Koeman living on borrowed time
Alfredo Relaño evaluates the situation of Ronald Koeman at Barcelona, who remains in place as the club searches for his replacement.
Yesterday a Koeman meme circulated which showed his face and neck very swollen with the quote: "I have already eaten all the nougat just in case."
I thought that the meme that appeared yesterday could have appeared after the defeat to Bayern or even before that, when Laporta told a group of trusted journalists that he would like to see Koeman play a 4-3-3 and see Riqui Puig play more. Or even after the moment when Laporta arrived and started looking for a new coach, with Jordi Cruyff and Xavi Hernández top of his list.
Since then, Koeman has been on borrowed time. The Barça coach is -- because Laporta has arranged it that way -- a dead man walking. There are a couple of reasons why he is still on the Barcelona bench: one, because a replacement to everyone's taste has yet to appear; and two, considering how broke Barca is, coming up with the money for Koeman’s pay-off may be even more difficult than finding the name of his replacement.
Koeman replacement list grows
Meanwhile, the list of potential candidates is growing with names as varied as Andrea Pirlo, Roberto Martínez, Muñeco Gallardo and Óscar García. But the weeks go by, the names go by, and Koeman remains provisionally -- a man without the slightest support leading a squad with players who need extra care.
Meanwhile, he is enjoying the pleasure of challenging the indirect commands of his president, by not playing a 4-3-3, nor Riqui, nor Umtiti. I don’t know if he is doing this out of spite or if he is simply acting on his own convictions. I prefer to think the latter, I’ve always thought that there is nothing less intelligent than obedience.
Judging by his attitude, I don’t imagine he will be willing to make anything easy for Barcelona regarding his payoff, nor does he have to, given how he has been treated by Laporta, who arrived assuring him that he would convince Messi to stay. But instead Koeman has lost Messi and Griezmann in exchange for Luuk de Jong.