Page 99 - Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography

Keep reading and find out.
The press conference starts now. Pep leans forward into the microphone, and starts to speak:

‘When I face the press and the players, there is always an imposing element, almost theatrical, in order to be able to reach them. But
in the end I always transmit what I feel. There is an element of shame, of fear, of acting the fool that makes me contain myself a little,
then there is what I have learnt from football and the thing is that it scares me to make a statement when I know that the game is
uncontrollable, that tomorrow my words could come back to haunt me. That’s why I always search for the element of scepticism, the “je
ne sais quoi”, a doubt. That false humility that people always say I have, always giving the players the credit, isn’t because I don’t want
to acknowledge my own merits, I must have done something right, it is because I panic about having those words turned on me. Because
by doing exactly the same as what I am doing now, I could lose tomorrow. I prefer to be wrong a million times than give my people the
impression that I am sure about everything that I am not. Because if I get it wrong tomorrow through doing the same thing as I do now,
they’ll say, “You weren’t that clever, how didn’t you see that?”
‘I win because I am in a team rich in very good players and I try to make them give their all and out of ten games I win eight or nine.
But the difference between winning and losing is so small ... Chelsea didn’t win the European Cup because Terry slipped when taking a
penalty, he slipped! I’ve given the players that example a thousand times.
‘Three or four books have been written about my leadership strategy. I look at them to discover myself and see if I really do those
things, because I don’t know. They come to conclusions about me that I had never even considered.
‘Why am I more of a leader than a coach who has been training for twenty years and hasn’t won anything? It isn’t false modesty, I
can’t find the reason because I wouldn’t have won trophies if I hadn’t been with Barça.
‘The players give me prestige and not the other way around.
‘I would go out on to the pitch with the players and go into the dressing room. I’m still very young and there are a lot of things that I
would do. I’d go and hug them as a player. But I can’t do that any more.
‘How do I exercise my leadership? Why do I tell players one thing or another? Nothing is premeditated; everything is pure intuition
with the players at all times. When they lose they are a mess, both those who played and those who didn’t. So, sometimes I turn up and
hug one or tell another one something, it is pure intuition. Of the twenty decisions I make each day, eighteen are intuitive, through
observation.
‘Is that all true? I can’t work solely through intuition, I have to work using my knowledge, I don’t want them to brand me a visionary.
Furthermore, if I were I would make my players play in strange positions.
‘In the end we do what we can and feel, through our education, we only transmit what we have experienced. There are no general
theories that apply to everything. And any one could be valid, what doesn’t work is imposing something that doesn’t work.
‘As professional as they are, they are also scared of losing and they look for that figure that gives them the key, that tells them: “Hey,
come this way ...” this is what we coaches have to do. We have to transmit trust and security in all the decisions we make.
‘That trust, security and sincerity are the fundamental pillars for a good coach. The players have to believe in the manager’s message.
He must always speak to the player fearlessly, sincerely and tell him what he thinks. Without deceiving him.
‘The players put you to the test each day; that’s why it is very important to be convinced about what you want and how you want to
put it across. They are aware that luck is an important factor in the game, but they want to feel that the coach is convinced and defends
the decisions he has made. The day we played against Espanyol at home (1-2), I got it wrong at half-time. A couple of weeks later, I
mentioned it to them. They know that we aren’t perfect, but we are humble and sincere.
‘I don’t know in what aspect we are good coaches. We haven’t invented or revolutionised anything. The tactical concepts that we
apply have been developed here, we have been taught them. The secret is in the details and in observing a lot. You have to pay a great
deal of attention, constantly, to what happens every day, more so than to the weekend’s game: we are always aware of every aspect, of
a player’s moods, their expressions, of thousands of almost unfathomable things that could make a difference. Observation is key.
‘When I lose I wonder if I am capable of being a coach, of maintaining that leadership, and if I win, the ecstasy lasts five minutes and
then I lose it.
‘The fans need to know that their players work hard, the same as them. It is a good thing for people to know that we can be strict with
them, fining them when they turn up late. The supporters have to see themselves reflected in the players. It is a question of defence
because in difficult times people have to know that they haven’t lost because they are lazy, that the work has been put in.
‘I only know that a good leader is one who isn’t scared of the consequences of their decisions. They make the decision that their
intuition tells them, no matter what happens.
‘In order to make decisions, you must be really convinced, they can’t be taken lightly when there is so much pressure. I don’t ignore
the media element.
‘There are times when I am tired and I have to transmit energy and I don’t know how to do so. If you transmit it you’re not being
yourself, and if you don’t transmit it you’re not being true to yourself.
‘With the first team, there are weeks when you are running on empty. In some training sessions I only observe because I don’t have
the sufficient time or energy to direct them; Tito, Aureli or Loren Buenaventura direct them.
‘The key is to have a strong dressing room, knowing that we are stronger together than one person on his own.
‘My players know that it bothers me less if they make a mistake ten times, than if they ignore me or don’t look at me when I call