Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was “crazy” when he introduced his tiki-tala formation. That's according to former Barcelona star Victor Valdes.
Guardiola's City are preparing to face Crystal Palace tomorrow afternoon.
They must win the game to stay in touch with Premier League title rivals Liverpool.
The Spaniard has tasted success at the Etihad Stadium, winning the league last year.
And his side are still on course for a quadruple, with an FA Cup final and Champions League quarter-final to accompany their EFL Cup win in February.
The 48-year-old rose to prominence 11 years ago when he won the European tournament with Barcelona.
Guardiola went on to win three La Liga titles and another Champions League in Spain.
He used a possession-based style of play with short passes, known as “tiki-taka”.
Valdes' comments come as:
But Valdes, who was the number-one at Barcelona under the Spaniard, had a different reaction to the tactic.
Footage has re-emerged on Reddit of the 37-year-old talking about Guardiola during his time at Middlesborough.
Speaking on the 'Take the ball, pass the ball' documentary last year, Valdes said: “I remember my first conversation with Guardiola when he took over as coach.
“It was in his office at the Camp Nou. He had a tactics board with two small magnets either side of the goal just outside the box.
“He said 'do you know which players these two are'.
“I said 'no' and he said 'these are your two centre-backs'.”
But the Spaniard was left unconvinced about the tactic.
Valdes added: “I had no idea what he was talking about – it sounded Chinese. He said 'when you've got the ball this is where I want them to be'.
“I thought he was crazy and then he said 'you'll pass to them and from here we'll build the play'.
“I still thought he was completely mad but given that I'm a bit crazy myself I felt in tune with him.
“So I told him the defenders would have to be brave and want the ball.
“And Pep said 'don't worry, that's my job. I'll make sure that they want it. And that's how it all started.”