Xavi Hernández

[FinBarcelonafan]

So let's say, we sell Frenkie and sign Torres and some defenseman for the same money. It sounds similar to what Liverpool did with Coutinho. Not saying we will sign the world's best defenseman and goalkeeper but I like the balance it offers us and make us deeper team. The squad depth is pretty awful at the moment.

In a dream scenario you have City type of squad and competition for every spot! That's how you keep your players on toes and not too relaxed. They have to fight for their spot, all the time.

We have lacked competition for a long time.

 

[Messi983]

Want to see him try out something new.

Pair Araujo and Eric for at least a few games.
Try Nico or Frenkie in Busi's place.

Would want to see Balde for Alba but I think Balde is much too raw compared to the other teenagers we have.

Would still prefer him playing over Mingueza.

 

[MTL_Barca]

Well right now Xavi has to work with what we got, kicking out players only is feasible if someone better can actually take the spot. I mean if we go through the list of underperforming older players that get criticized on here then we'd need to bench/sell:

ter Stegen, Neto, Pique, Lenglet, Umtiti, Alba, Busquets, Roberto, Coutinho, Dembele, Depay, Braithwaite, Luuk. We can even add Frenkie to that list as well now. Plus Kun and Alves i guess, if we even count them.

That is every player above the age of 23 in the whole squad. Everyone. Like, imagine wanting every mature player gone But sadly that's not even overdoing it for the sake of a joke, there is a good argument to be made for them all to leave.

And then even the younger ones, Dest, Balde, Mingueza, Eric, Araujo, Puig, Demir, Nico...i mean do we really talk about long-term starter material here that would satisfy us?

Don't get me wrong for now i'll take most of the youngsters over the veterans and not everyone in the squad needs to be world class level/talent but the only ones looking really promising right now for me are Gavi and hopefully Pedri too after he's back. And in attack Fati if he can fully recover and stay healthy. That's pretty much it. So basically we'd need to replace the entire squad

Next summer we desperately need some big changes, but even if the will to pull the trigger would be there and money would magically appear it's still not gonna be an easy task. Squad got fucked up over years and carried by Messi, no we see the result.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

...along with this obsession with trying to tiki taka the ball in the net.

I haven't seen any such play from Barca in years. There has been very little movement around the box.

On the other hand, Ajax, who are doing quite well, more closely fit that description.

 

[Barcilliant]

We need to get rid of Xavi at the end of the season. No ifs or buts. Xavi should have cut his teeth in Europe first and then got the job. I am really getting Pirlo vibes here. However Laporta will keep him for next season at least so we can forget about trophies for the next three seasons at least.
We need a senior manager who is smart and will use the players effectively. I'm sorry but this team even the youngsters cannot press high for a decent period of time. We need to play with a lower block and a stronger defense.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

Btw it isn't just about the lack of physicality that goes with the "cannot cope with intensity" quote, but also the lack of pace in the team. We've been one of the slowest teams in Europe for years now and we keep signing slow players.

We only have one properly quick player and he's totally useless and brain dead.

Yep. Pace is really the missing element. If you're going to play a high press attacking game 1) you have to score more than your opponent, so you need finishers, 2) your big vulnerability is the counterattack, so you need fast defenders who can get back to disrupt. This is nothing new, it was the same under Pep. Barca just doesn't have that pace in the squad now.

 

[FC B]

I think the next step is to throw out rest of the old guard and failed players from Barto era.

Coutinho, Dembele, Lenglet, Umtiti, Pique, Stegen, Alba, Busi, Roberto etc.

I know, we would probably suck before we can make signings but these guys need to leave, simple as that. Let Xavi build it up from the bottom up.

Make it real rebuild, instead of trying to win something with these bums. Not going to happen. I rather play players who can improve and make a statement in few years. That's the goal, to get us back to the top in few years, when the finances are better and the team is ready to collect those wins..

No more than a few months back Xavi stated loud and clear that Busquets is the best DM in the world and you expect he ditches him?
Laporta will keep Xavi the next season too, imo the dinosaurs will surely stay for at least one more shit season if not for more.

 

[iniestaGOAT]

We need to get rid of Xavi at the end of the season. No ifs or buts. Xavi should have cut his teeth in Europe first and then got the job. I am really getting Pirlo vibes here. However Laporta will keep him for next season at least so we can forget about trophies for the next three seasons at least.
We need a senior manager who is smart and will use the players effectively. I'm sorry but this team even the youngsters cannot press high for a decent period of time. We need to play with a lower block and a stronger defense.

What are you smoking? There are no players here to be used effectively.

We picked up a bunch of players from b team and ask them to run the midfield. And turn them into make shift wingers cause we got nobody

 

[mc_lovin]

We need to get rid of Xavi at the end of the season. No ifs or buts. Xavi should have cut his teeth in Europe first and then got the job. I am really getting Pirlo vibes here. However Laporta will keep him for next season at least so we can forget about trophies for the next three seasons at least.
We need a senior manager who is smart and will use the players effectively. I'm sorry but this team even the youngsters cannot press high for a decent period of time. We need to play with a lower block and a stronger defense.

Yeah, sure. Shift the focus to Pique, Lenglet and co even more

CL qualification is the top priority now, I will reserve my judgement about Xavi until the end of the season. But structurally I thought we looked fine yesterday, we just got incredibly outclassed individually.

 

[ronniecro]

it will suck to see the fanbase turning onto another club legend...

 

[MTL_Barca]

Going for a lower defensive approach with Pique, Lenglet, Umtiti, Araujo, Eric as CB, the even worse fullbacks and pretty much no DM who can properly defend sounds like a gurantee for disaster.

And then for counter attacking we pretty much have only Dembele who isn't exactly reliable as we all know, and on top of that this also again requires proper pressure and quick reactions with precise passes. We can't reliably initiate nor finish counter attacks at the moment.

Tiki taka we have some fitting midfielders that can pass around nicely, but that's not enough. Team lacks everything else that made Peps Barca great and even tactical and technical the teams are worlds apart.

Physicality is missing either way, because we don't just lack in one department like in the past (height/muscle) but in all physical aspects (speed, stamina) and suffer from a general lack of aggression and at this point mentality as well.

The more you think about the more it looks completely ridiculous how we ended up with a squad that has pretty much no distinctive strengths any longer. Like we can have that old and tiring debate about "Barca style" all day again but the team isn't even that good for that despite a few players that mostly just came through the academy recently.

I seriously don't think anyone could really make this work right out the gate. No idea yet how good Xavi is, but i think we're way past the point where it's mainly about the coaches work or even the general approach. We lack pretty much all fundamentals of modern football right now - no intensity, no speed, tactically and technically not anywhere good enough to compensate, no good 1v1 defenders, no real leaders or healthy grown core in general, no reliable goalkeeper, no reliable scorers, not a lot of individual quality in attack... PAIN

 

[vinni]

Idk about this low block defence. I like this team because of the attacking spirit, high line defence and naive defending. I hope we continue like this going forward. If we loose because of that, no problem. At some point we will have a team that can compete again

 

[iniestaGOAT]

Idk about this low block defence. I like this team because of the attacking spirit, high line defence and naive defending. I hope we continue like this going forward. If we loose because of that, no problem. At some point we will have a team that can compete again

True, barca DNA is basically posession and attacking football. Nobody wants to support a garbage team like Chelsea and atletico.

The bggest issue at the monent is getting rid of players who dont want to leave.

Pique, bousquts, Roberto, Puig and all those La masia boys.

 

[wisconsincule]

He needs to let go of his friends. Pique, Busi, Alba all need to go.

Not that there is great talent behind them- we just need to move on. These guys offer nothing for our future so it makes no sense to have them in the squad.

 

[BarcaOG]

i dont blame him for the CL exit but i do blame him for continuing to play fucking pique and lenglet and crap show alba

my god theyre awful, especially that shameless clown pique who after the 8-2 said "maybe it is the time to leave" while he is still here years later stinking up the place. i bet hes angling for a contract renewal too