How Cruyff taught Guardiola to defend: Everything is a matter of spaces

Pep Guardiola wasn't renowned for his defensive capabilities in his early playing days but Johan Cruyff came to his rescue and taught him some fundamental principles in order to become the master of his position.

The Dutch legend coached Guardiola at Barcelona from 1990 to 1996, and explained how he instructed the Catalan midfielder to see his role in a different way.

"Guardiola, technically, was a great player, great vision, so it was quite easy on that side," Cruyff said at an Aspire event in 2015.

"But he was in a position where he had to defend, he was playing in front of the defence. So I asked him: 'Can you defend?'

"I'm not a defender either - if I've got to defend all this space, I'm a very bad defender, but when I've got to defend this [points to a small table], I'm the best defender."

Cruyff spoke of the need to see the position as a matter of defending spaces rather than strict marking of an opponent.

"It's not a question if I'm a good or bad [defender], it's the size, it's the metres of what you've got to defend," he continued.

"So I said to Guardiola: football wise, you're better than everybody, but sometimes we don't have the ball and we have to defend.

"Your only job is to get the other two midfielders [on either side of him], one here, one there, and you'll be one of the best defenders.

"So it's not a question of hitting someone or getting the ball, or whatever. It's the spot you've got to defend.

"So your only problem is, not defending, it's to get those two players here [on either side] and as long as you do that, you won't get into trouble."