Barcelona is familiar for their attractive style of play. Johan Cruyff was a famous players and manager of the Catalan club. Cruyff changed football and changed Fc Barcelona. He invented an attractive style of play based on ball possession and attacking football. His former proteges Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola managed to get this style back at Barcelona. Rijkaard started it and Pep Guardiola finetuned it almost until perfection. Ernesto Valverde is their current manager and I have my doubts if he is the right man in place.

Ernesto Valverde career

Valverde started his active career as player for Deportivo Alaves. Via Sestao River Club and RDC Espanyol he ended up playing for Fc Barcelona. After two years he moved to Athletic Bilbao and he finished his playing career at Mallorca. After managing several clubs he took the job at Fc Barcelona in the summer of 2017. Luis Enrique decided to take a sabbatical which opened the door for Valverde.

At Fc Barcelona

Valverde is the first manager who managed to come through the first 32 La Liga matches without losing one. This is a very good performance, but I noticed I don’t like watching Barcelona like I used to do in the past. Barcelona plays decent, but it’s not really attractive anymore. They paid record fees for Philippe Coutinho and Ousame Dembele, but neither of them has a regular place in the first eleven. Valverde changed the system and plays many matches with two attackers instead of three. This gives them more defensive security, but Barcelona never was about defensive security.

Is he the right man for Barcelona?

In my honest opinion I have to say no. If he holds on to the two striker system, he isn’t the right manager for Barcelona. I really believe the board will evaluate this season, especially after the shock Champions League elimination against As Roma. I can’t recall watching a more helpless Barcelona than in that match. So he needs to change his attitude towards the style of play, or he needs to make room for a better manager.