F
Flavia
Guest
2nd to me.
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2nd to me.
The Observer
New member
Disappointing that Messi, Neymar, Iniesta were / are all injured recently. I think Tata would have rested him a lot more otherwise.
raedkuwait
Senior Member
am sorry, its totally not about the rest or what ever u guys are saying, the guy just
refuses to take any risks on those through balls, through balls has nothing to do with
rest, we saw messi try and few of the through balls didnt work but he kept trying, while
xavi rarely now adays take any risks at all, always side balls which is really frustrating.
refuses to take any risks on those through balls, through balls has nothing to do with
rest, we saw messi try and few of the through balls didnt work but he kept trying, while
xavi rarely now adays take any risks at all, always side balls which is really frustrating.
CatalinR10
Senior Member
L
linetty
Guest
Barcelona midfielder Xavi celebrates his 34th birthday today ## Congratulations!
Antimadridista1
New member
Happy birthday Maestro ! We should call him the old-man from this moment.
CatalinR10
Senior Member
So what's the deal with him not making any through balls anymore ? Tactical decision or what ?
Neeraj
Senior Member
Yeah, it's getting to the point where he is starting to be a liability in times of desperation (when we trailing or trying to break the dead-lock). When we winning, his control and calm are surely handy, but let's face it, we don't destroy good opponents any more. In fact we have not been beating good opponents on a regular basis over the last 2 years, so the days of scoring a few quick goals and then xavi on cruise control aren't exactly at hand. MOST games we see the same thing over and over, with 11 of the opposition in their box and us trying to slowly break their defence down, and I can totally understand the frustration some here feel about him almost making EXCLUSIVELY sideways passes. Those stats about Xavi's passing rate and number of passes are just pointless right now, as we all know pretty much 90% of those were side ways passes about 10 yards on either side.
I still love Xavi, one of my favourite players, but we really REALLY need to start getting worried about our midfield about now, with Xavi fading, Roberto not really looking like the prodigy a lot of people here thought he was, Thiago gone and the don being injury prone..
I still love Xavi, one of my favourite players, but we really REALLY need to start getting worried about our midfield about now, with Xavi fading, Roberto not really looking like the prodigy a lot of people here thought he was, Thiago gone and the don being injury prone..
CatalinR10
Senior Member
Xavi, who played his 700th Barcelona game this week, will receive a tribute from the Camp Nou fans before the game against Malaga. [fcb]
Semi-Neutral
Sir Alupp Heynrguson
------------------------------Xavi------Cesc----Iniesta
Average Passes---------------95.2------56.7-------69.6
Pass Succ%--------------------93------86.1-------90.9
Assists--------------------------5--------11----------3
Key Passes(per game)----------1.6-------1.5--------1.4
Crosses(per game)-------------1.2-------0.1--------0.3
Long-balls(per game)-----------6.4-------2.9--------3.9
Through-balls (per game)-------0.4-------0.9--------0.5
Sources: Xavi, Cesc, Iniesta
Xavi doesn't seem that bad to me...
Neeraj
Senior Member
But that's my point no? I'm not sure those numbers really mean all that much, especially the average passes and pass succession rate, as there are so so many sideways passes in there. The only thing that's worth mentioning there is the key passes, but then again i'm not exactly sure what that statistic is actually referring to when it says key passes. The key there is the through balls per game, which is half of Cesc, and he still has a good pass succession rate. Anyway, i'm not by any means saying he is a bad player, it's Xavi FFS. All i'm saying is his current sort of mentality in which he doesn't force the issue as he used to before means that we have a harder time breaking down defences; and with this team, the way it's playing, the way the opponents are playing, the public knowledge out there, trend over last 2 years etc etc, breaking down a 10 man defence is what we pretty much day in and day out. Some more urgency required? Probably.
JamDav1982
Senior Member
Xavi is definitely not as mobile as he used to be and doesn't seem to try and get forward as much a he used to. Many times this season the CM of Xavi and Iniesta has looked too slow in getting the ball forward to Messi and the wider players.
Against Levante the other night it was so apparent how he was slowing the game down and taking no risks. Levante were leaving 25/30 yds in behind their backline and it was screaming out for someone to try and exploit that by getting the ball in behind them. There was one point that Xavi had the ball and could have tried to slip in Pedro, it would have been a risky pass but resulted in Pedro being through on goal but as it was not a certain pass he turned away an passed wide to Alves.
Not sure if it was tactical or Messi getting pissed off but he was dropping deep in the second half their and did exactly what the midfield should have been doing all along and resulted in four goals.
Personally still think he has a big role to play but no longer as someone who goes all over the pitch looking to control the game. He should concentrate on keeping the ball and trying to get the ball quickly to the AM in good areas to try and break the other side down. When it is left as Xavi to control the final third it doesn't work anymore.
Cesc has been easily the best Barca player in the final third this season after Messi. His direct play has been the reason Pedro, Sanchez and Neymar out wide are performing better.
A midfield two of Xavi and Iniesta still slows the ball down too much for me.
Against Levante the other night it was so apparent how he was slowing the game down and taking no risks. Levante were leaving 25/30 yds in behind their backline and it was screaming out for someone to try and exploit that by getting the ball in behind them. There was one point that Xavi had the ball and could have tried to slip in Pedro, it would have been a risky pass but resulted in Pedro being through on goal but as it was not a certain pass he turned away an passed wide to Alves.
Not sure if it was tactical or Messi getting pissed off but he was dropping deep in the second half their and did exactly what the midfield should have been doing all along and resulted in four goals.
Personally still think he has a big role to play but no longer as someone who goes all over the pitch looking to control the game. He should concentrate on keeping the ball and trying to get the ball quickly to the AM in good areas to try and break the other side down. When it is left as Xavi to control the final third it doesn't work anymore.
Cesc has been easily the best Barca player in the final third this season after Messi. His direct play has been the reason Pedro, Sanchez and Neymar out wide are performing better.
A midfield two of Xavi and Iniesta still slows the ball down too much for me.
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