Xavi Hernández

[Flavia]

I agree he shouldn't had played. It'd probably be better if Iniesta and Cesc were on the mf today.

 

[Cruijffista]

I agree he shouldn't had played. It'd probably be better if Iniesta and Cesc were on the mf today.

Thiago is a beast of a midfielder, he needs to be given more opportunities.

 

[Me55i D105]

Also, Thiago isn't afraid to pass.

 

[hellsangel1]

He didn't look fit at all and was probably the player who was most responsible for the second goal because he doesn't track Muntari's run.

 

[Jaguar]

I don't understand why Thiago didn't play, he isn't as good as a fit Xavi currently, but he was better than the Xavi we seen last night, by far. I mean not far into the game Xavi gave the ball away twice in quick succession by trying to do a fancy flick with his heel in dangerous areas of the pitch, he can afford to take stupid risks like that but can actually take risks in the final third where it wouldn't have cost us as much? I don't understand this. I always liked Peps idea of playing the team that he felt trained the best, and from what I seen from Xavi yesterday, he just wasn't ready to play. Bad decision from the coaching staff.

 

[Indignado]

I don't understand why Thiago didn't play, he isn't as good as a fit Xavi currently, but he was better than the Xavi we seen last night, by far. I mean not far into the game Xavi gave the ball away twice in quick succession by trying to do a fancy flick with his heel in dangerous areas of the pitch, he can afford to take stupid risks like that but can actually take risks in the final third where it wouldn't have cost us as much? I don't understand this. I always liked Peps idea of playing the team that he felt trained the best, and from what I seen from Xavi yesterday, he just wasn't ready to play. Bad decision from the coaching staff.

That's exactly the problem with our management. They give players like Messi, Iniesta or Xavi the feelings that they're untouchable and can do anything they want. The result of this is that Messi and Xavi lose the ball WAY too often, I would have subbed both to be honest. Messi lost the ball like a hundred times and Xavi lost the ball trying to make some trick.

 

[Garrus]

When xavi disappears, Barca disappears, It's simple as that.

 

[Cule4life]

In my opinion against Bus parking teams we should consider not playing Xavi as maintaining possession is not difficult. Plus he slows down counter attacks. We can go with Cesc as his directness is what we need with MVP upfront

 

[aaron101]

In my opinion against Bus parking teams we should consider not playing Xavi as maintaining possession is not difficult. Plus he slows down counter attacks. We can go with Cesc as his directness is what we need with MVP upfront

And Thiago.

 

[Indignado]

When xavi disappears, Barca disappears, It's simple as that.

That's not true at all. Plus, I don't think he'll ever disappear, if he retires, he will get a new role within the club if he wants to.

 

[ThwiX]

I could easily see Xavi becoming our coach in the future, so no, he won't just disappear.

 

[Karnivore]

When xavi disappears, Barca disappears, It's simple as that.

Rubbish. If anything Barcelona are better off without him. He's a possession player, distributes the ball better than anyone else in Europe, but the lack of risks he takes with his passes harm the Barcelona side against sterner defences. He's slowing down, Barcelona would be better off putting Messi in midfield, Villa up front, and for the time being playing Pedro and Sanchez out wide.

 

[DonAndres]

He's been very tame recently but there is no way he's as bad as some of you say he is. Putting Messi in midfield is just going to stunt the goalscoring abilities of a forward whom scores 70+ goals a season, why would we do that?

 

[Garrus]

Rubbish. If anything Barcelona are better off without him. He's a possession player, distributes the ball better than anyone else in Europe, but the lack of risks he takes with his passes harm the Barcelona side against sterner defences. He's slowing down, Barcelona would be better off putting Messi in midfield, Villa up front, and for the time being playing Pedro and Sanchez out wide.

We had someone in that match who likes to take risks and love to move the ball forward, What good did that gave us? apart from losing the ball every couple of seconds, Thank god xavi was there to keep the possession you seem to ridicule, Otherwise we would have lost 4-0 or 5-0.

 

[Bionicman]

Xavi's best years came with Eto'o playing the classic number nine role, staying near the opponent's centerbacks and making runs. I also remember Xavi saying in an interview how he liked playing with Ibrahimovic because he had a targetman who could control passes on the chest (he may have said something similar about Torres). Point is, he does his best when he has a classic number nine to play with. Ever since Barcelona started playing Messi as a false nine, his open play assists have gone down. One person posted a video in the Alba thread that illustrates this: