Setien: 100 days at Barca on an unthinkable rollercoaster

Quique Setien has been in charge of Barca for 100 days. In reality, it has been 60 and the other 40 have been during the lockdown period with football suspended. No one could have predicted that these 100 days would have so many twists and turns.

When Barca announced the sacking of Valverde and the arrival of Setien, it was expected to be a huge step up for the Spaniard. In his 12 matches so far, his team have won eight, drawn one and lost three.

Losing one in four matches is not good for a coach of Barcelona. But the amount of problems and experiences accumulated have brought about the large rollercoaster in his life. That said, for now you can say  that they are La Liga leaders, which would make them champions if competitions were suspended and they are well placed in the Champions League last 16 tie with Napoli. They drew 1-1 away at Napoli after suffering a fright. The worst defeat was against Athletic Bilbao in the cup.

His first game in charge was a 1-0 win over Granada and his last was victory over Real Sociedad. The fight at the top of La Liga has been a seesaw battle and they have regained top spot. They lost it after a 2-0 defeat in the 'Clasico'. Setien has also had to deal with the long term injury to Dembele and Martin Braithwaite was signed in his place.

However, there has also been problems right at the very top for Barca. The behaviour of Eder Sarabia, his number two, at the Bernabeu as well as the Abidal and Messi controversy or the I3 Ventures gate. Not to the mention the constant problems Bartomeu has also had. To top things off, the season has been halted by the coronavirus.

Setien knows that being the Barca coach is far from an easy job.