Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola is a man on edge trying to find his way in the Bundesliga

As the minutes ticked by and Bayern tried to build another attack from deep, the ball bounced out for a throw-in. Bayern Munich's manager, Pep Guardiola, prowling the touchline all night, pounced quickly and looked to instantly return it to his left-back, Juan Bernat. But he miscued the pass and it veered away from the defender. It mattered little as another ball appeared within seconds and the game continued. But Guardiola’s reaction was revealing. With a mixture of disgust and disbelief, he threw his hands to the top of his head. Then he covered his eyes. Then he frantically rubbed his face. All this because he had failed to land one pass.

His behaviour throughout his side’s Champions League group-stage clash at home to Manchester City seemed a metaphor of sorts for his brief tenure in Bavaria. He appeared permanently on edge, always standing, as close to his players as possible. He constantly yelled instructions. And after Jerome Boateng popped up to score an injury-time winner, Guardiola became ever more animated as he directed his players to press City, to get tight and reduce the space. He was frenzied and frenetic: a complete contrast to his calm, serene days at Barcelona.

Of course, we’ve seen it before but not quite to such an extreme level. Last season, a video emerged of Guardiola overseeing a Bayern training session in Qatar. It’s just over eight minutes long and shows him painstakingly instructing the players about being patient in their build-up and allowing the opposition to come to them. It’s intense and detailed and there’s no room for error. At one stage, Toni Kroos plays a ball forward too soon. Tellingly, Guardiola shakes his head. He turns to Kroos and stares for what seems like an eternity. The drill starts again because of the mistake.

Guardiola was a student of Johan Cruyff’s. In 1992, Cruyff’s Barcelona “Dream Team” won the European Cup with Guardiola (then only 20 years old) playing as the holding midfielder. Cruyff extolled the virtues and basic fundamentals of “Total Football”, the pioneering, radical strategy conceived by Rinus Michels and deployed by his glorious Ajax and Dutch sides of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Cruyff was the vociferous leader of both those teams (though he transferred to Barcelona from Ajax in 1973), organizing and instructing throughout games. But in that cliched Dutch way, he believes strongly in individual expression and as a manager, he mixed technical work with a careful understanding (some would call it philosophy) of the more organic football nuances.

In an interview with the Guardian earlier this month, Cruyff said:

When Guardiola himself became a manager and oversaw such a dominant and refreshingly unique Barcelona team, the comparisons with Cruyff were undeniable, particularly the way in which the players were so individual. Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Puyol, Pique, Dani Alves and Messi all had their own quirks and idiosyncrasies and they were tolerated and incorporated into the team’s philosophy. There was an ease to the style, essentially because of the players. So comfortable with the system, there was a joie de vivre, a positivity and playfulness. Speaking in 2011, Xavi spoke of their possession-based tiki-taka that revolutionized the game:

In the same interview, Xavi talks of being an eternal romantic and Barcelona in their pomp certainly played with an optimism instilled in them by Guardiola and his techniques. But it’s different at Bayern. It feels like hard work. He needs to relentlessly dictate to his players in a new language, in unfamiliar surroundings. Not that Guardiola expected anything else but he’s cutting an increasingly stressed and suspicious figure as a result.

Even during his first season, there were tell-tale signs that he was under pressure. After Manchester United held Bayern to a 1-1 draw in the Champions League, he snapped at a UK reporter during the post-game media conference when quizzed about United’s ultra-defensive tactics. Guardiola had to stomach a humiliating 4-0 home loss to Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the tournament and subsequent criticism by club icon Franz Beckenbauer. In May, he admitted to being under the microscope. He had been appointed so Bayern could dominate in Europe and instead they had been embarrassed with the whole world watching. Tellingly, he spoke of possibly losing his job should the under-inspiring performances continue.

The problem for Guardiola at Bayern is that before he arrived, the club were at the very top. They had just been crowned champions of Europe. Things couldn’t be bettered. There was always going to be a drop-off as the club transitioned. But there have been rumblings of discontent, particularly since the summer. He spent heavily on centre-back Mehdi Benatia from Roma ($39.6 million) because of Javi Martinez’s long-term absence but the Moroccan has featured just once for Bayern because of injury. With the club in the midst of an injury crisis, it hasn’t gone down well. Before the Manchester City game, Guardiola made a point of referencing his alleged displeasure at Benatia’s fitness problems:

Another snipe, another swipe. Factoring in the persistent injuries to Franck Ribéry and Bastian Schweinsteiger (the whispers in Munich are that the 30 year-old’s body may be close to breaking down), Guardiola is far from happy. There has been nothing organic about his time at Bayern so far. He’s been meticulous in teaching his players to follow a militaristic plan and there have only been mere glimpses of the expressive, romantic soccer he nurtured at Barcelona. At the end of last season, Guardiola said:

He must be careful. The intensity in trying to implement those ideas may prove too much for the Bayern players. Already perched perilously close to the edge, Guardiola must find a way to inch back to safety.

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Eoin O'Callaghan is a soccer journalist and broadcaster. Best known in North America for his TV work with Fox Soccer, he has also reported extensively for BBC, RTE and Setanta Sports. He writes about soccer for The Irish Examiner newspaper, beIN Sports, One World Sports and TheScore.ie. Follow him @EoinOCallaghan