FC Barcelona has begun this new calendar year in the same way that they ended the previous one: with a large number of questionable tactics and horrendous mistakes. But like many of us, they’re doing their best to remedy the errors of the past.

Andoni Zubizarreta started the first full week of the new year in the worst way possible. The former Barça goalkeeper was fired from his post as Director of Football this past Monday. His departure had been a matter of speculation since his uninspired transfer decisions this past summer, the last they will have until 2016 thanks to the upheld transfer ban.

Since his appointment in 2010, Zubi has made a string of poor choices that has placed Barcelona in quite the predicament. It was he who most likely allowed the illegal transfers in La Masia to take place; it was he who brought in Thomas Vermaelen, a player who has yet to debut with the first team, and may not play at all this season due to a recent surgery; it was he who sought out and brought the Brazilian right back Douglas to the Camp Nou, another defender who has yet to prove himself and can’t seem to adapt to the Spanish way of football.

With such a dismal eye for talent, the Basque goalie’s forced exit was only a matter of time. On the other hand, Carles Puyol’s voluntary resignation as Assistant Sporting Director came as a surprise and must also be a consequence of Zubi’s horrific decision making. Unfortunately, Puyol may not be the only casualty this year.

Luis Enrique was brought in to be a sort of saviour for FC Barcelona. The talent (Messi, Neymar, Xavi, Iniesta) was there, but it wasn’t enough. The team lacked direction and identity when the previous season ended, in other words, it needed a leader. Enrique, however, is not the man for the job.

Lucho’s failure seems to stem from an unclear idea of how to effectively use the players at his disposal. Barcelona’s leading scorer and talisman, Lionel Messi, for example, has been displaced from his normal goal-scoring position into a more creative one. The Argentine has definitely been efficient in his new role, but reports from Catalonia say that he, and most of the first team, have been unhappy with Barça’s new manager. The strifes in the Blaugrana locker room, the most recent allegedly occurring days before their 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad, have lead many to believe that Messi, and his accomplice Neymar Jr., were purposely left on the bench this past Sunday as punishment for their misconduct, a decision that may have caused Barcelona to lose points. These rumors have only been exacerbated by la Pulga’s absence from the team’s open practice on Monday, which he attributed to gastroenteritis. However, others believe it was his own personal form of retribution.

Regardless of Enrique’s personal relationship with his players, the truth of the matter remains the same: he has failed to restore Catalonia’s faith in their club. And unless Lucho can get his act together, and be both a coach and a friend to the team, this former Barcelona man can start counting his days because sooner or later he, like Zubizarreta, will be just another statistic in Spain’s unemployment rate.