I surely don't know as much about technicalities as he does, nor am I implying that I do. What I can see on the other hand is what works, and what doesn't. And despite all prior success, a time comes when something simply stops working. Should Ancelotti stay in charge next season, I'm pretty sure Barcelona is going to be better than Real Madrid.
And take a look at Manchester United for example. Certain thing worked to an incredible extent under sir Alex Ferguson, but afterwards, attempts to replicate it have destabilized club so much that it's position in top four is seriously under jeopardy not only short term, but midterm too if next managerial appointment is wrong.
On your first point, I do agree with you, however football is success based and in the end, everyone is gunning for titles, especially big clubs. There is more and more evidence that certain playing styles bring more success than others. Maybe a cycle comes again with reinvention of old principles when, roughly said, defending becomes more important than attacking philosophy, but right now it isn't.
@Wolf1992, you may be right of course. But Real has also had one of the best players ever for most of the time Barcelona had Messi. The only player actually comparable to him. And still, Barcelona dwarfed them in titles winning three times as many in that period (6 vs 2). You see, even now their rebuild is based on same footballing philosophy that they adhered to earlier.
I'm not discounting Messi factor, I consider him slightly above Ronaldo, but I also don't think his footballing brilliance should be used to dismiss all other factors. After all, he is the product of that same system. I do think that he would have dominated in the same fashion even if he played elsewhere, but only evidence we have so far, Argentina national team, and PSG, is that as much as he is brilliant, it was also system that made the best use of him. Or better yet, football philosophy that lies in foundations of Barcelona. Yes, Martinez, Valverde, Koeman and certain others have been terrible appointments, but even with them, Barcelona have always had at least a minimum of expectations of how football should be played.