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

#5 He’s tactically inflexible

Claudio Bravo's time at Man City has been disastrous

Perhaps the biggest criticism of Guardiola is that while he innovated the tiki-taka style at Barcelona – a style making heavy use of maintaining possession, short passes, and a high defensive line – when opposing coaches figure out a way to play against such a style Pep simply doesn’t have a plan B to revert to. Some people suggested the style was unbeatable, but of course, Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan side proved that theory wildly wrong in the 2009/10 Champions League semi-finals, and Real Madrid under Mourinho were then able to counter the style well too.

Since then tiki-taka has been exposed plenty of times by plenty of other sides, but Pep still clings to the style as if it’s the only way to win a football game. While he appears to be evolving a little at Manchester City with his use of speedy full-backs and a more direct attacking style, the issue of his tactical inflexibility reared its head massively when it came to the defensive side of the game last season.

Guardiola clearly prefers defenders and goalkeepers that are cultured and are more comfortable with the ball at their feet – playing the ball out from the defence is a Guardiola hallmark. And so one of his first acts as Manchester City manager was to make John Stones – renowned for his cultured style of play but criticised for his lack of defensive nous - the most expensive defender in English football history, and he followed that by removing Joe Hart – seen as lacking skills with the ball at his feet – from City’s goal and replacing him with Chilean Claudio Bravo.

Stones may yet prove to be an inspired buy as he’s still an improving prospect, but he certainly struggled at times last year. Bravo, on the other hand, was an unmitigated disaster and has already been replaced after plenty of gaffes that ended up costing City valuable points. It was a classic case of Guardiola overplaying his hand, looking to create another Manuel Neuer without recognising the unique nature of Neuer as a goalkeeper – a great keeper doesn’t need to be able to use his feet brilliantly, ask Peter Schmeichel.

It was another classic example of Guardiola’s tactical inflexibility and another reason why he simply shouldn’t be considered up there with the truly great managers like Ferguson and Mourinho.