Let's talk about Xavi's replacement (2024)

[serghei]

I don't get your argument. I already told you that if the club ends up on 93 points and loses the title vs a storming Madrid, I find that acceptable. The challenge is performing great vs rest of the league. That is not so easy. Getting 2.56 points / game is a very difficult task. Take Madrid out of the equation. 36/38 games are not vs Madrid.

 

[serghei]

I completely agree that Xavi is not a great manager, he's just a good manager. The part I don't agree with is that the rest of the options are great managers. In my opinion, they are not, but some of the names could be.

If they are better than Xavi, they will achieve more than him. Quite obvious. There is no realistic scenario where some guy comes after Xavi and doesn't at least win a league title in the next 2 seasons. None.

 

[jamrock]

The club built the squad that won the league, on a net spend of about 40-50m euros.

 

[serghei]

The club built the squad that won the league, on a net spend of about 40-50m euros.

The duplicity of most of the posters here is unreal. Most claim the squad is great, but if you go on individual threads of players, Raphinha is shite, Ferret is a bum, Lewa is finished, Kounde is a flop, and so on.

The great players are Pedri, Yamal, Balde etc. Guess what, these are still going to be here next season. If anything, the club added Vitor Roque, another fan favorite.

 

[jamrock]

Biggest disappointment with xavi is that this season we really should have won the league, given the injuries Madrid had at CB and them not getting mbappe in the summer.

But due to just some absolutely ridiculous defending and a few bad calls, it cost us the league.

Unless the next coach is pep 2.0, we aren't winning the league when Madrid has Mbappe, Jude and vini Jr.

Would have been good to say, we won two in a row, now we'll lose two in a row as we get our house in order.

Next coach will need to come in and push Madrid as much as possible, whiling playing a more attractive version of football.

 

[serghei]

The team got the title last season. Repeating a big league title is something only truly big teams do. You can't just ignore this.

 

[jamrock]

The duplicity of most of the posters here is unreal. Most claim the squad is great, but if you go on individual threads of players, Raphinha is shite, Ferret is a bum, Lewa is finished, Kounde is a flop, and so on.

The great players are Pedri, Yamal, Balde etc. Guess what, these are still going to be here next season. If anything, the club added Vitor Roque, another fan favorite.

Lol that top bit is funny, because it's true 😂😂.

They will in one instance say xyz players are shit, then the squad is great the next.

When they catch themselves, they say the players are great, but Xavi makes them look Bad.

 

[serghei]

I consider this Barca season as something similar to last year Liverpool season (considering that Barca are not even close to Liverpool quality-wise). From almost getting a treble to not making top 4. Sometimes the players just have a big decline suddenly due to mental exhaustion.

It sounds like a cliche to say it's much harder to stay on top than to get there, but it's true. It's in human nature to relax once you achieve something that you deeply desire. Think about Barca's 2011-12 season. The individual fuck-ups this season in defense are tied to this thing. Most players in the team are just not mature enough to produce two super-professional seasons back-to-back. Kounde, Araujo, Stegen, Balde, these guys are miles off from last season's performances individually.

 

[DonAK]

I'm curious, what do you think will happen under any of those that is gonna be so different compared to Xavi's 2 seasons?

Not a single thing. In fact, it is very unlikely that the club is gonna match Xavi's 2022-23 season anytime soon. The 2022-23 season is an impressive achievement that the club and the fans didn't really value because of pure delusion.

Everyone dreams to beat the best sides in CL and claim big titles playing exuberant football. From wishing that, to making it happen on a budget is... a loooong journey.

They're all better tactically than Xavi IMO.

What happened during Xavi's first two seasons doesn't matter right now. He's clearly not the right man for this team so the club need to try finding the right manager.

They need to find a manager who can develop this team better tactically by playing as a unit, play better football and simply compete better. I'm not expecting to win the CL or anything unless we sort out our financial situation, but this team can 100% compete much better if you look at some other teams throughout the continent.

As for Xavi himself then he need to take some time off and reflect on why it's not worked out for him, and he need to do one of two things:

A) Either take a mid-table job at a well-run team like Brighton or
B) Become an assistant to an established manager

So many rookie mistakes from him at Barca with the most obvious one being his coaching staff which is beyond awful. Drop the buddies and brother who have less than five years of experience in coaching despite being 40+ and bring in some proper assistants.

If he's really serious about being a manager and potentially returning to Barca in the future he need to work for it now. Last thing he should do is return to Qatar or something or take up an unstable project with the same band of clowns. Don't think having all these nepotism hires have helped him out particularly as the advice from the bench is probably worse than his own ideas.

 

[Porque]

I completely agree that Xavi is not a great manager, he's just a good manager. The part I don't agree with is that the rest of the options are great managers. In my opinion, they are not, but some of the names could be.

If they are better than Xavi, they will achieve more than him. Quite obvious. There is no realistic scenario where some guy comes after Xavi and doesn't at least win a league title in the next 2 seasons. None.

I don't think the point total is the main point though. Clearly that is statistically a great achievement but the next manager can achieve less points but achieve more.

It would be like saying Tito was better than Pep because he amassed more points in 1 season than Pep ever did.

I'm not saying either that every manager listed is better. I'm saying we would need to replace Xavi with a tier A manager. There are signs with a guy like Motta for example that he is a higher potential manager while Nagelsmann in certain aspects as shown to be better. In our environment though? Who knows.

 

[Porque]

I consider this Barca season as something similar to last year Liverpool season (considering that Barca are not even close to Liverpool quality-wise). From almost getting a treble to not making top 4. Sometimes the players just have a big decline suddenly due to mental exhaustion.

It sounds like a cliche to say it's much harder to stay on top than to get there, but it's true. It's in human nature to relax once you achieve something that you deeply desire. Think about Barca's 2011-12 season. The individual fuck-ups this season in defense are tied to this thing. Most players in the team are just not mature enough to produce two super-professional seasons back-to-back. Kounde, Araujo, Stegen, Balde, these guys are miles off from last season's performances individually.

I get you, but I don't agree. Liverpool hit that after the end of the cycle. A cycle that included two CL finals (1 win) 3PL challengers against MegaCity (1 win).

A major reason for the desolution for this season is that we should be improving as the cycle is still in progress. Instead we have categorically regressed.

 

[serghei]

I get you, but I don't agree. Liverpool hit that after the end of the cycle. A cycle that included two CL finals (1 win) 3PL challengers against MegaCity (1 win).

A major reason for the desolution for this season is that we should be improving as the cycle is still in progress. Instead we have categorically regressed.

It's the same thing. The principle applies. Of course Liverpool achieved more since they are a much better team. But for this Barcelona getting a league title against CL holders as rival is an insane achievement. It is not unusual for a recoil to happen if a team over-achieves in a short period. Because this is what happened to Barca last season.

The club did improve under Xavi by any sane metric. Before Xavi, out of CL groups and in 9th place in the league. Since Xavi, Spanish Champions and CL quarter-finalists nearly.

The question is if the next guy after Xavi is gonna take us beyond that. Beyond claiming the La Liga title and making it in CL quarterfinals (pending). I am simply making it clear that it is a huge task at hand for the next guy.

This is not a team that didn't win a title in 10 years like United. This is a team that claimed a championship under the previous manger. You can agree or not, but these are Xavi's achievements.

Everyone demands and hopes for a better, greater future. If it happens or not, we shall see.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

The question is if the next guy after Xavi is gonna take us beyond that. Beyond claiming the La Liga title and making it in CL quarterfinals (pending).

Dude next coach needs to win ll against Mbappe + ham

When xavi won it last season both weren't there so it' s not equal but would be a far bigger achievment if next coach wins ll 🐆

 

[serghei]

This is the expected points this season.



Based on the chance creation and defensive metrics, the team should be leading the table. But individual fuck-ups from players killed us this season.

 

[Joan]

A) Posters here say the current squad is even better than last season. Unless a massive sale happens, the same squad is gonna be inherited by next guy.

B) In 2022-23, the club got 2.56 points / game vs non-Madrid opponents. This equals to a 92-93 point season even if the club loses both Madrid matches.

Even reaching 93 points / season is difficult as hell. Don't tell me Madrid getting Mbappe is gonna make all the other teams stronger too .

Please, don't tell me that after all the shit Xavi got, the next guy has to do even less than him. I thought the masterplan is to improve from Xavi's tenure, not settle for less.

Skipped the first part of his post which was more important either way. And well written.

Winning the league is a relative criterion. Depends on your opponents. Performing in accordance with expectations, not just results wise is the way to go. I didn’t say anything new but that’s so. Plenty of areas to improve on.

If not the case, Xavi wouldn’t be leaving at the end.