5 reasons why Barcelona should sack Ernesto Valverde

Barcelona v Getafe - La Liga — Time's up?

FC Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League quarterfinals for the third season running. But surely the ouster against Roma this time around would be the most hurtful of the lot. FC Barcelona meekly surrendered their 4-1 lead to AS Roma as Barcelona failed to turn up in one of their biggest games of the season.

Ernesto Valverde has to take the blame for this disappointing loss because his tactics were far too conservative for the occasion. The manager also could not inspire his troops for some sort of reaction late in the game. The Champions League is the biggest test for any top club in the world and in this regard, Valverde's Barcelona has failed miserably.

There have been calls from the Barcelona faithful on social media and from some sections of the media to sack Ernesto Valverde at the end of the season. When looking at his contribution in stabilizing the club in the wake of Neymar's exit and a subsequent brilliant unbeaten league run, the thought of sacking Valverde seems preposterous at first.

But when delving deeper into the matter, there are some valid points which make all these calls demanding the sacking of the Barcelona manager seem justified. In this segment, we will take a look at the five key reasons why FC Barcelona should sack Ernesto Valverde this summer:

#5 Lack of squad rotation

FC Barcelona v Real Madrid - Supercopa de Espana: 1st Leg — Valverde has failed to rotate his squad effectively unlike Zidane who has done that perfectly

Just as their manager on Tuesday, FC Barcelona players looked jaded and devoid of ideas against a well drilled Roma side. The players did not look in sync with the manager's ideas (if there were any in the second leg) and that might be due to the high workload shared by handful members of the squad.

Valverde has used a selected bunch of players for his starting lineup in all competitions. That might have happened due to the lack of trust that the manager has in his fringe players but that has ultimately led to the core spine of players being overused and under-rested.

In the last 24 matches, in the last three and a half months, Valverde has deployed a near similar lineup in each game. He has not managed the minutes of the likes of Messi, Suarez, and Pique to perfection which unfortunately for Barcelona, has been managed to perfection by Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid.

This has ultimately resulted in players not being at their physical best to perform at the biggest of stages.