Xavi Hernández

[DonAK]

 

[barca1899]

 

[Flavia]

Thanks for the laugh. where did you find that?

 

[DonAK]

Thanks for the laugh. where did you find that?

https://twitter.com/PuntoPalote/status/455085864394059776

 

[Cule4life]

Translation?

 

[DonAK]

Translation?

Im not walking here. The grass(turf) is too high.

 

[klc123]

Man, Xavi sucked today against Granada! Led Barça to a loss to a cellar team. All those useless sideways passes. Clearly the heart of everything wrong with Barça these days. We need the directness of Cesc.

:whistle2:

First against atletico he was too conservative, now even from the bench he's not penetrating teams! Xavi is a waste man, he can't make forward passes anymore, did you see against atletico? He only make 20 more forward passes than every other player on the pitch, including the goalkeepers.

What sort of player has 100% pass accuracy, and only makes half of their passes forwards? Against atletico he had our greatest number of shots on target, our greatest number of passes, our greatest number of passes in the attacking third, our greatest number of chance creations. Why didn't he also have our greatest number of interceptions and Aerial challenges? Obviously he's past it and getting lazy.

A third of his passes were in the attack in third, higher percentage than any other player, with 19 going square, 22 backwards and ONLY 54 going forwards. That was 20 more than anyone, why does Xavi play the ball backwards and never penetrate anymore! Players are clearly making runs, it's just xavis ability isn't there anymore..

Compare him with fabregas and he always comes up short, it really shows you why we don't need Xavi anymore. Fabregas had 9/10 forward passes, 9/9 backwards, and 14/14 square passes, now there is a player who knows how to penetrate defences! He even managed to create no chances!

 

[Paganinisrvnge]

How many assists does he have this season, though? Like 3 or 4? He had like 26 in 2008-2009. He also got destroyed by Diego.

 

[DonAK]

How many assists does he have this season, though? Like 3 or 4? He had like 26 in 2008-2009. He also got destroyed by Diego.

5 in all competitions.

 

[Kerrybai]

5 in all competitions.

So 5 goals and 3 assists, his direct contributions have plummeted

 

[DonAK]

So 5 goals and 3 assists, his direct contributions have plummeted

4 goals and 5 assists in 35 appearances. Xavi can, but Xavi won't. He has become way too conservative regarding retaining possesion and never losing the ball so that he stops playing those magical through balls most of the time now. He certainly can still play very well like the old Xavi to a certain degree(Only in one match every 10 days or so though), but he for some reason just don't want to which is sad considering that Neymar, Pedro and Alexis' runs are criminally underused.

 

[klc123]

I have no idea how you guys come to these conclusions.

In the last 10 games Xavi has played, he has received the ball most, completed the most amount of passes, with the highest accuracy. He has also created the most or joint most amount of chances for barca in those 10 games according to statzone. Every game at least half his passes are forwards, which is a higher proportion than any other player in the barca team. No he isn't making the trademark diagonal piercing ball behind defences as often as before, but that's due to barca playing more direct and Xavi playing deeper as a consequence. You can't have it both ways.

You guys want direct instead of possession, but you also expect. Xavi to magically appear further up the pitch for the killer pass, when he is has just being back infront of his back four making the buildup passes to get the team forwards.

In la liga this season.
Xavi:
25 games, 3 goals, 2 assists
Iniesta:
30 games, 3 goals, 7 assists
Both players contributions have gone down. What are you going to put that down to? Xavi not giving the ball to Iniesta in the right areas of the pitch?

If the technical department at barca was making the same analyses, the team would soon be relegated.

 

[Paganinisrvnge]

Why can't you accept Xavi is not nearly as good as he was in his prime? His last really good performance was vs Milan in the CL and his last performance at his peak level was the Euro 2012 final.

 

[BarcaOG]

Why can't you accept Xavi is not nearly as good as he was in his prime? His last really good performance was vs Milan in the CL and his last performance at his peak level was the Euro 2012 final.

This. Even if, as Klc argues, his statistics are not that bad, statistics, as always, do not capture the full picture. The intangible qualities of Xavi's game-- his presence, vivacity, gravity-- have all but evaporated. He may make and receive hundreds of passes, but these are back and sideway passes. Very little penetration. Xavi should be a responsible captain and step aside, for the team. He has nothing left to prove; he's already a legend.

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Two of my favorite arguments in a row

The first being "why can't you accept - my opinion -" and then proceeding to provide no evidence for it, clearly he doesn't accept your opinion and that's what he's been arguing with you the entire time... And then the second, the "statistics are inaccurate" thing, followed by a) words which don't mean anything (vivacity?! the quality of being attractively lively and animated, especially in a woman? what?) and b) statements that have just been proven wrong by those supposedly inaccurate statistics

Specifically

He may make and receive hundreds of passes, but these are back and sideway passes. Very little penetration.

And the statistics addressing it

Every game at least half his passes are forwards, which is a higher proportion than any other player in the barca team.

our greatest number of passes in the attacking third, our greatest number of chance creations.

A third of his passes were in the attack in third, higher percentage than any other player, with 19 going square, 22 backwards and ONLY 54 going forwards. That was 20 more than anyone, why does Xavi play the ball backwards and never penetrate anymore! Players are clearly making runs, it's just xavis ability isn't there anymore..

Like he provided the counterargument, and then you proceed to ignore it and say the argument again like it's a fact