Koeman before the abyss

The future of Ronald Koeman as coach of the Barcelona Looking ahead to next season, he is reeling more than ever after the disastrous performance of the Blaugrana team against him. I raised. The inadmissible second half of Barça in which almost definitively buried his options to fight for LaLiga After having been in the first part of the game as a virtual leader and even going back 2-2, he left the coach in front of the abyss.

Obviously, Koeman is not the exclusive culprit of the inexplicable self-destruction of Barcelona, ​​but it is no less true that nor did it help solve the drama that Orriols experienced and that his management of the party left much to be desired. Given what happened on Tuesday in Valencia, the Dutchman's continuity seems more difficult than ever.

What's more, on this occasion, the coach was unable to speak to the club president after the game. This time, Laporta traveled to Valencia outside of the team bubble because he had arrangements to do in the morning in Barcelona. The president arrived in the afternoon and in keeping with LaLiga anti-COVID protocols, he was unable to have any contact with the team members. Not with Koeman, with whom he maintains a suspicious distance that contrasts with the praise he dedicated to him in the campaign.

Not even the conquest of the Copa del Rey against Athletic prompted an institutional statement by the president to endorse confidence in the Dutch coach, who for his part in a press conference continues to claim that he has one more year on his contract.

However, his position is in jeopardy.

Koeman is recognized from the box the courage to have accepted the challenge of taking Barcelona at the worst moment in its history: after a 2-8 in the Champions League in the midst of an institutional crisis and with Messi demanding his departure. They also acknowledge the fact having trusted the young and to lead the team to win a title and arrive with double options in the last three days, but all that is not enough.

On the other side of the scale, the fact that, from the outset, Koeman is not the coach who would have chosen this Laporta management team that won the elections. What's more, he is a technician chosen by Bartomeu.

Also weighs the fact that his style of play does not respond to the traditional demands of Blaugrana culture And some areas of the new management team are demanding to do their own project, no matter how much Koeman's merits are recognized and it is admitted that he has worked under very difficult conditions.

The decision is therefore in the hands of Laporta. Koeman himself explained it on Monday at the pre-match press conference: “I would like to answer about my continuity after the last game. The president from the first day has shown me his confidence and if anyone can decide it is the president. The future For me it is not to be worried. I have signed two years and I see myself as a coach next year. If not, the president will tell me. We have arranged to talk after the season is over. Now, let's wait for these two weeks”.

One day after making these statements, after the draw at the Ciutat de València, precisely the same field where Bartomeu's board decided that Valverde had to be dismissed, his tone was different.

He was aware that he had failed the final exam and admitted that “Coaches are always questioned. And I fully understand that there are questions.”

He is the first to know that he is facing the abyss.