Mourinho and Chelsea bring down Barcelona

if barca would have won the treble he still would have gone
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He'd already hinted he'd step aside sooner rather than later many times. Before extending last season, he'd already said he didn't see himself staying more than 3 or 4 seasons.

I actually thought the CL defeat might make him reconsider his position, but his mind was obviously made up.

Don't agree with his timing though. I think he should've waited at least until they'd mathematically lost the Liga title rather than throwing in the towel when there are still 12 points to play for.

If Barca had gone on to win the Champions League as most people expected them to then Guardiola would have stayed.
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disagree..

he was always going to go after 4 seasons no matter what

pep been saying he have no longer than 4 seasons in charge right from the start of his time as barca manager

Pep told the board of his intention to leave in October

Comment Deleted by Article Creator

Pep told the board of his intention to leave in October

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Really? Oh well fair enough then. Think a lot of people got carried away with them in that case, couple of CL successes and they're the best team ever? Yeesh, Real Madrid of the late 50s blow that out of the water.

I mean this is all assuming they struggle to carry their domination on under a new manager, which I suspect will be the case.

It's true that he looked different this season, if you remember in his first winning season in 2009 he was so cool at all times and confident, had a side that beat the record number of goals in the league (although Real are set to better that this year), despite Ovrebo I still like that Barca side much more than the current one, their style was a bit more varied and more devastating, teams except Chelsea and Inter) did not pick up a way to stop the passes between the fullbacks and centre backs, and Henry and Eto'o mastered getting in those positions to perfection.

This year, however, there was so much hype surrounding this Barca side with the talk of the best club side ever, pressure of a season at this level gets to everyone, and Pep, usually calm, had a few outbursts to the press. Villa injured and Abidal's situation didn't help, and it seems that Guardiola tried to bring the young players into the first team a bit too soon. Tello or Cuenca have been inconsistent (although the latter got an assist on Tuesday). Xavi is in poor form, the key player and the master of passing has had no assists for 11 games now.

Finally people started to question Pep's tactics. Some of it is just bandwagon talk, but definitely this Barcelona side could do with buying a physically strong striker. But then again they are put off by Ibrahimovic failure, and due to their possession football taken to the extreme I'm not sure whether many centre forwards would do well.

Read this and its clear his decision was made up a while ago.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/apr/27/barcelona-pep-guardiola

It seemed like he would leave after last season but someone must have been able to convince him to stay. I think Cesc knew it was his last season in the summer, which made it essential to him that he moved then.

OP, from your post and replies, it is clear you dislike Barca, no matter how you try to hide it.
So because of that, this article is a fail.
Sorry if I was harsh, but next time, if you're going to make such articles, ßë open-minded and show less bias.

Cheers!

Well maybe I do dislike them ever so slightly because I dislike all clubs with a huge gloryhunter following. But is that a rule then? Don't post anything about teams you even slightly dislike? What a boring board that would make!

Really? Oh well fair enough then. Think a lot of people got carried away with them in that case, couple of CL successes and they're the best team ever? Yeesh, Real Madrid of the late 50s blow that out of the water.
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I'm a Madrid fan, but not old enough to have seen the 50s side. I'm 42 though, and this Barça are the side I've seen play the most sublime football in my lifetime.




I mean this is all assuming they struggle to carry their domination on under a new manager, which I suspect will be the case.
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Back in the early 90s, Milan replaced Sacchi him with someone who could follow up on the work he'd started, which had led the club to play a brand of football that was envied across Europe. Like Guardiola or Vilanova, they chose a man with barely any managerial credentials, but with the advantage of having worked under Sacchi: Fabio Capello.

This doesn't mean Barcelona will continue to be successful of course, but with basically the same team and style, I don't see Vilanova can't be successful.



Finally, about the glory-hunting: Barça have been filling a 90,000-seater stadium for decades. I'd say they've been a pretty well-supported club for quite some time now.

Any hugely successful club is going to attract a gloryhunter following - it's not something you choose, it sort of comes with the scenery. If football had been as globalised in the mid-90s as it is now, I'm sure you wouldn't have felt pi$$ed off to find people in a small village in Thailand wearing a Rovers shirt or hated your own club for it.