While there was some great content and insight in training, games and mentality, most of the book spent too much time as a love letter to Pep. Just from you being high and wide, you are actually freezing 4 players because we are threatening to go in behind.

High percentage ball possession, extreme spacial awareness, and confidence in attack are three stand-out characteristics that his teams show. On that occasion he had already named the team the day before, they had practised their attacking moves and he felt there was nothing else to add. with their inverted full backs positioned within the "Half Spaces" to help move the ball from the centre backs to the attacking players. The 24-year-old became the first Englishman to score a Premier League hat-trick for Arsenal since Theo Walcott in 2015 after starring in their win over Sheffield United. Player A crosses the ball for his 2 oncoming team-mates (B and C), who both make curved runs around the mannequins to the far post and into the centre respectively.

Their two shots during their 5-0 defeat at the Emirates this weekend was the fewest Arsenal have faced in the Premier League since 2009. Sometimes he combines these with concepts developed from previous matches, either because he wants to revisit a particular move or tactical idea or for motivational purposes. The pattern includes 4 players: Right back (2), attacking midfielder (8), winger (7) and forward (9). EXCLUSIVE: FA issues guidance to clubs warning players and staff to take 'extreme caution' when commenting. What I really wanted from this book, and what Balague delivers, was some insight - both into the personality of Pep Guardiola, the most spectacularly successful football manager of the moment, and into the methods of coaching that produced, in the form of the current FC Barcelona team, one of the best football sides of all time.

In October 2012 in New York he had chatted with Garry Kasparov about how to attack the adversary in chess and other sports, and Kasparov had told him: “You wouldn’t attack in the same way from a mountain top as you would from wide open countryside.

attacking midfielder (21), who moves forward from his deep position to receive within the "Half Space. yy From this point, the right winger (7) will deliver a low cross or a cut back for oncoming team-mates who make well-timed runs into the penalty area.

After seven Premier League matches against Fulham, Brighton have registered no wins making it comfortably the most times they have faced any team in the competition without winning. But it is perhaps most obviously occur in the story of the end of Pep’s tenure in Barca, which was told at such gruesome length right at the beginning of the book, which then proceeded to be re-told again 4–5 more times. yy Player A instead passes across to C in front of the mannequins - Player C receives, dribbles past the mannequin and then shoots to try and score. But, in the first book, there is a forensic analysis of Bayern's 0-4 defeat at home to Real Madrid in the 2014 CL semi final. All the while he’s explaining this in such detail that you’d think his team is playing Salzburg tomorrow and I’m wondering why on earth he has gone off on this tangent.Chelsea 2-0 Blackburn:Benoit Badiashile and Raheem Sterling score in either half as Pochettino's Blues.

My other favourite part of the book is at the very last chapter when Pep talked on Catalan radio in memory of Johan Cruyff that has just recently died, which reveals a lot about Pep’s footballing philosophy that is heavily influenced by Cruyff’s way of thinking. Especially that 1st leg which seemed to be going to plan until Messi changed things by scoring the opener, and then from there, Bayern completely capitulated, going on to lose 3-0 and effectively put Barca into the final.FA issues guidance to clubs warning players and staff to take 'extreme caution' when commenting on the Middle East conflict. During his 35 games in charge of Aston Villa, Unai Emery has picked up an impressive 71 points - which would've been good enough to earn a place in Europe last season. It consists of a detailed explanation of how they use defensive and attacking throw-ins and free-kicks. The right winger (7) jumps over the hurdle, moves back to receive the defensive midfielder's (6) pass and plays a diagonal pass to the forward (9). During the dinner Pep gazes at her and says: “Patricia, I’ll give you some advice: always pick the good ones.