Xavi Hernández

[Porque]

Already achieved much more than his predecessor. He doesn't have to do anything that he didn't already do to beat Koeman.

The target for him is completely different.

Xavi has to match a superior team in Madrid on the domestic front from all points of view, and perhaps beat a superior team in CL. It's very hard to do, but if he is a great manager he will need to find the resources to prove that last season wasn't just a hit and run.

Either this season, or the next. He will have to win titles again. If he does, then he leaves as a very successful Barcelona manager. That's all there is to it.

In the end Laporta made a good decision to back Xavi and invest in a Xavi project than Koeman.

On the otherhand Koeman was undermined publicly by Laporta and never stood a chance. And Xavi wouldn't have achieved any more than Koeman had, if he had to keep the squad of 21/22 without signings.

With all that said, Koeman's first season wasn't entirely a disaster. We won Copa and were leading LaLiga at matchday 32. We then lost at home to Granada 2-1 in a match where we had an excellent first half, and played like shit in the second and basically lost LaLiga there and then.

 

[serghei]

In the end Laporta made a good decision to back Xavi and invest in a Xavi project than Koeman.

On the otherhand Koeman was undermined publicly by Laporta and never stood a chance. And Xavi wouldn't have achieved any more than Koeman had, if he had to keep the squad of 21/22 without signings.

With all that said, Koeman's first season wasn't entirely a disaster. We won Copa and were leading LaLiga at matchday 32. We then lost at home to Granada 2-1 in a match where we had an excellent first half, and played like shit in the second and basically lost LaLiga there and then.

A lot of ifs and buts there. Koeman had it all in his hands and fucked it up vs some bottom table teams in his first season, before the massive sale and ditching of high earners. And he had some stars that season mind you. There's no excuse for that. He had his chance and he blew it.

If he won that league instead of bottling it vs Granada and Levante... maybe things would've been different for him. He had Messi and Griezmann back then.

And in his 2nd season he had the team on 9th and in danger of missing top 4. That's why he was sacked. After Xavi was appointed, the team immediately got better and started picking up points at a faster rate. Even before any signings were made.

It was the right decision as you say.

 

[Porque]

Everything but a defence. I'm now reminded how poor the quality of LaLiga was that season.

 

[serghei]

In his first season Koeman was pretty ok. Even won a title, and while not a big one everyone was reasonably happy. But... in the next, he collapsed. He probably was disappointed that the team lost its best players in that summer due to cost and wage cutting policy, and turned bitter about it.

I don't think he did that bad, but I don't understand why people bring his name up in Xavi conversations either.

 

[JustZanetti4]

This guy isn't very good, and he doesn't have wc players. He will die soon imo.

 

[Total-Football]

Xavi apparently lives in Xaviverse. Dude lost touch with reality. I seriously think coaching barca messed with his head.

 

[BJJ]

Man, he is one delusional mofo. Seriously 🤣 🤣
He wants the press to congratulate him on reaching Round of 16 !! That too from probably the weakest group we've ever had. I can't remember having such a weak group. And we still lost to fucking Antwerp and Donetsk....lol
He needs to go and Laporta too. This club has become a joke. At this point wouldn't mind a Gulf investment. These fucking Catalans have no idea what they're doing and are stuck in the past . It's time to modernise the club and recover its greatness. It won't happen with the current model.

 

[Birdy]

A lot of ifs and buts there. Koeman had it all in his hands and fucked it up vs some bottom table teams in his first season, before the massive sale and ditching of high earners. And he had some stars that season mind you. There's no excuse for that. He had his chance and he blew it.

If he won that league instead of bottling it vs Granada and Levante... maybe things would've been different for him. He had Messi and Griezmann back then.

And in his 2nd season he had the team on 9th and in danger of missing top 4. That's why he was sacked. After Xavi was appointed, the team immediately got better and started picking up points at a faster rate. Even before any signings were made.

It was the right decision as you say.

Out of touch with reality again.

Koeman in 20/21 played for 3 months better football than what Xavi managed in 2 years and counting...
No matter what you charge Koeman about missed LL chance, Koeman made this a close affair for the title in 2021 after a start of the season where Atleti and Real were far ahead and didn't have luck in crucial moments, in the games vs Madrid and Granada.
He didn't have the luck Xavi had, scrapping lucky 1-0s for 3 months against a Madrid that had succumbed earlier. Oh, and Xavi did all that with 200m more of handpicked players at his disposal

Then, in Koeman's 2nd season, the quality of the squad was so dire that being 7 or 8 pts from the 2nd spot (that's the table when the idiot Laporta acted on his anger and fired him. That was the reason for his sacking not some imaginary danger of missing the 4th spot when the calendar says October ) was a success at that point in the season. As Porque said, Xavi would have achieved maybe less points with that squad.
You probably don't remember that until January Xavi didn't pick more points per game
Of course, favors from the board started even in the winter with wasted money on Ferran

Bottom line: Koeman was definitely not the man to build a project on.
But he was mistreated and disrespected by Laporta. Plus, and most importantly, the stupidity of Laporta was to fire him mid-season when there were no elite options available, and pursue his nostalgic/delusional/out-of-touch personal agenda to find the 'new Pep' out of the pool of ex-legends, Barca B managers. LMAOL Now the idiot is itching himself to repeat the same crime by firing Xavi midseason and hiring Marquez for the indefinite future

 

[khaled_a_d]

Laporta tried to get those elite options in summer of 2021, non wanted to join. It was heavily reported back then he wanted to bring a German coach like Flick or Nagelsmann but both felt they have better opportunity elsewhere.
He made a mistake of undermining Koeman, but Koeman list the dressing room and the fans mid-season and had to be fired.

It wasn't like there was any elite coach in summer 2022 either, at the end he had to deal with the reality.

As for now, I don't see many top managers being suddenly available in summer either, unless one consider De Zerbi a world class coach which is a huge stretch.
The biggest name we could get later but not now are Michel (Girona) and Alguacil from Sociedad. Both who are very good coaches and are arguably better than De Zerbi but won't convince most fans either anyway.
Flick is available now and likely in summer, though I would be worried of a coach who only build a name for himself in Covid year, same for Conte

Anyhow, I doubt Laporta will fire Xavi mid-season.

 

[Messigician]

Laporta tried to get those elite options in summer of 2021, non wanted to join. It was heavily reported back then he wanted to bring a German coach like Flick or Nagelsmann but both felt they have better opportunity elsewhere.
He made a mistake of undermining Koeman, but Koeman list the dressing room and the fans mid-season and had to be fired.

It wasn't like there was any elite coach in summer 2022 either, at the end he had to deal with the reality.

As for now, I don't see many top managers being suddenly available in summer either, unless one consider De Zerbi a world class coach which is a huge stretch.
The biggest name we could get later but not now are Michel (Girona) and Alguacil from Sociedad. Both who are very good coaches and are arguably better than De Zerbi but won't convince most fans either anyway.
Flick is available now and likely in summer, though I would be worried of a coach who only build a name for himself in Covid year, same for Conte

Anyhow, I doubt Laporta will fire Xavi mid-season.

Conte is world class

We need him just to fight with Laporta

 

[Mrgandalf]

I think the vital issue is to find the will to distance ourselves from concepts that have lost their meaning and need to evolve. Concepts like "Barca DNA" are something that we can no longer pursue in the modern era. But they are not necessarily wrong and I agree with their integration and evolution. Therefore, we come to this conclusion that practically any top-level coach with total football ideas in their priorities can be an option.
Let’s be honest, this taboo-breaking or cultural change is not necessarily out of reach. All it takes is a decision to achieve a positive outcome. For example, hiring a German coach and succeeding (success is also a word that needs to be discussed in the context of Barca).
But with these interpretations, I think hiring someone like Conte will be very out of reach, even though Conte is a great coach. And in general, I also agree with Khaled, the only difference between summer and January is that in summer maybe someone (who is probably not at the level of Klopp or Pep) can be convinced to come and start a project at Barca. And if the available options in summer are at the level of Di Zerbi or Alguacil, there will be no difference for me between summer and January.

 

[serghei]

Laporta tried to get those elite options in summer of 2021, non wanted to join. It was heavily reported back then he wanted to bring a German coach like Flick or Nagelsmann but both felt they have better opportunity elsewhere.

Also worth mentioning that both failed at a big team in their last job. Nagelsmann was sacked by Bayern, and Flick was publicly lynched by German media after turning Germany NT into a joke.

They are not world class managers. The only certified class managers around that you can be sure they will get everything right from the get go are Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. Tried and tested and builders of great teams. With funds to back them of course. Proper funds, not spending at the level of Notthingham fucking Forest.

I'd be glad for the club to sack Xavi, hire some Michel or Alguacil like you say, and then go on playing great football and winning La Ligas and going far in CL with this squad. However, that is extremely unlikely to happen.

I admit that Xavi has been good, not great. He can be improved on, but only if the club manage to sign either a proven great manager, or discover the next great of the game. Chances of signing that are 1-3%. You'd basically need to discover the next Guardiola. Even Klopp was signed by Liverpool after he achieved glory with Dortmund (winning 2 back to back Bundesligas against Bayern and making a CL final fit that description). They didn't sign Klopp straight from Mainz.

Someone like De Zerbi didn't achieve anything extraordinary with Brighton. They were playing nice stuff with Potter too. Around on the same place in the league table too, 6-8th.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Also worth mentioning that both failed at a big team in their last job. Nagelsmann was sacked by Bayern, and Flick was publicly lynched by German media after turning Germany NT into a joke.

They are not world class managers. The only certified class managers around that you can be sure they will get everything right from the get go are Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. Tried and tested and builders of great teams. With funds to back them of course. Proper funds, not spending at the level of Notthingham fucking Forest.

I'd be glad for the club to sack Xavi, hire some Michel or Alguacil like you say, and then go on playing great football and winning La Ligas and going far in CL with this squad. However, that is extremely unlikely to happen.

I admit that Xavi has been good, not great. He can be improved on, but only if the club manage to sign either a proven great manager, or discover the next great of the game. Chances of signing that are 1-3%. You'd basically need to discover the next Guardiola. Even Klopp was signed by Liverpool after he achieved glory with Dortmund (winning 2 back to back Bundesligas against Bayern and making a CL final fit that description). They didn't sign Klopp straight from Mainz.

There are tiers for everything in football, and a lot of them.
It isn't Pep and Klopp at tier elite, then Xavi as next one. There are a lot in between, we don't need a Pep or Klopp to improve. And improving won't be about winning alone, but stalled development of many players who are supposed to improve.

The thing with Xavi, however, is that it seems he can't handle the squad for more than a short term, at least by the appearance of it so far. I do think that hiring him proved to be the right call, when you consider that we didn't have many alternatives tbh but I don't think he should stay after this year, will end up a mess for everyone.

The same opinion I had for EV btw, whom I defended a lot, as I thought he should have left in 2019 despite believing he has done a good job. Cycle is simply over.

As for Nagelsmann and Flick, the former didn’t fail with Bayern except the loss against Villarreal, he simply clashed with the veterans who were as old or older than him and was kicked out, he had 2 great stints with other clubs, Flick was bad with Germany but massive success at club level. I agree that both were overrated at the time, but with either it is an announcement of change of direction within the club.

 

[khaled_a_d]

I think the vital issue is to find the will to distance ourselves from concepts that have lost their meaning and need to evolve. Concepts like "Barca DNA" are something that we can no longer pursue in the modern era. But they are not necessarily wrong and I agree with their integration and evolution. Therefore, we come to this conclusion that practically any top-level coach with total football ideas in their priorities can be an option.
Let’s be honest, this taboo-breaking or cultural change is not necessarily out of reach. All it takes is a decision to achieve a positive outcome. For example, hiring a German coach and succeeding (success is also a word that needs to be discussed in the context of Barca).
But with these interpretations, I think hiring someone like Conte will be very out of reach, even though Conte is a great coach. And in general, I also agree with Khaled, the only difference between summer and January is that in summer maybe someone (who is probably not at the level of Klopp or Pep) can be convinced to come and start a project at Barca. And if the available options in summer are at the level of Di Zerbi or Alguacil, there will be no difference for me between summer and January.

The Barca DNA is more of PR stunt than reality right now. It is simply that we are like most big clubs, want someone who knows the language and possibly the culture, for ease of transition, and it will take a damn big name to change that. We appreciate past players because in times of turmoil, familiar faces bring tranquility to fans. Xavi actually did that successfully for 18 months mostly by being a Catalan club legend.

Laporta is no fool, he surely realise that Xavi football isn't "Barca DNA" related.

 

[serghei]

There are tiers for everything in football, and a lot of them.
It isn't Pep and Klopp at tier elite, then Xavi as next one. There are a lot in between, we don't need a Pep or Klopp to improve. And improving won't be about winning alone, but stalled development of many players who are supposed to improve.

The thing with Xavi, however, is that it seems he can't handle the squad for more than a short term, at least by the appearance of it so far. I do think that hiring him proved to be the right call, when you consider that we didn't have many alternatives tbh but I don't think he should stay after this year, will end up a mess for everyone.

The same opinion I had for EV btw, whom I defended a lot, as I thought he should have left in 2019 despite believing he has done a good job. Cycle is simply over.

As for Nagelsmann and Flick, the former didn’t fail with Bayern except the loss against Villarreal, he simply clashed with the veterans who were as old or older than him and was kicked out, he had 2 great stints with other clubs, Flick was bad with Germany but massive success at club level. I agree that both were overrated at the time, but with either it is an announcement of change of direction within the club.

Massive success at club level for Flick is based on a paper-thin margin.

Nagelsmann didn't manage a big club either prior to Bayern. A risky signing also. Managing Leipzig vs managing Barca is worlds apart in terms of pressure.

Xavi can handle the squad. He has issues coping with the huge expectations of managing Barcelona in terms of titles and performances. But that is understandable. It is a very tough job, especially now when you don't have access to signing the top players.

The pressure and the exigence of winning titles while having low money to spend compared to the opposition is gonna put insane pressure on the Barca manager to deliver instantly. It doesn't matter if it's Xavi, or Flick, or anyone else.

It is possible for Flick and Nagelsmann to be awesome managers? Of course. If they aren't great, they'll be gone in under 2 seasons. At Barcelona you need titles right away. Xavi won them in his first full season at the club. That's the target. Win constantly while playing appealing football.

Barcelona is a short term job anyway. If you do great, you last 3 seasons and after that mental burnout appears. If you do badly, you are gone after one or two at a maximum.