‘Guardiola’s loyalty to Barcelona philosophy affecting job at Man City’

Oscar Bruzon Barreras, assistant coach of RCD Mallorca, believes that Pep Guardiola has not performed as expected in the English Premier League because of his loyalty to Barcelona’s style of play.

According to Bruzon, the challenges being faced by Guardiola are normal because the philosophy of coaching in Spain is completely different from that of Germany and England.

Bruzon, however, expressed optimism that Guardiola will eventually succeed with Manchester City.

“He is loyal to the Barcelona age-long philosophy,” Bruzon told TheCable on Monday.

“Pep Guardiola grew up with the doctrine of the Johan Cruyff philosophy where the team played combined style of plays and this is not easy to implement in England. He is loyal to his philosophy and we shall see how far he can go unlike in Spain where players play together.

“Maybe this is not the style in Germany and now in his job in England. We need to really know exactly what is happening. The La Liga is very interested in developmental football.”

He said Benitez “was more theoretical” in his approach to coaching Real Madrid, “but it did not work hence the parting of ways with Zinedine Zidane replacing him”.

“It’s like the situation with Rafael Benitez while he was at Real Madrid, maybe Real Madrid did not need the kind of coaching he brought to the table,” he said.

“For Luis Enrique, the pressure is for two to three years when you are coach at Barcelona. It becomes difficult to motivate players, few coaches can stay after that. The job is difficult after the first three years.”

When asked about the prospects of Nigerian Ezekiel Bassey who recently joined Barcelona, he said, “It’s still too early to talk about Bassey breaking into the main team of Barcelona.

“He is there in the first place because Barcelona have seen something special in him. Every time Barcelona sign players, they know the attributes and characteristics of the player they have signed, the strength and challenges.

“Spain is not new to Nigerian players, there are others playing for top teams in England. So, naturally a Nigerian market is at the international level.

“We still talk about the likes of Finidi George and Mutiu Adepoju and the Spanish La Liga was very competitive during that time too. Nigerian football has always been a reference point.”

The former Celia Vigo forward is in Nigeria to train local coaches, a programme put together by the Nigerian Professional Football League in partnership with the Spanish La Liga.