Ronald Koeman makes Barcelona recognizable once more
It hasn’t always looked like Barcelona at the Camp Nou recently, but things are changing
Under former star player, Dutchman Ronald Koeman, the club has taken a turn for the better after struggling to find a suitable manager for years. It appears however, that Quique Setien was the straw that broke the camels back however, and with his dismissal and the return of Koeman, the fortunes and discipline of the Blaugrauna are waxing once more.
In my opinion, this is because of the discipline of the boss and that effect is noticeable from player to player, position to position, match to match. This strength of character, in the face of the legendary Lionel Messi, seemed to permeate the recent bosses of the club and the return of structure and discipline with the Dutchman is demonstrating the necessity for it in the first instance.
Even so, La Liga and the Champions League look like no spring stroll and so, one must ask if these current innovations can be enough; is their enough talent to do something like Bayern did last season?
Yes, yes there is
Barcelona has awesome skill across the squad, and their depth is something that anyone who has been watching the club recently knows they have not properly integrated into the starting rotations. Under Koeman however, this too is changing and players are gaining more experience, playing in more versatile combinations and demonstrating creativity within a system that is very familiar to those who have memory of Barcelona down the years.
Therefore, alongside the veteran and the talented bunch of players in their early and mid twenties, Barcelona need only to get the machine humming and operating at optimal function. They have the tools, they simply must learn how to use them together and with one another; without that they have no hope and yet with it, they have the potential to be world beaters as we know them capable of.
Lionel Messi is a brilliant footballing mind, yet no genius’s in this sport is capable of shouldering everything himself. The structure and demands that the boss has put around him, through the standards of his teammates and even Messi himself, the quality of play has risen and with it, the Argentinian’s spirits have risen as well.
He looks happy because he is happy, especially after the now former President of Barcelona Jose Maria Bartomeu stepped down recently. While Messi was initially displeased with both the President and the new choice for boss, it appears as though he has softened his opinion with the former Barcelona star in his own right, while his other adversary was not able to outlast him in Catalonia. This leaves just Messi and a talented, more disciplined group to challenge both Real and Atletico for La Liga, Supercopa de Espana, El Copa del Rey, and the UCL as well; and they are most certainly capable of winning more than one of those competitions should they put their mind to it adequately.
Barcelona: Beautiful Football is a Beautiful Thing
What the success of the young season has shown is that when Barcelona is at its best, it is playing beautifully. Beautiful football is a trademark at the Nou Camp and without it, the club appears drab, boring and frustrated. With it however, the club appears electrified by both results as well as the enthusiasm which is bred by having genuine fun.
The enthusiasm and passion of youth I think has as much to do with this innovation as the boss, names like Dembele, Coutinho, de Jong and even Messi himself. Ansu Fati and Sergino Dest most noticeably, along other young names like Riqui Puig and Junior Firpo are proving themselves to be Barcelona men through and through, while really showing qualities that can really aid the team for years to come.
Ronald Koeman was a great hire at the end of the day, and firing the President was an additionally awesome move. Those innovations, as well as the consequences of victory and success, make it more likely than just four months ago that Messi remains in Catalonia until he decides he no longer can play to the standard of the club. Until then, we should enjoy Barca for what it is and should always be, a team of quality and beautiful football.
