BEVERLY HILLS, May 30, (THEWILL) – After losing two previous games in two different competitions to Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea late this season, football analysts believed the tactician that was Pep Guardiola would have recognised the fault lines, effected the right winning strategy, plugged the loopholes and plotted an effective counter to Tuchel’s tactics by crafting a path through the impregnable fortress of the Blues backline.
But, if the statistics from the UEFA Champions League final where Tuchel added an accomplished gloss to his earlier victories over Guardiola’s Manchester City side in the English FA Cup and English Premier League competitions are anything to go by, then the conclusion might have to be that Tuchel is the better strategist overall, in the high-stakes game of tacticians.
When Tuchel ended the vaulted pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple by City this season in their semi-final fixture, the excuse was that it was Guardiola’s first EPL encounter with the German manager, who came in midseason and not only transformed the London club that Frank Lampard, his predecessor was putting together, but infused in it a steeliness in defense that made it near impossible to breach.
The conclusion, after that first loss to Tuchel, was that City was going to forge ahead with a lower-cadre treble of the EPL title, the EFL trophy and the most important of all, the UCL, which they had never won before. That was before Tuchel’s Chelsea repeated the feat of beating City in the league.
That second loss was chalked up to the fact that Guardiola fielded a side that was without some of the first team players because City already had the points-gap to take the Premiership as “champions-elect” and were one win away from regaining their domestic title, while Guardiola was resting some key players for the UCL final. But, so was Tuchel and once again, the Chelsea defense held strong to win City.
Pundits therefore believed that the avowed reputation of Guardiola to see patterns and recognise football game-plans will kick, after two crucial losses especially one that wrecked his storied determination for a record-setting quadruple and that threatened his intense desire to once again get his hands on the UCL trophy that had eluded him since he left La Liga side Barcelona and which City had never won, that he will engineer a strategy to overcome Tuchel and his thrifty charges.
It did not happen.
Instead, it was the German who once more illustrated why he ought to be considered as one of the best masterminds of football strategy. His appreciation of the threat posed by the flanking players Guardiola deployed to crack the defensive capabilities of his side’s formation was part of the reason he must be considered an overwhelming brilliant strategist in his own right.
Seeing that Guardiola recruited Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling to outflank his backline, Tuchel positioned the pair of Chelsea’s inside forwards of Mason Mount and Kai Havertz to checkmate their advance right from the middle of the park before they became a threat to the defense. The tactics freed the energetic N’Golo Kanté to keep the City advance forward under lock and key while enabling Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta to tidy up at the back.
It formed the entire Chelsea squad structure as a formidable defense in every blade of grass of the pitch that the typical fluidity of the City side was nullified. Guardiola’s side had the possession statistics on their side but were unable to make it count for much. It was such an effective Chelsea execution that the typically dependable keeper, Edouard Mendy, had to make just one save throughout the game.
Even if Chelsea were just as blunt in front of goal in the second period, they had done the job in the first half and, as has been the case for the most part in Tuchel’s first half-season in England when they got in front in a tight encounter, that was enough to carry the day and earn them the coveted football prize.
It is another testament to the tactical superiority of Tuchel, who, when he began his senior managerial career was an ardent student of the Guardiola ingenuity at Barcelona and would spend hours poring over the Spaniard game-plan whenever available to him. The time has come for all that hard work and dedication to tactical discipline learned from some of the best in the game to yield fruit and there is no bigger prize to win as rewarding as the UCL.
Guardiola learnt from the Argentine manager of Leeds United, Marcelo Bielsa, and bested him in the EPL. Now, someone who learnt from him has done the same in the UCL.
Yet, City will have to be introspective about how they go forward from this. A big tactical issue remains unresolved. They lacked an incisive pattern to penetrate the renowned wall of the Blues and it affected their overall balance. It has never been City’s problem to create chances but they struggled on the night. It became an act in desperation as the game wore on.
For another season of missed opportunities in the FA Cup and UCL, Guardiola will rue their failures but must rise to the challenge again next season. For now, the honour of the best is Tuchel’s to savour before hostilities resume in the 2021/2022 season.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
