Page 78 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

Guardiola’s first competitive game as first-team coach of FC Barcelona had arrived. Because of
the team’s third-placed finish the previous season, the opening game would be in the third qualifying
round of the Champions League. Barça comfortably beat Polish club Wisła Kraków 4-0 at home.
They then lost 1-0 in Kraków, but progressed with a 4-1 aggregate victory. The Pep era had begun

with qualification for the Champions League proper.
‘I was an unknown quantity when I came in, and the first thing I asked the team to do was to put
their trust in me,’ Pep remembers. ‘I told them everything would work out fine. I wanted the fans to
see that the team was going to work hard, run, play good football, and take pride in their work on the
pitch. People want to be entertained. They don’t want to be cheated. The fans can accept a poor
performance but they won’t take it when you choose not to put in the effort. The team’s come on and
we’ve made changes and tweaked a few things here and there. The idea is still the same as it has

always been in this house, though: to attack, score as many goals as possible, and play as well as we
can.’
A coach is everything and nothing at the same time: nothing, because without the right tools at his
disposal he’s unable to achieve greatness. But he’s smart enough to know that his job is vital to create
the right environment and conditions for his players to fulfil their potential; it is what makes the
difference between converting a good group of players into an excellent team. And that was

something that Pep managed to achieve from day one, without allowing nagging doubts and questions
such as ‘what if it this doesn’t work?’ to interfere.
On one occasion Guardiola explained that there are two types of coaches: those who think
problems solve themselves and those who solve problems. Guardiola belongs to the group that seeks
solutions. That is his real passion.
The game. Seeing what the opponent does. Deciding the players you will use. That is the moment
that ‘makes sense’ of the profession – the search for the solution, the decision that will change a

game, that will win a game.
Often for Pep, the moment when it all becomes clear in his head occurs to him in a subterranean
office in the Camp Nou. Pep’s office is not much bigger than four square metres, receives lots of
direct light and contains a handful of books and a table lamp. There is also a plasma screen to analyse
both his team’s and their rivals’ games, which he paid for out of his own pocket.
If, in the middle of the almost spiritual process, engrossed in his analysis, somebody knocked on

the door of his office, they would find it impossible to get his full attention. Some brave soul might try
to talk to him, but he would look through them rather than at them. He wouldn’t be listening. In his
mind he would still be watching the videos of the rivals even if his eyes were not on the screen. ‘OK,
let’s talk later,’ he’d say, politely ushering his visitor out. And then Pep would turn his attention to
visualising the game that would take place a couple of days later. Searching for that flash of
inspiration, that moment, the magical moment: ‘I’ve got it. I’ve got it. This is how we are going to
win.’ If it were up to him, he would get rid of everything else in football except that spark.

For Guardiola, tactical concepts are taken in if the players have the right attitude and understand
what they are doing. The essence that he transmits is that the team should be in order, and ordered,
through the ball. He talks to the players about position, imbalance, balance, circulation – ultimately,
the desire to win, working to be the best.

‘In the world of football there is only one secret: I’ve got the ball or I haven’t. Barcelona has opted for having the ball although it is
legitimate for others not to want it. And when we haven’t got the ball is when we have to get it back because we need it.’

Since his coaching debut, Guardiola has never tired of repeating that Johan Cruyff was the inspiration