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Is Guardiola That Good a Manager?

This is something which has gone through my head a thousand times. Is Guardiola that good a coach as he is been featured by media? Surely a guy who has won an unprecedented treble with this FC Barcelona side has to be good, but is he a legend. For me Guardiola at this moment is more of a disciplinary genius than a tactical one. Many may disagree pointing to the was he switched Messi inside in the Champions League final. But to be honest that game was all about blunders Ferguson made than the tactics employed by Guardiola. To Guardiola's credit he managed very well with the resources at his hand. Now many may ask whether Guardiola had no part in the success of last season, surely he had - maybe the largest part. He brought something which the Barca setup was lacking for the last two seasons - discipline. In Rijkaard's last two season there were no doubts about the fact that he was never in control. Guardiola came out with an iron hand approach and did kept a complete control on the proceedings. No one was able to take their place for granted and that proved one more point thing - FC barcelona had two bad season because Barca was playing bad, not because of others playing well.

But to all his credit Guardiola is not a tactical genius. He has been out-thought by Hiddink and looked lost till that dramatic turn-out in the injury time. Actually that was one battle we had trouble dealing last season. The same was with the way we played at Atletico Madrid. His reluctance to use substitutes to change the course of match was very irritating. Many a times we saw he holding back substitutes to be used as a time wasting tactic. The prime example was the Sylvinho substitution against Chelsea, don't call it a master piece, I thought he forgot we had a substitute left. More over he looks like a guy who comes with a lot of pre-conception. His reluctance to accept that Toure was the best defensive midfielder we had was a prime example of that. The way he handled Eto saga earlier last season showed his inexperience and reluctance to accept ground reality. And it looks like he has not learn from that also. Under him and Laporta, we successfully managed to unsettle Eto again without any proper back-up assurance. Strangely now every egg lies in Eto's basket. He can decide to stay in Barca for one more season and leave for free at the end of it, if he stays we will be forced to use him as a striker this season. Guardiola and Laporta went ahead with upsetting him without really taking ground reality of signing a replacement in account. Now mostly we have to cough up a much higer value to land Ibrahmovic, that again depends on Eto agreeing to Inter's terms.

But it might be too early to judge him. He is in his second season as a coach and will probably improve with more experience. He has all the making of becoming a good disciplined coach but I doubt whether he will be able to mold himself into a tactical genius. In FC Barcelona he is the ideal man as we always play a very attacking style and we need a guy to hold the team's discipline intact. But I would love to see him using his brain a bit more in transfer market. The Hleb saga was a disaster in making from the beginning. And we still have not addressed the left side issue. If he is planning to use Iniesta upfront more, that also could backfire as that will deprive us of the service of the best attacking midfielder in the middle. Without Iniesta it is easy for teams to double mark Xavi and take him out of the equation, we had seen it many times last season. I believe this could be the make or break season for Guardiola as a coach. There was not much pressure last season but that success means there will be more and he will be scruitinized in every step he take.

Has Laporta Gone Crazy?

Joan Laporta has confirmed yesterday that the club has agreed on principle with Inter about a deal which will see Zlatan Ibrahmovic moving to Barcelona for exchange of Eto and some cash. There are rumours flying in plenty for sometime and the latest rumours suggests that Barca will give 40 million plus the service of both Eto and Hleb on loan. No deal will be reached if Eto does not agree to the terms which will be put infront by Inter. Already there is rumours that Eto is asking for 10 million a year from Inter and at this moment that looks like the only hope for me preventing Barca commit this colossal mistake. Last week we saw FC Barcelona disagreeing on Valencia's asking price for Villa, which was supposed to be in 50 millions. But now it looks like we might get Ibrahmovic, a player who goes missing in big matches for a value of 80 million (40 million in cash + Eto and Hleb). The big question is - Is Ibrahmovic worth that money? Absolutely not. Ibrahmovic is one of the top quality striker around Europe and has been successful in recent past. But he has not yet performed what Eto did for Barca, scoring goal that too in plenty. Nor did he has done something Kaka or Ronaldo performed - taking their team to European Glory.

So at this moment looks like Barca is going to perform another collosal blunder in terms of monetary valuation by signing Ibrahmovic for this amount. This blunder looks much more horrifying when considering the fact that we could buy Villa by adding a 10 million more to our earlier bid. David Villa is a proven customer and is sure to succeed in FC Barcelona as he is the best to fit our style of play. Secindly he is not a striker who goes missing against big teams. Ibrahmovic sadly always have quiet game against bigger teams, last season Champions League encounter against Manchester United was a plum example. He looked like a striker who was making his debut, fully out of confidence. But again we have to ask why Laporta is going for the striker at this huge price? This one potentially has all the making of being another Hleb signing. Last season Laporta and Guardiola circled on Hleb to replace Ronaldinho. We know where that went. Now the same team is going to get rid of two players and 40 million to sign Ibrahmovic. Crazy indeed and now all the hopes lies on Eto.

Guardiola's tactic for the next season looks similiar to the one he had last season. He will try playing Henry and Ibrahmovic at centre-forward position with Iniesta moving forward on the left (that is why he is giving Hleb's service for free). That will leave the midfiled with a combination of Xavi, Toure and Keita in most matches. We saw last season what happens when Iniesta moves out of that midfield. But Guardiola looks like he will never learn.