Xavi Hernández

[Birdy]

Xavi out. Out of ideas and completely shit.

He is still in grace period IMO
He deserves a pre-season and a full season backed by the board with signings, to be judged

Despite that, let's not forget something:
Good period with Xaviball was from the Atleti 4-2 win until the El Classico before the March international break (Sevilla 1-0 win that came in the first game after the break belongs more to that period IMO than April)
This is 2 months roughly of good football and good results

Compare that to Koeman:
Good period started in early Jan'21 after away win at Bilbao and ended in mid-April'21 with the CdR triumph over Bilbao again.
That's 3.5 months of good football and results

 

[serghei]

Xavi out. Out of ideas and completely shit.

Calm down.

It's not like you can bring in Klopp or Pep. He's the best we got for the time being. You can't turn mediocrity into gold overnight. He gets some things wrong, hopefully, he will learn as he's not the finished product himself. Just like the players he's managing.

 

[ajnotkeith]

Xavi has not changed anything, and neither have the players. The difference is teams understand well how we play now and that is the limitations of a simple system. It gives clarity of instruction but also means the opponents work you out quickly.

Teams are coming out in a 5 and pushing our front 3 wide, ending up in a numerical superiority for the defense every time as the fullbacks do not support and the midfielders are conservative.

 

[MTL_Barca]

Considering where he started 2nd place is a good result. EL was bad, but securing CL was main goal so job done.

But what a painful game it was today

Team was bad last few weeks. Need to play A LOT better next season, otherwise fans won't have it. Sitting on 2nd place playing shit football isn't enough next season.

 

[DonAK]

Calm down.

It's not like you can bring in Klopp or Pep. He's the best we got for the time being. You can't turn mediocrity into gold overnight. He gets some things wrong, hopefully, he will learn as he's not the finished product himself. Just like the players he's managing.

Some things? His entire setup is garbage and he's seemingly hell bent on Busquets still being the best CDM in the world.

Not saying I want Xavi gone, but he will lose the fans patience and confidence very quickly if he pulls off the same crap next season.

 

[Joan]

He's the best we got for the time being.

Based on what? Not saying I want him though.

 

[Temptation]

Think it'll be fair to judge him next season after a pre season and a proper transfer window.

Next season will be the decider on Xavi.

In terms of results, he's done the minimum objective laid down.

 

[Barcilliant]

Think it'll be fair to judge him next season after a pre season and a proper transfer window.

Next season will be the decider on Xavi.

In terms of results, he's done the minimum objective laid down.

The signs are not good for next season. Xavi has shown himself to be a very limited manager. Defense is still trash, amigos are still here and attack is pass to wingers cross to centre and inshallah.
We are just wasting more time. I've said it a hundred times before,we should have hired an interim manager and got a proven manager like Ten Hag. Fuck that fat douche Laporta.

 

[Temptation]

The signs are not good for next season. Xavi has shown himself to be a very limited manager. Defense is still trash, amigos are still here and attack is pass to wingers cross to centre and inshallah.
We are just wasting more time. I've said it a hundred times before,we should have hired an interim manager and got a proven manager like Ten Hag. Fuck that fat douche Laporta.

I know. He's another Ole most probably.

But the fans won't agree until he's given a new full season.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Since those few games dubbed "Xaviball", I couldn't recall one decent game we played, despite the result (when we were lucky a few times). I do have a rusty memory but for me, he has been plain bad from managing the tactics to reading the game and making adjustments.

And with his obsession with certain players and his players of choice (like Kessie and Christensen as rumored), I don't expect much changes next season.

 

[serghei]

It is true that the game is not looking good in the last 2 months, but you guys should adapt to the situation.

Finishing 2nd with these players is the best you can achieve. The results in the derbies were over what was expected.

Only thing you can do is continue to work, and improve the tactical issues. And get money to sign some top players.

His players of choice? Those are pretty much the only goodish players we could afford. I am pretty sure Xavi would have loved Rudiger for example.

How more does Xavi need to repeat that the finances of the club are a huge limitation for people to understand?

No offense, but I see a fanbase in complete denial and delusion.

 

[xXKonan]

Over the summer he should do himself a favor and watch some videos and understand how the basics should work.

Because having a Front line with two wingers being forced to hug the line leaving the #9 completely isolated, while the Fullbacks do fuck all in support the attacks, along with having a sterile ass Midfield is not the way to do things.

It's easy to sit here and play armchair Quarterback, but since the international break we have been playing some god awful football and while losing the likes of Pedri hurt us, there's no reason for us to be playing that bad as we have been and losing three games in a row at the Camp Nou, vs teams with nowhere near the resources and talent we have.

We are relying so much on individualism to win us games, while Xavi doesn't do much to fix anything on the sidelines.

 

[serghei]

Among the moaning and bitching on the manager, during Xavi's first 6 months, it's useful to have a look at some objective facts since Xavi came.

His first match was vs Espanyol at home in round 14.

When Xavi arrived, we were:

In 9th place
12 points away from Madrid
5 points away from Atletico on 4th
10 points behind Sevilla and Sociedad (2nd and 3rd)
4 (!!) in goal difference with 16 goals conceded and 20 scored in 14 games. 1.14 goals conceded per match, 1.42 goals scored.


After 6 months under Xavi we are:

In 2nd place
Same difference with Madrid, meaning Xavi won as many points as Madrid, although Madrid's team is better in almost every single position.
5 points ahead of Atletico, still a superior team to Barca and Spanish Champions at the time (so, Xavi won 10 points more than Atletico).
6 points ahead of Sevilla (recovered 16 points compared to them).
11 points ahead of Sociedad (recovered 21 points compared to them).
+28 goal difference in 24 games. 20 goals conceded in 24 games, 0.83 per match. 48 goals scored in 24 games, an average of 2 goals per match.

That is with only low-cost signings, minus Ferran Torres who everyone says he's shit.


In the last 20 games we finally had Dembele back and stop playing with Jutgla, Abde, and Demir. This is the table for the last 20 games to date:

The most points out of any team. The best defense in the league. 2nd best attack only one goal behind Madrid.

All that while trashing Madrid and beating every single top 8 team we faced (7 wins, one loss, and one draw), including scoring 4 past our two biggest rivals.

And still, people shit on the manager because surprise surprise. A team in early reconstruction and with no money to make top transfers doesn't play with grace and consistency.

The normal rating of Xavi's season is he did a great job (good at the very least), with some awesome moments far beyond what was anticipated (nobody believed we'd trash both Atletico and Real Madrid), and with expected problems that he will have to correct next season, with the addition of some top players which is an absolute must.

Then we can talk about tactics and such, and problems and things to correct. But those things are fucking normal. We can work on those knowing that we did a good job overall since Xavi came.

 

[JamDav1982]

Did well to get second but dont need to overplay the squad of Real and Atletico to make a point.

Real are better but not by all that much and Atletico dont have a better squad.

Team got consistent results and that in La Liga would always run up table as few teams can do it.

Could have done better in CL, Spanish Cup and in Europa and lost fair bit of money on those v inferior sides.

The way team is playing will have to improve a lot for next season.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

I am shocked to see we had "the best" defense with Garcia, broken Dest, broken Pique, Araujo, old Alves and mentally broken goalkeeper. Insane achievement actually.