Since his loss to him Lyon olympic in the quarterfinals of the Champions League disputed in August last year in Lisbon, the Manchester City So far this season he has played 36 games between Premier, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and the Champions League itself, in which he adds 28 victories, 6 draws and only two defeats, with a balance of 78 goals in favor, at an average of 2.16 per game, and 19 against, only 0.52. In addition, the team of Pep Guardiola signed this Saturday before him Tottenham his sixteenth consecutive victory and has now 23 games without losing. The last time he did it was precisely against the team of Mourinho in London.
After a season in which he could not win the Premier for the third time in a row and once again stayed at the gates of the semifinals of the Champions League, Manchester City has not only taken flight, but has also recovered its essence. “The only difference is that we run less,” says Guardiola, to explain that, paradoxically, “we ran too much and to play football you have to run a lot less. Without the ball you have to run, but with the ball you have to stay more in position. and let the ball run and not you, and we’ve improved a lot in recent games. ”
Opinion –
Kike Marin
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In this way, Pep recognizes the influence he has Juanma Lillo, whom he turned to in June last year after the march a few months before Mikel Arteta to Arsenal. “Juanma is very important to me. He has helped us a lot. Without their influence it would be impossible to be where we are on the table “, admits Guardiola. “He knows me perfectly and knows what I need at the right time. He has a special sense to see things that I do not see or read situations of the match difficult for me to find,” explains the Catalan coach.
The truth is that, after four seasons in England, the first of them clearly acclimatization, his City needed to return to the starting point. And who better for this than the figure of Lillo, from whom Pep learned so much in his early days as a coach and continues to learn. “In bad times, Juanma makes me feel calm and makes me see the real situation of the team, beyond the result, be it good or bad”, says Guardiola, who has no problem in publicly acknowledging that his second “has a vision that I don’t have. Juanma is special and has been very important in this period. He helps us, especially in defensive aspects and speaking with the players. , more especially with Latinos, because of the language issue. ”
Although he has a long career as head coach, from his beginnings in a UD Salamanca to which he rose from Second B to First, to his experiences in Mexico, Colombia, Japan and China, going through such important LaLiga clubs as Oviedo, Tenerife, Zaragoza and Real Sociedad, in addition to serving as second of Jorge Sampaoli at Sevilla FC, Lillo has found in a club of the soccer power of Manchester City and together with a coach of the stature of Guardiola the ideal place to capture all his knowledge.
Lasarte, on its way again
As much as ignorance has made him an object of ridicule on many occasions, the Toulouse player is still highly respected by football professionals. Thus, and as reported by various Chilean media, Lillo has been one of the candidates of Francis Cagigao, the new sports director of the federation of the South American country, to succeed Reinaldo Rueda on the bench for La Roja. It should be remembered that in 2016 the Spanish coach was one of the Argentine Sampaoli’s assistants at the head of the Chilean team.
Francisco Javier Roldán
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However, and since Juanma did not see it clear to leave Guardiola, Chile’s new coach is Martín Lasarte, the coach who precisely replaced Lillo on the Real Sociedad bench and achieved promotion to First with the San Sebastian team. The Uruguayan coincided in San Sebastián with the Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and also with the goalkeeper coach Roberto Navajas, who will now accompany him in his new journey at the helm of La Roja. Another curiosity is that Cagigao was the one who endorsed the hiring of Arteta as Arsenal coach, which caused Guardiola to call Lillo.
“I don’t know everything about football, I’m still learning. I need people around to help me be a better coach for our players and that allows me to see things that I do not see, “Guardiola assured when Lillo arrived in Manchester. Last November Pep renewed his contract for two more years with another more optional, so in 2023 he would complete his sixth season in charge of a team that he joined in the summer of 2016 and will remain the club where he has remained as coach the longest. The normal thing is that Juanma continues by his sideAlthough it would not be surprising if he was tempted again.
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