Is Luis Enrique a short-term manager for Barcelona? Guillem Balague discusses...
Monday 5 October 2015 16:15, UK
In his weekly column, Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague ponders whether Luis Enrique is a short-term manager, and says Lionel Messi should not be rushed back from injury...
What we can see, after seven games of the season, is a Barcelona who once based their success in both boxes, defending and attacking, now becoming weak in both of them.
They stumbled past Las Palmas, just beat Bayer Leverkusen late on and lost to Sevilla 2-1 on Saturday, all without Lionel Messi.
They've hit the woodwork 12 times in 12 games, which is extraordinary, but they haven't been efficient in their attacking, and at the back they lack intensity, something Luis Enrique identified early on but hasn't rectified.
There are some, like Jose Mourinho and Enrique, who are short-term coaches in the way they deal with players. We're going to see if that's the case again with Enrique here.
It's strange that the team who won everything last year have taken so long to go back to that style.
Real need time to build
Quite clearly the debate in Spain around Real Madrid is Rafael Benitez, his substitutions and his tactics. He brought off Karim Benzema in the second half of the 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid, which surprised some.
In the second half against Atletico he defended too deep against a team who also defends too deep. The accusation is that the team was not offensive enough, but it was a very intense derby.
But I do see a team much more solid than last season. This is a team who played superbly until December 2014, and then collapsed.
If you think they are going to pick themselves up and start playing wonderful football, no matter who the players are, you've got another thing coming.
They are trying to improve little by little, and they've put in the foundations for that.
Can Atletico still form a title challenge? Pete, via e-mail
GUILLEM SAYS: Altetico are going through an identity crisis, which will take a long time to improve on.
I think the new players are struggling with the adaptation you have to go through if you are a part of Diego Simeone's team.
But too many of these new players are playing, and the result is an Atletico team that are not intense enough for 90 minutes.
With Ronaldo and Real Madrid struggling to score, is this the time for Rafa Benitez to play a more offensive game? @noorahmad
GUILLEM SAYS: I feel that the injuries to James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale have affected the side. But they shouldn't shoot an average of 27 times against Sporting Gijon and Malaga and not score.
You could say they could be more adventurous but that's not the style of Benitez. And what about the players?
What's the latest on Lionel Messi? @thefifagamer
GUILLEM SAYS: He'll take about three weeks just resting and doing nothing, and then the work to recover will start.
It is still too early to say when he will come back, but there is already pressure from Argentina for him to come back a little earlier for the games against Brazil and Colombia on November 13 and 17. But Barcelona want him to rest and recover in time for El Clasico on November 22.
I say, how about letting his body say exactly when he has recovered? If he has to miss El Clasico, he has to miss El Clasico, it is more important that he is ready for the rest of the season.
