ajnotkeith
Senior Member
What's also true is they would never have got embarrassed like that if they were as good as you're claiming.
CL Round 2: Porto - Barca 0-1
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
JamDav1982
Senior Member
Nah you claimed Real were 'shit' and didnt try as hard.
Arguing for weeks about how Real are still so much better and until Xavi can get Barca into latter stages of CL cant better them.
Very much shitting on Xavi to claim that and to claim he cant win for years.
Same as 'shitting' on Xavi few days back when claimed he was easily fooled, delusional and wont win 'diddly'.
Then Barca won and tried the usual... 'I was joking lads'.
Use that excuse again please. Suits you.
ajnotkeith
Senior Member
Also said the league was 50/50 and if Lewa Kounde and Raphinha were signed that he expected a league win and for club to compete in CL.
Changed his tune once it became clear the signings were actually happening.
ajnotkeith
Senior Member
The truth is that its somewhere in between the two extremes of guys like Birdy or Devils and guys like Serghei. Xavi has a overall good tenure so far but makes a lot of mistakes and shows his inexperience fairly often.
Good manager but not at the top level of managers that Barca should have yet. His function for this organisation has been more rebuilding and bringing back competitive spirit so far, with a huge title added.
He doesnt seem like the man that would take us to the highest heights but has done a good job rebuilding the club in an organisational sense.
Good manager but not at the top level of managers that Barca should have yet. His function for this organisation has been more rebuilding and bringing back competitive spirit so far, with a huge title added.
He doesnt seem like the man that would take us to the highest heights but has done a good job rebuilding the club in an organisational sense.
Birdy
Senior Member
I value a lot your football opinion (unlike the opinion of some clowns in here)
So, this a simple hypothetical question, starting from your correct statement that he is not at the level of managers Barca should be getting:
Let's say we agree that Barca should be getting managers at the level of Arteta, Nagelsman, ETH, and the ones we usually talk about as being elite and only worse than Pep.
Recently I have repeatedly forced people to think how would De Zerbi or Postecoglu have done with the squad Xavi is having. Today I added Arne Slot and Conceicao on that list.
How well would you think Arne Slot or Conceicao, let alone Postecoglu, have fared,
had they come in in Nov. 2021 when Xavi came in, and were handed the exact same squad Xavi has been, player by player??
Iniesta Ultra
Senior Member
Porto robbed two pens. Hope VAR ref was on our payroll.
FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
Exactly. This game was just replay of the last season's horrible away games.
Nothing learned.
ajnotkeith
Senior Member
If you're saying, do I think their football skills are better, yes. Do I think some managers would have done a better job than Xavi by now? Also yes. I like Arteta, Slot and Nagelsmann from your list and think they would do better. However, some highly rated managers wouldn't have, and I'll explain why. My overall conclusion is that there are some improvements available on Xavi out there however he isn't a terrible option for now.
The problem is that this Barca job is also politics. It must be taken into account how toxic the environment was during Valverde and Koeman and the politics that comes with the job plays an important part in your success. Perception is everything in FCB, for the fans and the media, and it can cost you your job.
It's like when Koeman said es lo que hay and that the squad wasn't at the level and got sacked. Then Xavi (due to his reputation and his personality) lobbied the same way and got a lot of investment from club levers.
Or like how Valverde despite getting very good results and nearly going invincible/nearly winning treble (fucked by Amigos) was trashed by fans for a bad playstyle. Today they say football is about results and a win is a win.
This is a huge, historic fan-owned club and as a sad consequence comes with huge amounts of politics and appearances.
Xavi due to his reputation and personality was one of the best placed to navigate it and also to get respect from the players. It should also be remembered that the likes of Koeman, Setien and Valverde all fell eventually due to the amigos being able to turn the club against them. Even during those times likes of Puig not playing was brought up as reasons why they should be sacked. Xavi threw him out quickly after wards.
So basically I would sum up managing here like this, there are two parts, the social and football side of it, and they are both equally as important, if anything, the social side could matter more, it's just the culture of this club. Someone like Arne Slot or Ange can 100% be very successful in a settled environment such as City but I can see them coming here and getting trashed by the media and the board if they start slowly or try to train another play style.
Having said all that, my view is that Xavi is in a footballing sense a much inferior manager to the likes of Pep, Klopp, Arteta, Inzaghi etc, and probably worse in a footballing sense than Arne Slot or Conceicao too. The advantage and the strong points he has is his social side, his ability to win trust from players, get his way, throw out certain players and force his project in, get them to give their all.
Arne Slot in particular is doing one of the best jobs in world football as @Don Juan Laporta Estruch mentioned in the last page. I think by this time Slot would probably also have won LaLiga and be playing better football at the same time. The same applies to many of the managers you listed.
Xavi for me is B-level in world football terms. He isn't the worst and he gets a lot of unfair slack when his results record is pretty good, however, I don't see him as a manager who could make that final push to say CL glory or to be the best team in the world even given we provide another big budget summer. I believe given time that Arteta, Nagelsmann, Inzaghi etc could be that in a post-Pep era.
Xavi has done a good job rebuilding the organisation and bringing structure back to the dressing room and club, so if we do have future success, he is a big part of it naturally, he laid the foundations. But I think if nothing is won this season, someone else needs to be hired to build on those foundations and to take it to the next level, a world-class level, where we can compete against the best in Europe for titles..
FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
Exactly. That's why we can't be happy with this. 3 points is great but we are never seeing 3 points against better opponents. They will destroy us.
FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
True. Romeu is waste of a player basically. Max he should be a sub. Absolutely max level for him.
Unfortunately the referee was Barca best player (2nd ter Stegen, 3rd Ferran). After the match the obvious question arises, was Porto that good or Barca that weak? BTW. Ferran will probably continue to sit on the bench despite the important goal.
JohnN
Senior Member
A makeshift midfield without our two top players disorganised the team completely. Romeu is not just one man less for us. he is one player more for the opponent.
consistent heavy touches and turnovers.
Araujo hasn't played with kounde and it shows.
The reason we got so many turnovers is because the team was shy and too careful. always turning back passes even if space was upfront.
I think tactics were bad this game but most chances came from individual errors again.
consistent heavy touches and turnovers.
Araujo hasn't played with kounde and it shows.
The reason we got so many turnovers is because the team was shy and too careful. always turning back passes even if space was upfront.
I think tactics were bad this game but most chances came from individual errors again.
Neeraj
Senior Member
One of the worst games I've seen in a while. Absolutely atrocious. Cannot believe that penaldo against Kounde wasn't given - you had shirt pull, off ball contact, everything you needed....stunning. The handball was extremely close and could have gone either way. Absolutely shocking performance from the players, with Xavi putting in a 0/10 once again.
Team looked in absolute shambles, like a pub team trying to pass the ball through a non existent midfield. I couldn't believe my eyes at the kinds of touches Romeu was displaying. 2 years and this team and Xavi have learnt nothing. Less luck or a better team and Barca gets humiliated once again. I think we can all see it coming - another CL humiliation if we continue like this.
Team looked in absolute shambles, like a pub team trying to pass the ball through a non existent midfield. I couldn't believe my eyes at the kinds of touches Romeu was displaying. 2 years and this team and Xavi have learnt nothing. Less luck or a better team and Barca gets humiliated once again. I think we can all see it coming - another CL humiliation if we continue like this.
Home of Barca Fans
