5 Reasons Barcelona Should Sack Pep Guardiola After Chelsea Loss

1. Wrong Decisions

Ibrahimovic, anyone? It is undoubted that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a quality striker, yet he is a completely contrasting player to Barcelona's style, and trading goal machine Samuel Eto'o for him was a fools choice when Eto'o was still at a good stage at his career and had won Barcelona a few trophies in his time. Also, Ibrahimovic was known to be egotistical and unable to gel with team-mates, when you consider the type of football Barcelona plays requires a lot of that, he wasn't a brilliant choice. When Ibrahimovic was shipped off, they replaced him with David Villa, who Pep said he should have bought in the first place, after having a season which saw him nominated for the Ballon D'or, Fifa World Football Player of the Year and him score more goals than any other footballer in Spain during 2009; fair to say, that rocketed the prices up somewhat. Furthermore, leaving Gerard Pique on the bench for matches against powerful teams like Real Madrid and Chelsea proved foolish. Carrying an injury or not he was available to play and should have done, he is one of their most accomplished players who has been at the club during these big matches before. His would have been a calming influence during these big games, as opposed to putting a 5 foot nothing center midfielder in defence to compete with Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo. Making bad choices like this, whilst admittedly still winning things, undermines his managerial credentials. A manager needs to know what he wants and who is best for his team, not just wait until the choices become obvious for you, he isn't one for picking up hidden gems or emerging talent, either La Masia will provide or the choice becomes obvious for you...And for cash strapped Barcelona it isn't an enviable quality.

2. Pig Headedness

Interesting comments from Alexander Hleb after he left Barcelona supports this point. He said that Pep Guardiola is less inclined to play foreign players and will constantly pick Spanish players ahead of them. Further evidence of this comes with Javier Mascherano's difficulty to get into the team until injuries allowed it and Alexis Sanchez's less than glorious arrival even when Pedro and Villa have been injured and Tello and Cuenca have been preferred for matches over the £25m signing. His almost ignorant reliance on young Spanish players is a disservice to the big money Barcelona have paid out for quality internationals. For example Cuenca had his 3rd start of the season in the title deciding El Clasico whilst Alexis Sanchez, who has scored against Madrid before and did when he came on sat on the bench thinking, just like the whole world was, 'Why is he doing this?'

3. Lack of a Plan B

Barcelona are a great team, and 3 Champions League titles since 2006 proves this. However, truly brilliant teams know that they need a plan B when your game plan gets figured out, and Barcelona's is one of the most easy to do so. They just pass it from side to side. No counter attacking football, no marauding wingers, no big men to get stuck in up front, no individuality makes it easy for teams to make game plans against them. Though difficult to execute great teams like Real Madrid and, dare I say it, Chelsea can master the art of patience, leaving possession to their opposition tika taka's whilst counter attacking with either a long ball or a quick interchange of passes to over come a Barcelona defence who look to stunned that they are not in possession to be able to do anything such as, defend. It's hard to imagine what Guardiola's half time team talk if Barcelona are 2-0 down is beyond 'Just pass it some more". Give it to Messi. He might do something spectacular and bail us all out. If not, just pass it some more.' Against Chelsea, when they needed one more goal in the 88th minute to go through, they were still far too afraid to give away the ball. Choosing possession over shooting from distance, opportunist crossers, throwing Puyol up front and leaving Alves and Mascherano at the back. They also seem to frown on individuality. Alexis Sanchez who was billed as a South American version of Cristiano Ronaldo who dazzled everyone in the 2010 World Cup is now just a Tika-Taka player. Where he would once rocket a shot in from distance, take it past a few players with a wonderful array of tricks and skill he now; passes it sideways. Most beautiful football in the world? Meh. His inability to break his philosophy whilst in the face of adversity is what makes this team fallible. The fact that this philosophy is crushing individual talent like Sanchez, whereas managers like Mourinho and Ferguson let players like Robben, Ronaldo, Cantona showcase their individual ability for the good of the team is not only a crime, but lessens the teams incisive edge.

4. Does Not Improve Squad Depth

Why did he buy Cesc Fabregas? Why? He's barely played all year and the only young Barcelona player who looks ready to step into the squad is Thiago Alacantra, who is an identical player to him. Whilst busy spending nearly £30m on players they're buying for club pride and dogma, the quality of the squad suffers. Why just make marquee signings every summer? Why not take that £30m and split it 3 or 4 ways. The fact that they have done nothing to rectify the fact that Mascherano, who is a central midfielder and moonlights as an extra filmed in scenes at Hobbiton in the LOTR trilogy, has been playing center back for nearly two whole seasons. Why buy another, identical midfielder why at least 2 new center backs are needed. He seems to enjoy burning all the teams money on two signings, or one signing a summer whilst looking to La Masia to provide squad depth, whilst it's important to blood the youngsters, making them your only alternatives in matches against Real Madrid which decides the title, and Champions League Semi-Finals against a battling Chelsea is not a good learning experience for them. To be inexperienced and make the wrong decision will only dent your confidence for longer and make it harder for you to turn into a quality player, rather than being allowed to express yourself for twenty minutes when you're 2-0 up and cruising. Why doesn't he instead invest in a few experienced old hats? Buy functional, bullying center backs who can battle back when Benzema, Ronaldo and Di Maria come pelting at you at full speed. Don't just rely on the team you have and a young bench to help you. It won't always work. Why not put a bit more faith in scouting? Finding hidden gems rather than let the press find them for you, West Bromwich Albion got Peter Odemwingie for £1.5m and he's scored 25 goals in two Premier League seasons and is a technically adept, exciting player. That's quality scouting, it does not seem to be what Barcelona have in their arsenal.

5. What Has He Actually Achieved?

A few bright sparks will reply with '13 trophies in 4 years', yes, but how much of that is down to him? A couple of decades ago Johan Cruyff, one of the worlds greatest and most technically adept football players, installed a footballing philosophy into Barcelona and its youth team. Everyone, at every level of the club, plays the same kind of football with the same group of players in a way which some times, bedazzle the senses. It took a while for that team to materialise, but here they are, ready to just be put infront of people and pass them into oblivion. It's a remarkable achievement which has very little of Pep Guardiola to do with it. They don't need a good manager to win things, they just need a great manager to make sure this one off phenomenon of players doesn't fade sooner than it should. They don't have that. Similarly, teams talk about over reliance on players, no greater example of this is Messi's role in Barcelona. He is a footballing phenomenon and one of the very few Barcelona players who would be capable in England (Chelsea's dominating physical display really show that Barcelona couldn't play teams like Stoke, McLeish's Birmingham, every week and come out on top), and he is their only real threat. When he doesn't perform Barcelona don't perform and his brilliance carries a team unable to see any other option but him doing it all for them. After 3 years of complete dominance, is their time over due to a manager incapable of building consistent squads, adding experience, individuality and a plan B to a team that is almost perfect, but are now to easy to find out, I think so. What do you think? Do you think he should stay at Barcelona? Or do you think he has been at the right place at the right time? Comment below! Would you like to write about football and Barcelona on WhatCulture? Get in touch today to become a contributor.