Xabi Alonso: Pep Guardiola’s important ideological signing for Bayern Munich

 

The Camp Nou. The Gamper Trophy. The 25th of August 2010. A night of flowing narratives. Ronaldinho returns to Barcelona with Milan in what was a sense of what used to be. Zlatan Ibrahimovich plays against his future club, Milan — a sense of what would be.

But hidden on that night was a sense of what might have been.

That was the night Pep Guardiola almost signed Andrea Pirlo. As explained in

Decoding Manchester United’s Louis van Gaal

Take two! Like a setting from a film set, with the director angry at the acting in the just shot scene, the post-Ferguson era at Manchester United is at its second take.

The first take was disappointing. David Moyes arrived at Old Trafford and the ridicule seemingly followed him in. Previous highs crashed to mediocre levels. It came as no surprise when he eventually crashed and burned out.

Louis van Gaal has replaced him. His managerial CV includes Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona (twice), AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team (twice). His titles include a Champions League trophy, league titles and cup wins in Holland, Spain and Germany.

Described by Jonathan Wilson as red-faced and dogmatic, van Gaal’s managerial career has developed steadily. The older, the wiser. His strict and stubborn approach to his philosophy in his early managerial years have now given way to a mixture of

Classic Clasico

“Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma! . . . guardi la stelle che tremano . . .” *

Giacomo Puccini

*(None shall sleep! None shall sleep! . . . watch the stars that tremble. . .)

 

No one could save them now.

Not even Messi.

Not even Guardiola.

Not even the memories of past successes in the clasico.

‘Som I Serem’.  The mosaic as the players walk onto the Camp Nou turf.

‘We are, and we will be.’

On this night, they tried to be. In the end, just like the Prince of Denmark, they couldn’t.

Ping, ping, ping.

Tiki, taka, tiki, taka.

Pass after pass after pass.

Arsenal 1-2 Wigan Athletic : Latics pull off another unlikely win

Wigan followed up their impressive win over Manchester United with another impressive display at the Emirates.

Starting Line-Ups and Formations

Arsene Wenger still had Laurent Koscielny out through suspension, so Johann Djourou continued to deputize. Other than that, the line-up was pretty much the same, with Wenger using the lopsided 4-2-3-1 that has been the reason for their recent resurgence.

Wigan lined up in their now customary 3-4-3. The only change from the Manchester United win was

Manchester United 2-3 Athletic Bilbao: An English side loses the tactical battle yet again in Europe

Marcelo Bielsa, the man known in his native Argentina as ‘El Loco’ – the Madman, went to Old Trafford and left victorious. The former Argentina and Chile manager came up against Sir Alex Ferguson in what was always going to be a great tactical battle.

Starting Lineups

Sir Alex went for his usual 4-4-1-1 formation. David De Gea started in goal, with Chris Smalling and Johnny Evans