Xavi Hernández

[Bertus]

Don't know why more people don't seem happy about him staying... of course he can't play every game anymore, but with Puyol gone as a player and Valdes gone completely, it's good that one of the old leaders on the pitch is sticking around.

I slept in a Xavi shirt last night = wake up to see that Xavi decides he's staying. Xavi

Because it feels like seeing Spain National team again.

Time to move on. Lucho wants to start a new story and many people think it's the right time to turn the page on some players: Alves of course, but also Xavi.

Xavi will alway be remembered as one of the best midfielders of all time, but when it's time, he should know it himself.

Look at Lahm, he absolutely wants to avoid what Xavi lived i think.

Xavi should have started to progressively turn the page from 2 years ago. He should have retired from the national team, and to retire from Barcelona after the last Liga title IMO.

Now he will live with regrets, but that doesn't mean barcelona should also pay for the choices he did.

 

[DonAK]

We are moving on. Xavi staying in a limited role doesn't mean that we are not moving on. Xavi don't need to stay, he has done enough for Barcelona already, but with him, we'll still have some depth and his experience and his advice to the younger midfielders like Rafinha, Samper etc is invaluable.

He will probably move when NYC starts up, but it's not a bad decision to have him until then.

 

[barcanuck]

Yeah and free kicks and corners - please stop taking those Xavi. No offense to the greatest mid in Spainish history but damn.

 

[DinhoR10]

Because it feels like seeing Spain National team again.

Time to move on. Lucho wants to start a new story and many people think it's the right time to turn the page on some players: Alves of course, but also Xavi.

Xavi will alway be remembered as one of the best midfielders of all time, but when it's time, he should know it himself.

Look at Lahm, he absolutely wants to avoid what Xavi lived i think.

Xavi should have started to progressively turn the page from 2 years ago. He should have retired from the national team, and to retire from Barcelona after the last Liga title IMO.

Now he will live with regrets, but that doesn't mean barcelona should also pay for the choices he did.

Can't blame Xavi for not retiring as he wanted to just like lahm did but vdb told him not to. And from the way they say accepting the role lucho wants him to play, you can tell he's going to be there mainly to help transition rakitic, rafinha and sergi Roberto into the Barca team.


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[BerkeleyBernie]

But he should in absolutely no way shape or form be an untouchable starter unless it fits Lucho's system.

Corrected. It's always about the team, and fielding the best players to make a particular system work. It has little to do with Xavi's age (IOW, "this point in his career"). Xavi still does pretty much what he always has, and does it pretty much as well as he ever has, except the opponents have adopted deep defenses, so the impeccable moving pivot that he is might simply not be the best choice when there is no one to pivot around. Up to Lucho to decide on a game-to-game basis who are the best players to fit the tactics. Frankly, I hope he benches any player, including Neymar and Messi, if the situation warrants different skills/formation/etc.

 

[Sumlit]

Corrected. It's always about the team, and fielding the best players to make a particular system work. It has little to do with Xavi's age (IOW, "this point in his career"). Xavi still does pretty much what he always has, and does it pretty much as well as he ever has, except the opponents have adopted deep defenses, so the impeccable moving pivot that he is might simply not be the best choice when there is no one to pivot around. Up to Lucho to decide on a game-to-game basis who are the best players to fit the tactics. Frankly, I hope he benches any player, including Neymar and Messi, if the situation warrants different skills/formation/etc.

Your continued refusal to realize the entirely too obvious physical decline of Xavi is very perplexing. Saying things like "Xavi still does pretty much what he always has, and does it pretty much as well as he ever has" leaves me wondering if you, an obvious fan of Xavi, truly remembers what the player looked and played like 5 years ago.

Xavi most definitely no longer plays at the same level he used to years ago, and no, it's not because of deep playing defenses. To continue to insist otherwise is crazy and could even be construed as an insult to the awesome talent and play that Xavi delighted us fans in his prime.

 

[Luftstalag14]

I am reading stuff saying Xavi only decided to stay because other clubs are not willing to pay his current level of salary...

Really?

 

[evilhita666]

I am reading stuff saying Xavi only decided to stay because other clubs are not willing to pay his current level of salary...

Really?

It's a possibility... I mean, he was going to get ridiculous amounts of money in Qatar making his final big paycheck a reality, but since that deal went to the toilet, he decided to stay in the comfort of Barca without losing anything...

I see no problem with that, except that he needs to deal with change if he stays...

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Happy Xavi is staying but can we depend on him to accept reduced playing time as it seems him staying was more of a contractual disagreement with NYC and not of reports of him succumbing to LE new sporting plans. It's concerning but I'm happy to have El Maestro around to at least provide leadership if nothing else.

 

[UEFA_Barça_Chris]

Happy Xavi is staying but can we depend on him to accept reduced playing time as it seems him staying was more of a contractual disagreement with NYC and not of reports of him succumbing to LE new sporting plans. It's concerning but I'm happy to have El Maestro around to at least provide leadership if nothing else.

Xavi as a supersub would be good for me.

 

[KingMessi]

Xavi as a supersub would be good for me.

Xavi to come in and kill games off once we have a solid lead (2+ goals) would be perfect.

 

[Icarium]

Xavi as a player coach. Rafinha and Roberto have a lot to learn from this legend. Now can we sell song. Just cancel his contract, dont need money.

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[UEFA_Barça_Chris]

Xavi to come in and kill games off once we have a solid lead (2+ goals) would be perfect.

IIRC, when xavi came on as a sub last season he basically brought life to the games in the first half of the season. I can see Xavi coming in knowing what to do in the second half, and make tremendous through balls or just try to shake the buses.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

Your continued refusal to realize the entirely too obvious physical decline of Xavi is very perplexing. Saying things like "Xavi still does pretty much what he always has, and does it pretty much as well as he ever has" leaves me wondering if you, an obvious fan of Xavi, truly remembers what the player looked and played like 5 years ago.

Xavi most definitely no longer plays at the same level he used to years ago, and no, it's not because of deep playing defenses. To continue to insist otherwise is crazy and could even be construed as an insult to the awesome talent and play that Xavi delighted us fans in his prime.

Please. He protects and distributes the ball as well as ever, and his positioning is impeccable. He has less through balls precisely because deep lying defenses don't allow that kind of passing (in fact, Xavi created some of the rare/best chances in games last season against well-structured deep lying defenses). He never was fast, has always jogged the entire game. Spain was beat by Netherlands precisely because they bypassed the midfield.

The biggest liability is that ALL the vintage Barça midfielders (Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets) are rather slow and dependant on possession for defense. As Xavi ages, this is most likely to be exposed by hard pressing teams who also have technical quality, or fast counter-attackers who quickly bypass the midfield to attack Barça's (as yet still) shaky back line.

Of course Xavi will eventually stop playing. But to say he is in "obvious physical decline" is very perplexing. Based on what? Injuries (not a problem last season, he managed himself well)? Slowing of pace (never had any)? Endurance (still covers more ground than the other players)? The biggest problem people have had with Xavi is OMG!! OMG!! SIDEWAYS PASSING!!- which is what happens when playing a possession game *against deep lying defenses*. Hate the game, not the player.

I'll be curious to see what Lucho brings, and I think Suarez will be an asset against parked buses. Messi is great, but creates goals in very specific ways, and Neymar is also very predictable. Suarez is much more versatile in his striking abilities, and will score some crazy goals, finding half a chance.

 

[BarçAjax8]

Don't know why more people don't seem happy about him staying... of course he can't play every game anymore, but with Puyol gone as a player and Valdes gone completely, it's good that one of the old leaders on the pitch is sticking around.

I slept in a Xavi shirt last night = wake up to see that Xavi decides he's staying. Xavi

Thank you for doing that for us!

I'm so relieved that Xavi will be staying another season!
A renovation of the squad is necessary but without experienced veterans around the transition could be a disaster. A transition SHOULD HAVE taken place in defense while Puyol was still around but clearly Rosell didn't know what the hell he was doing. Now we see how that area of our team is suffering and we gotta spend $$$ to clean it up.

With Xavi around our midfield will have the guidance it needs to help Rakitic & our younger Mids (Rafinha & Roberto) become a unit.