Guardiola raised a cult of workaholics named Cruyff
Kompany learned from Guardiola and Arteta’s staff in recent seasons at City, absent from the pitch for long periods due to injury, and talked to them about why they use certain tactical tricks. All three also share a manic workaholism. Kompany regularly works 14 hours a day, and one of his colleagues called the Belgian, in the best sense, “the most stressed man he has ever met. It’s funny: Pep is described in the same words by his assistants.
Kompany said that his success is not just the magic of Guardiola, Vincent is inspired by everyone from Mancini and Pellegrini to Klopp and Simeone. And Arteta says he owes his vision of soccer first and foremost to Johan Cruyff. Kompany is also a fan of the Dutch national team legend and has even hooked his assistant Craig Bellamy. It seems everyone has heard about Pep’s worship of Cruyff’s ideas.
Arteta has five years of work under Arsene Wenger in his background, but strangely enough, there are almost no top-level coaches among the Frenchman’s former players. The same can be said of Sir Alex Ferguson’s ex-footballers, if we take into account coaches with experience of winning major English and European trophies.
During Pep’s time with Barcelona, his main antagonist was Jose Mourinho. One line in ten Hag’s biography perfectly describes why Guardiola’s legacy to soccer history is many times greater than that of the Portuguese. Eric used chess terminology: “When it comes to tactics, we don’t talk about José Mourinho – because he always plays with black pieces.
