Pep Guardiola didn't get the best out of Bayern Munich because he removed their independence, according to the club's former sporting director Matthias Sammer.
Guardiola initially established himself among the coaching elite by delivering multiple La Liga and Champions League titles at Barcelona, whom he left after four years in charge in 2012.
The Spaniard then took a 12-month sabbatical before accepting the top job at Bayern Munich, and added 11 more trophies to his CV at Allianz Arena, including three successive Bundesliga crowns.
What's been said?
Guardiola helped Bayern re-assert their dominance of German football ahead of Borussia Dortmund, but departed the club in 2016 having ultimately been unable to deliver Champions League success.
Sammer, who worked with the current Manchester City manager throughout his tenure at Allianz Arena, feels his meticulous nature prevented the Bayern squad from developing their own personal identity as a collective.
"Guardiola is definitely the most important source of inspiration for football today. His possession of the ball, when it comes to changing positions, he's brilliant," the 54-year-old has told German outlet FAZ.
"But in Munich we didn't succeed in activating the last two per cent.
"Pep was always right with his analyses, his measures almost always worked out exactly as planned. But as a result, the team stopped thinking a bit. At the end of this fantastic process he didn't let the team grow so much that they could take the last steps on the way alone."
How has Guardiola fared at City?
City have won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup and four League Cups to date under Guardiola.
The 51-year-old boasts the highest win percentage in top-flight history, but European glory has remained elusive in Manchester, with a painful final defeat to Chelsea last season marking his latest failure.
Sammer thinks Guardiola's struggles in the Champions League post-Barca stem from the fact that he lacks a key component that his predecessors at Bayern had.
"The great secret of leaders like Ottmar Hitzfeld or Jupp Heynckes was that they enabled teams to be independent," he said when pressed on what the City boss has been missing.