Luis Enrique's replacement at Barcelona faces big task in reinforcing club's identity

Jorge Sampaoli, Ernesto Valverde and Ronald Koeman are the intriguing candidates who could replace Luis Enrique on the Barcelona bench.

Jonathan Wilson | Mar 1, 2017

Luis Enrique's replacement at Barcelona faces big task in reinforcing club's identity /

There are few better times to announce you’re leaving a club than after a 6-1 win, particularly one that takes your side to the top of the table.

Luis Enrique may end this season with a third straight league and cup double, and yet his decision doesn’t come as a great surprise. He spoke of needing “a rest” and managing Barcelona is a wearying position. The scrutiny is constant, the margin for error minute. The slightest slip can become a crisis. And what has happened to Barcelona over the past few weeks has been more than a slip.

It may seem ridiculous to be critical of a side that has lost just two games all season in La Liga, one that averages 2.28 points and 2.84 goals per game, but that’s the nature of modern football in Spain as in so many leagues: the big sides are so big that success must be relentless.

PSG presses Barcelona into submission, Benfica edges Dortmund in Champions League

There have been rumblings all season, but they were brought into sharp focus by the 4-0 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. The same intensity wasn’t there. Sergio Busquets, in particular, had looked out of sorts, while both he and Andres Iniesta had struggled with injuries. The benefits of that stellar front three, the individual brilliance that could unpick packed defenses, began to be outweighed by their lack of defensive work, the disconnection to the midfield.

Barcelona’s league season has featured the usual thrashings of sides still petrified by the club's aura, but there were plenty of warning signs, not only in the autumn defeats to Alaves and Celta Vigo but in strangely lifeless draws against Malaga, Villarreal and Real Betis and in the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League.

The message was clear: Barça had once terrified teams with its pressing, but this iteration was susceptible to just such a tactic. It could be out-pressed–a lesson PSG took decisively to heart. The weekend after the defeat in Paris, Barcelona hosted lowly Leganes. It won 2-1, but only thanks to a last-minute penalty from Messi. In that game, Barcelona for the first time fielded only one Catalan player.

In modern football the initial reaction, perhaps, is surprise that it has taken so long for the figure to fall that low, but it is not a detail to be glibly dismissed. Barcelona’s strength, at its best, was the congruence of its political and tactical identities, and the absence of La Masia graduates brought up in the Cruyffian ideal has diluted its identity.

Neymar and Luis Suarez, of course, changed the dynamic, as did Ivan Rakitic. They made Barcelona more direct, brought the club perhaps more in line with the way of the general tactical evolution of the game, certainly made its play more varied. But it was within recognizable parameters.

The signings of Arda Turan and Andre Gomes in midfield seem utterly contrary to the Barça philosophy. They are shuttlers, hard workers, gifted in their own ways, but not players to spin those beguiling long skeins of passes. And that, in turn, has caused problems elsewhere, most notably on the right but also in terms of the role of Busquets. As Sid Lowe pointed out in The Guardian after the Leganes game, it was indicative of how far Barcelona had shifted from its roots that there wasn’t a Barcelona player in the top 10 passers in the league this season and not a Barcelona midfielder in the top 25.

Soccer Managers: When they were players

Antonio Conte, Chelsea

Antonio Conte celebrates a goal for Juventus against Rangers in the Champions League in 1995.

Carlo Ancelotti, Bayern Munich

AC Milan's Carlo Ancelotti, right, goes head-to-head with Napoli's Diego Maradona when both played in Italy in October 1990.

Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid

Argentina's Diego Simeone shakes hands with England's David Beckham after their match at the 2002 World Cup, four years after Beckham was sent off for kicking out at Simeone.

Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid

Diego Simeone celebrates scoring a goal for Lazio against Vicenza in a Serie A match in April 2001.

Jurgen Klinsmann, U.S. men's national team

Jurgen Klinsmann celebrates after scoring Germany's lone goal in a 1-0 win over Bolivia in a 1994 World Cup match in Chicago.

Jurgen Klinsmann, U.S. men's national team

Jurgen Klinsmann celebrates after scoring the first Stuttgart goal in the 1989 UEFA Cup final second leg against Napoli in May 1989.

Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp, right, makes a play on the ball while playing for Mainz against St. Pauli in 1999.

Luis Enrique, Barcelona

Luis Enrique scores for Barcelona against Arsenal in the group stage of the Champions League in October 1999 at Wembley Stadium.

Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham

Argentina's Mauricio Pochettino takes down Engand's Ashley Cole in the group stage of the 2002 World Cup in Japan.

Joachim Low, Germany

Joachim Low, playing for Karlsruher against Werder Bremen in a November 1984 Bundesliga match.

Patrick Vieira, New York City FC

While starring at Arsenal, Patrick Vieira goes head-to-head with a young Cristiano Ronaldo in the Gunners' win over Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup final.

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City

Pep Guardiola mans the midfield for Barcelona in a February 2001 match against Athletic Bilbao.

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City; Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid

Pep Guardiola stands side-by-side with Zinedine Zidane in a Euro 2000 quarterfinal between Spain and France.

Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid

Zinedine Zidane escapes away from Michael Ballack in Real Madrid's 2002 Champions League final triumph over Bayer Leverkusen, in which Zidane scored the winning goal.

Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid

Zinedine Zidane led the European All-Stars, while Brazil's Ronaldo led the World All-Stars in a star-studded match in France prior to the 1998 World Cup draw.

Didier Deschamps, France

Didier Deschamps lifts the Champions League trophy with Marseille after captaining the squad to a triumph over AC Milan in 1993.

Ronald Koeman, Everton

Ronald Koeman, front, celebrates after scoring the winning goal in the 1992 European Cup final for Barcelona against Sampdoria at Wembley Stadium.

Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine

AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko, right, is mobbed by Clarence Seedorf and Kaka after a goal against city rival Inter Milan at the San Siro in 2004.

Luis Enrique, inevitably, has borne the brunt of much of the criticism, but it was notable that the hardcore of Barcelona fans chanted his name during the Leganes match. It is recognized he is a scapegoat for failures elsewhere, in terms of recruitment, in terms of a board whom Dani Alves, now at Juventus, slammed after the PSG defeat.

“They were very false and ungrateful,” he said. “They did not respect me… Those who run Barcelona today have no idea how to treat their players.”

The implication is that the problem probably runs deeper than the manager and whoever comes in will need a reassessment of recruitment. It seems likely there will, at least at first, be a conscious effort to return to a more characteristically Barcelona philosophy–and that means somebody who understands the club.

The favorite at the moment appears to be Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde, who spent two years with Barcelona as a player and won three Greek league titles as manager of Olympiakos.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman has been mentioned and has the advantage of having been a legend at the club as a player, scoring the goal that won it its first European Cup, in 1992. He was also an assistant coach to Louis van Gaal in the late 1990s. In that sense his résumé is impeccable, but there is a sense he has moved away from the Cruyff template and his previous managerial stint in Spain, with Valencia, was disappointing.

How much trouble is Neymar facing in his transfer corruption case?

Juan Carlos Unzue, Luis Enrique’s assistant, had two seasons with the club as a reserve goalkeeper and would be the continuity candidate. Laurent Banc had a season as a player with Barcelona, is out of work and is a calming presence. Mauricio Pochettino, who knows the city having played for Espanyol, has done impressive work with Tottenham, instilling a pressing style that would match the Barcelona way while promoting young players.

But perhaps the most intriguing candidate is Jorge Sampaoli, a self-confessed disciple of Marcelo Bielsa, who was a major influence on Pep Guardiola. The greatest influence on Guardiola, a manager he sees as his mentor, is Juanma Lillo, who now is Sampaoli’s assistant at Sevilla.

Playing a relentless pressing game, Sampaoli has led Sevilla to third in the table and it is one game from a Champions League quarterfinal. That he is not merely Argentinian but from Rosario may endear him to Lionel Messi. Whoever takes over, this is a major challenge. The links to the great Barcelona clubs of Guardiola are dwindling and there is the sense that the whole ethos of the club needs reasserting.

Published Mar 1, 2017

JONATHAN WILSON

An accomplished author of multiple books, Jonathan Wilson is one of the world’s preeminent minds on soccer tactics and history.