A pensive looking Pep: are Bayern’s big star’s futures on the line?

Since Pep Guardiola stepped down as Barcelona’s most successful manager, much speculation surrounding his future has involved Premier League clubs – Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City. Most sections of the press spoke of a possible move for to England for the Catalan but perhaps underestimated the lure of Bundesliga’s Bayern Münich- who have pulled off a gem of a deal in making him their new manager.

But Should We Really Be So Surprised?

The Bundesliga is now amerging as one of the strongest leagues in Europe and it’s champions elect Bayern who are well equipped to fit the profile of the man and the manager of Guardiola’s ilk.
He has learned a lot from time from his beloved Barcelona and from his time abroad to go with the values he believes are so important in life and in football.

Bayern are a very well ran, iconic and historic club with the vital foundations in place for Guardiola to succeed at. Their state of the art stadium- The Alianz, a newly developed youth academy and significant financial backing will give him the platform to continue his successful managerial career along with a very talented squad to boot.

Language/Culture

Now with the challenge of
learning German, Guardiola is no stranger to speaking foreign languages or embracing different cultures
after living and working in Spain, UAE, Italy and Mexico as a player and a coach (either/or) as well as being a fluent speaker of Spanish, Catalan, Italian and English.
Moreover, he has plenty of time to delve into his German text books and grasp the German language between now until the summer.
And even if it isn’t quite up to scratch then he can always turn to Javi Martinez to help him communicate with his players!

Squad/Keeping The Star Names In Line

With talent sometimes comes ego so therefore he will no doubt be required keep name stars such as Ribery and Robben on their toes, or worse still, have rid of them like he did at Barcelona with Ronaldinho and Deco after just a few weeks into the job as the Catalan club’s new boss before Eto’o became the third player to be sold on a year later.
And he may look do the same again but only time will tell if players such as Arjen Robben will fit in with Guardiola’s high intense, pressing game.

Challenges/Silverware

The talented squad he’ll inherit from his predecessor Heckekes, the sixty seven year old who will retire at the end of the season, will give him an excellent platform to build success, particularly on a domestic point of view. Bayern currently hold a seven point lead over rivals Bayer Leverkusen and a ahead of Bundesliga champions of the last two seasons Dortmund.

As for Europe, this is where Pep could really make himself a hero to all Bayern Supporters and even to other Germans as it’s been twelve years since any German club has won the UEFA Champions League. The attraction bringing a first European title since Bayern’s 2001 triumph over Valencia (if Heckekes doesn’t do it this season) will serve as will come as greater incentive after two heartbreaking final defeats to Inter Milan in 2010 and Chelsea last May.

Style of play

There’s no escaping the importance of the Barça system and the specific players required to make it work. This undoubtedly will have been a big factor in Guardiola’s decision making process as Bayern boast an impressive youth system and players with high technical ability.

However, it will be interesting to see how Guardiola, after spending large amounts of his playing and managerial career in Latin countries such as Spain and Italy, will adapt to the German style of play.
However Germany and Spain do share some footballing similarities in terms of their emphasis on long term focus of developing young players with a view to introducing them to the first team as well as both basing their game on high technical ability tactical, attacking, free flowing football.

In terms of formation, the current Bayern squad have generally been used to playing 4-2-3-1 so consequently Guardiola may not find it so easy to transfer the Barça 4-3-3 into their play. But that’s not to say he’ll be short of quality in his squad.

He has been known to play another formation other to 4-3-3 and was the first Barça coach in years to play 3-4-3 on occasion so he may look to evolve his tactics once more.

Special Research Sources:-

“Another Way Of Winning” The Biography by Guillem Balague

Barça: The Making Of The Greatest Team In The World” by Graham Hunter