Pep Guardiola Urges Calm, but Luis Enrique Is Struggling at Barcelona

Things are not going well for Luis Enrique at Barcelona right now, but he has a vote of confidence from Pep Guardiola.

The current Bayern Munich coach, arguably the greatest manager in Barcelona's history, was back in town to vote in Catalonia's non-binding independence referendum.

He told Spanish TV station Cuatro (h/t Sport):

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I am sure that we will win and Luis Enrique will triumph but everything in life takes time. There is no champion in November. Sometimes things go off without a hitch and sometimes they require a little more effort.

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But as wise as Guardiola is, it doesn't mean that what he says will necessarily come to pass.

Consider Sir Alex Ferguson, who claimed that David Moyes would go on to do a great job at Manchester United.

We all know what happened there.

Guardiola was only ever going to say something along those lines; there would be no benefit for him, or Barcelona, if he came out and criticised the Asturian coach.

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Enrique is an inexperienced manager. That is not a crime. But what he needs to do is learn from his mistakes. 

His team selection for the Almeria clash was downright bizarre.

Enrique took three right-backs with him to Andalusia in Dani Alves, Martin Montoya and Douglas. But in the end, it was Adriano who tended the right-hand side of defence, playing out of position. 

There is an argument that Alves may have been tired, as he has featured in a lot of the games so far.

However, the Brazilian is not in the national team anymore and now has two weeks off, and he could have managed to play against Almeria.

That wasn't the only strange decision Enrique made; dropping Luis Suarez and Neymar for Pedro and Munir El Haddadi was another eye-catcher.

He rectified this mistake at half-time, bringing the two superstars on, and they won him the game.

Neymar scored the equaliser, and Suarez—who had set him up—then went on to create another goal for Jordi Alba to help Barcelona win 2-1.

Despite signing Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu in the summer, Barcelona were back to square one at the weekend, with Marc Bartra, Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique the only options in the middle.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Signing an injured player and a now-31-year-old wasn't Enrique's call, but the Asturian could have had a word with Andoni Zubizarreta if he disagreed with the purchases.

Mathieu, to be fair, has generally been Barcelona's best defender this season, but there is always a risk involved when you sign an older player, particularly for €20 million.

Once the Neymar-Messi-Suarez trident clicks up front, Barcelona will start winning games purely off the back of those three talents.

That will buy Enrique a little time and breathing space to get the team to understand how he wants to play.

However, one of the main criticisms of Enrique is that nobody's even sure if he himself knows how he wants to play.

There has been a confusion in Barcelona's play, with Messi being dragged back as far as the halfway line as he seeks the ball.

Ivan Rakitic plays in a totally different way to how we're seeing Barcelona central midfielders operate. Perhaps that's partly down to his own style, but it must also have something to do with Enrique wanting him to push out a bit wider.

Daniel Tejedor/Associated Press

All in all, Barcelona have staggered into the international break just two points behind Madrid.

With the amount of complaining and criticism that's coming their way, you'd think it was 10.

But unless Enrique gets his squad together and impresses his ideas upon them soon, Madrid—settled, calm, playing brilliant football—will stretch that lead.