Xavi Hernández

[Devils]

Even when he was just starting out, Pep was 50x the manager Xavi is lol.

It's crazy to think that Xavi is even near the likes of Unai Emery. Does anyone actually believe that Xavi would be able to build teams like Unai has done at the likes of Sevilla or Villa? Not a chance lol.

 

[Temptation]

Emery is 10 times the manager Xavi will ever be lmao.

 

[delancey]

Who’s the third guy in charge? The one who is always giving tactical instructions to our players?

Cousin Jorge? He sucks! 🤣

 

[vegitot]

It looks like Xavi is reaching his limit with current team. There is no sign of improvement, for now. And the team still haven't progressed after near two years.

Of course it's ok if Xavi can still get good results.

 

[serghei]

It looks like Xavi is reaching his limit with current team. There is no sign of improvement, for now. And the team still haven't progressed after near two years.

Of course it's ok if Xavi can still get good results.

I think so too. Except the team obviously progressed a lot last season. From 9th place where he got the team from to winning and dominating a league campaign vs Madrid, that is a huge progress by any possible definition.

Returning to this season, if he could turn it around and go far in CL and still get maybe something like a Copa win... that would be massive. But he needs to calm down a bit. He's turning into a bitter and grouchy type like Koeman in his last season.

That type of attitude is not going to increase his chances of turning this season around. Gonna get him conflicts with the players too. Neither denial, nor an exaggerated conflictual attitude are productive ways to improve the situation.

 

[JamDav1982]

Taking Barca 'from 9th' sounds better than it was.

The team had lost Messi/Griezmann and had Pedri/Dembele injured and a tough start. While having a sitting duck coach everyone knew club wanted rid of.

Barca were a few points out of top four with game in hand.

Results changed once the players came back from injury and January transfers arrived. Prior to the injruies and signings the results were largely the same and out of both cups early.

It is like claiming now if Xavi was sacked he left Barca as a team 7 points behind Girona and that is what any next coach is judged on to improve from there.

Clearly the team progressed.. it helps that Xavi had a much better situation to coach in than before he arrived and had benefit of younger players having been bed in the season before and emerging around that time also.

He spent hundreds of millions in way wasnt there before he arrived.

 

[serghei]

Yes, of course, after the team sold most of the high earners after Koeman's first season to reduce wages (Messi, Griezmann and so on), Xavi got some good money to invest by La Liga standards (not by Europe top teams standard, that's a different playing ground). That's surely a big part of the reason why the team performed better domestically than when he was named.

But... the team achieved important things with Xavi in the league. It is a simple fact. Took over the team in a bad time and got it to domestic success. It doesn't get much better than winning a league title vs a Real Madrid team that in the previous season achieved a La Liga + CL double. This is simply recognizing a simple fact and not letting bias to affect your thinking.

Now, if a new manager comes in instead of Xavi, his job will be to improve the team on short term, and very soon to win titles. Exactly like Xavi did. Even matching that is not a walk in the park as some think. It takes some skill to actually win a La Liga title against a top 3 team in Europe like Real Madrid.

 

[Horatio]

damn....serghei completely turned on xavi. a lot of things said in last 2 posts that were never said before.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Damn,that escalated quickly, thought it will take more time until Sergh will switch the sides 😰

 

[Windhook]

I don't read anything like Serghei turning on Xavi.

Just realistic opinion on what will come forward once Xavi is sacked. You want Ten Haag, I want De Zerbi, some want Klopp, others live in 2009-11 with Pep. None of them would operate fully given the finances of the club currently. It sounds like an excuse, but that's reality. We either sell 49% of the club after referendum to the Saudis or accept a decade of mediocrity.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Its not only Xavi but also most players are weak mentally so we need coach who is such a good tactican that he can make it less visible. Will be difficult to find one,think we will get another average coach aftee Xavi.

I would ask EV again....but thats only my suggestion.

 

[JamDav1982]

But... the team achieved important things with Xavi in the league. It is a simple fact. Took over the team in a bad time and got it to domestic success. It doesn't get much better than winning a league title vs a Real Madrid team that in the previous season achieved a La Liga + CL double. This is simply recognizing a simple fact and not letting bias to affect your thinking.

Now, if a new manager comes in instead of Xavi, his job will be to improve the team on short term, and very soon to win titles. Exactly like Xavi did. Even matching that is not a walk in the park as some think. It takes some skill to actually win a La Liga title against a top 3 team in Europe like Real Madrid.

The team picked up after the injuries of Pedri and Dembele healed and signings in Jan came in.

Prior to that Barca form was still poor in league and out both cups.

Barca progressed as inevitable they would from that situation of where picked up from.

In 9th sounds more dramtic than was when had game in hand to be few top points off top four and had fairly difficult fixtures to start season. They were around same number of points off Real then than are now and some teams like Sociedad etc were in runs of form would never keep up.

 

[serghei]

damn....serghei completely turned on xavi. a lot of things said in last 2 posts that were never said before.

That's just not true. Also, kind of hard to see me making these points last season, since the team dominated the league, unlike this season. This season many players are playing badly, like Balde, Christensen and others, defense is half as good or less. And the club lost 2 starters last summer, this also counts a lot. Especially Busi is proving to be a big miss at DM. No other player can perform his role in this squad.

Club can play it how they like if the season ends up badly.

 

[serghei]

Joao Felix is worse than Dembele. And Romeu is much worse than Busquets. Lewandowski is not as good as last season. This indicates quite a big decline in our attack.

In defense, Christensen is having a sub-mediocre season and Balde is even worse. Cancelo is OK, but nothing special.

In many aspects the squad's quality took a hit compared to last season. Let's see if Roque can make up for some of that and if he performs well straight off the bat.

 

[serghei]

I don't read anything like Serghei turning on Xavi.

Just realistic opinion on what will come forward once Xavi is sacked. You want Ten Haag, I want De Zerbi, some want Klopp, others live in 2009-11 with Pep. None of them would operate fully given the finances of the club currently. It sounds like an excuse, but that's reality. We either sell 49% of the club after referendum to the Saudis or accept a decade of mediocrity.

It's a major risk for De Zerbi to come at Barcelona right now. If he's smart, he'll stay where he is until a big-money EPL team comes for him.

Maybe Ten Hag could come because of lack of options after he gets sacked by United. But no manager having a stable job and seen well in EPL is gonna leave that to come to Barcelona.

Serious risk for Ten Hag too though. If he flops at Barcelona too, he's done for good at any big club. Maybe he should go to a B club again, do well there, let some time pass so that people can forget his United stint... Who knows, in 3-4 years he could be getting a 2nd chance at a big club.