Ronald Koeman is pleading for more tima as Barcelona boss amid his seemingly impending sack.
Koeman is on the brink after overseeing just one win in six games, including the club’s worst ever start to a Champions League campaign.
Barca continued their poor run on Saturday night when they were comfortably beaten by Atletico Madrid.
The defeat was Barca’s first of the season in La Liga, but it’s the latest setback in a hugely disappointing run.
And heading into the Atletico clash, it was thought Koeman would be replaced regardless of the result.
Reports have claimed Barca are searching for replacements with a number of options, including Xavi and Andrea Pirlo.
But according to Diario AS, Koeman has asked Joan Laporta for three more games.
Barca have three difficult games after the international break, facing Valencia in the league, then Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League before taking on rivals Real Madrid in the Clasico.
According to the report, the candidates Barca have spoken to are not exactly keen to be set up for a disastrous start, coming in before those three games.
Koeman is aware of that, and he has reportedly asked to stay in charge of those games before clearing the way for his replacement if this poor run of form continues.
There may be life in the Dutchman yet.
Koeman and laporta
Thunder go fire the both of you by the grace of GOD
We all want koeman fired. But what next? R. Martinez? Pirlo?. The real prob is money. Money to pay him off. Money to sign a tested replacement ( cos we all seem to forget there isn’t money). And even if you have money. What exactly does Barca have to compete in big games? We may have some quality players but they don’t fit into a particularly functional system. No strong markers in midfield to even help protect the defence. No good wingers to stretch opponents defence, no good( except for Dest, Alba isn’t it, he cant beat even a statue with the ball, yes he can pass, but only that) individually creative fullbacks to cover for the lack of such wingers. The result is that our shabby midfield attempt to go up to do it all, and expose the defence that in truth only Araujo and maybe Pique ( depending on the the game, and maybe there’s a case for umtiti if he could find a way back to who he was, something I believe is possible) should qualify to play for Barca. And if the coach says ‘ ok’…let me keep it compact, and play on the counter to attempt to protect the back…who and who will play those counter?…so in truth, Barca is damaged. The solution first lies in acceptance by all involved. Im not convinced Koeman is our man, but then he has an impossible task. He has not been able to contribute significantly to building a sqaud. All players he brought in( except for Memphis, whom I think is justified) is conditional. That’s not Barca standard…so we can’t expect Barca results. My only criticism is that he should find a way to make us less susceptible to humiliating defeats. Whether via negative football I don’t care, but barca can’t just be loosing 3:0, 0:3, 2:0…and in all cases, it could have been up to 5:0. If we lost 2:1. Then we can start to talk of hope of change, but with current trends, no matter d brand of football we play, the psych will keep dying