Change they say is constant, but it’s advisable to be extremely careful when trying to make a change. As a change as small as it may be detrimental or may be favorable. In life, when things are not going as expected, one thing must be resorted to – Change. In sports as well, change is a very vital part of it in every sphere. Either positive change or negative change, it’s very constant.
In football, changes are most times made when things are not progressing but on the contrary, when things are working, nothing changes. For example, when things went awry with Arsenal under the tutelage of Unai Emery, change was made. Another case is the case of Max Alegri, the Juve hierarchy thought winning the Scudetto should be in style and terminated Max’s contract and brought in Mauricio Sarri.
The two changes are obviously direct opposite to each other as so far for the two clubs, because Arsenal’s change was for the better while Juve’s change was just to change the winning team and mentality but only time will judge. For Barcelona, the change from Valverde to Setien can be said to be on the basis of three “key” factors.
The first is that he was not playing the Barca (Johan Cruijjf tiki-taka style), the second is the embarrassing manner he lost the champions league twice in two years. The third is based on Barca’s loss to Athletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. But unfortunately, the change has so far can be described as a massive disappointment.
Perhaps the Barcelona handlers do not know that football has gone beyond the days of the old. Johan Cruyff was a great manager for Barca simply because he had his “type” of players albeit struggled in his latter days at the Blaugrana club. Pep Guardiola also came in and had his own time to enjoy the midfield maestros (Xavi and Iniesta) and Sergio Busquets with the effort of the then sprouting Lionel Messi.
When Luis Enrique came, Xavi and Iniesta were in their last days of playing but the World’s most educated left-footer was already in his prime and the much presence of Neymar and Suarez. Enrique won laurels during his three years stint with the club; 9 trophies in total (averaging 3 trophies in each of the 3 seasons spent).
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But during Ernesto Valverde’s time, Neymar left the club despite assurance from Barca board that he would be made to stay and despite not having his “type” of players in the squad, the Spaniard still in his own way maintained the status quo of Barca’s domination on the homefront and made sure Barca were the champions of Laliga in three years spent. Despite Valverde’s achievements, the Barcelona board felt he was still not the right man for the club and sacked him.
The manner at which the sack came, the sack itself and dissecting Barca’s form since Valverde’s sack has shown that the club lacks vision and could just be on the journey to ignominy. Definitely, Valverde was never the club’s problem but was being made the scapegoat.
Interestingly, Valverde left the club on the top spot of the Laliga with the same points as Real Madrid. But with Quique Setién in charge and three games played, the Catalan club is trailing Real Madrid by three points on the log and could still go worse. Also, with the recent ouster of the club from the Copa Del Rey by Athletic Bilbao, and the fallout between the team captain (Messi) and the club’s sporting director, Eric Abidal, it shows that the dark times are here for the club and something drastic must be done to salvage the season for the club because as it stands, disgrace has been brought upon the club and the season might end without a silverware.
