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

[mc_lovin]

De Zerbi has quite the shocking run of results.

 

[DonAK]

De Zerbi has quite the shocking run of results.

A bit funny to see Flick at the game today.
Perhaps going to use these performances as a way to convince Laporta to choose him instead of De Zerbi.

Should be Nagelsmann or Amorim though.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

According to german media Barca trying to get Flick!

 

[serghei]

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.

Main objective of this club is to win big titles or at least compete until the end vs the best sides. It doesn't get much clearer than this. Laporta said it himself several times. That IS performing in accordance with expectations.

I agree that, even though winning titles is ultimately the main objective, the way the team plays is also important. If the next manager is gonna improve on both areas then that is going to be superb.

 

[serghei]

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.

Compared to last season? You think there is a much better level in this team than a 93-95 point league season?

I think last season is pretty much the most that can be achieved with this team for the medium-term future. There is no much better on a budget than dominating a league like the club did under the current manager last season.

This goes beyond just personal impressions about tactics and style and whatnot.

 

[DonAK]

Compared to last season? You think there is a much better level in this team than a 93-95 point league season?

I think last season is pretty much the most that can be achieved with this team for the medium-term future. There is no much better on a budget than dominating a league like the club did under the current manager last season.

This goes beyond just personal impressions about tactics and style and whatnot.

You don't think this squad can play better and be more competitive than they currently are if they were better coached?

Now I'm talking about how they're actually playing and performing vs. good sides, while you're immediately pointing towards results.

You love to flip-flop between performance vs. results way too much serghei.

 

[Joan]

Main objective of this club is to win big titles or at least compete until the end vs the best sides. It doesn't get much clearer than this. Laporta said it himself several times. That IS performing in accordance with expectations.

I agree that, even though winning titles is ultimately the main objective, the way the team plays is also important. If the next manager is gonna improve on both areas then that is going to be superb.

I’m the last person to judge based on the feeling of satisfaction. I don’t insist on eye watering football. But there’s much more to the story besides short term results. It’s not like he’s pulling those on regular basis either.

You can go on to win numerous liga titles without being a serious, modern team. Like we proved during the amigos’ tenure.

Xavi’s team is obsolete, his physical preparation is bad, and his reactions awful. There’s plenty of space for improvement.

One liga title doesn’t radically change that and if the next coach finally transforms some of the club’s patterns, nobody will be wishing Xavi stayed because he won the title once.

If Xavi was indeed performing in accordance with expectations, he wouldn’t be leaving at the end of the season.

 

[khaled_a_d]

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.

Those were Xavi choices.
Xavi always wanted to be de facto Sporting Director, from his friend Font announcing that he should be the head of the entire sporting department, to the immediate departure of The sporting director when Xavi was hired (Planas) to him being the guy who speaks and represent the club when we are interested in any player, him bringing his entire own team from Qatar including scouts, him hiring his own favorite medical team.
There are already many rumor's that Xavi is leaving because of Deco, because Deco wants to be the sporting director and not just a negotiator like Alemany or a consultant for coach like Jordi Crujif.
We simply has to blame him for those signings, for refusing to get a DM when we spent 200M on new players, when he brought older options and the club hasn't tried to get players outside of top clubs or Spanish (players easily known to the manager) while we are on limited budget.
You can't mention those issues without mentioning Xavi tbh.

The club might be in crisis, but Xavi is making it worse by the mere fact that he is refusing to take a back seat in the project and just do his job as a coach.

 

[khaled_a_d]

As for Xavi coaching ability, I like what he has achieved last year and I appreciate it.

But huge part of it comes down to few facts:

-Him being a big name in the club, allowing him to get those funds that no other manager was going to get, while getting almost unlimited support. It also brought more calmness to the club. Something that is unlikely to be repeated elsewhere and will wear down as time goes with the club.

-The atrocious level of Liga, it is easier for big teams to accumulate points now than ever, if it wasn't for those teams themselves doing worse. Barca having great season by both Lewa and Stegen helped too.

-RM had a bad season too.
Those things don't deny winning Liga is still an achievement.


Now, new coach will never have those advantages, Stegen is back being injured and Lewa is 2 years older and there is no way for a new coach to spend 150M to get players that fits his profile. Real Madrid will have 2 new young superstars to add to the growth they had with the likes of Tchouameni, Camavinga etc.

The club and the fans aren't going to judge a new coach the same way as they did with Xavi, due to entirely different situation here.
And Yes, LAPORTA SAID NO TRANSITION YEARS, but he said it when he was convincing the socios to allow him to sell club assets a year after letting Messi go. So while he isn't going to turn around and say the opposite because he is a politician, there is no way in hell he is expecting the club to be winning La Liga without some crisis from RM.

 

[jamrock]

So are those players flops and poor or doesn't Barcelona have one of the best squads in Europe.

They both can't be true at the same time, since we are talking about fundamental players to the current squad.

 

[jamrock]

PS

Any manager we got would have been given the money to spend on the squad ANY manager.

Laporta came in and said no transitions and did what he had to in order to free up cash and refinance the debt.

Any coach who came in would have been give money to spend, they obviously might have gone with different players.

The coach we get this summer is in a different situation.

People just be saying shit sometimes to kick Xavi.

 

[khaled_a_d]

PS

Any manager we got would have been given the money to spend on the squad ANY manager.

Laporta came in and said no transitions and did what he had to in order to free up cash and refinance the debt.

Any coach who came in would have been give money to spend, they obviously might have gone with different players.

The coach we get this summer is in a different situation.

People just be saying shit sometimes to kick Xavi.

Arguable.
Barca could have saved one lever and spent less in the market.

We manufactured the levers to give us massive boost in one year and not just being 1 to 1 in order to have artificial salary cap that doesn't represent the sustainable situation, in order to boost the squad and go all in one year.

You may believe this was going to happen if we had someone like Naggelsmann or Arteta or whoever, but IMO we would have been more conservative.

 

[jamrock]

Arguable.
Barca could have saved one lever and spent less in the market.

We manufactured the levers to give us massive boost in one year and not just being 1 to 1 in order to have artificial salary cap that doesn't represent the sustainable situation, in order to boost the squad and go all in one year.

You may believe this was going to happen if we had someone like Naggelsmann or Arteta or whoever, but IMO we would have been more conservative.

Not arguable.

It was clear they were willing to do what it takes to get money in for transfers, it has nothing to do with xavi.

Whoever the coach is, would have gotten money to spend in the summer.

How they spend would have spent it, is the debatable part.

But to say oh we only spent that much because we had Xavi has the coach, nerp.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Not arguable.

It was clear they were willing to do what it takes to get money in for transfers, it has nothing to do with xavi.

Whoever the coach is, would have gotten money to spend in the summer.

How they spend would have spent it, is the debatable part.

But to say oh we only spent that much because we had Xavi has the coach, nerp.

Money is one thing, how much is another.
Again, Barca could have saved a lever for later, and choose not and decided to go all in.
How much of it to coach, is again arguable. There is no way we knew it and it isn't clear mate.

 

[Don Juan Laporta Estruch]

De Zerbi has now won only 5 of his last 21 games.

He has made 107 team rotations since the start of the season, the most by far in the EPL, destroying the confidence of great young players like Estupinan and Ferguson.

He rotates his goalkeepers pretty much every week for no conceivable reason whatsoever. Unsurprisingly, their defensive record this season is absolutely woeful.

If we are even considering him as our next manager then we deserve the inevitable shit show that would come our way. Honestly, De Zerbi at Barca, and Barca would struggle to make the Top 4 in La Liga.