How and why the fallout over Pep Guardiola’s post match interview is overblown
Pep Guardiola had few words, none of them pleasant, following 10-man Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Burnley. Is he feeling the pressure or is it something else?
If you’re confused about the storm-in-a-teacup furor over Pep Guardiola being cold to a journalist during his post-match interview, following the 2-1 victory over Burnley on Monday, then I don’t blame you.
Basically it goes a little something like this: Pep gets stick from the media 48 hours earlier, following a difficult 0-1 defeat at Liverpool, for underestimating the English game. Pep demonstrates this to be false by inspiring his side to go on to win after being reduced to 10 men against Burnley. Pep gets asked only about the sending off and other issues in his post-match interview. Pep is not pleased.
Now, in fairness to the journalist in question, the red card is a hot topic and given it’s not the first, or even second, that Fernandinho has picked up this season alone, it did beg the question. But let’s face it. More remarkable than Fernandinho getting an early shower, and honestly it’s not really shocking for him at all, is that City ultimately showed the fight required to triumph regardless. The desire to go on to win despite the man down was instilled by Pep and was the catalyst for the victory that followed.
Unfortunately all that was lost in the pool of controversy over Fernandinho, then replaced by a lake of drama over Pep’s interview, soon to be overridden by a sea of faux shock and horror over Bacary Sagna’s alluding to the referee being somewhat not impartial on Instagram. Noticing a common thread here? Right, in the end it doesn’t really matter what can be used, but like Old Faithful there seems to be always something to detract from the Blues’ successes.
There seems to me to be something behind this that runs much deeper. A desire to see Pep fail in the face of the great pink elephant of English football, the ultimate expression of the sport, that is so unique that it can bring arguably the best manager around to his knees.
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It doesn’t take much understanding of how journalism works to figure out why people who are paid to write about English football want English football to be seen as superior. None of that Barcelona-style tiki taka welcome here, my friend! We want only solid, hoof the ball up the park to Jamie Vardy/Harry Kane/Tall English Man style of play.
Be that as it may, I think at this point it’s obvious that Guardiola’s efforts are in many ways paying off and will come to fruition sooner or later for City. Taking over a side largely unchanged from Manuel Pellegrini’s days, which was largely unchanged from Roberto Mancini’s days, Pep has inherited an aging squad with an aging mentality. Sluggish, lazy play was the norm for City last season with one-dimensional tactics and a gross lack of awareness in zonal play. All this makes for an even more difficult transitionary period for Pep.
Keep in mind that Pep’s style is as much a mindset as it is a ball game. Players hunger for the ball, desperate never to lose it and chase it down methodically if it ever was lost via honed pressure like a pack of hungry wolves. Possession is paramount, passing is surgical and discipline (in particular, sticking to formations and patterns) is central. Barcelona defender Javier Mascerano claimed it took him two years to fully integrate this style into his repertoire, yet for many the presumption is that Alex Kolarov and Jesus Navas should have adapted comfortably in half a season.
This creates an air of expectation, likely not helped by Manchester City’s 10 game win streak earlier in the season, that dictates that each individual victory to be expected and can be safely taken for granted. Of course City beat Burnley, what else did you expect? Never mind they did it with only 10 men against basically the same team they couldn’t beat last season with 11.
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Pep, all the while, has always maintained he’ll need time. Time to fully build the squad the way he wants, time to integrate his system and way of thinking, time to build a legacy that will see successes long after he departs the post. I have no doubt that Manchester City fans will hold off on criticisms, allowing Pep the time he needs. It’s about time the media did the same.