“In the play before the 1-1 we were made three or four plays on the side … Cal cut the game, make a foul… It can’t be that, that they enter the area and tie us. “
The words correspond to FC Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman, who was caught by television cameras during the hydration break in last Sunday’s match against Getafe, while giving a talk to his players .
A Barça coach worried about destroying the rival’s game and not prioritizing his team’s performance, this is Koeman.
The short speech full body portrait to the Dutchman in his role as strategist, at the same time as many things are explained, the main one being the poor team exercise all last season and in two of three games in the present.
And it’s not that gets scared o se Magnificent the coach’s request in the sense of “cutting the game” of the rival or “committing fouls”, no; they are actions that many clubs carry out systematically or as a resource and nothing happens, it’s football. But Barcelona don’t play that, they shouldn’t, they can’t afford it.
Far from hearing Koeman ask tenancy of the ball, depth, patience, elaboration, audacity, And so on, no, the commander-in-chief demanded destroy you hinder even by means of a infraction.
That is why it is also understood that Barça’s defensive sector has long been the weakest line, there is no work to be seen, much less progress in how to counter the rival.
Even null teams hierarchy as Getafe get into the Camp Nou and with very little they generate arrivals and danger to Barça. So was the 1-1 draw last Sunday. First offensive action of the rival and goal. Easy.
DEPRESSION POST LOSS
The news that get worse the departure of Leo Messi from Barça was already known before the Argentine left: Koeman stays one more year as club coach and is in charge of leading the restructuring in the middle of a crisis historical in the economic and soccer plans.
It was more than clear in the previous campaign than the Dutchman, although he is a legend of Barça for his time as a footballer, it is not up to par for being the coach of a team that is different from the rest, that has obligations that you can’t give up.
FC Barcelona cannot be worried about “cutting the game” or “committing fouls” in front of anyone, let alone against Getafe. The team bases its performance on holding the ball, on despairing the opponent, on wearing it down and exhausting it because it sees it spend most of its time.
It sounds simple and it’s not, of course, but that’s the essence and philosophy of the Barça, which Koeman knows all too well, but strangely doesn’t bet on it.
Last season he received many reviews because he adopted it as a formula defend advantages of a goal giving up having the ball and making changes cleanly defensive… And yet at the end of some match he said he was surprised by the questions.
That’s how things are, the Catalan team begins its journey this campaign without Messi and Koeman, the same one who is able to despise a talent like Riqui Puig, simply because the boy does not like him, as football arguments not to take mind you, you don’t have to.
The coach’s ferocity towards the youth team has no limits, to the degree that in three games he hasn’t even managed to warm up, and he has preferred to make his debut for 17 or 19 year olds before giving Puig a chance. which leads to waiting for the same at least two or three campaigns.
Again, this is Koeman and it will be lost one more year with its management to the club. President Joan Laporta has not been able to to identify that he came out more cheap liquidate the Dutchman before letting him fulfill his contract.
No titles, no good football, no real commitment to the plant, no restructuring, no future or anything. With Koeman at the helm will be another season of disappointments, de play badly, To appeal now to Memphis Depay to solve some games – if he is able to stay as he is -, pretexts and a lot sadness.
Barcelona faces the post-Messi duel with a ‘therapist’ who is the living image of the depression.