“Johan Cruyff painted the chapel, and Barcelona coaches since merely restore or improve it”—Pep Guardiola.
Whether Pep Guardiola’s interpretation of Cruyff’s total football philosophy is an improvement is subjective, but if one thing is for sure it’s that he has created an amazing system of his own, based on the revolutionary concepts brought to Barcelona by the Dutchman. Guardiola’s iconic, possession-centric system was the marquee of the all-conquering Barcelona side which ushered in the most successful period in the club’s history.
However, times have changed since his Barcelona won every trophy in existence and influenced a horde of ‘tiki-taka’ systems. Football, as it always does, has moved on from the possession-oriented trend by which it was so invariably amazed, and has taken to the fast-paced counter-attacking and pressing systems.
Like anything, the supposed “death of possession systems” needed a flashpoint to signal the end of an era and the start of a new one. Many see that end within the 2014 World Cup. Spain, the quintessential proponents of heavy passing and absurd possession stats, completely and utterly capitulated in Brazil.
Many saw the success of sides such as the Dutch team that embarrassed the 2010 World Cup winners as the metaphorical turning point for football, just as the world saw Ajax’s European Cup final win in 1972 as the rise of total football, and subsequently the death of Catenaccio or defensive football. But it is rather the flawed or poor execution of a system or ‘philosophy’ that allows for the failure of said system, rather than an exposed shortcoming of the model.
Many tried to copy Guardiola’s system, trying to endorse and implement what they perceive as his style. This system, and in fact the word ‘tiki-taka’, is actually one that the Spanish manager considers to be derogatory because it is possession without purpose. His sole objective is not to hold possession for possession’s sake, but rather to impose his will on the opposition through positioning as well as possession with an emphasis on shape.
Keeping the intended width and shape in his system is a product of his countless intensive training sessions, searing the concepts of his ideas into the minds of his players. Thierry Henry famously analysed his tactics and spoke a lot about keeping the width, specifically mentioning how he divides his training pitch up into different sections so that the players have a better understanding of where they should be. Spacing is a big part of what is so important in both a ‘total football’ system and a Guardiola system. Keeping the space between your own players when in possession of the ball allows for the numerical advantages and positional exposure of the opposition.
Many teams, including Manchester City, have fallen prey to this ill-disciplined tendency that players have to go towards the ball when they think they’re not seeing enough of it. This not only stifles creativity, but also makes it significantly easier for the opposition to defend due to the proximity in which the players have allowed themselves to be.
For example, in a system that doesn’t have a surgical emphasis on the positioning of a team, something like a switch can create a lot of space for a team. But in systems where the positioning is so detailed and well-maintained, a well-timed and precise switch can take four or five opposition players out of the game completely.
This is why Guardiola considers the term ‘tiki-taka’ derogatory—his system it’s so much more than just possession and reaching high passing numbers. It is the responsibility of midfielders in the system to make passes with a purpose. Not every single pass is going to split the defence and set a forward or a winger through on goal, but using the ball in in order to shift the opposition into tactically advantageous positions is what Guardiola is trying to achieve.
The shifting of an entire team via intelligent possession and then capitalising on these positional errors through the rigid discipline to keep the team’s shape in Guardiola’s system is what is responsible for the success his Barcelona team had. Players somehow wide open and through on goal so consistently made it seem like the Catalans were cheating the offside rule, but it was just a bi-product of all the hard work that was done beforehand.
His strategy relied on his midfielders having the ability to draw one or more opposition players towards them, maintain possession even under pressure, and make the intelligent pass that would find someone in space if the player had maintained his positional duty.
The quick, rondo-style passing between the players which originally drew forth the name ‘tiki-taka’ was essential in freeing up the Barcelona players who were in advantageous positions by not being drawn towards the ball. These three P’s of possession, positioning, and play sit in the core of Guardiola’s system, but it is in his current Bayern team where the influence of total football can be seen more clearly.
The main difference between his all-conquering Barcelona side and his current Bayern Munich team, excluding Lionel Messi, is the absence of a dynamic midfield pairing. Iniesta and Xavi were so essential to the Catalans during the Guardiola era because of their ball retention, mobility, and passing. These attributes, coupled with their dedication to not only being attacking influences, but also pressing so intelligently that they got the ball back almost as soon as they lost it, is what has been missing. T
he closest thing he has to a pairing on their level is that of Thiago and Xabi Alonso, but seeing that the former was injured for a full calendar year and Alonso isn’t very mobile, a system change was due. The purpose of his spacing in the 4-3-3 at Barcelona was to get Iniesta and Xavi on the ball in as much space as possible because they were the most dangerous players.
At Bayern, Ribery and Robben were the most dangerous players in the team when he arrived, but injury and age have caught up with both mercurial wingers. Guardiola’s Bayern have gone through an interesting evolution since he’s arrived, and it is his transition to a three at the back is most revealing.
He has often been cited as referring to the formational numbers as somewhat unimportant, and his time in Munich reflects that more so than his time in Barcelona. The 3-4-3 system which he often plays and experiments with is coached in a way that it becomes tactically amorphous depending on the situation. A mainstay of Guardiola’s ideals is that he believes that the attacking aspect of football is more of an innate ability that certain players possess, and that defending is mainly organizational and discipline oriented.
This sentiment is reflected in the training method where he divides the pitch with lines, stopping players from crossing into their opposing zones; except in the final third. The final third is freedom. His 3-4-3 system allows for him to get the most dangerous players on the ball, in this case Douglas Costa and Robert Lewandowski, the best possible opportunities through a flexible midfield and defensive shape.
Against less threatening opposition, Guardiola’s team can be seen throwing forward everyone except for two centre-backs, thus illustrating the flexibility of his system. From 2-0 up he can transition to a five back for more defensive stability; from 1-0 down he can transition to a front three with adequate midfield support.
That being said, he needs an orchestrator to solidify and keep his ideas in check when he can’t yell loud enough. At Barcelona it was Xavi and Sergio Busquets; at Bayern it has been Xabi Alonso and to some extent Javi Martinez. Martinez has suffered some rather consistent injury problems since his arrival, but has also undergone a massive change that can be identified as a characteristic of Guardiola’s coaching style.
He has transformed the Spanish national from midfielder to central defender, just as he did with Javier Mascherano and Yaya Touré. This comes back to the point about the formation being tactically amorphous. If you have multiple players who can play multiple positions and have a complete understanding of what you’re trying to achieve, then one can more easily change the game plan when needed.
David Alaba has also been asked to sport a number of positions, ranging from left-back to a creative role in the final third. These ‘total football’-esque players allow his ideas to be more easily translated onto the field and also help him cope with injuries. Even with Bayern’s defensive injury crisis, they’ve conceded the fewest goals in Europe’s top five leagues with an astonishing thirteen goals conceded. That’s an amazing accomplishment regardless of the fact that their best defenders in Jerome Boateng and Medhi Benatia have been injured for some significant stretches.
This defensive concentration that has allowed for Bayern to become so organised reflects the sentiment that the Spaniard holds dear; defensive excellence comes down to organisation and training, while attacking flair is more innate.
The Premier League has taken to the high pressing game, something that is said to be the key to unlocking possession centric systems, but it is this pre-conceived notion that Guardiola’s model is just a possession system which is untrue. Though many have tried, no one has successfully re-created the style that the former Barcelona man is so widely known for, and it is with this knowledge and analysis of his continually evolving system which suggests that City are in the best hands heading into next season.
