The unspoken codes of football forbid players and coaches to talk about those who were fired, but this time, one of Barcelona's defenders spoke in detail about what was happening within the squad and which led to Ronald Koeman's exit a couple of weeks back.
Speaking in an interview with Catalan television channel TV3, right back Oscar Mingueza spoke about how things went southways for Los Culés during his last weeks at Camp Nou and how that had an effect on the team's general performances.
"Our locker room needed a change. We did not feel we were in the right environment. People in the team were not happy, and when you're not doing OK and things are not going as you planned, you need some things to change," Mingueza said.
The Spanish footballer went even further and admitted that sometimes some of his teammates tried to take matters into their own hands, disregarding in a way what was asked from them by the previous coaching staff.
"The team ceased to trust his ideas and each one tried to solve things their own way. We were not in a good place neither individually nor collectively. When the dynamics are not good, each one will try to solve things their way, but even so, we did not believe 100% in what we wanted to do," Mingueza added.
Now, the team will enter a new era under Xavi Hernández, and according to Mingueza's words, he cannot wait to get things going with the new boss.
"I'm sure that we will do quite well with Xavi. The idea he came with is interesting. People here believe in what he says and that goes a long way. He also hit the ground running with everyone in the locker room. I don't think we will have to wait two or three months to see things changing. We should give fans something new starting this weekend," Mingueza concluded.
Xavi will make his managerial debut with Barcelona facing Espanyol in one more edition of the Catalan derby, but only time will tell what kind of role he will hand to the homegrown defender.
