I.F. is back, and this time the debate is around former Barcelona manager and Dutch player Frank Rijkaard.
Frank Rijkaard was seen as a savior in the eyes of Barcelona fans when he stepped in as new manager of the Catalan club in 2003–04 season and turned the club's fortunes around.
Barcelona was living in Real Madrid's shadows in the early 2000's. However, Rijkaard revived the hopes of his side and drove the team from mid-table muds into a good second-place finish.
In the following season, Rijkaard built a strong team around Ronaldinho and then new signings Deco, Ludovic Giuly, and Samuel Eto'o.
The Dutch tactician worked with a 4-3-3 formation on the pitch and it brought his club great success, allowing Barcelona to win La Liga in the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons.
Barcelona's 2005-06 season was one to remember. Barcelona produced undoubtedly the best and most beautiful football in the world, winning the UEFA Champions League along the way.
Ronaldinho was superb, guiding Barca to the double.
The following year, defensive gaps were filled with new players such as Gianluca Zambrotta and Lillian Thuram arriving. However, the season turned to be a disappointing one as Barcelona lost La Liga to Real Madrid.
Last year, Barcelona's misery continued after a poor third-place finish and Rijkaard left his post to be replaced by Josep (Pepe) Guardiola.
Questions are still raised about the reason for Barcelona's downfall and Rijkaard's fall.
Barcelona's form was always related to Ronaldinho's form. Similarly to what used to happen when Michael Owen failed to produce for Liverpool and when Thierry Henry played poorly for Arsenal, Barcelona were horrible when Ronaldinho did not perform well enough.
In his golden Barca days, Barcelona were unstoppable because Ronaldinho was unstoppable. What he used to produce was sheer magic. Maybe Rijkaard put too much emphasis on the fact that Ronaldinho was unstoppable that it affected the team's results.
But also, Rijkaard was a little too bold; he just wouldn't switch from his 4-3-3 system to apply a formation with two strikers. Having Henry and Eto'o at his disposal, Rijkaard should have played them both upfront.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Rijkaard stuck to his system that was obviously not working and Henry ended up playing on the right flank, a place where he doesn't belong.
Most importantly, Ronaldinho was terrible in his last two seasons with Barca and turned from the best footballer in the world to a party animal, leaving Kaka to take his place as the best in the world (to the delight of Kaka).
And now, Rijkaard is out of work; unemployed (like many, many people nowadays).
Was it Ronaldinho's drop of form that cost Rijkaard his job or was it Rijkaard's fault for keeping faith in the 4-3-3 system that was not working?
10 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Guido 9 months ago
Rijkaard should've replaced Ronny sooner, perhaps with Messi. I also believe he made a mistake in signing Henry, who has been pretty much useless for Barcelona.
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subramanian N 9 months ago
The system of 4-3-3 doesn't work so much on rigid tactics,the element of dutch football that brings about its dynamism in exchanging positions and attacking flair.It was purely a player run club and Rijkaard had such a great,admirable personality that he let his players take centre-stage and handle the play,especially Deco and Ronaldinho.
Now considering this,he should have replaced Deco and Ronaldinho at the end of the 2006 WC(that would be too soon and people would be saying they should have been kept) or at best in summer 2007.
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Shyam Parthasarathi 8 months ago
Interesting - I tend to agree with Guido here - somehow, I don't think Henry has been used properly and also, Ronaldinho should have been sold/not been given far too much importance in Barca - it went to his head, and well, the rest is history.
I think that Rijkaard lost his job because he used to rely far too much on Henk ten Caate.. and once the latter left, Rijkaard had no nous to make Barca win things.
Interesting article.
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Zahi Sahli 8 months ago
thanks for the comment and good point about ten Cate.
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Ricky O'Neal 8 months ago
Rijkaard got the tactics wrong for me and Henry on the right flank was just not sensible. Like you say a big mistake was to keep the same tactics even when they weren't working.
When Ronaldinho stopped playing, Barca stopped playing and Rijkaard wasn't able to react tactically and I they started dropping points and a few bad spells eventually cost him his job. It's hard to pinpoint the crux of his downfall though.
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Yoosof Farah 8 months ago
good article zahi. even with that 4-3-3 formation, i am still surprised at how poorly barca have played over the two years. relying on ronaldinho for me was rijkaards downfall, and signing henry was a mistake. it was a mistake in my view henry joining barca, he should've stayed at arsenal!
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Steven Ho 8 months ago
It's too easy to place the blame at one source. They've both got to take responsibility (although I do feel that both have been unfairly treated, and that given time they would've did great things again) and also you've got to give Real Madrid credit for their comeback and the way they've maintained their success through playing solid football.
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S B 8 months ago
I think Ronny`s decline was the thing. I don`t think Messi alone would have filled his place though as they have different styles. I would have gone with Riquelme in Ronaldo`s place pushing Messi a bit more forward and keeping Eto`o. There really would be no need for Henry other than the bench because with Eto`o and Messi he would be outclassed and as you pointed out he is useless on the flank.
So I`d go for an all Argentine attacking midfield to replace Ronaldinho with Eto`o up front proper and complemented by Deco.
The Dutchman didn`t act fast enough.
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Zahi Sahli 8 months ago
Thanks for the comment and the POTD vote
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Marzia Hazra 8 months ago
very interesting article.
First of all Henry should have stayed at Arsenal. Although I agree that Ronaldinho was part of Rijkaards downfall, Rijkarrd didn't help the matter much by sticking with tactics that just didn't work, but like Steven said, they've both been treated unfairly, its funny how fast people forget all the good things done..
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