"Today's Barca is not the Barca of 8 years ago" - Ronald Koeman laments after Barcelona's 1-1 draw with Granada

Barcelona only managed a 1-1 draw against relegation-threatened Granada last weekend. The Catalans conceded early in the match and were on the verge of losing, until a 90th-minute goal from Ronald Araujo leveled things up.

It has been a slow start to the new season for Barcelona under head coach Ronald Koeman. Much was not expected from the Barcelona team, who are undergoing internal turmoil after losing several key players, including Lionel Messi.

However, being placed seventh in the table and already five points behind Real Madrid after just four gameweeks has put Ronald Koeman under pressure. Upon being asked about his future at the club, the Dutchman refused to answer and said:

"I'm not going to talk about my future anymore."

His team made an extremely poor start to the European campaign as well. They lost 3-0 to an efficient Bayern Munich side in the Champions League. The scoreline reflected kindly on the Catalonians as the Bavarians never had to step on the gas.

Not so long ago, Barcelona were not only respected but feared in Europe. However, Koeman feels those days are gone for now. Speaking after his team's 1-1 draw against Granada, he said:

"Today's Barca is not the Barca of eight years ago. We played Barca's way, but we don't have the speed on the break because [Philippe] Coutinho goes inside, [Yusuf] Demir doesn't go too deep and that's the way it is. With Ansu [Fati] or [Ousmane] Dembele it's different, you have more speed, but you have to look for alternatives."

He continued:

"Before the game you think about winning, especially at home, but our bad start made the game difficult for us. We didn't come in strong, it was our fault. The opponent, after scoring, wasted time from minute two, defended more, did not leave spaces and this is difficult. We improved during the game. We changed and we played with crosses from the wings. We put energy into scoring. We wanted more, but one point is better than nothing. We deserved the draw."

Barcelona will have to rebuild from scratch

Just six years ago, Barcelona rocked Europe on their way to a Champions League title. The team boasted stars like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta and Jordi Alba amongst others.

However, the club have since fallen from grace due to poor management stemming from the board level. They have lost most of their star players and those who remain are past their prime.

There are young talents in the squad who need to be honed carefully. What is primary for Barcelona right now is to re-find their identity and build from scratch. This is likely to take longer. But that will give better results in the long run than merely glossing over the cracks in the squad, as has been done this summer.