“Messi won the titles, not Guardiola" - Magath slams Pep's "boring" style
German footballing legend Felix Magath has slammed Pep Guardiola's "boring" approach to the game, claiming his success at Barcelona was mainly down to Lionel Messi.
Pep Guardiola is often hailed as one of football’s great innovators, with the tiki-taka style he first introduced as Barcelona coach admired the world over.
However not everyone is a fan of Pep’s vision of the game, with German footballing legend Felix Magath brandishing the Catalan coach’s approach as “boring”.
The former Fulham and Bayern Munich coach also claimed that Guardiola’s success at Barcelona, where he last won the Champions League in 2012, can be attributed more to Lionel Messi than Pep’s management.
“Messi won the titles, not Guardiola,” Magath told Sport Bild.
“Without Messi, this system has never worked as successfully for Guardiola, otherwise he would have won the Champions League with Bayern or Manchester City long ago.”
Magath slams Guardiola’s tactics
Magath – who was a European champion with Germany and Hamburg as a player and won two Bundesliga titles with Bayern and Wolfsburg as a coach – believes that Guardiola gives too much importance to the tactical elements before a game, which can often backfire against him.
“In my opinion, Guardiola generally too often gets lost in trying to win a game in advance. That tactic often ends in wrong decisions, which prevent success,” he said.
He also slammed Guardiola’s tiki-taka style as “boring” and an unnecessary tactic for the best teams.
“Tiki-taka only works if you have players who are technically superior to their opponents,” he said.
“For the spectator, holding the ball, as I call it, is just boring and a top team doesn't really need it.”