The manager has reportedly lost the Barcelona dressing room.
When Barcelona first appointed Quique Setien as their new manager, the hope was that he would bring back the style of play the club was known for and had lost under Ernesto Valverde. Setien said all the right things during his press conference.
That hope quickly vanished as the side saw little to no improvement and now he could see himself out of a job by the end of the season.
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According to ESPN, Setien’s relationship with the players is strained with neither he nor the coaching staff able to win the players over. Results on the pitch have further hampered those efforts.
That lack of relationship was on display in Luis Suarez’s post match interview when he was asked why Barcelona were dropping so many points on the road. He responded by telling the interviewee to ask the coaches because it’s their job to analyze these situations.
There was a tense meeting between Setien and the players on Sunday, according to Mundo Deportivo where things became tense. The manager confirmed that meeting during his press conference ahead of the match against Atletico Madrid.
One of the things that came out of it was the players voicing their frustrations at his assistant, Eder Sarabia, and his training methods.
If you recall, Sarabia was in the spotlight previously for his reactions on the bench during the clasico against Real Madrid.
Apparently it’s not only Sarabia they have a problem with as Marc-Andre ter Stegen prefers to train under goalkeeping coach Jose Ramon de la Fuente instead of the goalkeeping coach that arrived with Setien.
Marc-André ter Stegen has preferred to work with Jose Ramon de la Fuente as his goalkeeper coach instead of Jon Pascua, who arrived with Setién in January. [espn]
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) June 29, 2020
Another failed appointment by the Barcelona board.
Unsurprisingly, this has led to Setien’s future up in the air with Goal reporting that Barcelona’s intention is part ways with him at the end of the season. They see his appointment as an error and are unimpressed with the results and display on the field.
Should his sacking happen, it’s another blemish on a Barcelona board who have proved incompetent in preparing the club for the future once the golden generation moved on or simply got too old.
Firing Ernesto Valverde without a proper succession plan speaks of a board who have no long-term planning and are only trying to save themselves and come off well once their time is over.
They are the ones who signed Setien after every other candidate on their list declined to take over. They are the ones who assembled a poor squad who no manager with Setien’s philosophy could have succeeded with.
In many ways, Setien was put in a no-win situation. Firing Setien, like when they fired Valverde, is not going to fix Barcelona. The likes of Xavi or Guardiola could take over and it won’t change much.
For anything of significance to change, it will have to wait another year. Until 2021 when the elections are held and a new board takes over.