Guardiola: “Koeman deserves a year with people in the stadium”

Guardiola greets Platini at the golf tournament held in Pula (Mallorca).

“Ronald deserves to continue.” Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, has no doubt about Koeman’s continuity, discarding himself to return to the Camp Nou. “I have a two-year contract and I am very happy in Manchester,” said the Catalan coach in the first of the two days of the golf tournament that will be held since Monday in Pula (Mallorca).

“I am a good friend of Ronald, I am very happy that the president has done it that way. I spoke with him and I know he is convinced of the decision. Ronald deserves to have people in the stadium, at times of the year Barça has played very well , although it fell in the end, “he acknowledged, indicating that Koeman’s team” was the one who did the best football in Spain in many moments, although, in the end, Atlético won the League. ”

Indeed, last week they shared Guardiola Y Koeman a morning of golf with their respective sons: Marius and Ronald Koeman junior. “I won,” the City coach jokingly recalled, indicating that one of the keys to the improvement of the team last season was the change in the system.

“The second years are usually better than the first. He has the team by the hand, he has it more caught, you know each other. At times of the year Barça has played very well. He fell at the end when he was close, but he won the Cup and in general when he changed to defense of five, although in attack it almost became a 3-4-3, with many people ahead of the ball, they played very and very well. ”

The talk with the president

Guardiola does not believe that Koeman is weakened by the doubts that have been generated around his figure in this period of reflection opened and closed by Joan Laporta. “The coaches are the weakest part. But we depend on the results and he knows it,” said the Manchester City manager.

Koeman, according to Guardiola, has understood that period of reflection that President Joan Laporta opened and closed after that unexpected collapse in the League that made him leave Atlético. “Ronald understands perfectly that after the end of the League, everyone needed a few days or weeks to make the best decision, but in the end, talking they have met and will continue to be Barça’s coach.”

In that regard, believe Guardiola that Koeman’s situation will be different in the second season, able to overcome the doubts that arose about the end of the season. “The coaches are weakened when we don’t win and strengthened when we win. If you lose games, he will be weakened, and if he plays like a good part of this season, he will be strengthened, but next year there will be people in the Estadi, things will be very different” , commented the City coach, recalling that “I have been to three different clubs, but nothing is comparable to a Barça or a Madrid, where the impact is much greater, where everything is more difficult to control privately.”

Then he praised “the two great signings” of Barça presented this week. Both from his team, Manchester City. “It is a total success for both of them. Kun is proven in his career, he is a great scorer and Èric is a jewel of noi, very intelligent, eager to learn, he absorbs everything. He will be one of Barça’s captains in the next decade. I have already mentioned it to Ronald, “Guardiola said.