Xavi Hernández

[-_- RandomUser -_-]

He shouldn't have started Gavi in that position, especially with all the options he has available (Torres, Depay, Adama).
It's a good thing that he fixed his mistake in the halftime.

 

[Rory]

Alves subbed out far too late. Nico subbed on for a Frenkie who can go on for 120 mins. Thought half the subs today were poor. Decision to start Gavi LW was poor.

 

[serghei]

Need to beat Galatasary by 2 goals at least and make the first step to EL quarters.

 

[Windhook]

Xavi is a solid 8/10 so far.

I'd say he's on par with Lucho. Next 18 months will be decisive for Xavi and us as well. We can stall, or we can build the next step, which will be pretty awesome in such a short time.

I agree the Lucho scenario repeating from 2014/15. Although came in late in the first half of the season, managed to level up everyone's performance.

Some folks in the match chat reacted negatively on Luuk not taking part and other weird subs, but I trust Xavi's judgement, Memphis is a long-term player who needs minutes as well, unlike Luuk who will likely return to Sevilla.

Dani Alves was poor, but Dest is rested for bigger games and I expect it to be this way until the end of the season.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

He shouldn't have started Gavi in that position, especially with all the options he has available (Torres, Depay, Adama).
It's a good thing that he fixed his mistake in the halftime.

We have a lot of games in the next two weeks. Every player needs break.

 

[serghei]

Last 10 games.

Xavi won:

- 3 points more than Madrid
- 4 more than Villareal
- 6 more than Sevilla
- 8 more than Betis
- 8 more than Atletico.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Villarreal 26 goals. Sick.

 

[JamDav1982]

Need these games to learn from for Xavi.

Although worrying how much relies on the old legs late into game. Almost cost him.

 

[Windhook]

We are currently in Top 3. Betis are playing Atletico Madrid later this evening, it feels good.

 

[Tackle]

Inevitable fall back to earth, but good progression to see the team fight back from a losing position in a difficult away match. Title winning teams find ways to escape with 3 points even with sub-optimal conditions. Still plenty to improve, but nothing to really moan about.

 

[serghei]

The worst thing was our finishing. We had 20 attempts, to just score 2 goals, one of which was a pen, is not good for our efficiency. The team had an off game and still created many chances, some of them 1 vs 1 with the keeper or almost with an open net.

 

[JamDav1982]

The worst thing was our finishing. We had 20 attempts, to just score 2 goals, one of which was a pen, is not good for our efficiency. The team had an off game and still created many chances, some of them 1 vs 1 with the keeper or almost with an open net.

Elche are a poor side but the state of defending was the more worrying part today.

The sliced through Barca time and again through pace and movement but didnt really have the quality to take advantage of it.

But as said need these games to learn from.

 

[fergus90]

Even on a day where we weren't clicking we could have legitimately won 1-6. Elche lacked cutting edge too of course but a crucial 3 points and now focus turns to EL!

 

[serghei]

Elche are a poor side but the state of defending was the more worrying part today.

The sliced through Barca time and again through pace and movement but didnt really have the quality to take advantage of it.

But as said need these games to learn from.

Not much old players with plenty of experience can learn from. You have to roll with that, create more chances than them, and score more goals than them.

Defense can only be improved at this point by making signings.

 

[mc_lovin]

I don't think there's much to learn from this game.

We had a million chances.