Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has birthed several new tactic trends during his managerial career that have revolutionised football.
Martin Keown once claimed Guardiola is the best-ever manager in the history of the game — touching on his unprecedented impact on English football.
Jamie Carragher praised Pep Guardiola for producing “perfect football” — first with his double-winning Barcelona side in 2011 and his Manchester City team that won the treble in 2023.
The way Pep Guardiola sees the game is one of a kind — as revealed by players who have played under him.
John Stones admitted Guardiola changed his worldview on football as he realised he did not know much about the game before working with him at City.
Guardiola is well and truly special in this regard.
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Luca Toni jokes Pep Guardiola “ruined football” with false nine tactic
Gary Neville claimed Pep Guardiola has outdone Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of his “style of play” across the global game as well.
Considering Neville worked under Ferguson for several years, his claim goes to show how remarkable the Catalan’s influence on the game has been.
While having dinner with Pep Guardiola, Luca Toni, who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 joked that he “ruined football” with his well-documented false nine tactic that he famously first deployed Lionel Messi in at Barcelona.
The retired striker said — via Italian Football TV: “Pep [Guardiola], you ruined football.”
“With the false nine, I couldn’t find a team for four years. Seriously.”
“Can you say that you only used the false nine with [Lionel] Messi [at Barcelona]?”
“Do you even like centre-forwards?”
Pep Guardiola replied: “I have it, [Erling] Haaland, 60 goals. We won the treble with that striker but the centre-forwards must be good! Understand?”
Toni said: “Okay but stop it with the false nine now.”
“Big centre forwards are better!”
At Manchester City, the likes of Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Oscar Bobb, James McAtee and Jack Grealish all have played the position.
Lionel Messi revealed how Guardiola explained the false nine position to him
In 2009, Barcelona famously massacred Real Madrid 6-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Pep Guardiola made the bold tactical decision of opting for Messi as his false nine instead of star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
However, Guardiola’s decision paid dividends as the Argentine scored a brace as he dazzled in his newfound role to leave Juande Ramos’ side hapless in the Spanish capital.
In an interview with DAZN, Messi recounted how Guardiola explained the false nine role to him.
“I remember that it was a surprise for me, because I was called up the day before the game, was made to go to [Pep] Guardiola’s office at the Ciutat Esportiva, and I was told that he had been watching Madrid’s games a lot, as he did with every opponent.”
“He had been talking with Tito Vilanova and they had thought about me playing as a false nine. He was going to put Samuel [Eto’o] and Thierry Henry on the outside, and I was going to play as the false centre-forward.”
Messi continued: “In fact, one of [Thierry] Henry’s goals was like that. It was a surprise for us and for Madrid. I remember that we had a lot of possession and we always had an extra man in the middle of the park.”
“I’d never played as a centre-forward but I knew that position because it meant coming through from deep to get forward, without being a static number 9. It wasn’t a big change for me. I’d been playing on the outside for years, and so I knew what that position was about.”
Manchester City also bossed Manchester United when they bossed them in their 3-1 win at Old Trafford in the first leg of the Carabao Cup — with Bernardo and Mahrez rotating between themselves in the centre-forward position and leaving the hosts helpless to deal with their constant positional rotations.
City’s 2-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final in 2021 is another example where Foden dazzled as a false nine.
Pep Guardiola could revert to this tactic this season more than in recent campaigns if he intends to hand Erling Haaland a rest.
Guardiola will be relieved to know that he has players who are well capable of filling in the complex role.
