If Pep Guardiola takes over as Chelsea manager...

Di Matteo has the big chance to still be the coach in the next season. Even he lose the champion in the final. Not any team can attack with Barcelona to ensure to make more goal than them. Many people believe Guardiola's success own to the players he led. He needs to switch the enviroment to prove himself. If he can really coach the Chelsea to win the title, he can be considered one of the best coachs in the world.

I have the same thoughts as you. Chelsea will have big changes of personnel in the summer. Di Matteo should be retained for next season for his extraordinary achievements. It was unthinkable barely two months ago of the position that Chelsea is in now. To follow the AVB script, Chelsea should have been knocked out by Napoli by popular census. Now even the great Barcelona they have conquered. Pardew of Newcastle has been my manager of the season so far but now I may have to consider Di Matteo too. What he has done is no less spectacular than what Pardew for Newcastle. Yes, I feel the same. I really can't see there were other ways to contain Barcelona and to win. As much as I like beautiful football (which football fans don't?), in his position and under such circumstances, he used the best strategy.

If Guardiola could led Chelsea, the team that played so negatively to defeat his exciting Barcelona, playing attacking football, to win the EPL or The UCL, then he will really be considered one of the greatest coaches.

Your responses always make me smile with haha and the cute baby picture Of course Guardiola will do his best for any clubs that he will manage in the future. He is a professional and he is one of the best. Actually thru this discussion I was trying to see if the former Barcelona manager could do differently from Di Matteo if Guardiola was the one in charge of Chelsea when playing Barcelona as Di Matteo got many negative reviews for his tactic against Barcelona in the UCL semi-finals. I thought Di Matteo had used the best strategy. I wonder those commentators that disagree with him if they have better ideas. Everyone likes beautiful football but as a professional football manager, Di Matteo had to be practical to think of ways to stop Barcelona. It was the highest compliments to Barcelona that a top team like Chelsea would play such a way to contain them.

Of course, nothing can beat the Barca-Real rivalry. But even so, Chelsea - Barcelona has been one of the more bitterest rivalries of the last decade or so, ever since Mourinho accused Rijkaard of influencing the referee during the interval. So I would still say that they are at the present arch rivals!! Cheers! Ram

You are right about your first point, but as for the second, I don't really think fc Barcelona and chelsea are arch-rivals. They definetely got some competition going on, however it is not anything similar like their rivalry with real madrid. If guardiola was moving to Real Madrid's bench, then that would definetely be something to be disappointed to if you are a barca fan.

Pep Guardiola is not quitting Barcelona. He has just completed his contract. He has fulfilled what he promised. He had four very successful years there so it can not be said that there is still unfinished business for him in Barcelona. So I think he is entitled to moving to another club if ever he changes his mind about wanting time-off from the game. If he does come back in the season after the next to replace Sir Alex at Manchester United, I think that is the best arrangement. Even if ever he comes back to football management in Europe, it is unlikely that he will ever manage another La Liga team. He will probably choose a big club in England or Italy. Any notable teams from the two leagues that could compete in UCL are definite rivals to Barcelona. So I don't think that matters too much. Unlike a local rivalry, it is more an emotional issue rather than a footballing one. We can see that it was okay before the games between Chelsea and Barcelona in the UCL semi-finals. There were not any emotional outbursts except the injustice that Chelsea felt about the previous semi-final against Barcelona a few seasons ago. Even that the rant was directed at the referee of that match and not Barcelona. Can you tell me: If he does really take over from Di Matteo at Chelsea, will Pep Guardiola play the way Di Matteo did the next time Chelsea meets Barcelona again if the Chelsea squad remains the same?

so tell me about the concept and philosophy from di matteo?? i think he ever was trained by Gullit and Vialli??and both of his coach, they use the attacking style even both of them had known catenaccio

The style and philosophy of Pep Guardiola are definitely different from Roberto Di Matteo. That is the reason why I created this topic for us to discuss what could Guardiola have done differently if he were in Di Matteo's place when Chelsea played Barcelona in the UCL semi-final. That is the question I asked. So far there is still no answer yet. Pep Guardiola has said that he wanted to be out of football for awhile. He may or may not come back to football. But I don't think joining another football club outside of Spain will mean that he did not respect his Barcelona contract, whatever it means. He has fulfilled his Barcelona contract. He has done his best for Barcelona and if he feels he wants something fresh to do, he is entirely entitled to. Just like what he did as a player, leaving Barcelona for Brescia and Roma.

It is obvious to see from the way Di Matteo played his team against Barcelona in the UCL semi-finals that he is defensive-minded while Guardiola is all for attacking. But is that true? Can you tell me: If he does really take over from Di Matteo at Chelsea, will Pep Guardiola play the way Di Matteo did the next time Chelsea meets Barcelona again if the Chelsea squad remains the same?

I think the Guardiola's success is due also to the players he has led. Football is a team play. Guardiola will meet other players in Chelsea, who play different as the ones in Barcelona. I think that Barcelona won't be the same without Guardiola too. If Guardiola comes to lead Chelsea he will play to win, to attack, not to defend.

But if Guardiola played attackingly, his Chelsea would have been easier for Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Sánchez and Fabregas to score goals as can be seen from that actual match. Even using almost all the outfield players to defend, Chelsea still needed luck and the goal post to stay alive. Can Guardiola really attack Barcelona effectively with the current batch of Chelsea players without letting Barcelona to score more goals than Chelsea can?

There is no doubt that a big offer is there for Pep Guardiola to take. Roman Abramovich is a generous boss - his only problem is that he wants instant results. If Pep Guardiola were to play differently from Di Matteo as the Chelsea manager against Barcelona, how do you think he would play his men? How would he do to make sure his Chelsea won't be eaten alive by Messi and co? Would he play a 4-3-3?

I don't really agree on you that there's no point of him staying at Barca, he got them to the top... It's like the biggest loss for Barca ever. But, I agree with the rest. You never know what can happen.

In terms of a manager wanting a challenge, let's face it they all do, then he should go. I wouldn't want to stay at Barca, think of the pressure! He's young in his career and should make the most of it. Barca will definitely miss him, but then if they're the best team in the world they will get back up and fight on.

What I meant as "ironical" is that he is leaving the team he loves and may join the team that broke their dream. Whether one likes new challenges is different with everyone. Alex Ferguson has been in Manchester United for 25 years. Arsene Wenger has got 15 years at Arsenal. Both of them are still passionate about the football there. Building a new team is also a challenge. Even maintaining the same title winning team in order to win it again is also a challenge, maybe a harder one. The way that Chelsea played against Barcelona in the 2 legs of the UCL semi-final has incurred criticism by pure football lovers. As Pep Guardiola is the one that is responsible for making that dream team, he is the beautiful football guru. But I am just interested to know, and that is what this discussion is all about, that would the Barcelona boss do differently with Chelsea against Barcelona if he were in Di Matteo's place?

They just won 6-1 last night against QPR. Torres, Drogba, Lampard, Mata, Kalou, Cole, Sturridge, Ramires, Malouda, Bosingwa, Ivanovic etc are all attacking-minded players. They can play defensively when the situation requires but when they are controlling the game, they too will move up quickly to attack. And they are not exactly shy to shoot. What interests me is: If he does really take over from Di Matteo at Chelsea, will Pep Guardiola play the way Di Matteo did the next time Chelsea meets Barcelona again if the Chelsea squad remains the same?

what about arsenal?? if pep want get challenges, he would prefer choose arsenal than MU or chelsea.. the concept management of arsenal is same with barcelona.. arsenal academy had same concept too with barcelona academy i think

Joining Chelsea is definitely a risk. The risk is more about the owner rather than anything else. It is hard for a new manager to work in a team that is in a transitional period if the team owner is in-tolerant of temporary unsteady results and has no patience to wait. But Chelsea will be a big challenge for Guardiola if he is given a long enough contract and tasked to overhaul the whole team as well as their academy set up. In fact there are reports in the news that "Roman Abramovich has already promised Guardiola ‘carte blanche’ at Chelsea in terms of how the club are run and structured and which players are bought and sold". All the credit will be to him if he successfully builds up a Barcelona 2.0 in blue. As for his age, I don't think it matters even with AVB while he was at Chelsea. AVB did well for Porto - I am sure he was not the oldest there. I think he failed to get the support of the old guards there and it created divisions in the team. As a result of that, their play suffered. Just a matter of curiosity: If he does really take over from Di Matteo at Chelsea, will Pep Guardiola play the way Di Matteo did the next time Chelsea meets Barcelona again if the Chelsea squad remains the same?

Actually this is the question I asked: If he does really take over from Di Matteo at Chelsea, will Pep Guardiola play the way Di Matteo did the next time Chelsea meets Barcelona again if the Chelsea squad remains the same? I am sure any new coaches will do changes in his team. The current squad of Chelsea players are not that young anymore. Major signings are a sure thing in the summer. It was just reported that Germany's Marko Marin from Werder Bremen has just been signed. So that is one change happened. We will be seeing more coming in as well as some departures.

If he can do what he pleases, as well as having unlimited financial backings, Pep Guardiola can make any team into a Barcelona 2.0. So there is no question of whether any particular team suits him or not. But I like Di Matteo. I hope he gets the job for next season. Maybe Pep Guardiola could take a year off football (that is what he said)and come back to join Chelsea when Di Matteo is sacked at the end of next season. But the discussion is about that question I asked: With the same squad, could Pep Guardiola have played differently from Di Matteo in the match against Barcelona? By the way, Torres has started scoring goals. His last goal was the one that extinguished the Barcelona fire. :)

I'm not surprised he's exhausted, poor guy. I;m glad you agree that Chelsea isn't good for him, I hope he sees it that way. I don't know if anyone can get Torres to score lol.

Roman Abramovich is definitely an ambitious football team owner. That is the reason why he keeps getting the best coaches and players that money can buy for his Chelsea. Although many people say that money can not buy success, I don't think the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, if without the money, could have attracted top talents to come to play for them.