Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has ‘ruined football’ — Tim Howard

Tim Howard, a former player for Manchester United, said Pep Guardiola “ruined” the game by giving other teams the impression they can play “expansive football,” just like his Manchester City club.

Guardiola, who has won 40 trophies in his brilliant career on the field with Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and now Manchester City, is regarded as one of the best managers in football history.

At City alone, Guardiola has got his hands on 18 pieces of silverware, including six Premier League trophies, all while changing the way fans and rival teams approach and think about the game.

Since Guardiola’s arrival at the Etihad, clubs up and down the football pyramid have attempted to replicate Guardiola’s possession-based, high-pressing brand of football, to varying degrees of success.

The same can be said for teams across the globe, with managers often criticised for trying to persist with an attractive, expansive style of football despite lacking the same quality of player that Guardiola has at his disposal.

Howard touched on this subject while discussing Mauricio Pochettino’s recent appointment as United States’ new head coach, urging the Argentine to take a measured approach and avoid simply copying City’s blueprint.

Asked whether he had any advice for Pochettino, Howard told CBS Sports colleague Jamie Carragher: ‘I think it’s a great question and, for me, it’s an easy answer.

‘What [former US manager] Gregg Berhalter did was, you look back at my generation and we were just a bunch of tough, rugged guys, we had a couple of match-winners.

‘He [Berhalter] got this team to believe that they could compete, be expansive and play well in the forward areas.

‘I think what happened was, in all ways, Pep Guardiola has ruined football. Pep Guardiola has taught everybody that they can play expansive football. They can’t.

‘Not everybody can do it. Three teams in the world can do it really well and so I think you have to be resolute at times.

‘When you look at Pochettino’s best teams, when I look at his Tottenham teams, it was two banks of four plus two at the top and then when they broke, they broke with four players, they allowed them to express themselves and then ultimately they were rock-solid defensively or at least tried to be.

‘If he starts to instil that a little bit, that resoluteness defensively, they have enough players in the forward areas where they can be dangerous.’

Guardiola’s City have enjoyed another strong start to the campaign in pursuit of an historic fifth successive Premier League crown, though were held to a dramatic 2-2 draw at home to title rivals Arsenal on Sunday.

The English champions will look to return to winning ways this evening when they play host to Watford in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

Now in his ninth year season with the club, Guardiola is yet to give any assurances over his future but has not ruled out the possibility of extending his stay before his contract expires next summer.

‘When I am leaving I will say I am leaving. But I didn’t say,’ the 53-year-old told reporters last month.

‘We spoke with the club and said it’s a lot of years [I’ve been here], so we will see what will happen – but I am not ruling out absolutely to extend the contract.

‘When I said I would love to stay it is because I would love to stay.’

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