Pep Guardiola called out by fan at Q&A session for his style of play and his response is telling

At a recent Q&A session in New York, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was called out by a fan who wanted to see more 'flair' in football.

Earlier this month, Uruguay manager Marcelo Bielsa sparked a ton of debate around the current state of football after he explained why the sport will become "less enjoyable" in the coming years.

“Football has more and more spectators but is becoming less and less attractive," he said. “What made this game the best game in the world at the time, is not prioritised today.

“If you don’t ensure that what people watch is something pleasant, it will only benefit the business. Because the business only cares about how many people watch it.”

In short, Bielsa fears less attractive football will be deployed as the game becomes more commercialised, and his comments left many discussing the current era.

Some accused Pep Guardiola, for example, of drilling the creativity out of players in favour of systems and patterns of play.

"There's no flair players any more, no long shots, no tricky dribblers beating three men," said comedian Freddy Quinne in a viral post. "It's pass, pass, pass, recycle, pass pass, work into the box, rinse and repeat forever."

A few weeks after Bielsa's press conference and during his pre-season visit to New York, former Barcelona boss Guardiola was questioned about his style of play.

The Spaniard took part in a Q&A session with basketball legend Clyde Frazier, Dallas Mavericks coach God Shammgod and NBA skills coach Chris Brickley when he was asked about 'flair' players.

As you can see from the footage below, Guardiola begins the segment by explaining that football is "not just pass, pass, pass" but moments later, a fan interrupts.

"What happened to flair players?" he asked. "People tell me you have to pass, pass, pass. Like, they blame you [for it]."

Pep called out for making football boring 😳

Is the fan right?

pic.twitter.com/fXiuU2xvsC

— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) July 26, 2024

In a typically sarcastic manner, Guardiola then responds: "They blame me? That's good, yeah blame me. No problem."

The fan then hits back, saying: "I need the flair."

When describing his own style of play, Guardiola has previously said, “Move the opponent, not the ball. Invite the opponent to press. You have the ball on one side, to finish on the other. Possession of the ball is only a tool to organise yourself and cause disorganization in your opponent.”

On Thursday afternoon, the 53-year-old attended a ‘Block Party’ event in New York as Manchester City revealed their new third kit ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.

Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish and Oscar Bobb also attended the event as they met up with two-time NBA Dunk champion Mac McClung on a custom-built court.

City will face AC Milan in a pre-season friendly at Yankee Stadium on Saturday 27 July.