Xavi Hernández

[serghei]

I have zero optimism for the return game at Camp nou. Inter will play exactly the same way and they know (as do we).. Xavi has no answer to it.

Inter played the best they can play or close, and still should have tied the game at their home. We should be beating them on Camp Nou by 2 goals. Let's hope Bayern will be professional in the last game, or we beat them on Camp Nou.

Also depends on wether we have some key players back. At least De Jong and Kounde.

No way we can beat Bayern even at home with Pique and Eric CB pair, plus Roberto at RB.

 

[Joan]

Kounde publicly admitted that he chose Barca over Chelsea because of Xavi's talks with him. You can't deny that.
Tuchel on the contrary was uninspiring on the phone.
Lewa said the same in interviews, how he was bemused by Xavi's ideas how to play football.

I'm not denying it, but Kounde was torn between Barca and uninspiring Tuchel. And almost went there if not for some last minute intervention. It's not like Xavi discovered Kounde in Qatar and brought him with him to Europe. He might've preferred Xavi's project, liked his views on football, but it's irrelevant if he can't deliver.
Same goes for Lewa who is crazy about winning, and glory.

I think you're overrating the issues at hand. Sure, if the next coach was another failure, they might want to leave. Same with Xavi if he stayed didn't step up.

But again, he's got time to turn things around, and it's not all bleak.

 

[khaled_a_d]

I said I'd give him this year, but he's really making it hard for me.
If we wanted him to develop as a manager and as a team (should never be allowed to happen at barca) then what was the point in spending so much and selling tv rights? It has to be instant success or failure for him due to our circumstances and so far he's failed on numerous occasions.

The game against Mallorca was very similar bar a flash of brilliance from lewy, He needs to sort out his tactics against a back 5 asap.

Selling TV rights was more or less about paying for past fuck ups and moving forward under normal condition.
There was no way we get away from that loophole Bartou put us without it.

Xavi was hired due to the circumstances, there was simply no sound options so we rolled the dice with him

 

[Birdy]

Xavi was hired due to the circumstances, there was simply no sound options so we rolled the dice with him

No, Xavi was hired because Laporta was crazy to sack Koeman mid-season.
Had he waited until the summer, two almost ideal for Barca options Eric Ten Haag, and Pochetino, would have been available to lead the project.
Laporta put his personal beef with Koeman above the good of the club at that moment.

What did we achieve under Xavi last season? EL, out of EL, and top-4 spot in LL
What would we have achieved under Koeman? the very same.
Only the 0-4 at Bernabeu was something, but in the long run of things I would swap it any day of the week for the right manager to stay here longterm

 

[khaled_a_d]

I think Iniesta has more sense than to take a job he's nowhere near ready for.

Arteta is the closest to Barca DNA,since he is La Masia product, unless one of Lucho or Pep became available, which both have real chance to happen but I doubt either will want the job.

But it was rumoured that Laporta wanted to go to the German school of coaching to evolve the club but failed. So maybe someone from Bundesliga or Tuchel.

 

[Horatio]

Let's stick with Xavi.

Only think I don't understand is why Dembele is not allowed to cut inside and give a low pass or shoot. Seems like Xavi ordered him to just spam crosses.

 

[khaled_a_d]

No, Xavi was hired because Laporta was crazy to sack Koeman mid-season.
Had he waited until the summer, two almost ideal for Barca options Eric Ten Haag, and Pochetino, would have been available to lead the project.
Laporta put his personal beef with Koeman above the good of the club at that moment.

What did we achieve under Xavi last season? EL, out of EL, and top-4 spot in LL
What would we have achieved under Koeman? the very same.
Only the 0-4 at Bernabeu was something, but in the long run of things I would swap it any day of the week for the right manager to stay here longterm

Koeman lost the dressing room, threw players under the bus publicly, used his media friends to say his narrative and the list goes on.
The moment you lose your players you are gone. Plan and simple.
Laporta handled Koeman awfully, but not because he sacked him early, but by waiting and by telling him that him staying was dependent on finding alternative. That was awful moove by Laporta in 2021 summer.
But sacking Koeman at the time was correct, I personally was against it at the time and hoped he stayed all year but sacking him was the right call.

 

[fergus90]

Guardiola contract ends in 2023. Come home Pep.

 

[fergus90]

Koeman did bemoan the lack of quality (which was completely true) but once a manager starts doing that, they never hang around long after.

 

[ajnotkeith]

Instances where Xavi's Barca played against a back 5, or a variant with a 3 (Using sofascore data for this)

1. Benfica 0-0 (3-4-2-1)
2. Frankfurt 1-1 (3-5-2)
3. Frankfurt 2-3 (3-5-2)
4. Mallorca 2-1 (3-4-1-2)
5. Getafe 0-0 (5-3-2)
6. Mallorca 1-0 (5-4-1)
7. Inter 0-1 (3-5-2)

That is 2W, 3D and 2L out of 7 games, with 6 goals scored. And in the 2 wins against Mallorca we were very lucky not to drop points either time, in fact they outplayed us last game and probably deserved to win.

As you can see we don't come up against 5 ATB much in LaLiga, as most of the teams play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, but when we do our offense is silenced and we don't score. And teams in Europe are using the 5 atb very frequently against us and will continue to on the evidence of this performance.

5 at the back kills Xavi's wing play system and it's likely we will need to develop a new tactic/change tactic soon or we will soon be figured out completely when the stubborn Spanish coaches finally twig on.

 

[iniestaGOAT]

Fuck that ref cost us two goals

We won that game, stay xavi!

 

[ajnotkeith]

Instances where Xavi's Barca played against a back 5, or a variant with a 3 (Using sofascore data for this)

1. Benfica 0-0 (3-4-2-1)
2. Frankfurt 1-1 (3-5-2)
3. Frankfurt 2-3 (3-5-2)
4. Mallorca 2-1 (3-4-1-2)
5. Getafe 0-0 (5-3-2)
6. Mallorca 1-0 (5-4-1)
7. Inter 0-1 (3-5-2)

That is 2W, 3D and 2L out of 7 games, with 6 goals scored. And in the 2 wins against Mallorca we were very lucky not to drop points either time, in fact they outplayed us last game and probably deserved to win.

As you can see we don't come up against 5 ATB much in LaLiga, as most of the teams play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, but when we do our offense is silenced and we don't score. And teams in Europe are using the 5 atb very frequently against us and will continue to on the evidence of this performance.

5 at the back kills Xavi's wing play system and it's likely we will need to develop a new tactic/change tactic soon or we will soon be figured out completely when the stubborn Spanish coaches finally twig on.

Further xG analysis :

Benfica 1.06 - 1.4 Barca
Frankfurt 1.32 - 0.6 Barca
Frankfurt 1.67 - 2.82 Barca
Mallorca 1.46 - 1.20 Barca
Getafe 0.45 - 0.20 Barca
Mallorca 1.08 - 0.7 Barca
Inter 0.16 - 0.52 Barca

In these 7 games against 5 ATB, we created 7.44 xG and conceded 7.2 xG, leaving a marginal positive of +0.24 xG over the games against significantly inferior teams.

We were outcreated in 4/7 games and in 4/7 games we didn't even manage to create 1 xG, with 2 of those being this season.


TLDR - When our opponents use 5 atb we can't exert any dominance at all and in fact often get outplayed and lose the games on xG, even against much worse teams such as Getafe or Mallorca.

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

The public drama btwn Ney and Mbappe and Mbappe's ego-fueled antics this year trumps anything Poch had to deal with at PSG, Galtier's succeeding extremely well despite all that crap.

Of course it'll be messy going with an interim coach until we can get a Pep but the problem with keeping Xavi is him ingraining this safe no-risk low-IQ level of play with our players. They're already too used to playing in this way and the longer it continues the harder it'll be for the players to get out of it when allowed to with a different manager.

 

[Barcilliant]

There's just such a mental trauma at the club inflicted by past humiliations that a new manager would have to get these players right mentally first.

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

Can't get right mentally with the play restrictions Xavi's enforcing.