Xavi Hernández

[footyfan]

Yeah, I think not necessarily a striker but more movement is something I think everyone in our attack can profit from, it will be a lot more difficult to coordinate properly but if Neymar, Messi, and Alexis all have freedom to go wherever they want, and with Alba and Alves marauding down the flanks providing extra width the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, and Cesc cry will have a field day picking them out.

You're not going to get a lot of movement out of a front line of Neymar, Messi and Alexis. All of them are of the creator type, all of them want the ball to feet and none of them can think and move like an actual forward. I don't care how many tap ins Neymar and Sanchez have scored and in how few shots they scored them in.

You can just make the team play a bit more centrally and have the current players return to making more diagonal runs into space.

IMO the biggest effect a strike is going to have on Xavi, and the rest of the players and the team for that matter, is that a striker is going to unclog the middle of the field. Right now the middle of the field is too congested and there is little space to maneuver. With Xavi's loss of mobility, this makes it harder for him to be as impactful.

A striker would pin back and keep those CBs honest, and let the rest of the midfield have to tangle with both Messi and Iniesta, giving Xavi a lot more valuable space to operate. Opponents midfield would also not be able to go out onto the field too much because that then creates a big gap between the midfield and those pinned CBs keeping an eye on the striker, gap which could be really exploited.

Yes.

 

[Ode to Django]

He will have an actual target in the front making good runs. Yes I know that for the past year he has been ignoring runs or is just not fast enough to release the pass like used to in previous seasons. But the more choices and chances he has, the better he'll look. He basically just needs more movement, or atleast cleverer movement. He's not getting that consistently anymore. Sanchez's off-the-ball runs were amazing in 12/13, not so much this season. And his movement is of the very obvious type.

Xavi should go to another club and profit like Pirlo.

Without question he would profit, people said the exact same thing about Pirlo, he was finished years ago yada yada, it was always rubbish, and was proven rubbish. Pirlo was stuck with static forwards & no movement at Milan, ditto Barcelona. When this happens, they don't look good.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

Spain vs El Salvador

Spain became untouchable, and much more precise and dangerous in attack when Busquets and Xavi came on. Without Alves on the right, the attack doesn't get sucked into the black hole of useless crosses.

 

[Alarcón]

Xavi just tries too little nowadays. He recycles possession like no one else but that's hardly enough. If Thiago was fit, I would play him instead of Xavi, no doubt.

I guess that just happens when you get older

 

[Sumlit]

Xavi just tries too little nowadays. He recycles possession like no one else but that's hardly enough. If Thiago was fit, I would play him instead of Xavi, no doubt.

I guess that just happens when you get older

He regains a bit of his vintage mobility and quickness when he is rested and fresh. If Lucho manages his minutes next season he can give some valuable contributions still. He was quicker and more mobile today with rest.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

He regains a bit of his vintage mobility and quickness when he is rested and fresh. If Lucho manages his minutes next season he can give some valuable contributions still. He was quicker and more mobile today with rest.

And because Spain is more fluid than Barça. Messi up front forces a much more static formation. Many more triangles in the center with Spain.

 

[Maria]

And because Spain is more fluid than Barça. Messi up front forces a much more static formation. Many more triangles in the center with Spain.

And because they played aginst El Salvador. We all saw what happend against Brazil and then there weren't Messi or Alves to blame. I won't even mention that there isn't a single NT that could press as well as Atletico. So maybe you should wait for Spain to play atleast one game at the WC before blaming Alves and Messi for Xavi's poor form.

 

[Sumlit]

And because Spain is more fluid than Barça. Messi up front forces a much more static formation. Many more triangles in the center with Spain.

You've said this several times already and I still don't know what you're trying to imply.

 

[Ode to Django]

You've said this several times already and I still don't know what you're trying to imply.

Read it again?

 

[Sumlit]

Read it again?

You mean I should read it again? It's not about lack of reading comprehension, but about not being sure if he's implying what I think he is implying.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

And because they played aginst El Salvador. We all saw what happend against Brazil and then there weren't Messi or Alves to blame. I won't even mention that there isn't a single NT that could press as well as Atletico. So maybe you should wait for Spain to play atleast one game at the WC before blaming Alves and Messi for Xavi's poor form.

LOL since when has Xavi had poor form? What people complain about is (what appears to them to be) his lack of incisiveness. I'm saying he is more incisive with Spain in part because 1) Messi doesn't make himself a target, and 2) Alves isn't there to waste possession with a bad cross.

There are two main approaches to playing against Barça or Spain: sit back deep, or press hard all over. El Salvador played the sit back approach. They ain't no Chelsea, but Spain was constantly making runs (and Xavi and others hitting them). Not to mention flooding the middle with overlapping runs. With the Barça wingers holding width and Messi dropping deep, the Barça midfielders just don't see those kind of "incisive" targets with the frequency Spain provides. Xavi's "poor form" has to do with how Barça is currently set up tactically.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

You mean I should read it again? It's not about lack of reading comprehension, but about not being sure if he's implying what I think he is implying.

This is what I'm implying:

 

[Semi-Neutral]

Is that picture from this season? Because if it is, then Messi didn't play against Celtic

 

[Sumlit]

LOL since when has Xavi had poor form? What people complain about is (what appears to them to be) his lack of incisiveness. I'm saying he is more incisive with Spain in part because 1) Messi doesn't make himself a target, and 2) Alves isn't there to waste possession with a bad cross.

There are two main approaches to playing against Barça or Spain: sit back deep, or press hard all over. El Salvador played the sit back approach. They ain't no Chelsea, but Spain was constantly making runs (and Xavi and others hitting them). Not to mention flooding the middle with overlapping runs. With the Barça wingers holding width and Messi dropping deep, the Barça midfielders just don't see those kind of "incisive" targets with the frequency Spain provides. Xavi's "poor form" has to do with how Barça is currently set up tactically.

So what I thought you meant is sadly what you indeed meant.

Pretty ridiculous to blame Messi's supposed "static" play for Xavi's lack of impact, when not only was Messi's play this season conditioned by the way the team was forcing play heavily through the wings, but also the fact Xavi has appreciably and obviously heavily declined physically.
Overplaying Xavi with his now physical limitations was what reduced his impact, not this myth that Messi somehow made him play worse.

 

[KingMessi]

Pretty ridiculous to blame Messi's supposed "static" play for Xavi's lack of impact, when not only was Messi's play this season conditioned by the way the team was forcing play heavily through the wings, and the fact Xavi has appreciably and obviously heavily declined physically.
Overplaying Xavi with his now physical limitations was what reduced his impact, not this myth that Messi somehow made him play worse.

Messi was more static this year specifically because Tata wanted him to play as a 9, instead of the false nine role. Alves's crosses might have paid off a bit more had they been low crosses closer to the ground rather than the aerial missiles that Alves kept firing off only to lose possession.