Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted that he overthinks and comes up with “stupid tactics” in the Champions League but would not have it any other way as he prepares for Tuesday’s quarter final tie with Atletico Madrid.
Guardiola, a two-time winner of the competition as a manager with Barcelona, has not won the trophy in 11 years and his teams have often fallen in the knockout stages due to unexpected tactical tweaks and team selection which have caused his system to fail.
“In the Champions League I always overthink — new tactics, tomorrow you will see a new one. I overthink a lot, that’s why I have very good results in the Champions League,” Guardiola told reporters on Monday.
“It would be boring if I always played the same way. If people think I play the same against Atletico and Liverpool, I don’t like (that).
“The movements are different, the players are all different with different personalities. That’s why I overthink and create stupid tactics. Tonight (Monday) I take inspiration and I’m going to (come up with) incredible tactics tomorrow (Tuesday).”
City are up against an Atletico side that knocked out Manchester United in the previous round and Guardiola said there was a ‘misconception’ about how Diego Simeone sets up his teams, explaining they are not as defensive as they seem.
“It’s more offensive than people believe, he doesn’t want to take a risk in the build-up but they have quality in the final third,” Guardiola said.
Think right: Klopp
Liverpool’s players must show maturity as they chase four titles this season but that is not the only quality they must focus on, manager Juergen Klopp said ahead of first-leg tie against Benfica.
The Merseyside club won the League Cup in February and are second in the Premier League having also reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup to remain on track for an unprecedented haul of four trophies this season.
Speaking before leaving for Portugal to face Benfica, Klopp said Saturday’s hard-fought 2-0 league win over Watford was a perfect example of how he wanted his team to approach their matches.
“It’ll be important but it’s not the only thing if you are mature, it doesn’t help much. But if you can combine quality, desire, excitement and mentality with maturity... you cannot buy that,” Klopp told reporters on Monday.
“We have played games before when we were 1-0 up and were still running like mad as if we were not... I want my players thinking in the right way and that’s what I saw on Saturday. “We all know one failure, one little misstep, and at least one competition can be gone. That’s no problem for us, we’re just ready for the next challenge.”
Liverpool face leaders Manchester City on Sunday and Klopp said that he had no trouble preparing his players for important games this month.
