Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (left) and performance analysis coach Carles Planchart in 2022. Photo: Barrington Coombs
Carles Planchart, City’s former performance analyst, believes Guardiola should take a break from football before looking for a “new project”.
Planchart worked with Guardiola for 18 years at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City before stepping away from the Manchester club at the end of last season.
“It’s a personal decision he’ll have to make. I think a project should last five or six years, no more,” Planchart told Sport in Spain. “But not for him, for everyone. Afterward, you have to regenerate. As a friend, I would tell him to look for a new project because he still has a long way to go.”
Guardiola signed a new contract with City 13 months ago, which ties him to the Etihad Stadium until June 2027.
In July, Guardiola, 54, reiterated that he would take a break from coaching once he leaves City. “I know that after this stage with City I’m going to stop, that’s for sure. It’s decided, more than decided,” he said.
“I don’t know how long I’ll stop for, a year, two years, three years, five, 10, 15, I don’t know. But I will leave after this spell with City because I need to stop and focus on myself, on my body.”
Guardiola also said he could “completely understand” why Jürgen Klopp walked away from Liverpool last year after the German admitted he was “running out of energy”.
Planchart believes Guardiola has stayed at City so long because the club have treated him and his staff so well.
“This is why he’s been at City for so many years: they’ve treated us like family, they’ve let us work as if we were at home,” Planchart said. “He didn’t feel that way at Barca or Bayern.
“He’s a football fanatic. His life is on the green, on the grass. He’s a genius, a creator. His greatest strength is how he invents football. The difficult thing in this life is creating; the rest of us are copycats. He’s number one at this.”
After four consecutive Premier League titles, City ran into problems last term and endured a prolonged mid-season slump before rallying in the final months to finish in third. They also lost the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace.
Guardiola cut a jaded figure at times and at one stage, following a 3-3 draw against Feyenoord in the Champions League, was seen with scratches all over his face, which sparked concerns for his welfare. “I want to harm myself,” Guardiola joked after that match, before later apologising for the remark.
Planchart believes City’s struggles last season were largely due to a drop in energy levels after so much success. Injuries to key midfielders Rodri and Phil Foden were also a factor, while the squad also needed rebuilding. There have, however, been signs of improvement this season.
“Sometimes you lack energy, and when you get into a bad dynamic, it’s hard,” he said. “In football, you always have to be at 100 per cent. We had injuries, people were at the end of their careers.
“There was a drop in performance, even among the staff. The lack of energy forced us to fight just to get into the Champions League, and it was an achievement. We also lost the Cup final; it was punishment for a poor season.”
Planchart also offered some insight into his role at City. “There are basically two parts to this job: the analysis of your own team and that of your opponent. And they are two entirely different tasks,” he said.
“You’re working in a club that has a game every three days, so you just don’t have time to correct all their mistakes on the pitch. You therefore need to use other methods to communicate the corrections that are impossible to get through to them during a game.
“If you happen to have a whole week of training sessions then, of course, you can plan a series of exercises to correct the errors. Often, the most efficient method is to show them visual images, because that gets the idea across very quickly.”