Guardiola, Capello & Conte impart wisdom at DISC

Joy Chakravarty 11:55 29/12/2013
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  • Three wise men: (From l-r) Antonio Conte, Fabio Capello & Pep Guardiola.

    Three of the greatest coaches in contemporary football – Pep Guardiola, Fabio Capello and Antonio Conte – held centre stage on the opening day of the 8th Dubai International Sports Conference and wowed the packed house at Madinat Jumeirah with their humility and insight.

    In a free-wheeling session, Bayern Munich boss Guardiola, who guided Barcelona to three La Liga and two Champions League titles, set the ball rolling by saying it would be more apt to brand his time at the club the “Lionel Messi era” instead of the “Pep Guardiola era”.

    Capello, currently the manager of Russia and known for his exploits with Milan, Roma and England, then shocked the assembled crowd by saying there truly was only one formation which was used by every football manager in the world, a 9-1, while everything else was just for the convenience of the media to describe the line-up.

    Juventus boss Conte, who will be named Coach of the Year at the Globe Soccer Awards tonight, is on track to win a third successive Serie A title with the Bianconeri, said he makes it a point to learn from any kind of football match he watches.

    Replying to a question if it was easier to manage a team of superstars, Guardiola said: “It is easier coaching the very good players. Coaches need quality from the players. If we won, it is because we had good players and a good club.

    “The players have to go out and win. During my time at Barcelona, more than a Guardiola Era, you could say it was the era of Messi.”

    Capello added: “It is difficult to get the best out of your best players. But it is more difficult to coach players who think they are very good, but they are actually not that good. Most of the time, you need to find a good balance between your star players and those who think they are good but are not.”

    Conte felt managing a team with big stars, or any level of player, is about “convincing them of your own ideas and your own vision”.

    In reply to a question of how he altered his formation to a 4-1-4-1 for Bayern Munich from the 4-3-3 deployed during his four years at Barcelona, Guardiola asked fans not to read too much into it.

    He said: “It depends on the quality of players that you have. But how does it matter?

    “The moment the play starts, the players have to run and change positions. What is most important is they have the ability to be at the right place at the right time.”

    Capello added: “If you look at it, most teams are now playing 9-1. There is one forward, but everyone else has to be everywhere. They have to move forward fast when attacking, and they have to fall back when defending.”

    When asked to contemplate a dream end to their careers, Guardiola said he’d like to coach young players, while Capello said it would be to see Russia in the next stage of the World Cup, and Conte said he just dreams that his passion and love for football never ends.

    “I spent some time teaching the young players at Barcelona before taking on the first team job, and that was real football. There were no pressures of the club or the media. It really was pure football and I’d love to do that again,” said Guardiola.

    When asked by the moderator if there was one rule they would like to change, Guardiola asked for more substitutions, while Capello and Conte opted for timeouts during matches.

    “It does not waste time. And it also helps keep the players fresh, which makes for more entertaining games, and can increase revenue for the broadcasters,” Capello argued.

    Guardiola used almost similar reasons for his request.

    “I would like to make more player changes. Instead of three, I would like to have more players on the bench to manage the team in a better way. The benefit would be that players would be less tired.”

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