Koeman: Barcelona is living off the past, off tiki-taka, but that’s long gone. It’s not the way it used to be, it’s not the way it used to be

He has been one of Barcelona’s least favourite coaches in recent years. And he certainly didn’t leave the club on good terms. Legendary club defender Ronald Koeman was in a very difficult position, so his sacking still bites very hard.

Koeman was a big target on the Barcelona bench. Even with Messi, he only finished third behind Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. In his second season, he already had an objectively extremely difficult situation.

Messi had left, Barcelona also had to get rid of Griezmann, the club was drowning in huge financial difficulties, with no money for reinforcements, at one point it was without a president and nobody knew what was going to happen next.

When Joan Laporta won the election, things were about to take a turn for the better. But that was not the case for Koeman, who was not at all popular with the new president. And he publicly stated that he did not think Koeman was the coach for Barcelona.

“As president, you can always have doubts. But if you say it publicly, everybody starts to doubt. It was a huge mistake on his part,” Koeman recalled in an interview with Esports 3 about the end in Barcelona.

“Leaving was actually a bit of a relief. It was a complicated time, no president, no money, then the new president doubts you and you know if you don’t win you ‘re in trouble…,” Koeman reveals behind the scenes.

In his second season, he irritated Culés fans a lot. With the Catalan giant, he dropped to ninth place in La Liga and came close to dropping out to the Champions League, which then new coach Xavi was already at.

At the same time, Koeman was often criticized for his playing style with three stoppers. According to many, this does not fit with Barcelona’s identity, which has always wanted to assert itself with combination football.

“As a coach, I want to dominate the game. But a system with three stoppers or five defenders is not defensive. But Barcelona lives from the past, lives from tiki-taka, from the 4-3-3 system, but you can’t live from the past. Football is much faster and more technical, it has changed. Maybe if you have Xavi, Iniesta and Messi, but if you don’t…,” muses the Dutch coach.

Source: Marca, Esports 3