We also learn that, in some key ways, Pep adapted his methods to his Bayern players and to the wider Bundesliga football culture, rather than reshape the Bavarians in dictatorial top-down fashion. Or we learn that that Pep is not doggedly committed to the short passing game as the heart of his philosophy; rather, it’s tactical flexibility – grounded in a few key principles – that define Pep’s on-pitch philosophy. material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any People are very open-minded about new things-as long as they're exactly like the old ones. -Chalres Kettering" pg. 241 I beg you to release my dad right now': Luis Diaz issues an emotional appeal to father's kidnappers to free him as Liverpool star says his family are 'desperate' with worry Immediately after dealing with the media he goes to the players’ restaurant in the Allianz, takes a glass of champagne, spears a few cubes of parmesan cheese and spends the next half an hour talking about the match.

The writer is obsessed with Pep and clearly fails to be objective. Pep is far from the most divine creature on earth, and even far from being the best coach in the world, yet the book makes this a prevalent theme. They affect him more than other coaches, because he so rarely loses matches. He blamed himself for the Champions League semi-final defeat to Real Madrid in 2014. He really hurt – it took him days to get over it. He’s always with his coaches analysing the ‘why?’. He tries not to get too carried away with victories, nor too down after tough defeats. There’s no depression there. Rest assured, in the Premier League the critics will come. English football tends to have an inherent mistrust of the new. But they won’t be more critical than Pep is of himself.

Language' is the way in which the core idea is expressed on the pitch and is the culmination of a training regime which uses a range of systems, exercises, and moves to reinforce understanding and mastery of the basic concepts. Statistics don’t turn him on. What gets him passionate is the play itself and his post-match analysis of it. Although he didn’t say it, like Kasparov, he seemed to believe that his team were more skilled, but that beating Liverpool on this occasion might just be “impossible.” Of course, it turned out that way over the two legs.

It’s the product of the hours of planning that came before. If you’re as obsessed with football as Pep Guardiola is, you’d be the same. “All I do is look at the footage of our opponents,” he says, “and then try to work out how to demolish them.”

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Angel di Maria SPITS at Brazil fans after they throw beer on Argentina players retreating down the tunnel before ill-tempered World Cup qualifying match Reflecting on the fact that the team had last practised a three-man defence in December, the coach realised that there was very little time to prepare his players. Added to this, Javi Martínez had not only just recovered from a bad bout of gastroenteritis, but was also suffering from tendinitis in both knees. There was no way he was going to make it through 90 minutes against Madrid. Put simply, Guardiola loves talking about football. It’s a process that begins the first time he meets his players, continues throughout every training session (“He interjects all the time to correct and explain exactly what he wants from us,” recalled Dani Alves of Pep’s early days at Barcelona) and even extends to individual chats every day. Praise is effusive when merited.

He varies what he says, too, not through any kind of psychological plan but merely to express exactly what he is feeling inside. “Guys, you’re all greats,” he told his Barcelona players before 2010’s title-decider against Villarreal, which came two days after Champions League semi-final defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan. “I just want to tell you one thing. If we go out there and lose, and the league escapes us, don’t worry.” They won. 4-0. Pep’s free-flowing philosophy may be what draws in the casual observer, but he dedicates more training sessions to defensive organisation than anything else. It shows: before the 2015-16 winter break Bayern had conceded only 49 goals in 85 Bundesliga games since he arrived, keeping 50 clean sheets. Man United 'legends' reunite for a game in Dubai with some looking unrecognisable (and some you might not recognise anyway!) It was just a very odd time to make such a comment, and came across as the sort of paranoid snipe that you would normally associate with the kind of fan who decides to phone a radio call-in show and rant about how every point Liverpool have gained this season is down to a conspiracy to make them champions. Young football fan, 16, is left distraught and consoled by Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa players after being unable to complete The Last Post... three years after he was due to perform the Remembrance tributeMajor honours: 6 La Liga titles, 2 Copa del Reys, 1 European Cup, 1 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 2 UEFA Super Cups, 1 Olympic Gold medal When it came to the litmus test the following season in the Premier League, City just about kept The Reds at bay by a solitary point and largely thanks to an improbable strike from Vincent Kompany in their penultimate game against Leicester. I got it wrong, man. I got it totally wrong. It's a monumental f***-up. A total mess. The biggest f***-up of my life as a coach.' Guardiola was on a sabbatical between his job at Barcelona and his eventual move to Bayern Munich, and during their first dinner in New York, he discussed various topics with Kasparov, though neither chess nor football arose in conversation. It was all very high brow and intelligent, as one might expect. Much is made of Pep’s Barça-ball style, yet he clearly adapted to Bayern’s strengths out wide, encouraging crossfield balls for Robben and Ribery. “I’m not some kind of Taliban; I’m not totally inflexible,” he says in Pep Confidential. “I’m happy to evolve. But please don’t ask me to do something I don’t believe in.” And if you don’t do what he believes in, you’ll find yourself discarded.