Yes, really. The concept most
associated with his blueprint is
the former Barcelona coach’s
biggest bugbear.
“Tiki-taka is a load of s**t –
a made-up term,” he has often
repeated of the initially
pejorative phrase first coined by
pundit Javier Clemente after
watching Spain’s sterile
possession game against Tunisia
at the 2006 World Cup. “It
means passing the ball for the
sake of passing, with no real aim
or aggression – nothing. I will
not allow my brilliant players to
fall for all that rubbish.”
Many seek to emulate Pep’s
style, but see possession as the
objective in itself, turning an
attacking philosophy based
around constant movement and
freedom into a stodgy, passive
hope of reaching the opposition
box. Teams copy it, but badly,
failing to appreciate the hours of
work that have gone into
creating the space to attack.
At Barcelona, Guardiola’s
strategy was long entrenched.
Coming to English football, he
will have to adapt to his new
players and coach them
constantly in the first six months
for them to fully grasp the
system’s complexity, in the
same way he did at Bayern.
Maximum intensity is demanded
at all times, because, Guardiola
believes, that is the only way to
train his players’ muscles in the
football-specific movements
that define his attacking remit.
The cornerstone is the rondo
(Diagram A on the right), a
piggy-in-the-middle drill that
begins every training session.
The ball flies around at speed,
which helps to sharpen
technique in tight areas, with
the goal being to reach 30
touches, the eight players
counting out loud as they go. If
you lose the ball, you go in the
middle as punishment.
A variation on the rondo adds
an extra element. The drill is
4v4 with another three ‘neutral’
players who play for whichever
side has possession, making the
game effectively 7v4 (B, right).
Crucially, however, as soon as
possession is turned over, the
team who lost the ball can then
immediately counter-press to
win it back. The effect is two-
fold: it establishes the
importance of being alive to
the counter-press having just
lost possession, and the team
with the ball learn how to
position themselves and
engineer space.
“The secret is to overload one
side of the pitch so the opponent
must tilt its own defence to
cope,” Guardiola says in Pep
Confidential. “When you’ve done
that, we attack and score from
the other side. That’s why you
have to pass the ball with a
clear intention. Draw in the
opponent, then hit them with
the sucker punch.”
To reach that point, however,
players must develop their
fitness levels. Pre-season double
sessions were the norm at
Bayern – by the beginning of
October in 2013-14, Pep’s first
season with the club, Die Roten
had done 100 sessions – and
everything happens with
a ball. Just running is pointless.
“We train with maximum
intensity,” he has said. “Even
the rondos: it’s with 100 per
cent effort or you don’t do them
at all. If the players don’t like
them then they are welcome
to go mountain running, but
in that case we’ll never reach
our potential.”
Circuit sessions with fitness
coach Lorenzo Buenaventura are
constant in the early days.
Lesson plans from Guardiola’s
2007-08 title-winning season as
Barça B coach are available
online. The complexity of the
40-minute circuits is mind-
blowing, arrows flying
everywhere – jumps over
hurdles, in and out of cones,
followed by shots at goal.
“It has been difficult,” recalled
Lahm at the end of Guardiola’s
first season at Bayern. “But it
was also necessary after we had
won everything. Pep wanted to
teach us something new.”
Weeks after he joined the club,
Guardiola’s Bayern scored from
a remarkable 94-pass move
against Manchester City in the
Champions League. Premier
League defences, you have
been warned.HE HATES TIKI-TAKA
A B
Guardiola talking
tactics at BayernImagesImagesGetty ImagesGetty ImagesFourFourTwo.com The Managers 135PEP
GUARDIOLA