Pep Guardiola is a pioneering genius, who deserves a place alongside Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels as one of the greatest coaches of all-time.
That is the unequivocal view of his Leicester counterpart Brendan Rodgers, who has paid the ultimate tribute to the Manchester City manager ahead of their crunch showdown at the Etihad tomorrow night.
Rodgers says he has eyes only for the Foxes heading into the clash, irrespective of his emotional ties to former club Liverpool, and believes his own team can cause the champions-in-waiting a few headaches. But, regardless of the outcome, he believes Guardiola has established himself as one of the greatest in the history of the game for his work with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now City.
He said of the Catalan: “He’s a pioneer — a genius in terms of some of the innovations he has put in place. So, of course, 100% he can be put alongside the likes of Cruyff. Rinus Michels is another one.
“I’ve been a big follower of Cryuff and that model of work since I was a young coach. What ties them together is that they all understood football, the importance of technique, relationships, positions on the pitch.
“Of course, Cruyff played under Michels and Pep played in that Barcelona team of Cruyff’s and what he learned from that has given him an incredible base. He’s fed that into La Masia, into the academy, and that gave them the golden generation of Xavi, Iniesta and Pique.
“What he did at Bayern was great – maybe didn’t conquer Europe, but went close – and what he’s given to the game overall, from a coaching perspective, has been brilliant.
“He came into City and people said, ‘You won’t be able to play like that here’. It took him one season to have a look, then he got in some players to make it happen.
“Of course, it’s about the players. If you don’t have the players you want, then you’re going to have issues. But once the club was able to get him the players he wanted, you can see what’s happened in the past couple of seasons. He’s just a fantastic coach.”
Rodgers added that the reason he felt justified in handing out the praise was because he has seen the work, first-hand, himself.
He added: “I’m speaking so highly of him because I know the hard work that goes into it. We played City at Celtic in my first season and they were incredible. People turn up and watch and say, ‘My word, they play some great football’. But they won’t understand how much goes into a team that appears to play with so much freedom.
“There’s so much structure and positioning – lots of analysis and work on the training pitch. The reviewing, the reflecting, the on-field correcting. It’s just so much work and you see that reward on the field. Pep has also created a spirit, fostered that a togetherness. He has created a fantastic team and he’s a great coach.”
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