Copa del Rey: FC Barcelona vs Elche CF

With just one week into this new year, FC Barcelona is now in the first crisis of the year, and a big one; in just a few days, they have managed to loose at Anoeta, sack their sporting director Zubizarreta, watched the departure of Carles Pujol and now in early presidential elections.

And all of this not mentioning the possibility of a growing feud between star Lionel Messi and coach Luis Enrique.

It’s a had way to start a year, but we all hope to change today when Barcelona will return to Copa del Rey hosting a match against Elche at Camp Nou.

Last month a match against such a low opposition will not be a threat to the Catalans Giants, but after the past days, this could be the match that Barcelona needs to end it all. A defeat will most likely bring the end of Luis Enrique’s reign as head coach and might also end the Barcelona dreams for this season.

However a good performance tonight might bring down the tension and pressure at the club, if you are on the bottom, the only way is to go up.

Luis Enrique’s rotations has opened a debate whether this constant tinkering has affected player morale and results. Resting players after an international break is good, but benching players after a long vacation is not.

A common misconception is that football must be won in the pitch with only a physical battle of 22 players, but in reality is also the mental state, tactics and motivation the key cornerstones; and Luis Enrique is not able to deliver in this respect.

But, in spite of everything, not only Luis Enrique or the players have to be the only contributing factors for this fall from grace. Yes, Luis Enrique tactical blunders and non existing man management skills are to be blamed, but also Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu for their boardroom level mistakes and sacked Andoni Zubizarreta for his as Sporting Director.

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