Does the best coach always rule? by Sunday Oliseh 20/10/2016, 00:56

Is Being the Best coach With the Best Philosophy Enough To Rule?
When Pep Guardiola was coach of Barcelona, a spell that lasted four years, Barcelona were near unbeatable, winning 14 Trophies in a four-year period.
It was a period when Barcelona tormented opponents with not only mesmerizing passing and combination football, but also individual prowess from the likes of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Andreas Iniesta, Xavi and Puyol to name just a few.
On Wednesday night the world was tuned in to watch Barcelona, now managed by Luis Enrique, trade tackles with Manchester City, now managed by Pep Guardiola, in an important Uefa Champions League encounter.
With both teams playing Tiki-taka football at times due to the coaching philosophies of Guardiola on one hand and Barcelona as a club on the other, you would be excused, if at times, you were confused as to who was who.
Luis Enrique is definitely in the class of one of the best coaches in the world and his touches were all over this Barcelona side, the way they build up, press, attack and defend are all orchestrated by this tactician. The same can be said about Guardiola’s input Man City's style of play.
We saw the handprints of Jose Mourinho and Jürgen Klopp as Liverpool hosted Manchester United recently and this leads us to the question of the day: Does a team’s results depend on the quality and philosophy of the coach or the quality of the players he has?
As you must be aware by now, Barcelona won the Man City encounter by a 4-0 scoreline, with Lionel Messi scoring three goals.
The teams had a carbon copy philosophy but one team won. Why?
A comparison of key players in key positions of both teams might help out. In attack for Barcelona we have Messi, Suarez and Neymar vs Sterling, Nolito and De Bruyne for Man City. I believe we are in agreement that Barcelona are better equipped.
In the midfield playmaker role we have Iniesta versus David Silva, I’ll give this to Barcelona too.
The defence line hinged on Pique, Umtiti and Mascherano for Barcelona and, in my opinion, is better rounded in comparison to Otamendi, Stones and Zabaleta for Man City.
I believe that philosophies and tactics from a competent coach is extremely important and the best teams in the world all have this, but it’s not enough to ensure success.
Philosophies are ideas but to bring them to life to a maximum effect, a great coach needs to have players as good if not better than his philosophy to bring it to life and win trophies.
I personally feel Pep Guardiola is a better tactician and coach than Luis Enrique, but each time they have met, with Luis Enrique having in his Barcelona armour the above stated players, the better Guardiola has lost, be it as coach of Bayern Munich or now Manchester City and Lionel Messi has always made the difference.
However, it must be said that we have witnessed in the past a huge collective assembly of world talented players in a club achieve nothing on their own with a relative average coach, only to win everything once a better manager is brought on board, like the late 90s and early 2000 Real Madrid Galacticos era.
One thing is clear though, it does not just take a great coach or manager to guarantee success, it is very important to have quality players on the pitch to execute.
When a great coach meets great players at the same moment and they get along, the sky is the limit. I bet Guardiola will be cursing his luck and wondering why he doesn't have this Magician Messi on his team at Man City.
In the end, it takes more than just a great coach with a great philosophy to succeed at the top.