In January at Jeddah, Atletico Madrid gifted Barcelona shame
in the semifinals of the Spanish Copa de Espana. Barcelona lost and Ernesto
Valverde’s reign in Camp Nou came to an end. Valverde did not have a bad time
at Camp Nou. Even though in the Champions League his best player choked, he
always hid it by winning the La Liga title. But, in the course of time, his
understanding with the "best" weakened and the result was evident –
end of the managerial contract.
Valverde was the sacrificial lamb, as many of the fans said
at that point of time and it was done to save the status of the best.
Everyone can be blamed, but not the most protected one – it
is a really biased world.
Quique Setien, who was serving his role as the manager of
Real Betis on a 3-year deal, was appointed as the new manager of Barcelona. He
led Real Betis to the sixth place in his first year as the manager, with the
subsequent qualification to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.
In Betis, he implemented the fluid football and as soon as
he was appointed to fix things in Camp Nou, the hype of the return tiki-taka
and Cruyff system gained momentum. The Barca bandwagon started to search Cruyff
and tiki-taka and some of Setien’s early matches. But in reality, trying to see
the whole scenario emotionally and being blind about the most protected one,
does not help a team to evolve.
It is never easy to build a team on the basis of the comfort
zone of just one player, but to build a team, one needs to have the freedom to
try his own plan of action. A manager needs to have that independence to
implement his system – but sadly, at Camp Nou, it is hard to do such.
When a player becomes bigger than the club, no club can
prosper.
Setien's arrival instantly didn't go down well because,
although there were some players who wanted Ernesto Valverde to be sacked, most
of the heavyweights in the dressing room were on their former boss' side.
The immediate results did not help create a calm atmosphere,
because Setien's Barcelona did not perform well in his first few games in
charge.
They lost convincingly away at Valencia and were eliminated
from the Copa del Rey by Athletic Club.
Now, the La Liga title has slipped away.
The defeat against Osasuna was not taken lightly by any
means and the statement of Lionel Messi was fiery, which pointed finger towards
the coach indirectly.
After the Osasuna defeat, Setien met with the technical
secretariat, and then he plans to meet with Josep Maria Bartomeu, the club's
president.
For the time being, Setien will still be in charge of
Barcelona's match away at Alaves.
His future will be decided next week.
The methods and approaches of Setien have also not been to
the likings of the so-called protected one.
Setien started out strong, taking measures such as training
on a match day, weeks without parties, and with training camps for the players,
but he had to gradually eliminate them in the face of pressure from the squad.
Many of the heavyweights stated that Setien’s training
sessions had been the key to the loss of players' confidence.
“The sessions have not had the necessary intensity, with
continuous stops that affect the rhythm."The opponents are beating us in
[terms of] intensity”, Messi said.
This is what he was referring to. There have been some
high-profile players who have come out of a training session saying that it was
the worst training session they'd ever had.
On other occasions, the players have questioned the coaches'
orders during training.
That rejection had its climax in the dressing room at the
Estadio de Balaidos, with a big argument between the coach and players about
the tactical approach and substitutions during the match.
A few days ago, after two days off, Setien said at the
end of training that those who wanted, could play a small-sided game and those
who didn't want to could leave.
Most of them left.
None even bothered to listen to the coach.
And the next day, something similar happened when they did
the passing and shooting drills.
A handful stayed.
Eder Sarabia's attitude hasn't helped the relationship
either - his shouting at the players during the Clasico did not sit well at
all.
Neither did the ones he did in training. Just a few days
ago, when he was shouting like that, a player responded with a serious tone.
“You can treat me with more respect”, he said.
Other players ignore his orders in training and, as everyone
can see, also during the cooling breaks.
The players have also disliked some of Setien's comments
during his press conferences - Some of the examples are when he said that he is
better than some of the players in the rondos, when he questioned Messi's
numbers or when he doubted Arthur Melo's professionalism.
All this has caused the players to drop little messages
about the coach.
One can easily take the side of the players and start
slamming the manager, but again, one needs to see the other side of the story
as well, which the blind supporters don’t even wish to see.
In a training session, a manager can be tough and he only
wishes to implement his positive plans.
If the players don’t give him enough time and respect then
how could the manager work?
If the players want a manager to obey their words then it is
never possible to build a team. Setien shouts, Setien criticized, Setien did
not give players respect etc. are examples to dish out another sacrificial lamb
and in the meantime, the most important point would miss out yet again, Camp
Nou requires an overall renovation.
Florentino Perez did not even bother when Cristiano Ronaldo
left Real Madrid in 2018 because he wanted to rebuild and he has proved his
point. But Barca does not wish to rebuild but are habituated to make
sacrificial lambs one after another.
Barcelona need to end the power of some heavyweight players.
Otherwise, this freak show will not end.
Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSesk on 18/07/2020 End of Quique Setien? When will the power of heavyweight players end in Camp Nou?
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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