4 drawbacks that question Pep Guardiola's reputation as a world class manager

In his seven-year-long managerial career, Pep Guardiola has won more trophies than he has lost, more than many other successful managers who have been in the game way longer than the former Barcelona manager.It was Guardiola who was chosen ahead of Jose Mourinho for the job when Frank Rijkaard was released as Barcelona’s manager. His takeover saw him transforming the team into a world-beating team right from the first season as they won the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League and Guardiola became the youngest manager to win the Champions League.The following season, Guardiola and his Barcelona side finished with six trophies, a record that was probably never aimed at by any man before.However, the joy ride lasted for just four years before Guardiola called it a day at Camp Nou, with reasons perhaps both personal and political. Guardiola’s successful record with silverware landed him a job straight at Bayern Munich after the end of his self-imposed break.But in this slideshow, we discuss four drawbacks of Guardiola as a manager; these are the mistakes that pundits and supporters have always been critical about, and which question his reputation of being a world-class manager.

#1 Poor handling of players

The hostility that Zlatan Ibrahimovic had faced during his days at the Catalan club was brought to attention through his auto-biography I am Zlatan. The Swedish’s transfer was seen as one of the clubs’s biggest move, and why wouldn’t it be. It is not everyday when Barcelona break the bank for a record €69.5 million for a player.

Following Barcelona’s defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan back in the 2009-10 season in a Champions League semi-final, the relationship between Ibrahimovic and Guardiola detoriated to a point when both of them stopped talking to each other at all.

“Guardiola sacrificed me,” he wrote on his book. “That’s the truth. One of my mates told me: ‘Zlatan, it’s as if Barca had bought a Ferrari and was driving it like a Fiat,’ and I thought: ‘Yeah, that’s a good way of looking at it.’ Guardiola had turned me into a simpler player and a worse player. It was a loss for the whole team.”

“He wouldn’t even say good morning. Not a single word. He avoided eye contact with me. If I went into a room, he would leave. ‘What’s going on,’ I thought. ‘Is it something I did? Do I look wrong? Am I talking funny?’ All these things were buzzing around in my head. I couldn’t sleep,” he adds.

The presence of a player of Ibrahimovic’s calibre in a side could have fixed Barcelona’s problem of depending on Lionel Messi more than the Argentine could handle. Not that Messi is not capable of handling the pressure. He has always thrived under the pressure, leading Barcelona to several silverwares almost single-handedly. But, at the end of the day, he has always been just another human.

Guardiola’s stubbornness to keep playing Ibrahimovic on the right wing despite his complaints proved to be a deal killer.

Another nightmare of a deal for Pep was the signing of the Ukrainian defender, Dmytro Chygrinsky. He was good, fast and had a good idea about how to position himself.

Chygrinsky was bought from Shaktar Donetsk for 25 million Euros. He knew he needed to justify his price tag and tried extremely hard to overcome the language barrier and also to adopt himself into a new style of playing while trying to justify the faith, the coach had in him.

Chygrinsky, unfortunately managed only 14 games that season leading the club president to sell him back to Donetsk for 15 million Euros due to some financial issues that required budget cut, relating to one of the most worst signings, ever done by Pep.

Keirrison, Alexander Hleb and Martin Caceres are also counted in as Pep’s top 5 worst signings ever.

#2 Sacrificing other stars

It was a dream come true for the Barcelona supporters to have been able to see players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry and David Villa join the Catalans, but their role in the team was not what these players were best known for. And, much to cause of Messi, these superstars might not want to cherish for their presence in the Camp Nou.

Ibrahimovic enjoyed a good start to his Barca career, scoring 7 goals out of his first 7 matches in La Liga. Leo Messi then, demanded a move in his playing position, resulting in Zlatan who always wanted to play in the middle had to play on the wings.

Pep also changed the team’s formation from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 and Ibrahimovic as a result had to sacrifice his place for the sake of Messi. He joined AC Milan on a loan deal in 2010-11 and had a permanent move after the season.

Ibrahimovic later said, 'It was a childhood dream and I was walking on air. It started well but then Messi started to talk.’

Thierry Henry, a fellow star to Zlatan regularly found him out of the Barcelona starting XI. With Messi scoring, the Frenchmen who lead the attack for Barcelona in the previous season had to sacrifice his position for the Argentine, eventually falling out of favour at the club.

This is the Henry we are talking about who was almost bigger than the club while he was Arsenal. At Barcelona, he and his potential fell short next to Messi’s alpha-figure.

The other stars like David Villa, Samuel Eto’o, too had the same problem. None could play second Messi and despite their on-the-field success, they were forced out of the club. Pedro Rodriguez, still playing for Barcelona is also a sensible mention who’s had to sacrifice many times.

Even though Zlatan, Henry, Villa and Eto’o might have won their share of silverware, their ultimate regret would be that Lionel Messi, who along with taking the goals, also took nearly all of the glory with him.

With Pep Guardiola designating Messi as the centerpiece of his team’s attack, the Argentine’s position, since then is considered to be untouchable.

#3 Obsession of implementing his policies on others

Pep Guardiola has always been driven with the obsession of playing the team in a way; he wants to be is currently, trying to do the same with the Bavarian side. After a successful spell of his at Barcelona where he first started his pass-and-play system of football, hes trying to implement in the same style of play with FC Bayern.

Pep, in his very first season at the club, was seen implementing hisstyle of play which saw Thiago Alcantara become an essential member of the squad as his passes proved to decisive for the pass-and-play style. His injury, however,lead toa big failure towards the plan which later explained Xabi Alonsos singing this summer.

Although Pep managed to win 3 silverwarewhich included the Euro Super Cup, the Bundesliga title and the DFB Pokal in his inaugural season as the Manager of FC Bayern, still had to face a recurring criticism.

He joined the club saying that he would adapt to the players system but it turned out to be vice-versa as the players were forced into Peps style and the Bavarians, for such had to pay a severe price against a very strong looking Real Madrid side who were not playing their natural football as theylost 4-0 at home and 5-0 on aggregate.

Also, his playing of the youngsters instead of the stars when not needed proved to another mark of criticism. Promoting young players is a mark of a great manager but the situation that those chances come in has cost his teams a lot of chances.

#4 No alternative plan

Barcelona, during Pep Guardiola played nearly every match with just one plan i.e. “Plan A.” Pep had no other substitute plan or plans which did cost him a few times and among those few is the classic FC Barcelona vs. Chelsea Champions League semis clash.

Barcelona, even after having 70% of the possession against a 10-man Chelsea failed to defeat The Blues. That night, Chelsea put up a brilliant show against The Catalans, trying to block each possible shot and prevent them from scoring, except for the two goals conceded.

Barcelona failed to penetrate and drag the Chelsea defenders away and with no big striker who could’ve hit the long diagonal balls, the lack of an alternate plan were seen, reflecting on The Catalans which could’ve helped in changing the direction of the game. This stupidity of not having an alternate plan in an all important game was termed as Brainless by many.

But it seems like Pep had learnt from his mistakes at Barcelona. With FC Bayern, after failing to score against Viktoria Plzen during Champions League group encounter last season with no striker till then, Pep introduced Mandzukic who scored the solitary goal of the game for the Bavarians.