by Nicopoleides
Nobody is right to discredit what Pep has won and done in Barcelona, but mind the club are very strongly linked with La Masia, their well-known youth academy and do have a very strict line of how certain players should play in particular positions. The younger sides of Barcelona are instructed to play as similiar to the first team as possible, playing 4-3-3 and passing opponents apart.This obviously makes it easier for young players in their late teens to break into the first team, as the instructions for the specific positions are about the same as they've been used to. It's obviously an advantage for the manager to have player with the mentality, style and instructions flowing around their veins. Guardiola will not have this advantage at United, and this might come out as a handicap for him.
This is, however, not my main argument against him as the Old Trafford gaffer. At Barcelona, which is the only club he has been in charge of, they have strict rules on how to act off the pitch as well as on. Nobody arrives the training ground in a Ferrari or a Porche; every single one of the players drive around in Audis bought by the club and they don't fly private jets like other superstars, despite their performance level and status around the globe makes it as legit as it could've been. This makes the players more down-to-earth than they could have been, and the outcome is a very homogeneous group. Fine, sure, but there is one problem.
It is impossible to make a successful club out of academy products only. Barcelona is the closest club of world class reputation, and even they like to buy back players who have passed through the ranks of La Masia, like Piqué, Fábregas and most likely Jordi Alba, who do fit perfectly into the Barcelona style both on and off the pitch. But what happens when they sign players who have been succesful elsewhere, are used to do things their own way and have absolutely no problems to arrive the training ground in their Ferrari or Porche and ordering a flight by their private pilot when needed?
Superstars Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto'o were never really wanted by Guardiola , nor Thierry Henry connected well with the former Barcelona-, Brescia- and Roma player. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was maybe the player who suffered the most; Barca's most expensive signing ever, arriving for €45M plus Samuel Eto'o from Internazionale, was frozen out as Pep didn't talk to him at all in the second part of his one season in Catalonya. Additionally the 41-year-old waited as long as possible to hold a meeting and bring the issue(s) to daylight, but not even under four eyes with Ibrahimovic, he was able to actually confirm, explain or solve the problems. He simply waited for Zlatan to hand in a transfer request, to avoid facing the problems like a manager should when in confrontation with one of the players. In that way he could escape from the criticism of wanting Zlatan out of the club offically, which he would have done if he was the protagonist of the transfer himself. Such a coward of a manager, backing out and refusing to face major problems, is not something I'd be happy to have in Sir Matt Busby Way.
In other words, Pep seems to be struggling to cope with charismatic superstars with a different personality and mentality than most of the squad. Then it's time to ask where United had been if it wasn't for the likes of Cantona, Keane and Schmeichel. Charismatic leaders with crystal clear opinions, helping the club to silverware of massive quantity. In today's squad we dont have any talismatic, charismatic leader who stands out like that, and it makes us suffer. In my opinion we need player(s) like that, to add something irregular, unpredictable x-factor to the squad: A leader with an extreme winning mentality always on the edge of what's allowed on the pitch and a superstar to stand out with charisma and abilities the other players don't have. And in contrast to Barcelona, we're extremely unlikely to find such players through our own ranks. We have to look elsewhere. And as Guardiola seems unable to cope with players like that, being unwilling to face personal conflicts and the fact that he'll have to mix a squad without help from La Masia, I think we should look elsewhere for Sir Alex' successor, unless Pep can prove me wrong. In a different club than United.
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