12 titles in 15 years, no one knows how to win the league better than Pep Guardiola

Football Newspaper

2024-05-21 12:29Posted on the official account of Guangdong Football News

12 titles in 15 years, no one knows how to win the league better than Pep Guardiola

After leading Manchester City to an unprecedented four consecutive Premier League titles, Pep Guardiola has made history in the Premier League and made history of his own - after all, he has won three consecutive titles at Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively. Winning the Premier League title for four consecutive seasons not only shows the dominance of Pep Guardiola's team, but also proves the consistency of the Spanish coach's performance in the league.

Since his first first-team manager in 2008/09, Pep Guardiola has won 12 league titles covering La Liga, Bundesliga and the Premier League. In other words, in Guardiola's 15 seasons in charge, he has won the league title 12 times, with a success rate of 80%. Looking at world football, Pep Guardiola's consistency in winning the league title is unmatched.

Including other trophies, Pep Guardiola's 15-season coaching career has only failed in 2016/17, when he first took charge of Manchester City. With a total of 38 trophies, he is also the most of any active top coach. Carlo Ancelotti, who has won the five major league titles, has only a spatial advantage over Guardiola and no stability advantage. Since winning his first league title in 2003/04 (AC Milan, Serie A), Carlo Ancelotti has won just six league titles, with a success rate of 22.2 per cent and a total of 27 trophies. Jose Mourinho, who was once thought to be able to compete with Pep Guardiola, has only won six major league titles in 20 years, with a success rate of 36.4%, and only 26 trophies in the Portuguese Super League era.

Zinedine Zidane, who has a higher success rate (40%), has been in charge for too short (5 seasons), Ferguson, who has been retired for more than 10 years, has won more league titles than Pep Guardiola (13 titles in 27 years), but the league title rate is far less than that of Espanyol, and Ferguson is limited to the Premier League, which is less difficult to maintain consistency than Guardiola, who has won all three major leagues. After all, Pep Guardiola has to adapt to three completely different football cultures, and he can still win at least three titles, and in the Premier League, he has won six championships in seven years, which can be called the "big devil" of contemporary football league championships.

How has Pep Guardiola been able to succeed so consistently across three different cultures over a long period of 15 years? Perhaps, as Gary Neville puts it: "Pep Guardiola has devised a school of football that will not only succeed in Spain, where he grew up, but also in Europe." He's like a league championship machine, and he instills this consistent championship spirit and temperament in everyone he works with. ”

Like Pep Guardiola, it's not uncommon for a coach to be favored by Europe's top clubs, but no one has won back-to-back league titles at every big club like him. In fact, the mystery of the league's "champion demon king" is also an open secret. Pep Guardiola has learned from Cruyff's football philosophy, but has never rested on his laurels, but has never stopped learning. Menotti, an Argentine celebrity who passed away not long ago, is the senior master he often visits and consults. Pep Guardiola's football philosophy is based on the Spanish tradition of pass-and-control football, but since taking charge of Barcelona in 2008/09, there have been innovations that have led the times.

From Barcelona, Bayern Munich to Manchester City, and even Pep Guardiola in Manchester City, he has completed the iteration of the championship team, and his tactical philosophy has always been based on passing and control, but he can continue to improve according to local conditions. At Barcelona, not only did they discover a midfield master like Sergio Busquets, but they also perfectly combined high pressing with pass-and-control football. And when it comes to Bayern, Guardiola also has the genius to let Lahm serve as a midfielder. Bayern has set the record for the longest winning streak and the fastest championship in the Bundesliga, and behind the absolute dominance of Manchester City in the Premier League is the difficult game between Pep Guardiola and Bayern's century-old German football tradition, which can be seen in his football philosophy, management ability and execution ability.

In addition to the adherence to the football concept and innovation, Guardiola has also kept pace with the times in the use of advanced scientific and technological means: big data training methods, sports medicine and rehabilitation methods and other technological updates, Guardiola has also spared no effort. What really made City four in a row was not the same blue knit that Pep Guardiola has been wearing in the Premier League, but his astonishing versatility and consistency in keeping the team consistent, from training to games, from the treatment room to team building.

At each of the three different clubs, Pep Guardiola has been able to scout or create a core team to ensure that the team can maintain a basic consistency even if the main player is injured. In Barcelona, it is Messi's core "Habaib" midfielder, and in Bayern, it is Lahm, Alonso, Ribery and Robben's space control. At Manchester City, Ederson, Walker, John Stones, Kevin De Bruyne, B. Silva and Phil Foden were long-term followers during the six-year period, and Pep Guardiola also discovered the tactical hub of Rodri. Even if De Bruyne and Haaland have been injured this season and faced an unprecedented strong challenge from Liverpool, especially Arsenal, Guardiola can still rely on the core team to stabilize the fundamentals.

In addition, gradual and accumulation is the core rhythm of Guardiola's stable performance in the three major leagues, and it is important to start with a high start, but the decisive rhythm control lies in the dormant in winter and spring, and accumulates energy for the high-speed sprint of the last 1/3 of the season. Manchester City, who have won six titles in seven years, have always been able to maintain a consistent performance in the sprint stage, which is a fitness and form allocation strategy that other title contenders cannot do.

In the Barcelona era, Pep Guardiola allowed Real Madrid, which had 96 points, to be the runner-up, relying on 14 wins and 2 draws in 16 games in the second half; Bayern's 3 consecutive championships relied on 9 games, 8 wins and 1 draw in the sprint stage, and 6 championships in 7 years in Manchester City, because Manchester City has basically been the team with the most points in the Premier League since entering the sprint stage in February. The 2018/19 season allowed Liverpool to finish second with 97 points, thanks to a 14-game winning streak in the sprint stage; The only missed season in 2019/20 was also due to the four-month suspension of the league due to the pandemic, and the last 10 rounds were played in 40 days before giving Liverpool a chance. This season, Manchester City has been closely followed by Liverpool, especially Arsenal, to achieve four consecutive titles with nine consecutive wins without mistakes in the sprint. Pep Guardiola's Manchester City will not go high and low, and his control of the pace of the team's form distribution throughout the season is difficult for any other coach to match.

As the saying goes, there are often famous coaches who can win league championships in giants, but it is not often that coaches continue to win championships in different leagues. A "big devil" like Guardiola who is a low-profile "triple champion" has not been there before, and it will be difficult for anyone to reach in the future. He did not write a book on his football theory, nor did he even start a sect, but the 12 league trophies he contributed in the past 15 years are the best cases for competitors and followers to study and learn.

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