Ronald Koeman took over at the helm of Barcelona after the sacking of Quique Setien, the aftermath of the devastating 8-2 defeat in Rome.
In his opening days as the coach, he spoke extensively on his vision, ideology, and practical path to returning Barcelona to its full glory.
The Dutchman started off brightly by facilitating the exit of deadwood like Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, and Luis Suarez. His initial months provided great optimism for a positive change.
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However, since then, Barcelona has not seen much visible improvement. Three games against Europe’s biggest pedigree all ended in humiliation: against Juventus, PSG, and most recently Bayern Munich.
In his tenure as the manager, Koeman has broken some (negative) historical records that were thought to be unbreakable.
The most recent one was during the club’s defeat to Bayern Munich last night. It was the first time in 24 years that the Blaugrana lost their opening Champions League fixture. Last season too, such streaks were broken on multiple occasions under the Dutchman’s management.
Barcelona lost three out of four games against Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in the league, losing both Clasico’s and one game against Diego Simeone’s side.
A single draw against Los Rojiblancos meant that Barcelona only scored one point against the two giants in the season. This was something that had never happened since the 1964-65 season.
The Catalans’ start to the league last season was very poor, statistically the worst since the introduction of the three-point system. In the same season, Barcelona also lost to Diego Simeone for the first time in their history.
The first home UCL loss since 2013, Eibar’s first points ever at the Camp Nou are just a few of the other records that Koeman’s tenure has seen.
We will have to wait and see whether things will turn in favor of Koeman, especially when injured key players such as Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembélé are back.
In any case, Barcelona is starting to lose patience, and the Dutchman could soon pay a price if things continue the way they are. [Barca Universal]
