Xavi Hernández

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Barcaman

Barcaman

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Watched the highlights from legendary 6-2 win at Bernabéu in 2009.
It still hasn't sunk in that he'll be gone soon :(
 
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mssarm

Member
It looks like he might consider staying. He feels important to current squad, Lucho was full of praise. If club offers some improvement to his contract he might consider it because by the end of his contract term he will probably retire and get a job at the club(hopefully coaching).
 
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Mido

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Leaving in summer 2016 and getting his trainer license at Barcelona is the best choice he can make in my opinion.

Bringing Koke or another top midfielder, that would be probably unable to play for Barcelona in the Champions League, in january 2016 would be useful only for La Liga.

I have more concerns when it comes to Rafinha's and Roberto's improvement.

Integrating Samper +/or buying 1 young and talented CM in january would be ideal to me.
 
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Mido

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footyfan said:
I'm possibly the biggest Xavi fanboy on this forum after you, but even I don't think he should start important games. The current strategy of bringing him on after 60 minutes is working perfectly well, because teams are tired at that point and his poor work-rate is fairly well hidden. When you start him, you'll see that he can't handle the intensity at the beginning - he looks like a lost puppy running around trying to press at snail pace - just not compatible with Lucho's Barca. He's perfect for protecting a lead, as we saw against Madrid.

Unfortunately, Iniesta and Neymar are in dumpster form, otherwise we wouldn't even be having this discussion. I agree that Xavi should start against the smaller teams, the intensity is not as high and it's the perfect time to rest the other midfielders and keep Xavi's match fitness up.

And yes, I put Xavi above Zidane too, he's easily the best Barca midfielder ever.
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You might be right on this point but the only big game he started this season was the first Classico and yes, eventhough he performed better than Iniesta (in my opinion), it wasn't his best game this season. This is still not enough to prove the assumption you are making.

I am nearly certain that Enrique favors Iniesta only because of his defensive workrate. Other than that, I see Xavi ahead in every other department this season.

My biggest concern with the Iniesta--Rakitic pair, is playing with them against Bayern, and I genuinely hope I am wrong !
 
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pacp_96

Chief Of Footballing Matters
Mido said:
You might be right on this point but the only big game he started this season was the first Classico and yes, eventhough he performed better than Iniesta (in my opinion), it wasn't his best game this season. This is still not enough to prove the assumption you are making.

I am nearly certain that Enrique favors Iniesta only because of his defensive workrate. Other than that, I see Xavi ahead in every other department this season.

My biggest concern with the Iniesta--Rakitic pair, is playing with them against Bayern, and I genuinely hope I am wrong !
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Bayern are super overhyped. Nothing special about them this season apart from the aura around them and Pep.

I prefer Iniesta starting and then Xavi coming on for exactly the reasons that footyfan mentioned.
 
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Mido

New member
pacp_96 said:
Bayern are super overhyped. Nothing special about them this season apart from the aura around them and Pep.

I prefer Iniesta starting and then Xavi coming on for exactly the reasons that footyfan mentioned.
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getting 35% possession against them ( and that could very well happen) will affect us psychologically during the game , I have no doubt about it.
 
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pacp_96

Chief Of Footballing Matters
Mido said:
getting 35% possession against them ( and that could very well happen) will affect us psychologically during the game , I have no doubt about it.
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They had 50/50 possession with Dortmund (who are hardly a possession based team) and didn't have a shot in the second half. Honestly, we have more to fear from RM than we do Bayern.

Anyway, you are suggesting that Raki and Ini are technically inept at keeping possession which is simply not true. Yes we still keep possession but we do something with it now rather than just keep possession for its own sake.
 
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footyfan

footyfan

Calma, calma
Mido said:
You might be right on this point but the only big game he started this season was the first Classico and yes, eventhough he performed better than Iniesta (in my opinion), it wasn't his best game this season. This is still not enough to prove the assumption you are making.

I am nearly certain that Enrique favors Iniesta only because of his defensive workrate. Other than that, I see Xavi ahead in every other department this season.

My biggest concern with the Iniesta--Rakitic pair, is playing with them against Bayern, and I genuinely hope I am wrong !
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Well, yes. That is exactly what I was implying. Iniesta hasn't been able to (can't) control a game like Xavi can, and neither does he create as many chances as Xavi does. Defensively, he's a lot better and is much more prepared to handle intense matches, which is why he's playing. If he were in better form, his other strengths over Xavi such as directness and dribbling would be more apparent and we wouldn't really be debating why Xavi is not playing more.
 
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Gasgas

Guest
Mido said:
You might be right on this point but the only big game he started this season was the first Classico and yes, eventhough he performed better than Iniesta (in my opinion), it wasn't his best game this season. This is still not enough to prove the assumption you are making.

I am nearly certain that Enrique favors Iniesta only because of his defensive workrate. Other than that, I see Xavi ahead in every other department this season.

My biggest concern with the Iniesta--Rakitic pair, is playing with them against Bayern, and I genuinely hope I am wrong !
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Bayern are overrated. They arent even that good.
With the kind of forwards we have we need CMs who can defend real good
 
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