finals of any of the domestic cup competitions. In the end they were miles off the pace in the league, finishing on 78 points – eight behind runners-up Tottenham, and fifteen behind champions Chelsea, two sides that hadn’t spent anywhere near the money that Guardiola had used.

The only side that spent more? Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United, and while they finished even lower in the Premier League, they did win the Europa League and the League Cup, giving Mourinho more trophies for his ever-growing cabinet. Guardiola meanwhile was supposed to deliver Man City’s biggest successes, but in reality, he barely even surpassed the feats of his predecessor Pellegrini in his first season.

Perhaps it’s fair to give Pep more time to bed himself into the Premier League’s way of playing, but remember that he didn’t need such time in Germany. Maybe it’s just that the Premier League is by far the toughest league he’s found himself in, and due to the toughness, he’s found himself wanting.

#5 He’s tactically inflexible

Claudio Bravo's time at Man City has been disastrous

Perhaps the biggest criticism of Guardiola is that while he innovated the tiki-taka style at Barcelona – a style making heavy use of maintaining possession, short passes, and a high defensive line – when opposing coaches figure out a way to play against such a style Pep simply doesn’t have a plan B to revert to. Some people suggested the style was unbeatable, but of course, Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan side proved that theory wildly wrong in the 2009/10 Champions League semi-finals, and Real Madrid under Mourinho were then able to counter the style well too.

Since then tiki-taka has been exposed plenty of times by plenty of other sides, but Pep still clings to the style as if it’s the only way to win a football game. While he appears to be evolving a little at Manchester City with his use of speedy full-backs and a more direct attacking style, the issue of his tactical inflexibility reared its head massively when it came to the defensive side of the game last season.

Guardiola clearly prefers defenders and goalkeepers that are cultured and are more comfortable with the ball at their feet – playing the ball out from the defence is a Guardiola hallmark. And so one of his first acts as Manchester City manager was to make John Stones – renowned for his cultured style of play but criticised for his lack of defensive nous - the most expensive defender in English football history, and he followed that by removing Joe Hart – seen as lacking skills with the ball at his feet – from City’s goal and replacing him with Chilean Claudio Bravo.

Stones may yet prove to be an inspired buy as he’s still an improving prospect, but he certainly struggled at times last year. Bravo, on the other hand, was an unmitigated disaster and has already been replaced after plenty of gaffes that ended up costing City valuable points. It was a classic case of Guardiola overplaying his hand, looking to create another Manuel Neuer without recognising the unique nature of Neuer as a goalkeeper – a great keeper doesn’t need to be able to use his feet brilliantly, ask Peter Schmeichel.

It was another classic example of Guardiola’s tactical inflexibility and another reason why he simply shouldn’t be considered up there with the truly great managers like Ferguson and Mourinho.