Guillem Balague has shared what the current differences are between Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
The two Spaniards are set to face off against each other once again tomorrow afternoon as the Citizens take on the north London club for their latest Premier League fixture.
Ahead of what promises to be a key match in this season’s title race, one pundit and journalist has shared some behind-the-scenes details on how the two former colleagues currently differ in terms of their working style.
Balague sheds light on Guardiola and Arteta differences
In a recent article shared on the BBC Sport website, Balague had this to say about the similarities and differences between Guardiola and Arteta.
He said: “They are in a different moment in life. Arteta is closer to the Guardiola from 10 years ago, with his overflowing passion and his wish to be a top manager. Guardiola is now more reflective, calmer.
“Training is also different. Their philosophy is the same, and Arteta has taken a huge amount from Guardiola, but there is a slight difference now. Guardiola focuses work on the game, on what might happen and what has to happen, and that requires lots of corrections at all times – one of the main reasons for his success.
“Arteta, perhaps more focused on individual training than Guardiola, is also very big on competition, on intensity, and prefers to let training run, rather than making many stops to correct players. They need everyone but show it in different ways.
“Guardiola likes to take everyone at the club into a room every three months to remind them what is important. Arteta likes to have even the masseurs and the physios, everyone that is important to the players, in training so they study on the ground what is important to the footballers, how work influences them.”
Arteta spent over three years as Guardiola’s assistant manager at the Manchester club before he took the reins at Arsenal back in December 2019.
Since then, the 42-year-old has overlooked 219 games with the Gunners across all competitions, winning 132, drawing 32 and losing 55.
In his latest press conference, Arteta described the City boss as “the best coach in the world by a mile,” which highlight the admiration and respect he has for his former colleague.
Now that Balague has shared what currently separates the two managers in terms of how they do their jobs, this gives some insight into how their respective teams are able to do what they do.
In terms of what happens on the pitch, this will undoubtedly be a big step towards potentially winning the title for whoever is able to potentially walk away with all three points.
