Pep Confidential (6 page)

I press him further. ‘Would you agree that it’s a little ironic that the Bayern of Franz Beckenbauer has signed the ‘son’ of Cruyff to secure success?’

Breitner refutes this suggestion. ‘Not at all, not at all. We have huge respect for Dutch football and Johan Cruyff has been both a friend and a worthy adversary in the past. He is, moreover, a fine person and was a first-class coach when he was at Barça. There is definitely nothing ironic about this situation.’

Beckenbauer and Cruyff, emblematic players for Bayern and Barça respectively as well as national icons in Germany and Holland, faced each other in the 1974 World Cup final in Munich. Now their heirs have come together in pursuit of the same objective: the domination of European football.

On this particular chessboard, Pep’s pieces are all in red.

5

‘I’M DESPERATE TO WATCH TRAINING – I WANT TO SEE WHAT PEP DECIDES TO CHANGE.’

Munich, June 26, 2013

IF PEP GUARDIOLA had to go into battle, Lorenzo Buenaventura is the man he would want by his side. A natural early riser, Buenaventura is happy to get up at 6am for a breakfast meeting to discuss that afternoon’s training session.

It is June 26. Day One.

Pep has known for a few days now exactly what the inaugural session will involve. It will take place in the Allianz Arena, and not the Säbener Strasse facility, because the club is expecting a sizeable crowd. Up until now the two men have needed very little discussion to plan the work of the first seven weeks. With Pep in New York and Lorenzo in Cadiz, they have limited themselves to exchanging a few ideas and organising their diaries. The club has planned a dozen matches before the start of the Bundesliga on Friday, August 9. The matches include both a DFB-Pokal game and, more importantly, the German Super Cup in Dortmund against no less a rival than Borussia. Later Bayern will organise a friendly in aid of the victims of the floods which have recently devastated Bavaria.

On May 14, Guardiola emailed his colleagues a five-line action plan for the first seven weeks. His objectives were straightforward: do well in the German Super Cup and begin the Bundesliga in good shape. His proposals, written in both German and Catalan, included organising pre-season training in Italy. Everyone was delighted with the idea, which for Pep would be a real treat after the gruelling pre-season tours of Asia and North America he had endured with Barça. Buenaventura is also pleased.

In his first 45 days in Munich, Bayern’s new head fitness coach will have to co-ordinate 13 matches (10 friendlies and three official games) as well as 45 training slots, of which 12 will be double sessions in the morning and evening. An agenda of this kind would have been impossible at Barcelona.

At Bayern, the training and matches combined mean that the players will complete 60 sessions in only seven weeks. By the standards of modern clubs it is an absolute luxury and Buenaventura has a permanent grin on his face. He does not speak German, just English, but has no problem at all communicating with his new colleagues.

Considered one of the foremost fitness coaches in the world, Buenaventura was trained by Paco Seirul.lo. Although originally from an athletics background, Seirul.lo became a brand name in the fitness training of footballers and professionals from other team sports. He used his own methods when he worked with Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team and spent 25 successful years keeping Barça players fit and healthy.

Buenaventura uses Seirul.lo’s ‘structured microcyle’ approach which involves short training cycles over three to five days, focused on one area. It might be strength – resistance, elastic strength or explosive force depending on the player and the particular stage in the season. Training sessions simulate the technical and tactical aspects of the next game and the ball is always used. In other words, the players train in the same way they play. Guardiola’s principles underpin every aspect of training and before the session he and Buenaventura agree the day’s tactical and technical objectives. These then become the focus of the session. One day it might be bringing the ball out from the back, the next they’ll work on pressing the opposition from the point at which the ball is lost, and so on. Consequently in this, Bayern’s first session, the ball will play a starring role.

Rummenigge has already told me how excited he is: ‘I’m desperate to see training. I want to see what Pep decides to change in the team.’

Matthias Sammer views this first session differently: ‘This is the opportunity for Pep and the team to get to know each other. This is where we start to work together as honestly and as openly as possible.’

In the event, the day holds a few surprises for Rummenigge, Sammer and, of course, the players. There is no jogging, no long sprints, no weight lifting. They do not do any circuit training and there is no single exercise that focuses on athleticism. In fact, all that awaits the players as they arrive is a mountain of footballs.

Over breakfast in Munich’s Westin Grand Hotel, Pep goes over his plans for the day with his team and at 7.30am they set off for Säbener Strasse. The players have come in early for medical checks and Pep wants to say ‘hi’.

Out on the grass of the stadium’s training ground, the new arrivals meet the veteran technical staff who have remained with the club since Jupp Heynckes’ departure. Hermann Gerland who, along with Domènec Torrent, will be Pep’s assistant coach, is here along with Toni Tapalovic, who has been goalkeeping coach since he arrived with Manuel Neuer in 2011. Andreas Kornmayer and Thomas Wilhelmi, the fitness coaches who will work under Buenaventura, are also ready to start the day.

By four in the afternoon Buenaventura and his two assistants are in the Allianz Arena preparing for the training session. Three members of the youth team come with them. They will be briefed on the day’s exercises so that they can then demonstrate to the first team. Meanwhile, some 7000 fans stream towards the stadium, all of them more than happy to hand over five Euros in aid of the flood victims despite the arduous journey they have had to endure. Maintenance work in the Munich subway system has forced them to disembark at Alte Heide metro station instead of the much more convenient Fröttmaning stop. Stoically, they leave the metro and board a slow bus to the stadium.

In the normal course of events the citizens of Munich prefer to travel in silence. Travellers are to be found reading or typing into their mobile phones, but telephone conversations are rare – a phenomenon which can catch the rather more expansive Mediterranean visitor unawares. The only exception to this rule is the very occasional whispered conversation. On match days, however, all of this changes. The silence is shattered by the jubilant roars of fans pouring into the carriages, usually cheek-by-jowl with their rivals. Together they turn the journey into a chanting competition.

Today things are a little different. This is the first chance to see Pep. He is here at last and whole families have come along to celebrate. There is a festive atmosphere on the long trek to the Allianz Arena.

Pep decides not to share the season’s objectives with the players today. He will save this crucial information until the whole squad is together. Several key personnel are still absent for one reason or another. Javi Martínez, Dante and Luiz Gustavo will not be here until July 15. Arjen Robben, David Alaba, Mario Mandžukić, Xherdan Shaqiri, Daniel Van Buyten and Claudio Pizarro are due to join the team in Italy in seven days’ time and Mario Götze, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Holger Badstuber are nursing injuries which, in Badstuber’s case, will plague him for the rest of the season.

It has been 398 days since Pep last ran a training session and he is itching to get back to work in his natural habitat, the football pitch.

At exactly one minute to five he trots out onto the grass with about 20 players following him. Many of them are youth team players. They gather round him and he keeps his instructions short and to the point: ‘I need just one thing from you. Keep running. I don’t mind if you miss a pass or mess up a move, just keep running. If you stop that’s it. Kaputt. You’re out.’ Training has started.

The first team-talk is just as brief. Two hours later, Jan Kirchhoff, one of the new Bayern signings, will comment: ‘We thought he’d stick to English, but all his instructions were in German.’

The session starts with some warm-up
rondos
. The players are divided into three groups. In each group, six players form a circle. Their aim is to pass the ball to each other as quickly as possible whilst their two team-mates inside the circle try to stop them. Today the Bayern players are much less fluid than their Barcelona counterparts who have been doing this since they were kids. In fact, the champions of Europe appear a little slow and clumsy as they struggle through the exercise. Pep scratches his head. Apparently his players have come here expecting athletics training and here they are kicking a ball about.

The lower sections of the stands are packed but quiet. On match days the faithful flock to their footballing cathedrals, ready to sing themselves hoarse, but right now they have come to watch training and a respectful silence is the order of the day.

The warm-up concludes with two eight-minute
rondos
, a couple of drinks breaks and a few stretches. Up until now the focus has been on general ball work but the next exercise is more specific. This time it is about resistance work, which they do in three lines. Pep and Buenaventura have to keep correcting the players who are struggling to understand. They use the youth team players to demonstrate again and again. Pep is worried. He is still scratching his head.

Buenaventura explains: ‘The players work in an area 70 metres long. They run the first leg slowly, practising three different technical-tactical exercises. Then they sprint back. It takes about six minutes to complete both legs and they will actually be covering about 4 km in the 150-metre space. It involves resistance exercises, but also requires them to work co-operatively. The idea is that they’ll then transfer these skills to their game. Each exercise incorporates an aspect of Pep’s footballing philosophy. One is looking for the third-man move, the second, 2v1 exercises and the third is a passing drill.

‘The players start off working together in threes and then move on to individual exercises. It’s all completely new to them. In the past, resistance work like this would have involved continuous sprints of 800 to 1000 metres, or longer-distance running.

‘What we do is get them using the ball and we also introduce concepts like inter-co-operation at this stage.’

Matthias Sammer and Bastian Schweinsteiger watch intently from the bench.
Basti
is still recuperating from an operation on his right ankle on June 3. Initially the doctors predicted a 10-day convalescence, but more than double that time has passed and he is still not fully fit. From the stand Badstuber and Götze are also watching their team-mates. Badstuber will have to undergo another operation on his right knee in September. He was injured during a match against Borussia Dortmund and needed cruciate ligament surgery, but the injury had flared up again by mid-May. Beside him, Götze is rubbing his thigh. On April 30 he damaged the hamstring area of his left leg during the Real Madrid v Borussia Champions League semi-final. Anxious to play in the final, the player returned too early and his leg collapsed again. Almost two months after the original injury, Götze is still out.

All three players are taking much longer than anticipated to recover full fitness. Guardiola scratches his head once more.

Out on the pitch the basic exercises, supervised by Lorenzo Buenaventura, have finished. The players have been sprinting faster than necessary and have made technical mistakes as a result. This may be because so many youth team players are here today but it will take 10 more training sessions for Pep’s men to perfect this exercise.

Now there are four rounds of positioning games, lasting four minutes each. These exercises in holding possession are a vital part of Pep’s arsenal. Four players form a rectangle, four more position themselves within it and there are three wildcards. The ball circulates with the first touch and the coach shouts from time to time, ‘
Drück! Drück!
(
Press! Press!
)’

What we are seeing are the first signs of what Pep wants Bayern to become: a team that circulates the ball quickly and applies intense and constant pressure. Two players are singled out for special attention. The first is Toni Kroos, who needs help to get his body into the ideal position for greater fluidity and the non-stop circulation of the ball. One of Pep’s basic axioms is that every player should be thinking ahead to his next move as he passes the ball. As a player, Guardiola was always a second ahead of everyone else. He spends a long time with Kroos, whom he sees as the future conductor of this Bavarian footballing orchestra. He shows him that it is not enough to pass the ball. It must be done anticipating the next move, so that he can then position himself correctly. It is vital to offer immediate support, at the new base of a triangle of players, so that the ball movement can continue without slowing down and so that the team can both dominate and control the play. That way his team-mates will have more options. It is all about passing and then making yourself available. Sometimes that means moving, at others, staying put. Effective passing is about thinking one step ahead of everyone else. Kroos seems to grasp the point easily and starts to apply the advice as he carries out the exercises.

Then it is Jérôme Boateng’s turn. The coach sees him as a real talent who just needs a little bit of guidance. As the season progresses, Pep’s attention to Boateng will reach almost obsessional levels as he works to eradicate the player’s three weak points. Pep will ask him to work on holding his position in the defensive line, defending with power and avoiding loss of concentration.

From day one Pep moves the defensive line several metres higher up the pitch than the team is used to. The objective is better marking and anticipation of opposition forwards, plus a faster, bolder and more aggressive defence. He wants his defenders playing much further forward and Boateng’s input could be crucial whenever Javi Martínez is missing. Training is over for the day – 80 minutes of short, intense exercises which have allowed the players to work on various tactical aspects of the game. It will be like this for the rest of the season and Pep will continue to lead short sessions of 90 minutes, during which he will demand 100% commitment.