Pep Guardiola speaks on the Argentina national team, Lionel Messi, coaching staff

By
Roy Nemer
-
66

Pep Gardiola spoke about the Argentina national team, Lionel Messi and the coaching staff.

Guardiola is one of the, if not the best coach in the world. A winner at FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, the Catalan knows how to lift trophies.

Winning the treble in his first year as coach of the senior FC Barcelona team, Pep Guardiola did it with very little experience. Speaking in an interview with Telemundo Sports, here is what he had to say about having experience in football:

“It’s all a big lie in football that experience is useful. The one that served you yesterday, is no use to you today. The illusion of young people like Scaloni, Aimar and the people they have, gave the group what they needed. Enough, it worked. Why? It’s a mystery.

“I always give the same example. A Champions League final, Milan was up 3-0 against Liverpool at half time. That Milan team probably had the most experience I have seen with Cafu, Maldini, Dida, Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Crespo, Inzaghi… It was 3-0 at the break and in 20 minutes 3-3 and they lost.”

He also spoke about Argentina winning the Copa America:

“Winning the Copa America for any group gives you a feeling of “we did it” and I’m sure that will help in the World Cup. I have seen little of Scaloni’s team but they have not lost for a long time and that feeling that you are winning and not losing is going to give you strength.”

In regards to Lionel Messi:

“The fact of having him there, knowing that he has the unique ability to always create two or three personal actions out of nothing, be it goals or generating play with his forward team mates like Di María, Lautaro or Julián Álvarez… That feeling of strength is great.”

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66 Comments

  2. Happy that Bayern out. I always hated Germany as we were always fighting against them in the WC. Today they played with 3 french backline and Lewa as a striker. All others were Germany players that include Neuer and Muller, the players I never liked. Let these players lose their confidence and go to the world cup as loser.
    I hope Simeone will somehow beat Man City. That will put another 2 Argentine to the SF. DePaul and Correa.
    Chance of Otamendi in SF is almost impossible.

    • No ATM beating City. We need RM out due to Brazilians in it and city is best team to do it. Remember, Cholo always choke against RM.

    • Shows that perhaps these are all good coaches and it’s the players who are dumb af. Look at that backline of Marquinhos who’s not convincing for a central defender, Kimpembe who’s just a stupid error-prone unintelligent defendar, Mendes who’s technical but has no proper output and doesn’t know when to dribble and when to release the ball along with Hakimi who’s a speedster but no positinal sense. Combined with this, they got Danilo who’s got mistakes in him whenever pressed and the 2 selfish dudes upfront who wants to hog the ball for themselves. No wonder even Messi is subdued! Verratti & Paredes are a must with a box-to-box defender/destroyer in the middle. Messi didn’t have many options left towards the end of the tranfer window as a fvker like Laputa used him to win the elections! These politicians are a scourge on society.

      The final they reached the last time around was fluke! They will not win the Champions League anytime soon unless Mbappe goes and the team plays Messi as their target man! All of France’s best players will be gobbled-up by Spain, England and the German leagues as they’re vastly superior in terms of marketing, reach and potential to offer excellent footballing experience!

        • I didn’t watch his Spurs stint much but he’s good with midtable teams and not cut out for big teams. Zidane is a lucky manager and I don’t think he’s tactically better than Guardiolas, Ancelottis, Tuchels, Klopps and even Simiones of the world! That’s Perez’s dirty hands behind the scenes!

          • @haslin Zidane was a tactical player who orchestrated Brazil defeat in WC 2006. Before he came as RM manager, they could not stop Barcelona. His tactics destroyed tika taka to the point Pique said he never inferior than RM. Zidane is World Class player and coach.

        • @Wisdom: I remember his game vs Brazil and he ran the show. Best player on the pitch but that doesn’t mean he himself setup the team like that. I think there’s Raymond Domenech as a coach who’s superstitious and don’t think he’s tactically good either! They had good players back then as well and can’t give credit just bc he played good in that game. If he’s so tactical, he wouldn’t fall for trash talk from Materazzi!

  6. Excellent win for Emery and his yellow submarine! Lo Celso was very good and so was Foyth for about 60mins but after that, he was part of a tight back 4. He’ll do well against good offensive teams when Argentina need a 3rd CB/converted right-back. Rulli’s excellent too and the goal was due to an error from one of the outfield players who was on the ball too much in a tight area where he should’ve released the ball immediately. They’re no Riquelmes but for crying out loud, these are the ones who made Bayern pay! Happy that all 3 Argentines played really well!

  7. We need this lo celso in the world cup badly. He needs to maintain this. When ever he touched the ball it looks convincing than any other villareal player. Foyth made good interceptions and blocks. Decently defended coeman when he was near to him. But the formation of Bayern was like to utilise the full speed and dribbling skills of both coeman and sane which made life difficult for both wing backs. This space for coeman just troubled foyth unlike the 1st leg. Rulli positioning sometimes looks weird. But he is good for Martinez back up.

    • No only he’s s is getting chance in midfield. Before he was used in forward line that’s not his fort. Anyway Emery didn’t put him on the bench, was giving continuous matches.. finally now in his preferred position. Let him continue in Villarreal next season and be in hot form for the WC.

  8. What I learned from this game:

    1. Emery getting the monkey off his back and showing how great he is as a coach. His sub won him the game.

    2. @Kevin your boy Foyth had his hands full with Coman and held his ground like a schoolboy sticking up to a bully. At times he looked clumsy, but overall 8 out of 10 defensive performance from him. However, he looks like he got injured after a Coman dribble. He later fell down & grabbed his left knee, but waved to the bench not to be subbed. Afterward, he kept pretending to adjust his socks but grabbed his left knee. I hope he puts pass his injuries and stays is injury-free. He looked like a world-class player today and refused to let Coman get the edge and Bayern tried him every chance to the point they forget to play. The give the ball to Coman strategy failed. Their goal came from the left-hand side.

    3. LoCelso’s pass unlocked the goal for the goal. Some of his passes were not clicking but this is Bayern. I still hold my reservations for LoCelso. He is not Worldclass to me, but he is what we have and will have to do until someone emerges for NT.

    • Yes locelso is not world class and people here in this forum overhype players a lot. He has okayish performance nothing spectacular bt its kind of expected as he is not a spectacular player. Because of good defense Villarreal won it they just got the goal by a counter attack. I don’t think Argentina will play like a park the bus team Villarreal so i prefer midfielders who can dominate possession control the midfield and play 1-2 passing with slickness.

      • @Anuparno I agree 100%. The only midfield I rate highly in NT is DePaul and slightly Parades. I must be spoiled because I saw a man by the name of “Juan Roman Riquelme” show me what a true midfielder looks like (even with a lack of speed). Nowadays people throw “World-class” for a simple assist. I saw Zidane masterfully take down “the Real Brazil” in the 2006 World Cup. These midfielders used to bring a total performance and a string of masterful and tactful plays during possession.

    • I don’t think anyone can replace lo celso in the future in the NT. For this scaloni team he is as essential as DePaul or Romero. We doesn’t have too much creativity. Lo celso in full flow is a world class player. If he maintains his consistency then no turn back for Argentina. If he is their de Paul would get escaped from man marking as we saw in that Ecuador game. And can play our natural possession game.

  9. Lo.celso was good.. foyth was destroyed 80% against Coleman but Coleman is spectacular so don’t be over harsh on foyth. And rulli wasn’t bad at all. He couldn’t save the goal.. was pajuro error not any of our players.. lo celso ran made the winning goal so .. fuck of bayernnnnn

    • I think Foyth held his ground given that I thought he would get run over. Yes, Coman got his little dribbles, but he was frustrated that this clear slow defender was grabbing and pushing.

    • He needs a manager who knows how to use him. Mourinho loved him..and Unai Emery too. Thankful to Conte..as he clearly said he doesn’t want LoCelso. That lead to this Villarreal move.

    • Have you any idea about football….
      Shit man …
      Lo celso playing not only good.
      But also super duper …
      What a player he is
      My GOD
      He is super today

    • Your idea of football may be dribbling and extra ordinary skills. LoCelso was tactically very good today. He controlled the match, defended and created chances. Commentators were telling LoCelso was superb today as well.

      • Yes because Villarreal midfield is shit. He is getting tired with all that defensive duty he has to do and nobody helping him out. And coman is one of the best wingers in the world and he is lightning fast just like mbappe with good dribbling skills

        • U r absolutely ri8 Anuparno…u have already said what I want to say about foyth…he was good…he’ll be a beast in the national team becoz of our great midfield…better than montiel I will say 👍

    • Foyth overconfidence is not good. Today also he won a ball in the penalty box and cleared coolly but straight towards another Bayern player in the penalty box.

  17. Aguero said in an interview that Brazil and France is favorite he even mentioned england.. he didn’t said argentina.. is this guy pissed he didn’t get his role what he wanted or something? I mean we are not the favorites but to mention Brazil over us? As I said before Aguero was useless for us he did nothing meaningful.. but people here treated him as a legend.. he is a man city legend not and argentine one.. sorry…

    • Always tell others are favorite. It’s a respect and the same time putting pressure on them. We are contender everyone knows..but Brazil as FIFA number 1 currently and won 5 WCs. They will be favorite. France as current champion is again a favorite. Mbappe and Benzema is in red hot form.

      Team that reached in most Final;

      Germany 8 ( 4 won and 4 lost)
      Brazil 7 ( 5 won and 2 lost)
      Italy 6 ( 4 won and 2 lost)
      Argentina 5 ( 2 won and 3 lost)

      Italy didn’t qualify. So other 3 together with current champion are the favorites. Other than thses 3, I think England can surprise many.

      • all of france forwards are in red hot form but their defence and midfield are in self destructive mode on current form. let us see if their forwards > defence + midfield

      • I like your spirit. But just understand that Aguero is helping us a lot by deflecting the ‘favorite tag’ comment. Besides, Brazil, France Germany, Spain and England are more stacked than us in every position but such was the case in 86. No one saw Argentina as a favorite. Zico & Socrates( Brazi) Butragueno(Spain), Hugo Sanchez (Mexico) Platini(France) Rummanige ( Germany) we’re all considered favorites. Maradona was considered the 7th best player before the tournament. And after the tournament, the world knew its best player. The moral of the story is that being a favorite doesn’t guarantee eventual victory.

    • It’s the same reason why almost EVERY SINGLE FOOTBALLER and COACH in the history of the sport say about opposing teams and upcoming tournaments.
      See Insider comment – First, simple public respect and awknowlegement. Second, deflecting internal pressure and adding pressure to opposing teams.

    • Don’t worry, Aguero isn’t going to start taking up German or leading a double life in Brazil. He obviously wants Argentina to win and is very aware of where we stand. For many people saying “Argentina is the favorite” is not only bad luck but those kind of declarations can lead to criticism if it doesn’t happen.

  18. I am excited and waiting for today’s villareal vs Munich match. Anything can happen but i have believe on Gio,foyth as well as villarreal..
    Error prone Ruli is in good form.. Lets see what happen

  19. I am also giving lifts to Pep in my jet to see argentina lift trophy in Qatar for his kind words. You deserved it pep.

  20. Frenz, it looks like we will be having an Purple Away Jersey for the first time.
    .
    Just like our Home Jersey is White and Blue Stripes with White Shorts, hope our Away Jersey is Purple and Blue Stripes with Black Shorts.

  21. A words from Pep that would boost the spirit and keep the light on. Overall, it is about hard work, well preparation and right selections not just words and wishes. This WC is more competitive and every team have a chance to win it. A lots of good players now exist in the world, even the one who played excellently and good team fail to join Qatar WC.

    • The only few teams that I can see winning it or surprise everyone by winning it all are-

      France
      Spain
      Brazil
      Argentina (ofcourse)
      and
      maybe
      Portugal or Germany

      Netherlands and Belgium could come close but would be short at the end.

      Sorry England. You dont have what it takes in a world cup. Football would be far from home on a different continent close to Falkland.

      May the best man hold the cup high.
      Lets go Leo.
      Vamos Albiceleste.

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