SOCCER ANGLES:Barcelona's backing of a young Pep Guardiola should be the template for Chelsea and AVB, writes MICHAEL WALKER
WHATEVER HAPPENED to Petr Cech? Amid the millions of questions asked of, and about, Andre Villas-Boas in the last few days and weeks, the sight of Cech scampering tight-legged across the Chelsea penalty area in a failed attempt to prevent Napoli’s third goal on Tuesday night sparked another. A book gets lifted off a shelf. Petr Cech is 29.
That is not old, in life, in football or in the age of goalkeepers. But it was a surprising rediscovery. Cech has been creaking for some time now and the expectation was that he would be approaching a 33rd birthday, or something close to that.
But no, Cech is 29, 30 in May, and his Stamford Bridge longevity stems from the fact that when he joined Chelsea in the summer of 2004, the Czech had just passed his 22nd birthday.
Cech looks like a man who has had his prime when, actually, he should be in it. He is, unquestionably, one of the problems swirling around Villas-Boas and this unbalanced squad of his, which is often described as “ageing”.
At least, though, Cech is younger than the AVB One. There has been unrelenting focus on Villas-Boas’s age since he was recruited from Porto last summer at 33 and, while there have been times recently in Chelsea’s winter of discontent when AVB’s age has been overshadowed by his personality – allegedly cocksure and confrontational, certainly to some Chelsea players – Villas-Boas’s inexperience was again mentioned heavily this week. For inexperience, read youth. AVB does not like this thread of thought. “Ridiculous”, he called it on Thursday.
The subject had reared again. Following Chelsea’s weak 1-1 FA Cup effort against Birmingham City last Saturday, on Monday it was being asked on the radio how an older manager would deal with this situation. It coincided with an engaging hour-long interview with Alex Ferguson on BBC Radio 5 Live. At the same time a new book landed, Barca: The making of the greatest team in the world by Barcelona-based Scotsman Graham Hunter.
The book is an enlightening account of the rise of Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, a reminder that it is recent and that it was by no means a certainty. There are passages that Villas-Boas would surely love to place on the table in the Chelsea boardroom, if he’s allowed in there.
What comes across strongly is just how prepared, smart and faithful those around Guardiola were in his first days and months. There is an obvious contrast to be drawn with the last few years at Stamford Bridge.
Hunter takes us back to known details such as the fact that Guardiola’s first La Liga game in charge of Barcelona ended in a 1-0 defeat by Numancia, a club with a shoestring budget. And to unknown ones such as the decision not to “parachute Pep” into the last months of Frank Rijkaard, to protect Guardiola.
Hunter also reminds us of the quiet, uncertain public reaction to Guardiola succeeding Rijkaard in the early summer of 2008. The news made page 13 of El Pais’s sport section. The Catalan paper La Vanguardia used a quote from Guardiola as its headline: “I Don’t Think I’ll Fail”. At 37 Guardiola was older than AVB when he moved to Chelsea eight months ago, but AVB had just enjoyed a brilliant year at Porto, winning the league, Cup and the Europa League. Before that he’d had almost a year in Coimbra with Academica, a decent-sized Portuguese club. Guardiola had been in charge of Barca B for one season, and that’s it.
True, Guardiola was a legendary player at the club, a member of the Cruyff Dream Team of 1992. At 20 he was Catalonia’s homegrown darling boy and proud of it. He would go on to become one of the club’s greats.
But still, Guardiola had not managed before. Yet the hierarchy loved what they saw in Guardiola’s work with the B team, which then included players like Pedro and Sergio Busquets.
They admired his discipline and dedication and his ability to read games from the sidelines. They thought he could be special and they went with their instinct. (Not before interviewing Jose Mourinho of course; let’s be pragmatic.) Barcelona also considered Arsene Wenger and Laurent Blanc but once they had plumped for Guardiola, they went four-square behind him even when it got difficult. And it got difficult quickly.
Lionel Messi truly established himself in season 2006-’07, when he was 19. But the next season, Rijkaard’s last, was to end with the Olympics, and Argentina wanted Messi to be in their team. Barcelona did not want this and the hierarchy griped about it for months.
Meanwhile, Guardiola observed. He had played for Spain in the 1992 Olympics and never forgot it. The club kept on complaining but, once appointed, Guardiola said to Messi: “Go”. The club backed their manager, Messi headed for Olympic gold and Barca faced a Champions League qualifier against Wisla Krakow without him.
Fortunately for Guardiola, Barca came through, but it could have been different, it was a risk.
But as Hunter notes, the manager now had a happy young superstar on his way back to Camp Nou.
Messi had other reasons to be cheerful. At his first press conference, Guardiola said boldly: “These three are not in my mind for the future, in fact we will be going onwards without them.” The three were Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto’o. Space on the pitch was opening up for Messi.
It was some call by the novice manager but also by the club. Hunter stresses how certain directors thought sufficiently strategically to see that Messi would be their next income generator and it was worth taking hits on “these three”.
It is at this point that AVB will think of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and perhaps others such as Cech, and put the book down gently.
What Chelsea lack in coherent strategy, Barca have demonstrated. Foresight is a true gift of management.
And yet within that they were once again prepared to be pragmatic. Ronaldinho and Deco departed but Eto’o dug in. At the end of Guardiola’s first season in charge you probably noticed Eto’o scoring the first goal in Barca’s 2-0 victory over Manchester United in the Champions League final in Rome.
Guardiola and his superiors would soon sell Eto’o to Inter Milan, but they had accommodated a volatile character successfully. A combination of individual intelligence and clear structure produced a winning framework.
Chelsea do not have these collective qualities. AVB stands in the middle of a muddle looking hounded. Senior players allegedly brief against him and his methods. And young Petr Cech flaps.
'Barca'by Graham Hunter is published by Backpage Press
