Quotes About Teamwork

Pep had analysed Real Madrid in detail and, an hour and a half before the game, he got Messi, Xavi and Iniesta together: 'You three against Lass and Gago have got the game. If you do it right, three against two, we've beaten them.' Lass and Gago were going to find a third man to defend, Messi would position himself as a false striker in between the centre backs and those two.

Guardiola knows it is easier to work with a group hungry for victory rather than with one that has won everything, and he considered David Silva and Kun Agüero vitally important to the team if they were able to improve their defensive attitudes, as it is in these positions that the first line of pressure starts.

He'd apply his three basic rules, none of which related to what people know as tiki-taka: they were, rather, intense attack, quick pressure when the ball is lost and having one more player in the midfield than your opponents.

where his side could gain the upper hand in two v ones; endlessly replaying the key battles.

He could live with them playing badly now and again, he told them, but he demanded 100 per cent on the pitch in every single game.

the attacking players would need to become the best defenders; and the defenders would have to become the first line of attack, moving the ball forward from the back.

He wanted players who controlled the ball with their first touch, who had quick feet, who retained the ball and created superiority from individual technique and group work.

He said that if you pass the ball well, you receive it well and have good control; then you have far more possibilities.

My role was to move the ball around the pitch for my team-mates to finish off the move,' he says. The

Guardiola believed in handing greater responsibility to the footballers, trusting that their intuition could help solve a great amount of their problems. As a coach, Pep remained true to this idea and was determined to let his charges take the initiative.

Guardiola told me that if there is a hint of disharmony within the group he removes it, as he did with Eto'o and Ibrahimovi?, who wanted to be stars in a team where no one feels a star.

The senior players, meanwhile, understood perfectly well, and as one recognised: 'He always used us as an example, but he was always fair with us and everyone else.' Pep was finding solutions to the team's problems, relying on instinct and experience to motivate, inspire and get the best out of the youngsters.

The key is to have a strong dressing room, knowing that we are stronger together than one person on his own.

there are few pure footballing training sessions and there is a lot of co-existence and it isn't easy. But the lucky thing in this team is having found people with important human values.

We are one. We are not little groups because in all teams this is what ends up killing team spirit.

If each person does their job, and they know what it is because I make sure they know, then we are a team that is difficult to beat.

When we have the ball, we can't lose it. And when that happens, run and get it back. That is it, basically.' The squad, the group, was seduced. Not for the last time; far from it. Upon leaving the room, Xavi commented to a team-mate that everything that they had needed to know was there in that talk. A breath of fresh air, order and discipline. A reminder of the style he wanted to reinforce. All that was established from day one.

Pep's do-or-die attitude from the sidelines (constantly correcting and signalling during games, treating every match as if it were the last, intensely focused on the job, passionate and occasionally over-exuberant) as well as his off-pitch behaviour (making the team eat together, scouting rival players and teams, unheard of at the time in the third division) suggested he was a leader, ready for management. Ready to lead at any level. Any team.

some key principles were quickly instilled in him: 'Don't stamp on anybody but don't let anybody stamp on you; keep your head high; two-touch football; keep the ball on the ground.

Barça had finished the league eighteen points behind Madrid the previous season and, at times like that, sportsmen typically need somebody to show them the way, point out to them how to correct mistakes.

He cleansed the dressing room of players who were uncommitted and oblivious of the club's core values: prioritising good football and hard work ahead of individual talent. Before they met for pre-season, Pep received messages from key players in the squad backing his bravery; the squad's leaders were effectively opening the door to the dressing room for him.

Ingla and Txiki set out a plan for the rest of the season which saw them working and consulting simultaneously with both Rijkaard and Pep, talking about players, injuries and recoveries and principally how to shake up the working model of the club. The primary goal was to professionalise the first team.

The ball runs faster than any human, so it's the ball that has to do the running!' which, in seventeen words, just about encapsulates his philosophy.

Look at him! Him, that one there! He's hiding! Your team-mates need to know that you are always available!' he'll shout, pointing a finger at the culprit. 'Before passing the ball, you need to know where you're passing it to; if you don't know, it's better to keep it; give it to your goalie, but don't give it to your opponent