Barcelona dressing room questions Koeman’s tactics

Barcelona boss may already be losing the dressing room.

The fallout from Barcelona’s 3-0 Champions League defeat to Juventus continues as manager Ronald Koeman’s 4-2-3-1 system has been called into question by the locker room.

According to Sport, sources close to the first team have told them there are aspects of the Dutchman’s philosophy that are being disputed including his tactics.

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The report stresses that as a person, none of the players like. Their complaints are purely about the style of play as opposed to more personal like the ones they had when Ernesto Valverde and Quique Setien were in charge.

Regardless, it is not a good sign for Koeman. Especially since he’s only been the manager for about five months.

While the concerns from the players have been made privately, the cracks are starting to show publicly.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s comments following the Juventus game could be interpreted as an indirect shot towards the manager.

"“One thing is individual errors and another is the way you defend. They are different things and you have to value it differently.”“We don’t get lucky from time to time either. As soon as we get lost they score a goal and this is very hard.”“We are in a phase and we must come out strong, do our homework and work hard to do it. We have to give it a little more from the beginning and come out stronger.”Source: Diario AS"

The first part of his statement is what raised eyebrows as it hints towards the poor defending being a part of the system and not entirely up to individual errors.

In contrast, in his post game interview, Koeman claimed that Barcelona played with fear and that he can only do so much in training to prepare the team. The rest is up to the players to execute.

The mess surrounding Barcelona does not look like it will be over anytime soon. In any other circumstance, rumors of Koeman’s dismissal would be popping up left and right. But that can’t happen until a new president is elected.

As it stands, Koeman’s job is safe. However, once elections take place, it could very well be an entirely different story.