Few days ago when Setien took over from Ernesto Valverde as Barcelona's head coach, his happiness and inner satisfaction would have known no bounds. Won his first game against Granada and put up a great display of dominance over his opponent, such that we haven't seen from the Catalan giants for some time now. The possession was massive and intimidating, and for once, Barca fans were happy to see their old traditional play of "tiki taka" revived by the former Real Betis Coach. Though he has watched his side slip from the top of the league after few struggles, especially the disappointing 2-0 defeat to Valencia at Mestalla. These stuff happen in football, one can't always be in the winning side, you will just have to lose someday, and most times, when you need the victory more. But isn't that why he is a coach, nurturing his team and navigating their way to get their desired results. However, moving forward, it's now obvious that Setien will expand his coaching experience beyond setting formations and game plans, he now has another unforseen issue that is capable of distracting his team to tackle. Sometimes, Life tests man when he is likely not to overcome, but what makes us strong is n our ability to fluctuate our posture in order to adapt to the waves of life. The recent Madia outrage as regards the altercation between the Barcelona Sports director Eric Abidal(also former barca player) and the Clubs captain Lionel Messi, is that which can unsettle any manager at the Camp Nou.
There is an unwritten rule at the Camp Nou which has existed for more than a decade now, and that is "thou shall not provoke Messi, he must be happy always." The Barcelona best player in the history of the club picked offence in the comment of Abidal as regards the players inputs in games recently, a comment that pushed a reserved Lionel Messi to reply to his former teammate in a manner that suggests the Argentine is far from happy with Abidal's comment. This is the last thing Setien would wish for as they go into their Copa Del Rey clash with Athletic Bilbao on Friday. The fear that the squad may have been distracted calls for Setien's wisdom or astute reasoning in order to calm the tension in the squad before the game. Reports from unverified sources have also been flying the net that the Barca captain wasn't looking his usual happy self during a recent training session, and being the talisman of Setien's team, the coach will have to go beyond his usual gameplan to calm nerves. “Sincerely, I don’t like to do these things but I think that people have to be responsible for their jobs and own their decisions. The players (are responsible) for what happens on the pitch and we are the first to admit when we haven’t been good. The heads of the sports department have to take their responsibilities too and above all own the decisions they make. Finally I think that when you talk about players, you have to give names because if not, it makes everyone dirty and gives air to things that are said which are not true," Messi said, lashing out at Abidal's claim that players were not working hard. The captain expected Eric to have mentioned names, as his generalisation was unacceptable.
Comments