Ernesto Valverde

[clemente]

Xavi has a few red flags, but maybe he will learn.

1. He said that Samper will be his successor
2. He said that Jean Michel Sari is the right player for us
3. This summer he said, if he were a coach, Puig would be a starter today, lol
4. Also, those comments when he was a player how when we lost but had lots of possession.

I have some fears that Xavi is stuck in 2009'.
And that he would play Spanish 460 or 451 with a false 9 and 80% of sterile, slow possession.
I am not sure what he thinks about modern football tendencies and faster and more direct football.

1. He had a ceiling to be a starter here but can't predict if someone is made out of glass.
2. Seri over Rakitic/Paulinho any day, those emberrassements wouldn't have happened with someone who isn't scared to have a ball at his feet.
3. He is already better than your idoll.
4. Having possession had different meaning during his time, they had more possession than all opponents, which resulted in less chance to concede, and everyone in squad had the ability to progress forward with the ball and create a lot of chances.

 

[Alik]

Can you guys name one extremely soft and quiet guy who turned into a world class coach?
That is how I see Xavi as a teacher.

Wouldn't call Xavi an extremely soft and quiet guy. He is closer to Pep than he is to Iniesta imo.

 

[DonAK]

Xavi so soft he slapped Neymar for being a dumbass on the team bus during the treble celebrations. He's the last true leader the team's had. Pique, Messi, Busquets are the ones who are too soft and not outspoken enough. Someone like Xavi would never tolerate Valverde and the lazy approach he takes.

Never one to be comfortable with underachieving.

 

[MTL_Barca]

Xavi was one of the best strategic thinking players ever and worked with some great coaches and especially Pep. But of course it's not guranteed he is good enough in every aspect of coaching.

Judging him by some comments he made doesn't make much sense, we'll have to see how he can actually handle the job. Of course he doesn't think everything through if just asked in an interview, i mean he doesn't see Puig in every training session and he probably just watched some games and highlights of Seri instead of talking to his scouting team etc so thats pointless.

But it's too soon now. Let him start elsewhere, maybe then coach the B-team first. Rushing it by blindly promoting him to the first team coach sounds more like something a desperate Bartomeu would do to please the fans after finally sacking Ernie after the 3rd CL choke in a row.

I also think it wouldn't be good if half the squad still knows him as their team mate and good friend instead of their boss.

 

[George_Costanza]

Only think I don't like about Xavi is his Qatar connection. Should've came in Europe and started from there. Football in Qatar is crap.

I think 3 coaches won the World Cup after coaching in that region. A good coach won't be affected by the level of the league. Either you are good at coaching or you are not. Valverde is coaching the best team in Europe, did he improve as a coach since he joined Barca? I would say quite the opposite.

 

[serghei]

If the alternative is going after managers like Valverde I would absolutely take a risk with Xavi. At least with Xavi I have a reassurance that we will have someone in charge with a clear idea about how to play, an idea that is shared by most Barca fans out there.

That already is key, and this kind of thing we never had with Valverde. We never had the feeling that Valverde is interested in our style of play. Man tried to have us play like Atletico Madrid trying to absorb pressure and nick something on the counter if Messi pulls something from his ass.

Xavi would:

- be true to our style
- care about your young players
- be way more astute at developing our possession game, since he knows pretty much everything about it

That alone is 3 areas that are terrible under Ernie.

I would personally push hard for a board change, and for that new guy who seems to be a Cruyff adept to be elected President. And maybe we can convince Pep to come back. Pep coming back with Xavi as assistant manager would be incredible.

Rossell and Bartomeu have pushed Pep away.

 

[Neyback19]

Xavi wouldn't be a good fit, he's way too much of a purist. Managers like Pep have a philosophy but they adapt it around winning. Xavi seems like he'd be only focused on "Barca DNA" and doing things the perfect way.

If he was our manager, he'd probably bring back Iniesta and refuse to drop him or Busquets until they're at least into their mid 40s.

 

[JohnN]

Xavi wouldn't be a good fit, he's way too much of a purist. Managers like Pep have a philosophy but they adapt it around winning. Xavi seems like he'd be only focused on "Barca DNA" and doing things the perfect way.

If he was our manager, he'd probably bring back Iniesta and refuse to drop him or Busquets until they're at least into their mid 40s.

These seem like unfounded assertions to me. Truth is we don't know how he would fit.
All we know is that he does not have the experience yet to coach Barca. He most probably doesn't have the authority over his former teammates too.

All that being said, we don't need to make any assertions about Valverde, as we have seen what he can do and it's bad.
Not a good fit, not a great tactician, not great at man management, etc (all has been noted multiple times, no need to repeat).

 

[El Gato]

Nuno Espirito Santo is proving to be a great coach/manager at Wolves - and he's only getting started.

He’s not exactly overachieving with them. Some impressive results though so better than Koeman probably if he doesn’t crash out from the EL like most others do.

 

[delancey]

How many lost games will it take to get this shitty overpaid manager out of this club?

 

[Aryagorn]

Xavi so soft he slapped Neymar for being a dumbass on the team bus during the treble celebrations. He's the last true leader the team's had. Pique, Messi, Busquets are the ones who are too soft and not outspoken enough. Someone like Xavi would never tolerate Valverde and the lazy approach he takes.

Never one to be comfortable with underachieving.

This ^^

Pique is not a leader though, he's just a dumbass

 

[serghei]

Xavi wouldn't be a good fit, he's way too much of a purist. Managers like Pep have a philosophy but they adapt it around winning. Xavi seems like he'd be only focused on "Barca DNA" and doing things the perfect way.

If he was our manager, he'd probably bring back Iniesta and refuse to drop him or Busquets until they're at least into their mid 40s.

Exactly what we need. To go back to playing efficient beautiful possession football. That's why we have built a 1+ billion euros squad. To be able to play like that. Isn't that the point?

If Bayern and City can play like that without Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi, so can we. But we need someone with the right football mind in charge. We need a fucking Nobel prize winner, not a college dude like Valverde.

If Pep and Valverde would talk about football at a dinner, by the time entrees are done and they are expecting the main course, Valverde would be done talking and would turn into a very humble listener for the rest of the night.

 

[Neyback19]

These seem like unfounded assertions to me. Truth is we don't know how he would fit.
All we know is that he does not have the experience yet to coach Barca. He most probably doesn't have the authority over his former teammates too.

.

It's not unfounded at all. During 13-14, we had a lot of success earlier on the season attacking with more pace and tempo but Xavi went to Tata to complain about not having enough possession. In his interviews, Xavi has also criticized various teams that have been successful but not completely dominating possession in the process. Lastly, he also seems way too biased towards "Barca DNA" players whether that's La Masia guys like Puig and Busquets or a foreign player that seems to have it like Seri.

 

[JohnN]

It's not unfounded at all. During 13-14, we had a lot of success earlier on the season attacking with more pace and tempo but Xavi went to Tata to complain about not having enough possession. In his interviews, Xavi has also criticized various teams that have been successful but not completely dominating possession in the process. Lastly, he also seems way too biased towards "Barca DNA" players whether that's La Masia guys like Puig and Busquets or a foreign player that seems to have it like Seri.

We know he is a "Barca DNA" advocate, since he actually WAS that Barca DNA.
That should lead us to the conclusion that he will try to play total football and tiki-taka. And that's why most of the Barca fans would like him as a coach.

But, you can't say things like:
"Managers like Pep have a philosophy but they adapt it around winning. Xavi seems like he'd be only focused on "Barca DNA" and doing things the perfect way"
and especially:
"If he was our manager, he'd probably bring back Iniesta and refuse to drop him or Busquets until they're at least into their mid 40s."

How did Pep ever adapt his philosophy? Wasn't it based on "Barca DNA" and "doing things the perfect way"?
And most importantly, how do you come to the conclusion that he would bring back Iniesta and Busquets into their mid 40s? That is a non sequitur.

 

[Neyback19]

We know he is a "Barca DNA" advocate, since he actually WAS that Barca DNA.
That should lead us to the conclusion that he will try to play total football and tiki-taka. And that's why most of the Barca fans would like him as a coach.

But, you can't say things like:
"Managers like Pep have a philosophy but they adapt it around winning. Xavi seems like he'd be only focused on "Barca DNA" and doing things the perfect way"
and especially:
"If he was our manager, he'd probably bring back Iniesta and refuse to drop him or Busquets until they're at least into their mid 40s."

How did Pep ever adapt his philosophy? Wasn't it based on "Barca DNA" and "doing things the perfect way"?
And most importantly, how do you come to the conclusion that he would bring back Iniesta and Busquets into their mid 40s? That is a non sequitur.

I think most Barcelona fans want to see us playing exciting attacking football with decent control of the ball. Something like Pep's City or Barca teams. Xavi's obsession with possession sounds like he wants us to be like 14-18 Spain with a bunch of slow possession but no end product or pace at all.

My comment about him bringing back Iniesta was not mean to be taken literally, but Xavi clearly does have an insane bias towards la masia players like Busi. He called Busi the best midfielder in the world in October 2017 when he was nowhere near it and recently said Busquets was not to blame for any blame for our recent troubles. If Xavi had the choice between current Busquets or someone like Kante, I'm pretty sure he would take Busi even though Kante is far superior right now.

By Pep adapting his philiosophy, I mean that he is not a slave to possession or Barca dna type players. His City team are one of the most athletic and hardest working teams out there and he has used players like Fernandinho, Sterling, Sane, and Walker to great effect even though they did not seem like the ideal total football player.