Xavi Hernández

[e28makaveli]

Tata to xavi-you wanna play today?

Xavi-yes I feel like a youngster

Tata-Cesc you are on the bench

Cesc- Sad face

 

[e28makaveli]

Xavi has a lot of influence in the dressing room, for all he achieved and for being home grown. I think he has more than Messi, even. Weird you think he doesn't, or that he abides to anything the coach says. This season this got really obvious, even more after the rayo incident.
He was very vocal about how some things are unnegotiable at Barça. I love Xavi, but I think his stubbornness were one more problem to Tata this season. And that's why I think a coach who can deal with him is needed.

.. and that is part of the problem. He is part of the establishment and one of the longest serving players of the team. He should do the honorable thing of starting to bow out. That is what I would do.

 

[DonAK]

Everything will depend on the world cup I guess. If Xavi loses his starting place there or don't end up having a good tournament which may well happen then he's finished. Must take a lesser role then. I've seen some people compare him to Pirlo, but his case is completely different with much less protection alongside him(No Vidal or Pogba), not to forget his injuries especially his chronic achilles tendon problem not helping him.

Would love to see Samper being used more next season(Not promoted to 1st team yet though) and come under Xavi's guidance. He can learn so much.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

Xavi and Pedro to dominate World Cup. You heard it here first.

Barça has problems, but, man oh man, an aging Xavi is waaaaaaaay down the list of concerns.

 

[Ode to Django]

After the Rayo game, where Barca won 4-0 (and criticized for not enough possesion ) wasn't it the papers and fans that were in uproar about it, the meeting with Xavi is complete bs IMO, everybody was in an uproar about it, before all that.

You guys are completely nuts, your team doesn't work any longer ever since the pressing from the front vanished, and i'm afraid the big reason is St. Leo who is so humble and just wants to play football

Workrate/desire is gone, and it was him where it started, and the irony is the spanish have won more than him. Barcelona is now constantly exposed, a one man team, built around a static forward. No longer a team effort.

They say Ronaldo is the diva

Xavi is the scapegoat because he is old and opinionated in interviews, hey at least what you see is what you get, and you know where you stand.

 

[darthvader7888]

Goal's saying that he said that "Barcelona are fucked."
Any truth to it? I mean, it's goal, so there probably isn't any, but still...

 

[khorne]

Xavi has a lot of influence in the dressing room, for all he achieved and for being home grown. I think he has more than Messi, even. Weird you think he doesn't, or that he abides to anything the coach says. This season this got really obvious, even more after the rayo incident.
He was very vocal about how some things are unnegotiable at Barça. I love Xavi, but I think his stubbornness were one more problem to Tata this season. And that's why I think a coach who can deal with him is needed.

actually i do think he abides to anything the coach says, just like any other player. I can imagine that he is involved more in tactical discussion than let's say tello or song, and maybe tata even takes his opinion into consideration now and then. But i refuse to believe that tata has made any decision in the last year that went against his own wishes because xavi demanded it.

Firstly, for all that he is outspoken and stubborn, xavi has been an examplary professional athlete who has always behaved very respectfully to teammates, coaches and rivals for more then 15 years. To assume that suddenly he doesn't give a fuck about the coach, the club and his teammates just because he has delusions about his own great status and importance is insane.

And secondly, let alone the fact he wouldn't want to, he simply couldn't do things like that in a professional club. As long as tata is the coach of fc barcelona, his word is obeyed, and if xavi has a problem with that, he's going to be benched or suspended just like tello or song, or johnny whatshisface playing for fc local village in the third division. Or casillas for that matter at real madrid. That there could be a power struggle between player and coach is a bit of an illusion in my opinion.

 

[Behrox]

actually i do think he abides to anything the coach says, just like any other player. I can imagine that he is involved more in tactical discussion than let's say tello or song, and maybe tata even takes his opinion into consideration now and then. But i refuse to believe that tata has made any decision in the last year that went against his own wishes because xavi demanded it.

Firstly, for all that he is outspoken and stubborn, xavi has been an examplary professional athlete who has always behaved very respectfully to teammates, coaches and rivals for more then 15 years. To assume that suddenly he doesn't give a fuck about the coach, the club and his teammates just because he has delusions about his own great status and importance is insane.

And secondly, let alone the fact he wouldn't want to, he simply couldn't do things like that in a professional club. As long as tata is the coach of fc barcelona, his word is obeyed, and if xavi has a problem with that, he's going to be benched or suspended just like tello or song, or johnny whatshisface playing for fc local village in the third division. Or casillas for that matter at real madrid. That there could be a power struggle between player and coach is a bit of an illusion in my opinion.

Tell me one thing you honestly believe even for a moment that Tata would be backed to bench Xavi like Mou and Ancoletti were backed to bench Iker?

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

Does anyone really think that Xavi told Tata to Play that way?
I don´t think he told him that we should cross the ball into the box more often.

 

[Ode to Django]

One thing is for sure, the people who don't want him to play anymore, or to be out. I'd be willing to bet my house that they'd be clamoring for him back after a season or two of Cesc or whoever flavor of the month who was signed ie. Toni Kroos

 

[Paganinisrvnge]

I wonder of his increasing caution has to do with our defensive frailties. Every season he tries less through balls and kills our counters by slowing the ball down and passing sideways. Is he afraid we'll concede more if we don't have possession?

 

[Paganinisrvnge]

The only way Xavi could revitalize his career is by playing a deep midfield role surrounded by motivated and energetic players like Pirlo is at Juventus. That won't happen, though.

 

[Ode to Django]

Nope because Xavi doesn't need bodyguards like Pirlo, Pirlo flourishes at Juventus because the team is built around him with movement everywhere. In Barcelona Xavi is not any longer, Pirlo was ineffective in his last years at Milan because we built around a static Ronaldinho followed by a static Ibrahimovic, so he looked fodder and finished. But it was proven untrue, exactly the same as Xavi.

 

[Flavia]

actually i do think he abides to anything the coach says, just like any other player. I can imagine that he is involved more in tactical discussion than let's say tello or song, and maybe tata even takes his opinion into consideration now and then. But i refuse to believe that tata has made any decision in the last year that went against his own wishes because xavi demanded it.

Firstly, for all that he is outspoken and stubborn, xavi has been an examplary professional athlete who has always behaved very respectfully to teammates, coaches and rivals for more then 15 years. To assume that suddenly he doesn't give a fuck about the coach, the club and his teammates just because he has delusions about his own great status and importance is insane.

And secondly, let alone the fact he wouldn't want to, he simply couldn't do things like that in a professional club. As long as tata is the coach of fc barcelona, his word is obeyed, and if xavi has a problem with that, he's going to be benched or suspended just like tello or song, or johnny whatshisface playing for fc local village in the third division. Or casillas for that matter at real madrid. That there could be a power struggle between player and coach is a bit of an illusion in my opinion.

Xavi having an influence doesn't mean he makes demands in a childish way, or is disrespectful.
There are many ways to do that.
Tata lost the dressing room as well. Tello was being a douche and complaining to him, with TV coverage, in the last game.

@josh, I don't know if the meeting happened, but Xavi gave interviews where he spoke about how the way Barça plays is unnegotiable. That alone made the pressure on Tata heavier.

 

[barcanuck]

Xavi would be great if he had bodyguards but we won't have that option next year unless we sell Cesc. Xavi should follow Valdes and Puyol lead and do the honorable thing and step aside and let Cesc have his place.