The Manchester City champion and the revolution Guardiola: he painted total football blue, he has already bagged the Premier and aims for the treble

Man accumulates 33 titles and between now and June 10, two more can be added, but that may not be the most important thing. The man, Pep Guardiolawere crowned Premier League champions this Saturday and revolutionized football from mid-2008 when he began leading his first orchestra, the Barcelona of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi, to this day, with a Manchester City that painted all football that was once orange and is going to also win two games the FA Cup and the Champions League (which would be a treble similar to the one obtained in 2009 with Barcelona). Or none, which is unlikely.

“Because he won more than anyone else, he convinced the pragmatists; Since she plays better than anyone else, she has seduced the discerning“, he wrote George Valdano in one of his last columns for the newspaper El País. He also underlined that the coach born 52 years ago at Sampedor is a “current unit of measurement of football” AND? “The old man keeps renewing himself and is called Guardiola”.

Keep winning and keep revolutionizing, But Guardiola himself has no shortage of detractors. There are those who point out that he won’t win the Champions League without Messi (it’s true) and also those who say that he has ruined football because everyone wants to copy him and many do it wrong (absurd). Talent irritates, annoys; and Pep Guardiola is an immensely talented coach.

The latest revolution in trainers that put a lionel Messi of the “false nine”, who at Bayern Munich came to play with five forwards (almost a tribute to the 2-3-5 system of the 1940s) and who got English football used to goalkeepers who shot from distance towards the big nine, making what they wear gloves an active participant in the exit from the bottom, the latest revolution, we know, is called John Stones.

The centre-back who for years bore the brunt of the £55million his transfer cost is now a defender leading the 3-2-4-1 formation who delivered unforgettable performances, especially in the first half against Real Madrid ( 4-0) for the semi-final of the Champions League.

stones and Rodri They are the masters of the midfield, they manage the start and generate the most important thing in the positional game that Guardiola represents: looking for the free man and conquering the backs of the pressing opponents. After, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish and above Erling Haaland They have the task of billing that superiority in a game of surgical precision of passages and search for internal corridors that disarms any defense.

The bottom exit, from which Pep confesses he robbed Ricardo La Volpe in Mexico, has left its mark on football this century. Almost all teams try, with more (see the Argentinos de Gabriel Milito) or lower efficacy (many). What some don’t fully understand is that it’s not an aesthetic tool: it’s the key to the positional game, Guardiola’s trademark. It is not soccerIt’s football at its best. But it has its risks.

This year the Catalan coach has tried to increase his superiority in midfield and that is why he has tried to add one more player. He tried it with young people Rico Lewisas he had done with Philip Lahm at Bayern. A side added to the centre, which also ensured a toll in the event of a rival counter-attack. Two games later, against Liverpool, on the 29th round, it was Stones’ turn. And everything is closed.

Another key in Guardiola’s style manual is possession. “One day I will coach a small team with which it will be impossible to win anything because we will not have Messi nor will we have the weight of history, like in Bayern, nor will we have the money to sign Sané or Ederson (now that would be Haaland), but that day the ball will still be ours, I swear“, Pep said to a colleague one day in 2018, tired of certain criticisms.

The ball belongs to Pep and also to the leagues. In the long leagues, Guardiola’s teams show improbable supremacy. Out of 14 played, he won 11 (this Saturday he completed the one underway with Manchester City). He has won three out of four with Barcelona, ​​three out of three with Bayern Munich and five out of seven with City. And their titles are distributed like this: 14 with Barcelona, ​​​​7 with Bayern and 12 with Manchester.

They will say that he manages stars and that he has an excess checkbook, data that are true but that he has shared with Real Madrid, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, for example. They will say that he hasn’t won the Champions League since 2011 without Messi. Indisputable, at least until June 10th.

But the forms, the game, its designer teams, its seal, are as strong as the numbers. “We play for the fans, to make them happy”Pep once said. And City fans, and those who join in for the fun, are delighted. City achieved a third consecutive league title, which hadn’t happened in the Premier League since neighbors Manchester achieved it in the 2008/2009 season. Until Guardiola’s arrival in England, United, Chelsea and even Leicester City took turns with the consecrations. Until Guardiola’s arrival in England, City had won four Premiers, these days they are in ninth. We insist: five out of seven.

Pep came to City and in his first season (2016/17) he had his worst season – he finished third. In the following one he broke all records: he was the first to reach 100 points in the history of the Premier League, he made the biggest difference from second place (18, against Manchester United) and scored 106 goals (21 were from Kun Aguero). All this after winning 18 consecutive games.

In the current one, Arsenal were almost always behind (they lost 1-0 against Nottingham Forrest) led by his former assistant on the pitch Mikel Arteta. Eleven wins in a row ended up finalizing the change of command. He will not be the champion with the best numbers, at most he will reach 94 points, under 100 in 20017/18 and 98 in 2018/19.

It is that the team has taken longer than usual to find its best version, the one we are seeing, the one that makes it the best team in the world, whether or not they win the two titles they have available.