Pep Guardiola praises 'master tactician' Antonio Conte as new Manchester City and Chelsea bosses join Premier League

Meet the new boss: Pep Guardiola at his first press conference as Manchester City manager
Barrington Coombs/Getty Image
James Benge8 July 2016

New Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is eagerly awaiting the challenge of pitting himself against the Premier League’s top managers, including “master tactician” Antonio Conte.

Guardiola and new Chelsea manager Conte are among the headline names joining the ranks of Premier League managers this summer, along with Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho. They join the likes of Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino with even greater attention set to be on the sidelines in the new Premier League season.

Both Guardiola and Conte will be expected to right the wrongs of disappointing campaigns, with City only just scraping into the Champions League qualifying places under Manuel Pellegrini.

Last season was even more disastrous for then-champions Chelsea, who sacked Mourinho as they flirted with the relegation zone in the first half of the season. Their 10th place finish leaves no prospect of European football for new manager Conte, who arrives at Stamford Bridge having guided a limited Italy side to impressive wins over Belgium and Spain at Euro 2016.

And Guardiola, who was a player in Serie A at the same time as Conte, expects the new Chelsea boss to prove a stern test for him.

“Conte is a master tactician,” Guardiola said. “It's a very good signing. It's going to be very interesting competing against him and other top coaches.”

Foremost among the coaches Guardiola will compete with is Mourinho, his one-time rival when the pair managed Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Mourinho has suggested he wants to put his La Liga feud behind him now that he is at Old Trafford and Guardiola made clear his reluctance to become embroiled in verbal jousting.

He said: “We are both focused on our clubs – it is so tough to win games here but that is what really matters. We have played against each other many times, just as I have played many times against Jurgen Klopp. Some of the best coaches are in England now and challenging against coaches of this quality makes me a better coach.

“I’ll need time to discover what style of football is here – some say it is more physical but we will see – it can condition the way you play as a team

“At the end of the day we depend upon the players and they depend upon us as well – you have to adapt to the country you’re in – I need to get to know the players as well and it is a case of trying to maintain the level that’s been set at this club by Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini.”

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