32 minUTES
Talk of Guardiola’s intensity is nothing
new. He dedicates nearly every waking
hour to planning his training sessions,
coming up with tactical schemes and
studying potential signings and
upcoming opponents. Only by completely
immersing himself in how his team will
play, how his players will interact on
the pitch, does he feel able to perform
at his best.
His personal assistant Manel Estiarte
(see overleaf) calls it ‘The Law of 32
Minutes’. It’s the period of time Guardiolacan disconnect from football before
thoughts return to the beautiful game.
Sometimes he has to be told to go out for
a meal, or go home to play with his
children Maria, Marius and Valentina.
Then, after half an hour, he will either
shut himself back in his office or his mind
will drift.
Estiarte expounds his law in Pep
Confidential, saying: “He starts staring at
the ceiling, and although he’s nodding as
if he’s listening, he’s probably thinking
about the opposition left-back.”Pep’s free-flowing philosophy
may be what draws in the
casual observer, but he
dedicates more training
sessions to defensive
organisation than anything
else. It shows: before the 2015-
16 winter break Bayern had
conceded only 49 goals in 85
Bundesliga games since he
arrived, keeping 50 clean sheets.
“Attack is more based on
innate talent,” he once said.
“Defence is about the work you
put into it. Defensive strategy is
absolutely essential if I want to
attack a lot.”
Bayern’s Javi Martinez has
virtually had to learn how to
walk again, ditching the man-
marking system he knew as a
centre-back at Athletic for
Guardiola’s more fluid zonal
system. For six months, the
Sabener Strasse training
ground echoed with shouts
(always in Spanish) of “Javi, go
forwards!”; “No, not now, Javi!!”;
“Javi, look at Dante!”
Yet the sessions worked.
Martinez is now transformed
from prosaic midfield anchor
into one of the best defenders in
Europe, and he is crucial to the
Pep plan.
“We’ve done so much tactical
work,” says Martinez. “He has
shown me 200 videos and
taught me concepts: when tomove out with the ball, when
to mark, where to position
myself. He has an idea and
knows how to teach it every
session. He’s incredible.”
What Guardiola wants
above all else is a defence
that moves as one – a self-
contained organism that
suffocates opposition attacks
by pressing high. If the centre-
back presses, the midfield
conductor drops in behind to
cover; similarly, the winger
covers his full-back. On
average, his Bayern defend
seven metres further up the
pitch than they did under
Heynckes. It’s a proactive sort
of defending that can be
achieved only by religious
practice that begins against no
opposition, to first learn the
necessary movements.
But Guardiola’s defensive
strategy doesn’t end when his
team have the ball. Moving
gradually up the pitch, to give
the conductor full orchestral
scope, Guardiola wants his
team to complete 15 passes,
the theory being that his players
retain their shape, while
destabilising their opponents. It
is a defensive tactic as much as
it is a transition to attack via
gradual strangulation, because
done effectively it prevents the
chasing opposition from
counter-attacking.
What he can’t abide, however,
is when these 15 passes don’t
go anywhere...“OK, Javi, let’s just
go through this
another 199 times”“PEP HAS An IDEA An D
K nOWS HOW TO TEACH IT
I n EVERY SESSIOn. HE IS
I nCREDIBLE”
DEFEn SIVE STRUCTURE
IS PARAMOUn T134 The Managers FourFourTwo.com
PEP
GUARDIOLA