Grading Luis Enrique on Barcelona's 2015/16 Season

Barcelona brought the curtain down on another trophy-laden season by winning the Copa del Rey against Sevilla on Sunday, taking the total pieces of silverware won this season under Luis Enrique to four following the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and the retention of La Liga.

It means the boss has now won seven titles in his two years in charge and has actually gone slightly better than Pep Guardiola did in his second campaign at the Camp Nou.

Luis Enrique has a fantastic squad at his disposal, and it's easy to dismiss his job as being a straightforward one, so just how well has the manager done during the 2015-16 season overall?

Squad Rotation and Management

First up, the most important aspect of Enrique's work this season was managing the squad at his disposal and ensuring they kept the results coming.

The first third of the campaign was actually an incredibly testing one; the club were not allowed to register any new players as a result of a transfer ban, despite the odd sale or two, meaning a balancing act was required to keep key players as fresh as possible and also on the field. Matters were not made any easier by the injury Rafinha suffered early on, as his versatility in covering both midfield and attacking lines was lost as well as his technical ability.

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Neymar was ill, Lionel Messi was injured and in midfield the likes of Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic and Sergi Roberto all took turns sidelined by short-term knocks, but the manager found a way to keep eking performances and results out of his players. Sergi Roberto's emergence in particular was vital in those opening months, with the academy graduate excelling both at right-back and in midfield.

The greater responsibility Neymar shouldered during Messi's absence was of paramount importance in retaining the title, influenced by Luis Enrique's affordance of the game plan being suited to the Brazilian's movements, and a 39-game unbeaten streak from mid-October to early April was testament to the manager's choices being the right ones.

Several young players were given chances, even if they didn't really take them to the fullest, and by the time a blip in results came around, the manager was able to call upon a settled side to ease them through to the other side.

In terms of his work with his players, there can be very little fault aimed Enrique's way.

Management grade: 10/10

Integration of New Signings

There was minimal work to do here, but the manager deserves at least some credit in creating an environment where players would be willing to come and work, in the knowledge that they would be several months before actually being able to play.

Arda Turan initially showed good form after joining the playing squad in January, but his influence soon dipped and he found himself marginalised as the first choice midfield re-emerged: Sergio Busquets, Rakitic and Iniesta.

Aleix Vidal provided some depth at full-back and wide in attack, but really didn't impress too often before injury struck. Vidal didn't play in the last nine Liga games of the season at all and totalled less than 1,000 minutes of game time from January to the end of the season—Enrique didn't integrate his new players and his calls for them to be registered earlier on the campaign due to injury seemingly would have made little difference in the end.

Transfer grade: 5/10

Tactical Work

Here's a sticking point for some who wonder just how good a coach Luis Enrique is: Barcelona play 4-3-3, their first XI is basically set and the front line is better than any other in world football, so how to measure the boss' capabilities?

One way is in looking at results when he ventures away from the norm—and it doesn't make particularly good reading.

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The few times Barcelona have strayed from their status quo in a tactical sense over the last two seasons, it hasn't gone according to plan. From the defeats at Anoeta to the Clasico collapse which instigated Real Madrid's title charge this season, any interference from the sidelines hasn't really made the team more unpredictable or unstoppable, but actually unsure of themselves and looking uninspired in the final third.

On the flip side, earlier in the season there was a brief foray into a four-man midfield when injuries decimated the squad, which went largely well thanks to the industry and versatility of Roberto, and to his credit, Enrique reverted quickly back to 4-3-3 in the latter part of the season when results needed a quick turnaround.

All told, he is much better off sticking with the standard Barcelona template rather than showing off his own insights, but included in that template is Luis Enrique's coaching of moving the ball back-to-front, the midfield build-up movements and the patterns of play which see the front three link up with each other so well.

The boss has been good in this regard, but certainly not innovative beyond his stylistic changes last season.

Tactical grade: 7/10

Overall

Tactics, player management and transfer-market work are all well and good as separate areas, but Barcelona are ultimately holding Enrique in place for one reason: to win trophies.

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To that end, can there really be any complaints in a season they won four of them? La Liga is extremely competitive at the very top end, as evidenced by the Catalan side only winning by a point this year and looking close to only winning by virtue of head-to-head over Atletico Madrid at one stage.

Luis Enrique has to balance all the above factors and many more in his daily routine, as well as keeping the players hungry, focused and full of self-belief. Perhaps his biggest achievement so far is maintaining a domestic dominance into a second full season. His next task is to fuel those fires into a third campaign. As he himself said after the Copa del Rey final, per Harry De Cosemo of Marca, "Winning once is hard, twice is amazing, but now we must go for the third."

Barcelona have a top-class manager at the helm who largely understands he must utilise what he has, not invent new ideas for the sake of it, and it is this, as much as the world-class qualities throughout his team, that has kept the club on top of Spanish football.

Overall grade: 9/10 

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