Koeman's journey as Barça manager begins today against Nastic
After a painful ending to last season's campaign, it's down to Koeman and his team to turn the club's fortunes around
Ronald Koeman will sit in the dugout as FC Barcelona's manager for the first time today against Nastic at the Johan Cruyff stadium. For supporters, it's an opportunity to have renewed optimism with the Wembley hero in charge after a season to forget last time out.
It's far from ideal circumstances for Koeman to begin his dream job. He has a squad which needs an overhaul, a COVID-19 impacted transfer window to make those changes in and a Barça presidential campaign on the horizon. This in the wake of a Champions League embarrassment against Bayern and a very public fallout between the club and its greatest ever player: Lionel Messi.
In recent memory, Barça's success has depended heavily on Leo's performances. But will the '10' have the same impact and drive after spending most of the summer demanding to leave? Winning over Messi to his project is undoubtedly the biggest task facing Koeman right now. He's already made some tough decisions on important players but Messi is Messi.
Koeman has to change the image of the club from being Messi's Barça to a Barça with Messi. "Messi is the best and fully fit is an incredibly important player. He's shown that over the years and I hope it'll be the same this season," he told the club's official media.
The Dutchman will need to find a formation which gets the best out of Messi and the team. Koeman is expected to use 4-2-3-1 and this would see Leo move from the right wing to just behind the main striker.
Barça might be a work in progress during this transitional period but expectations will remain high. Especially now Leo is staying. This means that winning LaLiga is almost a minimum requirement.
Koeman must oversee the progression of the squad's younger members such as Dembélé, Ansu, Riqui, Trincao and Pedri. He managed to do this successfully during his time with Holland.
It's that spark, that energy and desire to work for 90 minutes that Koeman will try to recapture. The defeats to Liverpool and Bayern, or rather the manner of those defeats, still hurt supporters. "They must play as hard as we train."
Today is Koeman's first day in the dugout and the world will begin to see his plans for Barça. As with every new season, Barça supporters will be looking to their team to inspire confidence, to bounce back from disappointment and show this year will be different.
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