Five reasons why Pep Guardiola isn't as good as he's made out to be

#2 He’s never done it the hard way

Guardiola only takes jobs where he's blessed with great players

Remember the legendary episode of The Simpsons when Homer plays softball for the Power Plant team, only to lose his place when Mr Burns hires a team full of ringers – professionals from the MLB? One of the most memorable parts is when Mr Burns’ team talk consists of him telling his ringers to “go out and win!” and of course they do, and Burns hails himself as a tactical genius. Well, to many, Pep is a real-life Mr Burns.

Was it Pep’s tactical genius that allowed his Barcelona team – comprised of the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets and the like – to dominate Europe during the turn of the decade? Or was it more a simple case of Guardiola dropping lucky and finding himself with a team filled with world-class players at the same time? The jury is out there as admittedly, Guardiola’s Barca were a pioneering side due to the innovation of tiki-taka. But there can be no doubt that in his subsequent jobs, Guardiola has simply taken the easiest route possible.

Bayern Munich had already won the Bundesliga at a canter prior to his arrival and when he did arrive at the Allianz Arena, one of his first acts was to sign Mario Gotze from Borussia Dortmund – immediately weakening his side’s biggest rival while strengthening Bayern with a player they, arguably, didn’t need. The same happened the season following as Robert Lewandowski was signed from Dortmund. Bayern simply have the financial clout to ride roughshod over the rest of Germany – as do Manchester City in England, so is it any surprise Guardiola would choose those clubs?

Of course not. And unlike Jose Mourinho, who gets equal criticism as a “chequebook manager”, he’s never done the business at a smaller club like Mourinho did at Porto when he led them to the Champions League.