Xavi Hernández

[Birdy]

Aggregate Barca vs RM since XAvi put Araujo on Vini:

4 games (including friendly in USA), aggregate scoreline:
Barca 8 - RM 1

 

[JamDav1982]

Xavi: "I'm satisfied with the result, but not with our match. We can't let our rival take the ball away from us."



He coached a great defensive game, why does this guy love lying. He parked the bus and it worked, why act like you didn't want to do that?

Said it before.

Xavi talks a different game than how he coaches.

Much more pragmatic than he makes out.

Today it was enough and Real looked out of ideas so nothing wrong with it.

 

[JohnN]

I know you are emotional right now cause your team lost

All I can say is

Cry more with bracilliant

Go back to your basement and don't forget your meds. hashahahahhaha

 

[Porque]

This match was different from a lot of our defensive 'masterclasses' this season where we have conceded a ton of chances and Ter Stegen has carried us. We actually conceded hardly anything today and they didn't really deserve a goal.

So this type of performance can only be positive.

We didn't attack, sat compact and had a low block, so Madrid had no space in the turnover.

They had to try and play a Barcelona-esque game which has always been their undoing, when teams ask them to be creators and sit to counter them (but obviously we didn't have the quality for the latter part.

Vini had a poor game and was pocketed so no chance of individual brilliance.

Fantastic result, correct setup, but another day and against a better quality opponent who move the ball quickly and have individual pace we would have been outgunned.

 

[ajnotkeith]

We didn't attack, sat compact and had a low block, so Madrid have space in the turnover.

They had to try and play a Barcelona-esque game which has always been their undoing, when teams ask them to be creators and sit to counter them (but obviously we didn't have the quality for the latter part.

Vini had a poor game and was pocketed so no chance of individual brilliance.

Fantastic result, correct setup, but another day and against a better quality opponent who move the ball quickly and have individual pace we would have been outgunned.

Have to say a lot of the blame for that loss goes to Ancelotti.

He set them up badly, he should know by now we play a physical and intense game and he put them out there with Kroos and Modric instead of going with Tchou and Ceballos.

I agree with you that if we faced a more intense and faster paced team that approach wouldn't work, but have to play what is in front of you - it honestly seemed that Man U were a more complete team than them by a long way.

 

[serghei]

We didn't attack, sat compact and had a low block, so Madrid had no space in the turnover.

They had to try and play a Barcelona-esque game which has always been their undoing, when teams ask them to be creators and sit to counter them (but obviously we didn't have the quality for the latter part.

Vini had a poor game and was pocketed so no chance of individual brilliance.

Fantastic result, correct setup, but another day and against a better quality opponent who move the ball quickly and have individual pace we would have been outgunned.

Only 2-3 teams in the world are of the level of Madrid in current form. Arsenal, United, Bayern, that's about it.

 

[Horatio]

Basically, we looked like Madrid at times(especially at start), allowing Madrid to move forward and trying to go at it with long balls and counter.

Not unlikely to think that kind of caught Madrid off-guard. They are used to allowing a good team to attack and utilizing spaces that get created.

Beat them at their own game LOL.

 

[Porque]

Have to say a lot of the blame for that loss goes to Ancelotti.

He set them up badly, he should know by now we play a physical and intense game and he put them out there with Kroos and Modric instead of going with Tchou and Ceballos.

I agree with you that if we faced a more intense and faster paced team that approach wouldn't work, but have to play what is in front of you - it honestly seemed that Man U were a more complete team than them by a long way.

We played 96 (and a half) minutes with Marcos Alonso in central defence and Madrid didn't have a shot on target. I think that says it all about what Madrid showed up. Partly because of us, but mostly down to them.

Damn, I don't want to play this result down because it is a fantastic result given all consideration.

Xavi setup correctly, and the onus was on Ancelotti to crack it, who didn't. Thus Xavi didn't really need to change anything bar maintenance subs.

Bit similar to a week ago against United after the first half. Difference there was how ETH reacted at HT, and an early equalizer which put us on dream street and required Xavi to make his chess moves.

 

[JamDav1982]

Only 2-3 teams in the world are of the level of Madrid in current form. Arsenal, United, Bayern, that's about it.

Curent form?

They failed to win 3 of their last 5 games v la liga teams and one of two they beat was Elche.

 

[serghei]

We played 96 (and a half) minutes with Marcos Alonso in central defence and Madrid didn't have a shot on target. I think that says it all about what Madrid showed up. Partly because of us, but mostly down to them.

Not at all. We played a great game defensively. One of the best I've seen in a long time. Completely shut down the wings with a massive defensive effort from the wingers. And dominated the box on crosses with Kounde, Araujo, Alonso, and with a good solid performance by Stegen on catching crosses.

Best thing Xavi did was to improve the way we defend. Much more responsible, much more intense and focused. When you don't have players like Iniesta, Xavi, Messi to dominate teams, it's what you have to do to win games and titles.

 

[jamrock]

Not gonna read though everything but let me guess, the usual suspects are complaining about something or the other, even though we won away to Madrid and if we lost they'd be doing the same.

 

[Horatio]

Not at all. We played a great game defensively. One of the best I've seen in a long time. Completely shut down the wings with a massive defensive effort from the wingers. And dominated the box on crosses with Kounde, Araujo, Alonso, and with a good solid performance by Stegen on catching crosses.

Agree with this part. Look back at the game and you'd be surprised Madrid didn't get a clear shot at goal at all. All shots they had were straight at Ter Stegen and easy to grab for him. Not taking away from Ter Stegen. Was tremendous during corners and setpieces.

 

[ajnotkeith]

We played 96 (and a half) minutes with Marcos Alonso in central defence and Madrid didn't have a shot on target. I think that says it all about what Madrid showed up. Partly because of us, but mostly down to them.

Damn, I don't want to play this result down because it is a fantastic result given all consideration.

Xavi setup correctly, and the onus was on Ancelotti to crack it, who didn't. Thus Xavi didn't really need to change anything bar maintenance subs.

Bit similar to a week ago against United after the first half. Difference there was how ETH reacted at HT, and an early equalizer which put us on dream street and required Xavi to make his chess moves.

Pretty much as soon as we started 2nd half vs United they started flooding numbers forward, pressing extremely high and shooting whenever they got space. Ten Hag realised what the plan was pretty much instantly after the first half.

This time it seemed like Ancelotti never really woke up.

 

[serghei]

Agree actually. Look back at the game and you'd be surprised Madrid didn't get a clear shot at goal at all. All shots they had were straight at Ter Stegen and easy to grab for him. Not taking away from Ter Stegen. Was tremendous during corners and setpieces.

Of course, zero shots on target is also a proof of how shit Madrid was. And some more intense, faster team would have created more. But the way we defended would've been tough to deal with for any team. Let's not forget that Bayern went out against Villareal in a game exactly like this one at home last year in the Champions League.

The game was prepared perfectly by Xavi and the players responded well. It was obvious we lacked too many players from midfield up to dominate Madrid on Bernabeu, so we defended well and hit them on the break.

 

[ajnotkeith]

Not gonna read though everything but let me guess, the usual suspects are complaining about something or the other, even though we won away to Madrid and if we lost they'd be doing the same.

Regardless of how we won, 1-0 at the Bernabeu missing important players is a great result and anyone would've taken it before the game.

Don't think anyone is complaining, it was best possible outcome.