Legendary former United States and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard has had his say about the current state of football — in particular, Pep Guardiola’s style of play.
The 45-year-old appeared on the “It’s Called Soccer” podcast alongside Rebecca Lowe, Jamie Carragher, and Gary Neville. Howard suggested that Guardiola has instilled a mentality in modern football that all teams must play an expansive style, when in reality there are only a few teams in the world who are even capable of doing that.
Howard was asked by Jamie Carragher what are some of the first things that new United States Mens National Team coach Mauricio Pochettino can instill in the squad to make an impact.
“It’s a great question, and for me, it’s an easy answer. Back in my generation, we had a couple of tough, rugged guys, a couple of match-winners. (Gregg Berhalter) got this team to compete, be expansive, and play well in the forward areas,” he said.
“I think what happened was, in all ways, Pep Guardiola has ruined football. Pep Guardiola has taught everybody that they can play expansive football. They can’t. Not everybody can do it. Three teams in the world can do it really well,”
Howard went on to explain that Pochettino’s best teams were more dynamic and provided a different pressing structure than Guardiola’s style of play. “If you look at his best Tottenham teams, it was two banks of four, plus two at the top, and when they broke, they broke with four players. They allowed them to express themselves and ultimately they were rock-solid defensively. So if he tries to instill that resoluteness defensively, they have enough players in the forward areas to be dangerous.”
Tim Howard is considered a Premier League great, having turned out for the likes of Manchester United and Everton — although he is much more well-known for his Everton stint having spent most of his career there. He made a club total of 414 appearances, even scoring a goal against Bolton in a 2-1 defeat. Beyond the Premier League, he is considered one of the greatest-ever American national team goalkeepers, being the most-capped goalkeeper in team history with 121 appearances. He holds the record for most saves in a single World Cup match, making an astonishing 16 saves vs. Belgium in 2014.
Mauricio Pochettino was formally announced as the new head coach for the USMNT on September 10th, 2024. The Argentine’s first game in charge will be a friendly on October 12th vs. Panama. He has managed some of Europe’s most illustrious clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Southampton. It was his time at Southampton where he really began making a name for himself, guiding the club to their highest-ever league finish (eighth) in twenty years. It was this impressive run that attracted interest from Tottenham Hotspur, where he would lead to their first-ever UEFA Champions League final, ultimately losing 2-0 to Liverpool. After a disappointing start to the 2020-2021 season, Pochettino was let go by Tottenham.
Soon after, he was hired by Paris Saint-Germain where he would go on to win the Ligue 1 title and a Coupe de France.
In the aforementioned podcast “It’s Called Soccer!” they had an interview in the same episode with Gary Neville and Mauricio Pochettino. While Pochettino admits the challenge will be “very different,” he also says he felt very welcome already. When asked what the first dialogue with the United States Soccer Federation was like, he said “Matt (Crocker) called me, the sporting director for the national team of USA. He called me and said ‘Look, Mauricio, what do you think about that?’ ‘Oh, I am open to (listening),” he said. “And from there, we built a relationship over two months.”
