Quique Setien joined Barcelona after years of many Culers around the world, myself included, being optimistic about what the Santander-born manager could add to the Blaugranes’ tactics and mechanisms.
Setien had never managed a top-level club before and, out of his previous appointments, only Betis and Las Palmas (arguably) could be considered Primera-Division-calibre teams.
However, Setien’s creative ideals, non-negotiable attacking philosophy and even bravery when faced with criticism in previous clubs made me feel that, despite his inexperience at the highest level, he would be capable of leading Barcelona to new heights.
Unfortunately, Setien seems to have become a far more conservative manager than anyone (including himself) could have ever imagined since landing at the Camp Nou – which is a shame, as I explained in plenty of detail in our latest The Barcelona Podcast.
Listen to our in-depth discussion via The Barcelona Podcast now:
In his official unveiling as Barcelona manager back in January, Setien seemed clear on what he wanted to achieve, and how:
“I am eager to know more about Barca B players. There will be options to play for all. I don’t look at names, only at performance in training. Managing the dressing room? I will share our guidelines with the players so that things go the way we want. If players are energetic and try hard, you could all be surprised.”
Almost six months later, I must admit I am disappointed to see that not much progress has been made in the key points highlighted above. Not good enough.
Against Espanyol, Barcelona were far from brilliant. The Blaugranes were visibly tired and I am actually unsure about how much more gas first-team players have left in the tank. The team lacked creativity, verticality and were far too casual in attacking transitions, which is almost certainly due to lack of stamina.
Inexplicably, Setien has constantly refused to use the five substitutions at his disposal to refresh the team during the second halves of matches. Sure, Barca do not have the deepest of first-team squads (due to injuries and years of poor transfer activity) but the lack of confidence that he has shown for youngsters such as Alex Collado, Ronald Araujo or Monchu is puzzling.
As listeners of The Barcelona Podcast heard in our latest episode, I honestly can’t understand why Setien would prefer to stick with an exhausted first teamer who can hardly sprint in the last 30 minutes of a game while leaving fresh, hungry youngsters watching from the bench in disbelief.
And, while we are at it: Setien is playing Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati more often than Valverde ever did, sure. Having said that, my feeling is that this is mainly out of necessity due to injuries to first team players and, so far, they have not played nearly as much as they deserve given their impact whenever trusted.
The result? A visibly tired first-team squad that is bordering exhaustion with three La Liga matches to go.
Let’s be clear: Barcelona have been unable to take full charge any of their games for the whole 90 minutes – with the exception of Villarreal. Against Espanyol, the worst Spanish team this season, Setien’s men were unable to control the match once again, especially in the last 20 minutes.
A traditional version of Barcelona would have controlled the ball much better in the dying minutes, avoided clumsiness in possession and been able to hold on to a 1-0 favorable result without many difficulties. Instead, Culers were left begging for the final whistle against a team that will deservedly play in Segunda Division next year.
Fortunately, Barca added another three points to their league tally despite the difficulties. However, the Camp Nou giants were clearly playing with fire for far too long.
I can’t help but thinking that, when faced with higher-calibre opposition in the future (Champions League, anyone?), the result would have been disappointingly different.
Would Barca be leading La Liga right now if Setien had rotated his squad better? We will never know, but the way in Zinedine Zidane seems to always include a non-regular whenever Real Madrid play is certainly not hurting their title chances.
Let’s hope Setien finally sees sense and starts using his squad at its full capacity (including Barca B youngsters whenever possible) in the very near future.
Francesc Tomàs is a Catalan columnist featured in ESPN, The Guardian and many others. Born and raised minutes away from the Camp Nou, Francesc has been sharing his opinionated views with thousands of faithful Culer listeners via The Barcelona Podcast since 2017.
