It is not too early to consider Pep Guardiola the best coach in history. Yes, some try to avoid talking about this, or consider history a big word, or even take advantage of the Catalan coach's failure to achieve the Champions League since 2011 to reduce it in all ways.
We may disagree a lot about the best in history and whether Pep deserves to be, but we won't disagree about top coaches like Johan Cruyff and Arrigo Sacchi, both of whom some put him among the best in history!
If you also think that Cruyff and Sacchi are coaching #legends and should be among the best in history, the truth is that Guardiola surpassed them with distinction, and all the numbers and achievements prove that, and do not forget that football is getting more and more complex and technical plans need constant change.
So why is Guardiola a better coach than Sacchi and Cruyff? How did his story confirm that he is among the training legends?!
crushing start
With Sacchi and Cruyff, the novel began in a traditional way, things started upward without much fanfare until the next move became unexpected.
Saki started from Cesena U19 club in 1977, then continued with young ages in Rimini, Fiorentina and Parma, and his debut with a big team was in Milan in the 1985-1986 season, in an unexpected surprise for anyone.
Sacchi's start was not the best at the level of tournaments, and he won only one title, the Italian League in 1988, but the most important thing was the tactical revolution and the transformation of his method of playing to 4-4-2 after the prevailing method at the time was 3-5-2 to be the beginning of miracles that were achieved in the future.
As for Cruyff, he started with Ajax, the Dutchman, before Saki rose to coach Milan only one season, but of course a lot was expected of him as he was one of the legends of playing in the Netherlands, unlike the submerged Italian.
With Ajax, he only won the Cup twice in a row, and then the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1987, before heading to Barcelona, where he made his real debut.
Guardiola started in a different way. It is true that he was a legend as a player, but signing with him was an uncertain risk, especially in light of the reluctance of more experienced names such as Jose Mourinho. In the first matches, confidence began to decrease and the press's attack increased due to the negative results, but only a short period of time passed until he imposed his own style on Barcelona, and his team came on the ground and crushed Real Madrid 6-2 before crowning the historic hexagon in 2009.
In terms of results and performance, Guardiola's start is the best between Cruyff and Sacchi, and no one has repeated such a thing except Hans Flick with Bayern Munich 11 years later.
climax of events
Sacchi's philosophy was unique, and he believed that "the individual is less than the team," so he relied on decentralization. It shows the quality you dreamed of.
This pioneering philosophy has transformed Milan into one of the best teams in history, which translated to the Champions League title twice in a row in 1989 and 1990, the European Super Cup after that, and the Intercontinental title twice.
As for Cruyff, he began a new journey in Barcelona, and there he founded the "Dream Team" and changed a lot of the philosophy in the Catalan club to control Spain and win the Spanish League title 4 times in a row, but the most important thing was the Champions League title for the first time in the club's history. Then reaching the 1994 final before losing to Milan.
Cruyff's achievements go beyond titles, as he showed great interest in the La Masia academy and relied on a number of its players, the most important of whom was Pep Guardiola. This interest has resonated for years with the escalation of players at the highest level such as Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Victor Valdes and of course the legend Lionel Messi and the list goes on.
As for Guardiola's second trip, it was in Bayern Munich after a crushing success with Barcelona, in which he won 14 titles in 4 seasons and put the Catalan club on top of the world, but his experience in Germany was less than expectations.
It is true that he won 7 titles in 3 seasons, but his frequent exit from the Champions League half made some reduce his period there, but he succeeded at the level of making a technically strong team and outperforming many competitors with a low budget compared to the rest of European clubs.
The third journey: the end of Cruyff and Sacchi, and a new beginning for Pep
Sacchi left Milan after a successful European story, to take over the Italian national team and reach the 1994 World Cup final before losing it to the Brazilian national team.
Then he returned to Milan without significant achievements before heading to Spain with Atletico Madrid. He did not repeat the success he achieved with the Rossoneri, so he returned to Italy with Parma before announcing the end of his training story.
Returning to Cruyff, his crisis with the Barcelona administration and a bad exit from the club’s training was the end of his training career, so he decided at that time to devote himself to other matters, most notably the support of Joan Laporta in his struggle with Nunez and his followers, which led to the first victory of the club’s presidency in 2003 and the beginning of the establishment of a new stage in the history of the Blaugrana.
Cruyff did a lot for football, but as a coach his tenure wasn't long enough.
This takes us to Guardiola, the coach who started a journey in England with Manchester City to have all the things that make him establish a team from the beginning. It is different from Barcelona, which suits his philosophy even before he trained them, or Bayern Munich, which has a completely different philosophy.
With Manchester City, the team was without an identity and needed to build from scratch, so it started with a season without titles and then changed the team’s entire strength to return and dominate England for years.
Winning the English Premier League title 3 times and winning the local quartet as the first team to do it in the history of England made things almost perfect, only the missing title is the Champions League.
The most important thing is the way he presents on the field and his ability to outperform managers at the highest level in the Premier League, but because of him Jurgen Klopp was not able to achieve the achievements that he was able to reap with Liverpool.
With each season, Pep proves that he is able to learn, improve mistakes, regain control and outperform everyone, and has become the closest candidate to win the Premier League for the fourth time in just 6 years!
Pep's career did not stop, and his ideas did not exhaust, and he proved that continuity is difficult for everyone, even Sacchi and Cruyff could not do that!