Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino will be the man on the touchline for Barça’s upcoming season. He comes from Argentina with an impressive resume but without any European coaching experience. That is one of the many challenging tasks that Tata will face when the season kicks off this month.
Another season brings us another new face on Barça’s touchline yelling instructions to the Blaugrana players. Pep, Tito and now Tata will get to experience the hot seat of Barça manager. His experience overseas is not at all shabby. However, there was some concern about whether Tata is the man qualified to direct the side.
His first challenge will be to earn the players’ respect. It seems like he is slowly winning them over but preseason is preseason for a reason; it is not the real deal yet. Will he win them over when the going gets tough? Will he treat all the players equally or will he have his favorites? Respect is a two way street and it has to be earned. However, Tata needs to win these guys over quickly and ensure a good start to the season.
Another challenge for Tata will be strengthening Barça’s defense. Barça’s Achilles heel these past two seasons has been their careless defending. The sloppy defending and lack of depth has hindered the team for far too long. He has to make sure Puyol is well rested. He has to make sure that Pique plays like a Barça leader, not as a Barça fan. Tata has to sort it out once and for all or else Barça will only continue to make it more difficult for themselves by conceding silly goals. He also has to make sure the club buys him a center back or two. As of this moment, that appears less likely to occur.
Furthermore, Tata will get the chance to rectify a problem that has plagued Barça for the past few seasons. Both Pep and Tito always seemed to watch their players struggle down the stretch with fatigue and injuries that caused them to come up short. Tata will have to ensure that players will be rotated in order to preserve them for that final push as they chase a potential treble. That means making sure Messi does not play every single match and giving Xavi and other key starters a game off here and there.
Additionally, Tata has to ensure the youth players are not ignored. Last season, we saw the likes of Bartra, Thiago, Montoya and Tello get ignored in big games. They were either glued to the bench or up in the stands watching their fellow teammates. Tata has to give valuable minutes to the youth players or else those with Barça B will start contemplating going elsewhere when they see they are shunned from the first team. We cannot afford losing the likes of Thiago when they see minutes are hard to come by and have big clubs after their services.
Finally, the last challenge will be for him to win. As, Al Davis, the former owners of the NFL Oakland Raiders team, once said, “Just win, baby!” Whatever problems the club is facing, having Barça get off to a good start will beneficial to Tata. . I am always a firm believer that it is not how you start, but it’s how you finish. Last season was the perfect example of Barça starting great only to fizzle down the stretch. Thus, Tata is tasked with this great responsibility of beginning a new chapter in the history of FC Barcelona. Hopefully his accomplishment will be worthy to fill the upcoming blank pages in Barça’s history books.
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