Early years:
On the 21st of March 1963 in Zaandam, not far from Amsterdam, Ronald Koeman was born. Two days later Manchester City would visit his current side, Everton. The hosts on that day would win 2-1, go onto lift the Division One title and finish above Tottenham by six points (impressive as only two points were awarded for a win back then). As for Manchester City, we would fall into the second tier, where we would stay until Joe Mercer, a former Everton player, would come and bring us our greatest successful period to date.
Almost eight years later, in Santpedor Spain, Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola was born. Although 1,576 miles would separate the two initially, eventually they would end up together, within feet of each other. One the mentor, one the student, at the heart of the Barcelona midfield.
Dream team:
Guardiola started his career at the Catalan side, joining the youth side aged 13. Working his way to the first team, eventually making the breakthrough into the first team in the 1991-92 season, aged only 20. Two years earlier Koemans former Ajax coach, Johan Cruyff, had brought the Dutchman to Barcelona where he, and Pep, became part of the famous ‘Dream Team’.
Some credit for Pep’s development belongs to Koeman. Cruyff had asked Koeman to take Pep under his wing and the two became room mates. During that time Guardola wanted to know everything about Cruyff and the style of play. “He wanted to know everything” Koeman once said in an interview.
In 1992 Barca won their first ever Champions League title, ironically at Wembley, England. The game was goalless at the end of normal time. Sampdoria goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca had kept out Michael Laudrup and Hristo Stoichkov, with the latter also hitting the inside of the post late on. In the 112th minute Barca got a free kick just outside the area. Up stepped Pep, eager to take the kick before Koeman pulls the senior professional card and sets himself up for the kick. History says that he scores and Barcelona would lift their first Champions League trophy. So important was that Koemans boot is in a museum.
It could have been all so different though, and it could have been Pep who got that vital goal and vital win for Barcelona.
Management:
The two managers embrace two different aspects of Cruyff’s “Total Football” with Koeman more likely to change and tinker with the system. He’ll adapt it if he feels that his players are not at the level required.
In the other dug out you’ll find Pep. An intense, Cruyff devotee, who fully embraces the system and will play it, as we saw last season, even if his squad is lacking in the ability to perform at the level he expects. The system requires faith, which is what Pep has bag loads of. It also requires heavy investment. That is also something, with the pace of our wing backs, we also now have.
The difference between the two can be seen when you look at the trophy hauls of each manager. Ronald Koeman, who started his managerial career in 1997, has won 8 trophies. Three Eredivise titles with two clubs, a KNVB Cup, the Johan Cruyff Shield twice, a Copa Del Rey and the solitary Supertaca Candido de Oliveira.
Meanwhile Pep’s resume is well-known, and he started his managerial career a decade after his former teammate. Twenty one trophies in all including European titles along with the domestic titles, winning all available wherever he has been. That is, with the exception of England, for now.
Talking about the system in 2011, Koeman said “We also pushed right up in every game” continuing “It created fantastic games to watch but we were also punished. We left big spaces behind our defence, but Cruyff said we would win the majority of our games and he was right”.
Up for debate is which one of the two is the better manager. Koeman builds good teams, as he is doing now at Everton. Pep, on the other hand, builds legacies. On Monday though, both will be looking for the win and both will play, I am sure, their own interpretation of “Total Football”, which is a win for all fans.
