Guardiola: why is he not a failure

There is a phrase called the ‘tall poppy syndrome’ which is basically the culture of cutting down to size anything or anyone whose achievements are resented and disparaged by lesser mortals.

In a similar vein the Chinese say that it’s the nail that stands out that gets hammered down. But whether it be via hammer or sickle one man that will know the feeling better than most this morning, is the Bayern Munich – soon to be Manchester City boss – Pep Guardiola.

Perhaps the prevalent emotion being displayed by some at the moment carries coincidentally, a German word, ‘Schadenfreude’ – literally ‘harm-joy’ – or as the Oxford dictionary would have it, “the pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune”.

It probably won’t come as a huge surprise to anyone that some of the best exponents of TPS, and/or ‘Schadenfreude’ can be found among the German press.

It has been reported in various places that Guardiola has said that defeat over two legs against Atletico Madrid in the semi finals of the Champions League means his three year stay at Bayern Munich has been a failure.

Which is certainly news to me because if he did say that at the post match press Conference I was at after Tuesday night’s second leg at the Allianz Arena then I must have missed it.

Actually what he said was that the statistics were there for all to see and if you wanted to compare them like for like then he obviously hadn’t reached the numbers that his predecessor, Jupp Heynckes had.

He also went on to wish his successor, Carlo Ancelotti, success for the future in all competitions.

But he added he was so happy with the players and happy with himself for having giving his all for Bayern.

In truth it makes for an interesting debate, so lets look at the stats – the facts. Is his tenure at Bayern Munich a failure?

They show that he has only managed to get as far as the semi-finals of the Champions League in the three years that he has been at Bayern.

They also reveal that Bayern Munich have only won the Champions League twice this century so if that’s the yardstick we’re using we can also presumably assume that every single manager who has not won the trophy with Bayern Munich (or with any club with lots of money) can also consider themselves to be a failure. The list is huge but the word failure seems to be linked to Pep, who has won 19 titles in his nine years as a manager, more than to most.

This could also perhaps be the appropriate time to mention that actually Guardiola HAS also won the Champions League twice, in 2009 and 2011 with Barcelona.

There are, of course, different ways of looking at this. At the time of writing Bayern Munich are on the verge of securing their fourth Bundesliga title in a row. If they do it, which they surely will, they will become the first team in the history of the league to achieve this.
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Not since the 1970s have Bayern Munich achieved three league titles in a row, something that a single point either away to Ingolstadt or home to already relegated Hannover in the last match of the season will guarantee.

More importantly perhaps, and even by the admission of some of his detractors, they have won with a brand of wonderful, attractive football the likes of which has not been seen anywhere throughout the rest of Europe this season. Ask Bayern directors, they will agree with that. The football they played against Juve, against Atletico in both legs… Nobody has played better this season in important matches.

Just about every Bayern fan will tell you the same and the false notion propagated by some that he has not reached his targets is not one shared by the power brokers at ‘Club Hollywood’ that tried just about everything they possibly could to keep Pep at the club.

What they see is a team that has improved, players that have improved (admitted by themselves) and to that end he is considered by the club to have achieved what he wanted at the club.

Pervading the atmosphere however is the overwhelming impression that from the moment he announced he was leaving Bayern – and let’s be clear on this one, normally it’s Bayern that leaves people not people that leave Bayern – it’s been ‘open season’ from parts of the media against a Guardiola that has not been defended as well as he could have been by the very same people who had earlier tried so hard to keep him at the club.

His team’s performance in both legs of what turned out to be a thrilling semi final was excellent and ultimately Bayern paid the price for their failure to convert their chances into goals in the first leg at the Vicente Calderon. Alaba hit the bar, but luck is needed to win trophies.

The turning point in the second leg was Muller’s missed penalty and had he scored I would have liked to see what Atletico Madrid would have brought to the table, but ultimately that’s football; that’s why we love the game so much.

There has also been a veritable landslide of words extolling the virtues of the heart, battle, teamwork and commitment displayed by Diego Simeone’s men all of which is true.

Unfortunately alongside that, the inference that Guardiola’s slick, superstar side lacked sufficient quantities of the ‘right stuff’ to prevail over two legs is as spurious as it is spiteful.

Bayern tried all they could to win through, primarily with their heads in the first half and then with their hearts in the second, but ultimately fell just short (and again, Griezmann was offisde, but those very decisive but difficult to call referee decisions are also needed sometimes to reach finals).

I saw no less desire or commitment coming from Bayern than I did from Atletico except perhaps that from the Bayern side it was more visible from an attacking point of view rather than the, certainly praiseworthy, defensive heroics displayed by Atletico.

There are also those that accused Bayern of playing effectively too much of an English type of game with crosses into the box. They miss the point. It is never about crosses per se but more to do with trying to exploit one of Atletico Madrid’s perceived weaknesses which is not about defending the cross but more about the second ball after it.

The plan was to be there in the last third, defending high, then to put crosses in with a view to creating danger via the second ball. As well as looking for inside channels, for superiority in midfield, diagonal balls… Bayern attacked in dozens of ways.

Football matches are won and lost by the slimmest of margins. If people out there genuinely believe that things like missed penalties are deemed as the reason for failure then so be it.

If they feel that what we have seen under Guardiola is failure then it is not a view shared by anyone at the club least of all by the fans and above all the players; players that will tell you to a man that they and the side have grown under his tutelage. What you have now is a better team but that doesn’t mean that it is a team that will win all the time.

The notion that Pep Guardiola is a failure because he has failed to win the Champions League with Bayern is a view held by small people with even smaller minds. It is a view taken by those who fail to realise that analysis needs to be reasoned and rational and based on what we see in front of our eyes.

Results can be deceptive and I believe yesterday’s match against Atletico Madrid was a case in point. Winning may well hand out the temporary bragging rights but it’s almost always just a quick fix.

If Pep has shown us anything in the past it’s that he is not a man for the ‘quick fix’. What he will unquestionably demonstrate in the future, is that football is never as simple as that.