Barça’s dressing room in recent years has been dominated by Messi and veterans more than coaches. It has been an enclosure of gallons. From number one down in order of titles, except for the World Cup for the French who have never managed to lead the so-called ‘sanctuary’ Blaugrana. It is nothing extraordinary, but it is influential in the way the group behaves.
Xavi You know how the dressing room is, but now you will know it first hand. The team has not trained at the highest professional level as a top European club for a long time. The coaches have ended up adjusting the tone to the conditions of the most important players in the dressing room. While the titles have been falling it has been difficult to change a dynamic that at the moment in which the glory has disappeared has become a serious problem. The Kun Agüero he was surprised when he arrived that the footballers did not arrive an hour before training. The doors were practically closed. Barça is one of the few clubs that allows some of its injured players to travel to hold press conferences for other businesses. And surely he was right De Jong when he indicated that the team lacks personality in some moments, that solidarity character and that physical overexertion that is necessary in the last moments.
The new FC Barcelona coach is going to have to assess the situation in that dressing room and act accordingly, because titles are won there. And that the whole world of football knows. Xavi he will also be the most solid coach of recent times, since Koeman did not enjoy the necessary real support and the dressing room noticed it and Setien was not able to prevail in a group that endorsed Valverde and he supported it with titles in a tacit pact not to force too much by either party. Now comes the time to start competing one hundred percent with a director capable of ordering the team well and endowing it with a tactical sense that, apart from aesthetics, is a winner.