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In a remarkable revelation, Pep Guardiola has said he hates the term ‘tiki-taka’ and the philosophy the term implies. In a new biography by journalist Marti Perarnau about the Catalan manager titled Pep Confidential, there are descriptions which portray his true feelings about the style of play so successfully employed by his record-breaking Barcelona side.
Guardiola has sought to do the same with his Bayern Munich side, though the strategy has not worked against certain teams like Real Madrid.
The style has been criticised in recent times for being too negative, with both Spain and Barcelona struggling to make it work ever since opposition teams have found a way to foil it by sitting back and launching counter attacks from deep without worrying about possession statistics.
According to the book, Guardiola blasted Bayern Munich players at the dinner table after an unimpressive win over Nürnberg.
“I loathe all that passing for the sake of it, all that tiki-taka. It's so much rubbish and has no purpose. You have to pass the ball with a clear intention, with the aim of making it into the opposition's goal. It's not about passing for the sake of it.”
In a separate meeting the next day he explained to his players passing without a purpose is pointless and that the idea was to force the opposition’s make it’s shape asymmetrical so they could exploit the weaker flank.
“Be yourselves. You need to dig into your own DNA. I hate tiki-taka. Tiki-taka means passing the ball for the sake of it, with no clear intention. And it's pointless.
He also sought to bust the myth that his 2-time Champions League and 3-time La Liga winning side played tiki-taka.
“Don't believe what people say. Barça didn't do tiki-taka! It's completely made up! Don't believe a word of it! In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak.
“And when we've done all that, we attack and score from the other side. That's why you have to pass the ball, but only if you're doing it with a clear intention. It's only to overload the opponent, to draw them in and then to hit them with the sucker punch. That's what our game needs to be. Nothing to do with tiki-taka.”
Barcelona’s quality of players confirm what Guardiola is trying to say here with a tireless midfield bringing the opposition into a sense of lull and then playing a killer ball for the likes of Messi to dribble past a weaker side and score.
You can read more extracts from the book here.
