Ronald Koeman and Barcelona are very pathetic. But the salvation is in the face of the club legend

When Joan Laporta won the presidential election, two main gestures were expected from him: the new boss had to save Messi and find a solid coach instead of Koeman. It is September 2021, and now it is already clear that the mission has failed – Leo cuts cash in Paris, and for some reason Ronald is still coaching Barça.

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Last season very clearly highlighted the pros and cons of the Dutch coach. On the one hand, he beautifully shook the underdogs, boldly pulled young guys like Pedri and Mingesa into the roster, and also won the Spanish Cup – that’s enough not to be considered a physical education teacher. On the other hand, Ronald gave away all the key matches in general: Real Madrid in Clasico, Atlético (Simeone’s first win), PSG in the Champions League, and Celta at the finish of La Liga. Each run of Koeman for a serious trophy ended in total disappointment, but Laporta still left the plump Dutchman for the new season. This is probably a huge mistake.

Ronald’s deplorable position is best illustrated by his own line after 0-3 with Bayern Munich. “We lost to them 2-8 with Messi, Suarez and Griezmann. Now there were Balde, Demir and Mingesa. I am a realist, ”said the coach and signed his own verdict. First, it is terribly unethical and psychologically illiterate: current leaders will clearly catch the dismoral from such derogatory comparisons. Secondly, globally, Koeman is still right: he came to a team with megastars, but is forced to work in a crisis organization, where they save every euro cent and seriously count on Braithwaite. Mircea Lucescu found himself in about the same situation, who came to Zenit with Hulk, Garay and Witsel, but lost all three in six months. Of course, the case ended in dismissal.

The same finish awaits Kuman. Ronald is not one of those coaches who are able to sharply put a tight defense and squeeze the maximum out of resources. The Dutchman has neither the philosophy, nor the structure, nor the mentoring skills for Barcelona to play understandable football. Sometimes Blaugrana looks nice (for example, against Sociedad at the start of the season), but much more often they show something incomprehensible. Today it is an ordinary team with a very average coach.

Characteristically, Barça’s squad has only five midfielders: Busquets, Puig, Coutinho, Pedri and De Jong. The same “Real” has twice as many midfielders, “Atletico” – one and a half.

Only his favorite Depay can save Kuman, but this is the only trump card. It turns out that every day of Ronald’s at the club is completely useless: the Dutchman is unable to improve or at least change this Barcelona. It’s time to say goodbye to this man.

What are the replacement options? Strictly speaking, there is exactly one candidate. Xavi has deciphered Barcelona’s DNA a million times and talked about the Catalan principles of the game. He has already worked as a chief (albeit in the country of the third football world), felt the locker room and knows how he wants to play. Previously, he refused offers from his home club, but then Valverde was coaching Barça, and Xavi did not want to cheat on him. Now the situation is completely different.

It’s time to save the team, reanimate, pull it out of the abyss, and without Messi – but this is only a plus. The new coach will not have to share influence with someone and adapt to the interests of the local prima. So the main thing for Xavi is to agree with Laporte on a specific (and rather solid) time frame for the implementation of key ideas. During this period, Barça is guaranteed to stagger, but at least it will be able to preserve its philosophy and compete for trophies purely on character. Therefore, it is time for Joan to prove that as a boss he is stronger than Bartomeu, and to bring the legend home. Otherwise, the change of the president was completely counterproductive – this is proved by every second match under the leadership of Kuman.