Over for coach Koeman: Barcelona and the great helplessness in the crisis

For the Catalan daily La Vanguardia it was a “Requiem in Vallecas”.

FC Barcelona played bloodlessly against newly promoted Rayo Vallecano, allowed a much more motivated opponent to take the balls from them and was not even able to score a goal from the penalty spot.

In the end, it was 1-0 for the club from Madrid's working-class district, and it was the last game for Ronald Koeman on the coaching chair of FC Barcelona.

The team was still on the flight home when the Spanish media reported the Dutchman's dismissal.

Koeman coached the club for 14 months, he should renew the team. In the end there are 80 games on his balance sheet, of which 44 wins, 15 draws and 21 defeats. Last season, Barça won the King's Cup, but only finished third in the league. Even then there was speculation about his continued employment. But now Barça is playing the worst season in a very long time, 15 points from 10 games, the club last started that badly in 1987. It was the time of Bernd Schuster and Gary Lineker, Luis Aragonés was the coach. Unlike Koeman now, he was allowed to stay until May.

Koeman didn't have it easy in Barcelona.

At a worse time than last summer, a coach can hardly take over a team.

In previous years, the team had lost important top performers such as Xavi or Iniesta, and key players such as Piqué, Messi or Luis Suárez, all over 30, seemed to have been a burden for the years.

Long before Koeman was in crisis

At the same time, the financial possibilities had also dwindled.

The club had taken on with excessive personnel planning, paid exorbitant salaries and transfer fees for players that fell far short of expectations.

For Coutinho or Dembélé, Barça had paid 135 million euros each, for Griezmann 130 million.

How should Koeman put together a powerful team?

Messi also sent the club his resignation, but gritted his teeth before he went to Paris this summer. As a first step in the renewal of the team, Koeman sent away striker Suárez, who then scored Atlético Madrid with 21 goals to the championship. At the end of the season, Griezmann also went back to Atlético, who seems to have found the joy of football again despite initial skepticism from the fans. Barcelona, ​​on the other hand, brought Memphis Depay from Lyon, Sergio Agüero, who had been sorted out at Manchester City, and Dutchman Luuk de Jong from Sevilla FC. But even with them there was no success.

FC Barcelona were in crisis long before Koeman, but the Dutchman couldn't stop them. He is not to blame for the fact that the cashier is empty and the club can only sign non-contracted players. According to Barça La Liga, only 98 million euros are available for player salaries. This means that the club is no more than mediocre in the league. Nobody in the Catalan capital wants to admit that. The team is still measured by past successes, not by its current performance. Many young players like Ansu Fati, Gavi or Dest seem insecure under this pressure to succeed, but they could be the future of Barça.

Koeman didn't seem to know how to change that either. His attempts to explain only reflected his own helplessness. He always explained defeats with the weaknesses of his players. Against Vallecas, he said he was concerned about the lack of efficiency. The opponent had put a lot of pressure on, but when their strength decreased at the end of the game, his team was much better and created opportunities.

The result is not fair. So Koeman judged after the recent defeats against Real Madrid, Atlético or Benfica. The whole team plays powerlessly. The experienced Sergio Busquets had the ball taken away from Vallecas in midfield like in a friendly match, as a result Rayo's center forward Radamel Falcao Piqué danced out and scored the only goal of the encounter - and thus sealed Koeman's end in Barcelona.

According to media reports, club boss Joan Laporta asked Julian Nagelsmann, Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel in the summer whether they would come to Barcelona.

Everyone should have waved his hand in thanks, so Koeman was allowed to stay.

The club legend Xavi Hernández, who is favored by many, believed Laporta to be too inexperienced.

The 41-year-old has been coaching the Al-Sadd club in Qatar for two years.

Now Laporta would like to guide Xavi to Barcelona, ​​but the Catalan still has a valid contract in Qatar and would like to take his entire coaching team with him.

There are tough negotiations that might not be finished until Christmas, writes El País.

Until then, Sergi Barjuan from the B-Team should train the team.