5 things Barcelona must do to get back to winning ways
At the start of the decade, nothing looked impossible for Barcelona with Lionel Messi at the club. It was often wondered how good Messi could become with time and how much Barcelonaa would win with him.
Though they have done well to dominate the La Liga, but they have not fared as well in other competitions, especially the Champions League. Things have changed now, and Barcelona are no longer the dominating club they were at the start of the decade.
This season, in particular, has been a very strange one for Barcelona. They led the La Liga by two points at the restart only for their title defence to crumble in te second half of the season.
Barcelona no longer play their famous tiki-taka football. Besides, there have been many off the fields incidents and rumours.
The club's players were reportedly not willing to take pay cuts during the lockdown. Messi had a rant on Instagram about Eric Abidal's comments over Valvedre's sacking. There was also a failed attempt to bring back Neymar to Barcelona. The club's president Josep Maria Bartomeu has been in news for all the wrong reasons.
Despite their issues on and off the field, Barcelona can get back to winning ways by making a few changes. Let us have a look at five of them.
Five changes Barcelona need to do to return to winning ways:
#1: The Board
In 2021, there will be new elections for the post of president at FC Barcelona. Current president Josep Maria Bartomeu has been at the centre of many controversies at Barcelona in recent times. A top club like Barcelona needs a strong and stable board.
When compared to his Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Perez, Bartromeu hasn't managed to have the same influence at Barcelona.
Perez has helped establish a brilliant squad last summer with the right injection of young players, something Barcelona have sorely lacked in recent times. Los Blancos are known as the kings of the transfer market because of Perez's shrewd strategies. It can clearly be seen Perez has created a team for the future at Real Madrid, but nothing of that sort is apparent at Barcelona.
In 2017, Barcelona tried to sign Marco Verrati behind PSG's back. That seemingly angered the PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and in turn, he prized out Neymar from Barcelona. On the other hand, Perez has a very good relationship with Nasser Al-Khelaifi despite openly talking about signing PSG's key player Kylian Mbappe.
Moreover, Perez is also said to be very close to Dortmund's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke. Barcelona need someone like Perez to run the club. Thus in the next club elections, it is imperative that Barcelona get the right man to run the club.
#2: Managerial Stability
Every manager either needs time or money to be successful at a club. Liverpool have shown that if you back a manager you trust in, you should also give him time to assemble his squad.
Either Barcelona should fire Quique Setien or give him time to prepare a winning team. There needs to be people involved at Barcelona who know more about football and less about politics in appointing the next manager.
Going forward, Barcelona's playing philosophy should be clear: no compromise on the quality of football and the results on the field.
The question which arises here is that whether Barcelona think Setien is capable of rejuvenating the club. A decision on Setien should not be solely taken on Barcelona's results, because he only joined the club in the middle of the season. The Barcelona board has to trust the manager and give him time and money, a risk that needs to be taken.
In case, Barcelona decide to remove Setien, it would be better if they go for someone who has experience of managing top teams. The likes of Laurent Blanc and Marcelo Bielsa would be good choices to manage Barcelona. Both of them have good experience and are capable of getting Barcelona out of the current mess that they are in.