Xavi Hernández

[Raed]

I agree with you he comes off to me as very passionate about Barca and is very opinionated on things and doesn't hold back, but thats what i like about him!

There are examples of this type of behavior in every team.

Its just that, and I don't want to say he went the extra step, he dismissed other team's hard earned victories which were played in a manner contradictory to his criticism. I didn't see Inter being spectators against Barcelona nor did I see them being spectators against Bayern. Manchester United aren't spectators either when they are in their absolute best either, they have turned this way to stay competitive throughout the years. There are plenty of examples to easily dismiss anything he says as simply emotional talk but I won't get much into them.

Barcelona being a beautiful city with beautiful culture in itself is very attractive to people not just football fans. And for it to be home to one of the world's most celebrated football teams is fantastic.

But the essence of all this hype around Barcelona is that after so much struggle Barcelona's football philosophy found the right time, right place and the right ingredients to be validated. And much like everything else, it will pass, moving onto another type of football that will be much appreciated and adored and spoken of in the same way while Barcelona will enter a transition period that detracts them from playing this type of beautiful football when someone douche bag will sit down and say something like this 'My team's football is finally being recognized and adored because it mixes passion and skill with ruthlessness towards the goal. If you take Barcelona for example, they play passive football that mounts to nothing and they struggle in doing anything with it, as if it is a training match for kids.'

Or something as douchy as this.

People admire different things in different lights under different circumstances and to dismiss entire generations or endless work the way or anyone with his mouth, people will remember his legacy as a mere player. Unlike Pep. He is romantic as he says, so at least he admits he is emotional. Until this very day, people speak about Grande Inter, a team that has invented defensive football, the anti Barcelona model. No one forgets revolutionary ideas or revolutionary models, for they are just models subject to personal taste. He is also right in that Barcelona was dead, almost a dying art because no one was watching, no one cared.

Validation is key.

 

[Fourteen]

Can I have your autograph please Raed?

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xkHTHM6EdQ

Not at his brilliant best, but still very very good

The striking thing to me watching that video, particularly in the last half of the first half, is how many times a Barcelona player in the final third, unmarked with back to goal, didn't take advantage of the space around them and back-passed instead. I love Barça's passing, but I think Messi and Iniesta missed some great chances to run at the defense. See Iniesta at 3:23, Messi at 3:40, Iniesta at 4:05. Further back on the pitch, Messi at 1:45 (square pass available to open Iniesta).

Xavi also missed going to open space: at 0:17 passing right with Busquets and Abidal open on left, at 1:35 switching the attack back to the right with Villa wide open on the left.

 

[Ode to Django]

Can I have your autograph please Raed?

+1 great posts Raed!

 

[gingerless]

Xavi is passionate about Barcelona and being successful at what he does makes him one of football's biggest douche bags. You all here praise him for his interview but he really doesn't have much respect for anything else that isn't Blaugrana, dismissing Capello's annihilation of his beloved dream team with half the players missing in the CL. Sure, Capello's football is just that!

Hearing Xavi speak is like hearing Guti speak although the latter can be a bit more annoying, for both fans.

His beloved type of football was dead for six years (as opposed to him thinking max 2) and the one who makes them majestic really is a player who doesn't take anything less than 5 touches (Ronaldinho then Messi).

You are quickly to dismiss an article getting back at Xavi whereas if you read the article properly again, you'd see that he has mopped the floor with other big teams and big names just because they don't play his style. In the process of bigging up his own style of play he forgot that Barcelona do not even the largest fan base because not everyone prefers that so called lasting legacy. To some, it is spectacular to watch but not necessary anything they would like their teams to play.

You will never see anyone publish an article as such about Puyol for instance, because he has up until now did not misplace a single word or dismissed other team's accomplishments as 'some other type of football'.

then i guess you would rather read some usual cliche shit interview? praising every team or any person that comes up in the interview is teh suck. i liked that interview much better than 99% of the ones i've read. kudos to him for not chickening out, he spoke his mind and gave his view honestly

 

[Raed]

then i guess you would rather read some usual cliche shit interview? praising every team or any person that comes up in the interview is teh suck. i liked that interview much better than 99% of the ones i've read. kudos to him for not chickening out, he spoke his mind and gave his view honestly

Nahhh, I wouldn't like reading the boring shit. You need characters like that in football, this isn't Polo or Curling.

 

[La Furia]

Well Xavi is the true leader of this team as I have said many times before. He might not play like an action hero the way Puyol does, or attract female fans like Casillas does, but he's always the one looking out for the "system" and the team and is not going to hold back his view on it. Whereas most others, even good players like Messi are mainly committed to their own role, Xavi is requires to know what all his teammates and the opposing defenders are up to at all times. I have no clue what goes on in the dressing room but I imagine Xavi talks by far the most.

The only thing that could keep him from being an elite coach is his fanatical commitment to "the system". Even Pep is much more pragmatic about it; maybe Xavi will be more so when he is forced to take on different responsibilities, but Xavi as of now doesn't have Pep's experience in the Italian, Qatari and Mexican leagues either (as much as those were all failures, they had to leave impressions)

 

[gingerless]

yep, pep travelled to mexico, argentina etc for inspiration of some sort from that video i saw and i think pep was like xavi when he was playing (don't know as i haven't seen him) but he got better if you will after his experiences

 

[Steve Lawler]

There are examples of this type of behavior in every team.

Its just that, and I don't want to say he went the extra step, he dismissed other team's hard earned victories which were played in a manner contradictory to his criticism. I didn't see Inter being spectators against Barcelona nor did I see them being spectators against Bayern. Manchester United aren't spectators either when they are in their absolute best either, they have turned this way to stay competitive throughout the years. There are plenty of examples to easily dismiss anything he says as simply emotional talk but I won't get much into them.

Barcelona being a beautiful city with beautiful culture in itself is very attractive to people not just football fans. And for it to be home to one of the world's most celebrated football teams is fantastic.

But the essence of all this hype around Barcelona is that after so much struggle Barcelona's football philosophy found the right time, right place and the right ingredients to be validated. And much like everything else, it will pass, moving onto another type of football that will be much appreciated and adored and spoken of in the same way while Barcelona will enter a transition period that detracts them from playing this type of beautiful football when someone douche bag will sit down and say something like this 'My team's football is finally being recognized and adored because it mixes passion and skill with ruthlessness towards the goal. If you take Barcelona for example, they play passive football that mounts to nothing and they struggle in doing anything with it, as if it is a training match for kids.'

Or something as douchy as this.

People admire different things in different lights under different circumstances and to dismiss entire generations or endless work the way or anyone with his mouth, people will remember his legacy as a mere player. Unlike Pep. He is romantic as he says, so at least he admits he is emotional. Until this very day, people speak about Grande Inter, a team that has invented defensive football, the anti Barcelona model. No one forgets revolutionary ideas or revolutionary models, for they are just models subject to personal taste. He is also right in that Barcelona was dead, almost a dying art because no one was watching, no one cared.

Validation is key.

you sir, are an idiot.

 

[putogusiluz8]

 

[Raed]

you sir, are an idiot.

You know I am not

 

[poncirus]

Raed, that's basically "let a 1000 flowers bloom", new age relativistic nonsense you're talking about.

There's no any style, beauty and sheer pleasure of the game in catenaccio or in the model most team are playing nowadays. Just pure competitiveness. I guess it's OK because competiton is key factor in the sport. But the way Barcelona play has other, deeper values. It's not only about winning, it's about achieving excellence and enjoying the beauty of the game.

 

[Raed]

Raed, that's basically "let a 1000 flowers bloom", new age relativistic nonsense you're talking about.

There's no any style, beauty and sheer pleasure of the game in catenaccio or in the model most team are playing nowadays. Just pure competitiveness. I guess it's OK because competiton is key factor in the sport. But the way Barcelona play has other, deeper values. It's not only about winning, it's about achieving excellence and enjoying the beauty of the game.

I didn't compare the beauty of each system nor did I care to do so I just simply stated that Xavi is a douche bag who brought up names out of no where and dismissed them as 'just that'. And for the record Barcelona's football anyways isn't the most beautiful thing in the world or history. I highly admire it and I highly respect the excellent but I have enjoyed other teams football a lot more before.

 

[Valon]

I didn't compare the beauty of each system nor did I care to do so I just simply stated that Xavi is a douche bag who brought up names out of no where and dismissed them as 'just that'. And for the record Barcelona's football anyways isn't the most beautiful thing in the world or history. I highly admire it and I highly respect the excellent but I have enjoyed other teams football a lot more before.

Who cares? You're a madridista anyway so of course you'll see him as a douche bag.

 

[Raed]

Who cares? You're a madridista anyway so of course you'll see him as a douche bag.

But I have proof.