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Football

06th Apr 2018

Pep Guardiola’s obsessive organisation of reporters’ phones speaks volumes

Everything has to be just right

Darragh Murphy

Organisation is clearly key for Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola has made no secret of the fact that results are not the be all and end all for him, as he strives to achieve perfection on the pitch.

When the slightest thing goes wrong for his Manchester City side, no matter what the score might be, it visibly affects Guardiola in the dugout.

He often looks to be in physical pain when watching his team concede, something which they did a lot in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool.

Control is of critical importance in the Spaniard’s eyes and that was made abundantly clear when he spoke to the media ahead of Saturday’s Manchester derby.

Guardiola was filmed meticulously straightening up the dictaphones and mobile phones which were spread out in front of him, proving that he feels uncomfortable when things around him are in disarray.

At Bayern Munich, Guardiola was quoted as saying: “My desire is to have 100 per cent possession,” and one of his current players, Bernardo Silva, has previously spoken about Guardiola’s scrupulous attention to detail.

“The coach is very intense,” Silva told Sky Sports in January. “He goes into the very small details and he gets very close to his players because he wants you to have the confidence to try to play the way he wants.

“When we had won 10 games in succession, he said, ‘Very good – now let’s try to make it 11’. That’s how he is. He wants ­perfection.”