Former Man Utd hero Schmeichel blasts ‘boring’ Pep

Michael Graham
Pep Guardiola: Made Bayern Munich "boring"

Pep Guardiola: Made Bayern Munich "boring"

Former Man Utd goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has stoked the Manchester derby fires by saying City boss Pep Guardiola made Bayern Munich “boring”.

Guardiola led the Bavarian club to three Bundesliga titles and two DFB-Pokal success in just three years in Germany, but Schmeichel says the manner in which he did it offered little to excite Bayern fans.

“He was okay at Bayern Munich. I have to say he was okay,” he told Omnisport. “For me, personally, he changed a really good, entertaining team to be become more boring to watch.

“Whereas Bayern before were very direct, they won the treble, had quick players and were exciting to watch, he [Guardiola] made them play more square. He changed the players, but you can’t argue with his results.”

Guardiola made his name at Barcelona, where he is credited for being the catalyst for their dominance since. That, though, according to Schmeichel, was largely down to a little “luck”.

“What he did with Barcelona was fantastic, his work was fantastic, but he was also very lucky he had the players to bring in the philosophy that he has in football,” he added.

“So whereas [former United manager] Alex Ferguson’s first priority was ‘we have to be able to score goals’ – for most coaches that’s the priority – with Pep it’s possession, I want to have as much possession as possible.

“So the philosophy goes to ‘I want to have so much possession that at some point we’ll score a goal from that, the goals will come from possession’ and that’s his philosophy.

“That’s what we’ll see at Manchester City or he’s going to introduce that. He was very lucky he had the players at Barcelona but he was clever in what he did.”