I played for both Pep Guardiola and Marcelo Bielsa – this is how they're different

Man City boss Pep Guardiola has sung Marcelo Bielsa's praises on many occasions, and Kalvin Phillips knows exactly what it's like to play under both iconic managers

What do Spanish midfield maestro Javi Martinez, ex-Manchester City centre-back Aymeric Laporte and former Leeds fan-favourite Kalvin Phillips all have in common?

The answer – they played under two of the most influential managers of the modern era: Marcelo Bielsa and Pep Guardiola. And while Guardiola will retire the greater out of the two in terms of trophies won, the former Barcelona and Bayern man is always keen to give Bielsa his flowers.

When asked about the elusive Argentinian, Pep rarely holds back on praising the man he calls his mentor. When Bielsa's Leeds joined Guardiola's City in the top flight, the six-time Premier League title winner said: "Give him my Barcelona and you will see how he will win titles. Give me Leeds, with all due respect to the Leeds players, but I would still be in the Championship."

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Ex-Leeds midfielder Phillips, who as mentioned played under both, has revealed there are some similarities between the two football obsessives.

"I'd say the similarities are how demanding (they are)", the City man – who's currently on loan at Ipswich Town – revealed while speaking to Leeds frontman Patrick Bamford on the My Mate's a Footballer podcast. "They love football and everything they do is about football and they just want you as a player and as a team to get better and better and better."

Despite Guardiola's admiration for the former Argentina head coach, Phillips revealed the two actually prefer radically different tactical systems. "I think Pep's more about possession based and not forcing passes and making sure when you make the pass it's 100 per cent," suggested the midfielder.

"Bielsa was more like, 'get forward as quick as possible, wingers bomb on, strikers - make sure you get in the box, midfielders - make sure you get in the box and then if you lose a ball, try and win it back as fast as possible. If you don't, then you've got like a 50 meter sprint to your own goal'.”

Phillips is looking to rekindle the form of his Leeds days that saw him become a key member of Gareth Southgate's England set-up while on loan at Ipswich under the guidance of highly-rated coach Kieran McKenna.

The 28-year-old struggled for minutes since his nearly £50million move to City in 2022, and failed to impress during an error-stricken loan spell at West Ham last season.

Phillips has admitted to struggling at times since making the switch to Manchester, adding that Guardiola's comments about him being overweight following the 2022 Qatar World Cup were 'frustrating'.

However, he is hopeful his time with Ipswich will be a positive one, saying that new boss Kieran McKenna has put trust in him, and made sure that everything he did was for his benefit.