Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City put Mark Hughes and his Southampton side to the sword with an emphatic 6-1 drubbing at the Etihad yesterday. But, how far can the Catalan push his players and how much more can his persistence for perfection pay off before the lads begin to feel the strain?
I was always under the impression that no one is perfect, however, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong, no matter what you do in life, for setting standards higher than the person next to you.
Perfectionism
Pep’s psychology, his mental trait as a professional footballer, was to push himself to his limit and then take stock and evaluate.
On reflection (I would suggest), more often or not he would be highly critical of his performance, no matter what anyone said, and learn how to improve.
Management
I am 100% certain he took on-board everything he learned as a footballer and moulded his decision making into management. I mean, who can fault his time as Barcelona and Bayern boss.
MCFC players
Now into his third City season Pep Guardiola has, for the most part, managed to get an extra 10 – 15% out of his player performances. For example, his methods have worked exponentially on Sergio Aguero. Who remembers when we were happy with Kun banging them in but, his work rate usually looked shabby. Did you ever see him running back and how often did you see him chasing a lost cause?
But all that has changed, and now he’s (Kun) like a terrier who is looking for a lost bone. He runs with purpose, hounds the opposition and creates chaos.
And then there is Raheem, John Stones, David Silva, Bernardo, etc. Who can say Pep hasn’t found an extra gear in every one.
When he talks they listen, hanging on every word, don’t they?
Overview
I have never heard an individual criticise Pep’s working ethics and so it goes without saying he must be doing something right. The thing is, how much more if anything can he get out of his players before possible burn-out.
Will there be future fatigue? Could there be burn-out?
I hope not!