Former Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard has hit out at Pep Guardiola for ruining football and making every coach think their side can play like Manchester City. He believes that most of the managers are now looking to replicate the Spaniard.
Speaking to Jamie Carragher, Howard stated that Gregg Berhalter tried to make his United States side play like Manchester City, and that resulted in him getting sacked. He believes that not every side can play expansive football and said (via Metro):
“What [former US manager] Gregg Berhalter did was, you look back at my generation and we were just a bunch of tough, rugged guys, we had a couple of match-winners. He [Berhalter] got this team to believe that they could compete, be expansive and play well in the forward areas.”
“I think what happened was, in all ways, Pep Guardiola has ruined football. Pep Guardiola has taught everybody that they can play expansive football. They can’t.”
Howard continued:
“Not everybody can do it. Three teams in the world can do it really well and so I think you have to be resolute at times. When you look at Pochettino’s best teams, when I look at his Tottenham teams, it was two banks of four plus two at the top and then when they broke, they broke with four players, they allowed them to express themselves and then ultimately they were rock-solid defensively or at least tried to be.”
The United States have sacked Berhalter and appointed former Manchester United managerial target Mauricio Pochettino.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola sends message to Mauricio Pochettino
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke to the media earlier this month and wished Mauricio Pochettino well after the Argentine was appointed the United States manager. He said:
“I wish him and the USA – I have friends there – the best of luck. I know he’s a top-class manager, an experienced manager.”
The Manchester City manager praised the USMNT players and added:
“The USA is fascinating to try to build a project for many years and being able to get the national team to the next step. The potential with the USA is there for the amount of people and sports and so on. If he has decided it’s because it’s the best for him.”
The United States are currently ranked 16th in the FIFA rankings and Pochettino will be tasked with improving them ahead of the home World Cup in 2026.
