It’s been a constant theme with Guardiola at every club he’s managed. Arguably the most outstanding manager of the present times, his reign at the clubs he’s been with has always been met with criticism, especially from strikers. First, it was Samuel Eto’o, then Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ribery was the outspoken one at Bayern, but I wonder what Robert Lewandowski has to say. Guardiola had him on the bench, not for the first time, against VfL Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg led 1-0, and then Pep did something profound, iconic, and intelligent. He brought on the striker whose job was to score goals. In 10 minutes, the game was 5-1. Lewandowski scored all five of them. A spectacular performance, one of the great individual performances in German football and possibly Europe. Not many people score five goals in a game and in that short amount of time too.
Pep turned to the crowd at the Allianz Arena after goal number 5, holding his face with a smile and disbelief at the same time. One must have thought to themselves, five goals in 9 minutes is a remarkable feat, but shouldn’t Lewandowski have started?
Guardiola’s assault on the number 9 position would not stop at Bayern. After he became the coach of Manchester City, Sergio Aguero was immediately on the fringes. It would take a lack of options upfront for Aguero to prove himself to Guardiola as the main man despite a batter with Gabriel Jesus for the front shirt. Aguero was Man.City’s leading man...when fit. He rarely missed the opportunity to put the ball in the back of the net.
When Aguero left for Barcelona at the end of last season, his father echoed several thoughts about Pep. Guardiola was in tears after Aguero’s final game for the club, but his father felt the waterworks show from Pep was a performance. “I don't believe him. No, I don't. I believe he never wanted him [Aguero].” he told a local Argentine radio station.
Pep has a paper trail of not wanting to play target men. Ibrahimovic wasn’t as fluid upfront to swap around the front three during gameplay, so he bought David Villa. Mario Goetze’s false nine experiments at Bayern never really amounted to anything, Thomas Muller may have benefited from the idea, but Lewandowski was always Bayerns center figurehead and now Aguero.
However, City are in the market to break the record for Harry Kane. Kane is no doubt in his prime right now and functions at his best as the target man, although he has shown glimpses of his old number 10 role, especially under last season with Spurs being the top scorer and assist leader in the league. An impressive feat by the English man.
Kane’s primary objective is to score goals, and with the number of chances and creative mitochondria at City, he would undoubtedly continue that objective. Still, at some point, one wonders if Guardiola’s objective of having Kane is not to play him but to have the option to play him up front.
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