Koeman benefitting from the chaos
Despite a disappointing start, the absence of a club president guarantees Koeman's continuity until February. The intention of several candidates is that he finishes out the season.
For the moment, Ronald Koeman's position at FC Barcelona is safe as there is no president who can the make the decision to sack him. For the Dutch coach, the resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu and the rest of the board ensures his position at Camp Nou until at least January 25, 2021. The president of the club's management committee, Carles Tusquets, isn't in charge of managerial sackings or appointments and will have to wait for the arrival of the new president in early 2021.
In principle, the intention of all the presidential candidates is for Ronald Koeman to continue until at least June 30, 2021, although some have already clearly expressed their ideas, including Víctor Font, who would come with former player Xavi Hernández as head coach.
Right now, it seems clear that the future of Koeman at the club isn't a certainty. After his first 16 official games in charge of Barcelona, his numbers could not be more disappointing. Barça sit ninth in LaLiga, twelve points behind the leaders, Atlético Madrid, and second in their Champions League group, beaten 3-0 at home by Juventus on Tuesday night.
It has been 33 years since Barcelona have had such a shambolic start in LaLiga in the first ten games of the season - we must go back to the 1987/88 campaign when Terry Venables was dismissed after just four games, having collected just one victory and suffering three defeats. The Catalan club replaced him with Luis Aragonés, and the most he could do was guide the team to a sixth placed finish. The last time Barça finished second in their Champions League group was fourteen years ago, when Frank Rijkaard was in charge during the 2006/07 season.
In addition to the current mess, teams such as Atlético, who had never beaten Barcelona in LaLiga under Diego Simeone, recorded a 1-0 victory at the Wanda Metropolitano in November. Juventus, with their convincing 3-0 win managed to break a streak of 38 consecutive games without a win at Camp Nou in the Champions League.
Questions over formation
But not only the numbers detract from Koeman's work, according to Cadena SER, there are some players who have already begun to show their dissatisfaction with the 4-2-3-1 formation implemented, believing it to be too rigid. Antoine Griezmann accused the team for their lack of attitude and effort after the defeat to Juventus.
In a normal situation, Koeman's position would be on the line, with a huge question mark applied ahead of Sunday's game against Levante in LaLiga. However, the disastrous management of former president Josep María Bartomeu and a January presidential election date keeps the hero of Wembley 1992 in a job until the new year.