Guardiola reveals why Wenger will never win the Champions League

Success, they say, breeds success.
In his nearly-three years at the helm of Barcelona, Josep “Pep” Guardiola has amassed trophies in triplicates in every season he has coached the Catalan clubside. In his first season, 2008-2009, he actually won six trophies, which is something almost unheard-of in this modern era of intense rivalries and fierce competition. Notable amongst those trophies was the Champions League, which he won by dominating and beating Manchester United in the final.
He looks set again to lift that trophy this year at the final in Wembley stadium after steering his team to another functional win over us last night.
He calmly and rightly pointed out the reasons why his side beat us over two legs and unless you are seriously jaundiced or suffer from a flawed type of blind support, you just must agree with the 40 year-old tactitian.
Some of his analyses were just too spot-on to be ignored. Listen to this:


“If you analyse the game 11 against 11, we managed to dominate the game. I perfectly understand his (Wenger) complaints. In the future we might sit down together to watch both legs. Maybe my feelings are too fresh but we have been better than them”.


In both legs, just as was the case last year, I have never seen the entire Arsenal side chase the ball so much or given the run-around by any other team. The possession count in the second leg last night rightly gave us 32% while Barcelona got 73%. The scattered moments when we managed to get the ball, we gave it back almost immediately because Barcelona never allowed us to settle. For a team like Arsenal whose game is based on superior possession and endless passing, it cannot be fun to chase your opponents around the pitch for almost the entire 90 minutes.

Game changer...Van Persie getting sent off by Busacca

Wenger, typically, railed and railed about the injustice in the Robin Van Persie sending-off. Indeed it was a wrong call by the Swiss ref Bussacca, but as Guardiola rightly pointed out, it wasn’t the reason why we lost. Even while Van Persie was on the pitch in the first half, Barcelona still dominated us convincingly.
But you just have to admire Guardiola’s clear-sighted reading of the game and it gives an insight into why he has been so successful in so short a career. Hear him again:


“I can understand their view that they are out of the quarterfinals because of the card for Van Persie. If they believe that, then okay but the reality is that they didn’t have three passes in a row. We had almost 70 percent possession. They played in the back, not a shot on goal at all and not had three passes in a row. Of course with players like Nasri and Fabregas they have great players. Only Song was not there”.


I admire this man a lot. I put him in the same category with such great football minds like Kenny Dalglish, Alex Ferguson, Louis Van Gaal, Johann Cruyff, Fabio Capello, the tempestuous Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti. These are men who have won the big prizes in various countries, with different teams over and over again. I wouldn’t mind adding the likes of Harry Redknapp and David Moyes to the list because of their pragmatic and hands-on approach to the game. All the men mentioned above understand the nature of the game as well as what is required to survive on the pitch and win games in the space of 90minutes.
Arsene Wenger cannot, sadly, belong to that list because he is indeed a scientist and not a football manager. He delights in endless experimenting, of which its aim and objective is to defy accepted norms and go against conventional wisdom. When his experiments work, they make him look like a genius which is how he has come to covet the name Professor. When they fail though, he moans about injustice and refuses to blame his tactics and players.
Despite his obvious weaknesses, he is still a man to be respected for his revolutionary style of coaching which is admired the world over. But in truth, Wenger will never reach the heights attained by the likes of Guardiola and Sir Alex Fergusson because he is too stubborn and proud to accept that his methods are faulty and he needs to change them. But as we all know, you can’t teach an old dog, new tricks. At 61, he cannot now dump a lifetime of set principles for something new and novel.
If only he could learn from the younger Guardiola. If only he could eat humble pie and accept the unworkability of his methods. If only he could stop for a second and listen to the free advice Guardiola offered him after last night’s defeat at the Nou Camp, in which the Catalan suggested that:


“The only way they can grow is to think about the bad things they have done and improve. We have played great 11 against 11. They are nearly leaders of the Premier League and did not have a shot on goal, which says a lot”.


It is always a sorry sight whenever things are not going right for Arsenal on the pitch and Wenger starts waving his long hands in the air and arguing with the fourth referee. It is too immature and trite. A man of his stature and reputation ought to have outgrown things like that. Yes we all know he cares, but no amount of hand-waving by any coach on the sidelines has ever influenced any referee’s decision. It actually only helps to incur the referee’s wrath.
In as few words as possible, Guardiola has thrown a lot of light on the reason why Arsenal will always remain second-fiddle to the likes of Barcelona. He has explained the problem with Wenger and invariably with his team. It might sound like bitter truth, but it still remains the truth.
Pragmatism has never killed anyone. It might be too late to expect Wenger to change his ways but as long as he remains at the helm at Arsenal, let us all know that trophies as competitive and tough like the Champions League will always elude us.