Pep Guardiola's hatred for tiki-taka revealed: 'I loathe all that passing for the sake of it'

Few managers are as synonymous with the tiki-taka style of football as Bayern Munich's Pep Guardiola.

However, according to an excerpt from a new book that chronicles Guardiola's title-winning campaign at Bayern last season, the possession-based style of play is not one that the Catalan coach enjoys. In fact, he hates it.

"I loathe all that passing for the sake of it, all that tiki-taka," Guardiola is quoted as saying in "Pep Confidential: The Inside Story of Pep Guardiola's First Season at Bayern Munich" by Marti Perarnau. "It's so much rubbish and has no purpose."

The comments came following a derby between Bayern and Nurnberg in which Guardiola's side were apparently trying too hard to please their coach and over-passing. Guardiola was so angry about the performance that he held a meeting with his players the next day and delivered the following message:

Be yourselves. You need to dig into your own DNA. I hate tiki-taka. Tiki-taka means passing the ball for the sake of it, with no clear intention. And it's pointless. 

Don't believe what people say. Barca didn't do tiki-taka! It's completely made up! Don't believe a word of it! In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defense to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak.

And when we've done all that, we attack and score from the other side. That's why you have to pass the ball, but only if you're doing it with a clear intention. It's only to overload the opponent, to draw them in and then to hit them with the sucker punch. That's what our game needs to be. Nothing to do with tiki-taka.

While the style of play is primarily associated with Johan Cruyff's tenure as manager of Barcelona - under which Guardiola thrived as a player - few would agree with Pep's assessment that "Barca didn't do tiki-taka!"

Short passing, quick movement, players shifting out of position, and an emphasis on possession were characteristics of Guardiola's time at the Camp Nou, during which Barcelona won two Champions League titles, three La Liga campaigns, two Copa del Rey trophies, and two Club World Cups.