Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant has criticised Pep Guardiola for not having done his homework on English football prior to his move to Manchester in the summer.
Guardiola’s nervous twitching and face-touching in post-match press conferences has become a well familiar sigh in recent months, with his latest disappointment being City’s loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final.
Grant, who managed Chelsea in 2007/08, believes Guardiola will have to scrap the tactics which have led him to success with Barcelona and Bayern Munich to fully adapt to the Premier League.
“I think he’s one of the greatest coaches in history.” Grant told Omnisport. “He’s one of the best, one of the top, no doubt about this. What he did in Barcelona, even the football that he played in Bayern Munich was amazing.
“But I think Pep didn’t do his homework when he came to English football. English football is totally different. Even though there are a lot of foreigners, still there are things that are typical for English football.
“Because when they play good, they are playing excellent, excellent. But still, they are not hard to beat on the defensive side. He plays exactly like he played in Barcelona, but not with the same personalities and not in the same league.
“But I’m sure he’s a smart guy. He will learn from this and he will do different next season. But this season, I was good education for him.”
Grant’s season with Chelsea ended miserably with the club only just missing out on the Premier League and losing to Manchester United in the Champions League final and Tottenham Hotspur in the EPL Cup.
Despite that, Grant’s year in England rates better to the Catalan’s, who saw his team getting ejected from the Champions League by Monaco and in the FA Cup semi-final by Arsenal.
The Gunners outscored City despite playing with the ball less and with uncharacteristic and un-tiki-taka-like long-ball tactics which Guardiola later half-heartedly acknowledged.
City spent £174 million in the summer and a further £27 million to bring in Gabriel Jesus from Palmeiras in January. Despite that, Guardiola is higly likely to end this season without a trophy as the Citizens trail leaders Chelsea by 14 points with six games to go.
