During a recent column he wrote, Philipp Lahm spoke about Pep Guardiola’s evident evolution as a professional manager in English football.
Pep Guardiola is not the same manager he was when he coached Philipp Lahm at Bayern Munich. The former German midfielder is one of the ones who benefitted from Pep’s intelligence the most during his time in Munich. When he first arrived at the club, Lahm had no idea he could play as a holding midfielder. Guardiola started using him in that position and completely changed his career.
But Lahm also noticed a recent shift in the Catalan manager’s skill set that he acquired at Manchester City. Contrary to previous years, Pep doesn’t take as many risks as he used to during his time at Bayern. This shows a massive point of maturity that Guardiola didn’t possess at his second club. Lahm is very aware of this because he was one of the most advanced pupils of the tiki-taka school at the German club. Lahm wrote about Pep’s evolution and how he differs from the coach he met at Bayern Munich.
Lahm describes how Guardiola has changed.
This is what Lahm wrote for El Pais: “After the high point he reached in Spain, you can see that Guardiola is adapting. Barcelona were a very good team, with almost everyone playing several instruments well. When they won the Champions League in 2009 and 2011, they suffocated their opponents. That style was possible because the whole club follows Johan Cruyff’s idea of total football, [and] Guardiola sees himself in this tradition: if they let him, he would play 11 Iniestas.
“Elsewhere he had to sacrifice a little of his idealism. In Munich [at Bayern] he let the specialists [Franck] Ribery and [Arjen] Robben play on the flanks, and the two full-backs drifted into the centre when the team had possession of the ball. City now play a more cautious style, relying on athletic defenders who impose themselves in the air. The team sometimes give the ball away, drop back, defend their area, take a breather and wait to counter-attack. The coach has learned to enjoy simple goals from a corner or a shot from outside the box: he has seen that those goals have their appeal too. He’s not just a fan of the ultra-attacking tiki-taka.”
Be sure not to miss out on the latest news about Philipp Lahm
Download our brand new App and follow your favorite players, clubs, and much more
