“Escape pressing” from Tiki-taka
When he was leading Barca, Pep Guardiola’s name was associated with Tiki-taka football. In a nutshell, it’s running and passing football. The players move constantly on the field, actively passing short balls to each other to get the ball into the opponent’s penalty area for the strikers to finish. Thanks to Tiki-taka football, Pep has won 2 Champions League and 3 La Liga titles, among many other titles.
But Pep was never satisfied with Tiki-taka. Even in an interview after switching to coach Bayern Munich, he called it “trash” football. The Spaniard said that what he is aiming for is not football with those jagged passes. To “escape pressing” from Tiki-taka, Pep has searched to come up with new discoveries. In one chance, he had the opportunity to approach the sport of Rugby.
It all started with a visit to the Allianz Stadium by football coach Eddie Jones. He came to Bayern Munich because he admired Guardiola and wanted to learn some things from the Spaniard. The two coaches had interesting exchanges. From a conversation with a person who has played professional rugby for many years, Pep suddenly realized that there are great similarities between the two sports. The head coach of Bayern Munich was enamored of hearing Jones speak, then dragged him to stay in Germany for one more day to ask for further instruction.
Everyone knows Pep Guardiola is a man obsessed with matters related to tactics. When he was a young martial artist and entered the military career, he used to go to coach Marcelo Bielsa’s personal house in Argentina to “search for religion”. The conversation with Jones opened a new horizon in Pep’s ideology. He realized that many tactics in this seemingly violent sport are extremely suitable for application on the football field. Since that day, the Spaniard has gradually applied the skills and tactics of Rugby to the play of Bayern Munich.
Man City is benefiting from Pep’s “invention”
But it was not until he switched to being a coach of Man City that Pep specialized in rugby research. He invited former player Gregor Townsend – a Scottish Rugby star to Manchester to spread the idea of this ball game to his students. Pep asserts, at first glance, Rugby gives viewers the feeling of a sport of martial artists. But in fact, it is a top-notch combination of tactical techniques and stimulates the creativity of the players immensely.
Pep believes that Rugby fully converges factors such as controlling the ball to master the game, moving, occupying space, creating an advantage in numbers and of course another important factor. are passes. Pep hailed the way rugby players pass the ball to switch attack mode as “a miracle”. In an interview not long ago, Pep also offered to invite all the students to the field to watch a rugby match to show them firsthand the new truths that he realized from the way he prayed. players of this sport compete.
This season, Man City is playing successfully on all fronts. They are aiming for the historic treble of winning the FA Cup, winning the Premier League and the Champions League trophy. That success is in no small part from the tactical changes of coach Guardiola after carefully studying Rugby. Man City switched to re-attacking very quickly, capturing the spaces very well by using the “picking fingers” that Pep realized from the Rugby game.
The duo De Bruyne – Haaland used excellently
In particular, the duo Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland benefited the most from this new “invention” of Pep. The Norwegian striker often touches the ball very little in each match. But the way he moves, catches the ball in the opponent’s penalty area, especially from De Bruyne’s assists is one of the “lessons” applied from Rugby. Even the way Haaland goes deep as an assist midfielder, fights for the ball, and then “switches roles” into a midfielder to create again for his teammates is also a common combination in Rugby.
No doubt, although Pep has always been “overthinking”, it is clear that the way he applied the tactical techniques of Rugby to Man City’s play this season deserves to be considered a great invention. . In many recent interviews, the Spaniard always expressed satisfaction with the performance of his students. It seems that Pep has really succeeded in “escape pressing” from Tiki-taka.
That is also why when asked if he is interested in bringing superstar Lionel Messi to the Etihad next season (after the Argentine striker announced that he would not sign a new contract with PSG). ), Guardiola seemed quite indifferent. Although still constantly praising Messi as the best striker in the history of world football, Pep absolutely did not mention the idea of drawing the old student to the Etihad. The reason is probably because the Spanish strategist considers Messi to be the embodiment of Tiki-taka football that he has long been determined to throw in the trash.
For Pep now, the football that he is building at Man City, with tactical techniques applied from rugby, is true love!
Pep calls Jones “the master”
“I would like to thank Mr. Eddie Jones. While I was feeling stuck, he appeared as a gift from God. Through him, I was introduced to Rugby and realized many things to apply in football”, coach Guardiola gave those gratitude to the Australian coach. Pep did not hesitate to call Jones “teacher”, because he thinks he has learned a lot from this former Rugby player.
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