Pep Guardiola has revolutionised football, there’s no doubt about it.
Guardiola’s coaching style was a breath of fresh air when he took charge at Barcelona in the late 2000s as he evolved Johan Cruyff’s total football approach, popularising tiki-taka across the continent.
Pep Guardiola has since innovated in tons of different ways – using Lionel Messi as a false nine, using Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko as inverted full-backs, and using John Stones as the ultimate hybrid player at times.
Guardiola is one of the best managers ever, but, in the eyes of some, his influence hasn’t been entirely positive.
Speaking on Stick To Football, Gary Neville and Roy Keane have been discussing Guardiola’s influence, and Gary Neville says it’s crazy how some managers now try to play and replicate Guardiola.
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Pep Guardiola has started ‘crazy’ Premier League trend
Keane and Neville spoke about how Guardiola has influenced other managers.
Neville spoke about how almost every team plays out from the back now, imitating Guardiola, noting that it’s crazy how teams try to copy the Spaniard without having the same quality at their disposal.
“It’s weird when we mention Pep because it’s hard to criticise Pep. But as to other coaches, the foreign coaches have come in, are they not as good? Directly quality has dropped in terms of the coaching,” Keane said.
“Because everyone looks at Pep, we all look at Barcelona, but not every team can play like Barcelona.
“But Roy, I said to be fair, what we’re seeing now is poor imitations of Pep’s style. So Pep’s not the problem here. Pep’s, to be fair, a genius who’s built unbelievable teams and won Premier League titles and trebles and all the rest of it,” Neville said.
“But I think the other coaches are now getting caught up in it. To see a team that’s 18th in the league have their goalkeeper on the six yard box, roll it four yards to the centre back. I’m sorry, it’s crazy.”
Pep Guardiola’s sphere of influence
Guardiola has influenced almost every modern manager in world football at this point.
From Ian Evatt being influenced by Guardiola to Arne Slot being a fan of Guardiola, Pep’s fingerprints are all over football.
Of course, as Neville says, there are some poor imitations of this style, but, often, those who worked directly with Guardiola are successful.
| Pep Guardiola disciples | Notable clubs managed | Link to Pep Guardiola | Greatest career achievement |
| Mikel Arteta | Arsenal | Former assistant at Manchester City | FA Cup winner |
| Enzo Maresca | Chelsea, Leicester | Former assistant at Manchester City | Championship winner |
| Xavi | Barcelona | Former Barcelona player | La Liga winner |
| Vincent Kompany | Bayern Munich, Burnley | Former Man City captain | Soon-to-be Bundesliga winner |
| Xabi Alonso | Bayer Leverkusen | Former Bayern Munich player | Bundesliga winner – undefeated season |
| Luis Enrique | PSG, Barcelona, Roma | Barcelona teammate and Barcelona B manager | Champions League winner |
| Erik ten Hag | Manchester United, Ajax | Former assistant at Bayern Munich | Champions League semi-finalist with Ajax |
It’s not easy to copy Guardiola, but when you actually sit under his learning tree and take direct inspiration from the great man, you can often be massively successful.
Make no mistake about it, some of the best managers in the world are Guardiola disciples, even if there are also some poor imitators who don’t quite know what they’re trying to do or how to do it.
