Xavi Hernández

[jamrock]

It's just the beginning of the come back from our setbacks.

 

[ebc_99]

Actually they all look far better than La Liga lol.

No they don't, they all have a few top players, then a few league journeymen.


Xavi was outcoached by Ten Haag, and that was disappointing but not unexpected, it is still only his first full season and we are doing pretty well all things considered. But he will have to learn from his mistakes if he is to become a top coach and that remains to be seen.

Carlo Ancelotti didn't get out of the group in the Champions League until his 3rd season, knocked out in the group at Parma and Juventus, Klopp finished bottom of the group his first season in the Champions League, but they learned from it and both have an exceptional record in the competition.

Our recruitment has been poor, even last summer I think we wasted a lot of money on players who aren't good enough and I think that's our main problem, but the coach is fine for now but he won't have excuses next season in Europe.

I think our back 4 is fine, Gavi, Pedri as well and Ter Stegen, but the other 4 spots need to be fixed. Lewandowski can probably play CF for another season, but Dembele, Torres, and Raphina are not good enough, Fati probably not either and Busquets need replaced. So a lot of work to do to bring in the right players but I don't trust the club to do that, that's the main problem.

 

[iniestaGOAT]

Thanks for proving my point.

You have no point. You are a moron.

Get a life

 

[OVI9323]

No they don't, they all have a few top players, then a few league journeymen.


Xavi was outcoached by Ten Haag, and that was disappointing but not unexpected, it is still only his first full season and we are doing pretty well all things considered. But he will have to learn from his mistakes if he is to become a top coach and that remains to be seen.

Carlo Ancelotti didn't get out of the group in the Champions League until his 3rd season, knocked out in the group at Parma and Juventus, Klopp finished bottom of the group his first season in the Champions League, but they learned from it and both have an exceptional record in the competition.

Our recruitment has been poor, even last summer I think we wasted a lot of money on players who aren't good enough and I think that's our main problem, but the coach is fine for now but he won't have excuses next season in Europe.

I think our back 4 is fine, Gavi, Pedri as well and Ter Stegen, but the other 4 spots need to be fixed. Lewandowski can probably play CF for another season, but Dembele, Torres, and Raphina are not good enough, Fati probably not either and Busquets need replaced. So a lot of work to do to bring in the right players but I don't trust the club to do that, that's the main problem.

Agree with all your point except for Dembele, he's good enough for this level, at least for this last 2 years.

 

[ajnotkeith]

This forum... I swear...

When all is said and done, the reality is we are not even a full season since we got on board with the rebuild project, and got rid of overpaid oldies like Messi, Suarez, Pique, now pushing Alba to a rotation role, and sold the deadwood like Coutinho, Griezmann etc.

And in barely one full season, with Xavi as manager and this medium-long term plan focused on free transfers, some signings and mostly youngsters like Gavi, Pedri, Balde, we are close to win all domestic titles in play.

But all of this doesn't count because bla, bla, La Liga is shit and whatnot.

And despite all this people want to sack the manager because they have discovered the earth shattering reality that in you can't really compete in CL against wealthier clubs with bigger squads so early in your project, while we are yet to play our best 11 in any of these matches almost.

All I can say is I am glad we have Laporta in charge. He seems smart enough to stick with Xavi and recognize the big progress done this season, on this very good path we are on, with so many roadblocks against us set by La Liga and previous disastrous board.

This club has 2 things to correct to get back on top in Europe as well. a) Find ways to spend money like the competitors do every summer to build a bigger quality squad and deal with injuries better, and b) Sign better players with those money.

The manager, the youngsters, tactical elements in the team (pressing, positioning, physicality, defensive setup), are developing at an incredibly fast rate. Fixing a) and b) are hard to do because we don't have the luxury of forking 200m in the summer.

The doom and gloom brigade around here are so delusional, they can't even appreciate how hard earned this title will be if we get it done. How much will it actually take in terms of focus and commitment from Xavi and the youngsters, work put in each week, to win a title so early in our rebuild. Even if it's against such trash teams such as Real Madrid in this terrible league.

A lot of what you put is right honestly other than this repeated BS about how the teams in Europe just have better squads.

They really don't. Inter, United, Frankfurt etc don't have better squads and could even say not that close either. Even if they did (they don't), is it impossible to ever beat any team with a slightly better squad than you? Do you think having a better manager can't tip the scales even a tiny bit?

Lament the backups but as said United have backups like McTominay, Weghorst, Garnacho, Fred who are definitely not any better than likes of Roberto or Kessie. Having players like Raphinha as a backup is a luxury, most top clubs don't have that level of player there.

We are doing badly in Europe because our tactic is Liga centric and Xavi isn't so good at working out how to play against teams with quality yet. Its ok to admit that.

Other than that you are right we are making quick progress away from the amigos and the outdated 'Barca DNA', intensity is coming back to the team. Props to Xavi for this..

 

[serghei]

A lot of what you put is right honestly other than this repeated BS about how the teams in Europe just have better squads.

They really don't. Inter, United, Frankfurt etc don't have better squads and could even say not that close either. Even if they did (they don't), is it impossible to ever beat any team with a slightly better squad than you? Do you think having a better manager can't tip the scales even a tiny bit?

Lament the backups but as said United have backups like McTominay, Weghorst, Garnacho, Fred who are definitely not any better than likes of Roberto or Kessie. Having players like Raphinha as a backup is a luxury, most top clubs don't have that level of player there.

We are doing badly in Europe because our tactic is Liga centric and Xavi isn't so good at working out how to play against teams with quality yet. Its ok to admit that.

Other than that you are right we are making quick progress away from the amigos and the outdated 'Barca DNA', intensity is coming back to the team. Props to Xavi for this..

We didn't lose to Frankfurt this season.

Lost to Bayern, Inter, United, in almost all of those games with several key players out, injured or suspended.

 

[Horatio]

We didn't lose to Frankfurt this season.

Lost to Bayern, Inter, United, in almost all of those games with several key players out, injured or suspended.

Same goes for Bayern, Inter, United.

But we're stronger than Inter. I stood by that when we faced them and am still believe it to be true now.

 

[serghei]

About Ferran and raphinia. Bot are starters in two of the best national teams. It wasn't so illogical to believe they are good. But the top talent these days just isn't so easy to access like it used to be. Prices have skyrocketed. 60m buys you an ok attacker. Both are ok, but we are used to expect much more.

Raphinha is not such a big issue. Top class teams have 50-60m. rotation players all the time. The problem is delusional Barca fans still think that sum is destined for starter forwards. They are behind of current football market by 10-15 years.

News-flash, elite attackers are 100m and 50-60m can bring you a good squad player.

 

[jamrock]

And against bayern if not for a choke fest by lewa we would have at least drawn that game, most likely win.


Bad calls against inter & injuries.

Man UTD over the two legs the game was pretty even.

#context.

Only real shit game we've had this season was Bayern at home.

 

[serghei]

Same goes for Bayern, Inter, United.

But we're stronger than Inter. I stood by that when we faced them and am still believe it to be true now.

In normal circumstances yes, if you have the whole defense injured, it's an even game.

Bayern are better than us by a good margin if we have players out. Not even close.

 

[jamrock]

Same goes for Bayern, Inter, United.

But we're stronger than Inter. I stood by that when we faced them and am still believe it to be true now.

And but for a few bad calls & pique we would have gotten 4 points against inter.

It's all in the margins.

 

[serghei]

And against bayern if not for a choke fest by lewa we would have at least drawn that game, most likely win.


Bad calls against inter & injuries.

Man UTD over the two legs the game was pretty even.

#context.

Only real shit game we've had this season was Bayern at home.

Yeah, and in that game we had both Araujo and Christensen out, and Bellerin had a mare.

People say other teams have injuries too. Indeed, they have injuries but much bigger squads. Bayern has Gnabry as Coman's sub . What do we even compare here?

Pavard is a sub there and we want him as a starter.

 

[mc_lovin]

Next season will be more pleasant if we win the League. Should guarantee an easy group.

 

[Gari]

����

No undercover fan. Just respect for their achievements. I enjoy it as much as any Barca fan when we beat them.
In the most prestigious team competition in the world they have 14 titles. That speaks for itself.

In the current millennium, we are far ahead in terms of trophies. In general, we have an approximately equal number of trophies. Two years ago, Real Madrid had a trophy-free season, no one noticed. But everyone notices us all at once.

 

[serghei]

I would say we are still not good enough for big teams in CL, hence the 0-2 in Munich showed both the good parts and the stuff we need to improve. But games like Inter are completely unindicative of what the team plays usually.

I reckon if we get most players back, we will see a far truer picture in Copa semis.