Cruyff lives on through Guardiola and Koeman

Former Barca team-mates clash as Premier League managers and have begun implementing methods which brought them European Cup success under the Dutch great

Ronald Koeman takes his Everton team to the Etihad Stadium to face Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Saturday in what’s being billed as a battle between two disciples of the man who built Barcelona’s “cathedral”, as Pep calls it.

If Barcelona is the centre for the religion laid down by Johan Cruyff then there is no doubt that his followers generally carry some of his commandments to whatever parish they end up.

Guardiola and Koeman were team-mates under Cruyff in that fabled Barca “Dream Team” which won four La Liga titles, as well as the club’s first-ever European Cup at Wembley in 1992. Cruyff laid the foundations for much of Barcelona’s current success but had a more than decent team of his own.

He not only gave Barcelona a way of winning during his days in the dugout but also a way of thinking, of behaving, and of learning for generations to come. Above all he valued three things in the construction of successful football clubs, and it is a phrase repeated in his posthumous autobiography – My Turn; “talent, technique and discipline.”

Guardiola is more or less a direct descendent of Cruyff in football philosophy, and it’s no coincidence he was asked to present the book in London last week alongside Johan’s son Jordi and wife Danny. Pep admits on the cover of the book that he knew nothing about football before the Dutchman promoted him as a knock-kneed teen to the Barca first-team picture in 1990.

His teams at Barca, Bayern Munich and now at Manchester City have all borne the Cruyff hallmarks of interchangeability, pressing and a relentless commitment to domination of possession.

Koeman is less of an adherent on a tactical level. He has been much more adaptable than Guardiola at the clubs he’s coached. There were spells of “total football” – like at Ajax early in the century – but there has always been more willingness for Koeman to work to the strengths of his players than Guardiola.

If Koeman’s tactics aren’t always faithful to the Barcelona way then the way he runs his squad certainly is. Everton’s early days under Koeman have been revealed to contain commands relating to timekeeping and mealtimes laid down by the new manager. Both Gareth Barry and Seamus Coleman – no loudmouths – have revealed that efforts have been made to raise standards off the field from Roberto Martinez’s days.

“If you have less discipline coming from the coach, you end up with lots of different opinions coming from the squad,” Cruyff wrote in the book.

The international break brought news from Manchester City, via Sergio Aguero, that Guardiola had cut the wifi signal at City’s training base in order to foster more face to face contact between his players and staff. There had already been the revelations that certain foodstuffs were eliminated from the players’ diets and that only players coming in at a certain weight would be permitted to train.

The manner in which Guardiola despatched Joe Hart and Yaya Toure from the first-team picture also pays testament to the manner in which Cruyff would build a diligent, switched-on team.

“Total Football requires talented individuals acting in a disciplined group,” Cruyff wrote. “Someone who whines or doesn’t pay attention is a hindrance to the rest, and you need a boss to nip that in the bud.”

The way in which Koeman has made it known to Oumar Niasse in particular that he doesn’t want him around shows that he can be just as ruthless when it comes to dealing with the wrong type of character. That, again, is inherited from Cruyff.

“In the two years before I joined Barca and before it really got going, Cruyff had a massive clear-out,” Koeman has told the Daily Mail. “It was like a revolution. He sold no end of players and brought new faces in.”

Look at Guardiola’s history at Barcelona, Bayern and City for more evidence of the above. He has always made his mark on squads by moving on players despite their reputations; Ronaldinho, Deco, Bastian Schweinsteiger, the list goes on. What’s important is to have players in the squad who will not run contrary to the coach’s ideals and who can deal with what he’s asking for.

Times change; managers come and go these days and it’s unlikely that either Guardiola or Koeman will be around long enough to build their own clubs from the foundations up like Cruyff did in Catalonia. But there are certain aspects that will rub off. The talent will be bought by the sporting director, the technique honed by the players themselves in practice but with the third part – the discipline – well maybe a part of Johan Cruyff will live forever with these two disciples.