Has someone kidnapped Xavi?

Because it sure isn't the Xavi I know playing for us at the moment.

P.S. There was meant to be a poll attached to this with a yes or a no option. Could one of the mods put one on please?

Injuries really affect Xavi's form. He goes through spells now and again where he isn't his usual self, whether it be due to fatigue or recovering from an injury. Its obvious that he hadn't fully recovered against Milan and I think it will take a couple of games for him to get back into the swing of things. What is worrying is that he may not be back to his usual self for the next Milan game. It begs the question as whether we'd be better off playing Iniesta with either Cesc or Thiago in the midfield.

He's been terrible. This is what separates Scholes from him imo. Scholes was amazing and stood out as one of the best for 15+ years and can still dictate a game now at 39 years old. Xavi is only 32 and stood out as a great for what 5 years? I've never seen such a fast decline of a great player. Legend no doubt, but certainly a lesser talent than Paul Scholes.

I don't doubt he can still dicate a game though but probably not for 90mins, so It's time to use him as a impact player or a player to bring on to see a game out and for Thiago to start.

Why bring up Scholes? All you'll acheive is a slanging match. Xavi has only been off form for 10 games or so, he has been playing first team football since he was 18, I don't think you know what you are talking about.

Smile said:

He's been terrible. This is what separates Scholes from him imo. Scholes was amazing and stood out as one of the best for 15+ years and can still dictate a game now at 39 years old. Xavi is only 32 and stood out as a great for what 5 years? I've never seen such a fast decline of a great player. Legend no doubt, but certainly a lesser talent than Paul Scholes.

I don't doubt he can still dicate a game though but probably not for 90mins, so It's time to use him as a impact player or a player to bring on to see a game out and for Thiago to start.

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one run of bad form and you say he's finished

Poor_Sunyol said:

Why bring up Scholes? All you'll acheive is a slanging match. Xavi has only been off form for 10 games or so, he has been playing first team football since he was 18, I don't think you know what you are talking about.

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Because people do it here all the time, why can't i or anyone else do it when comparing Barcelona to other players and the particular opinion goes against the Barcelona player?

I don't think what i said is unfair.

Giggs is better than Scholes, let alone Xavi. I think Xabi Alonso would make a fairer comparison with Scholes.

He's not in rapid decline or anywhere near finished. People have said Xavi was on the way out a couple of times over the last two years whenever he has hit a bad run of form, only for him to go and do something like bossing the European Championship final. He is getting older and fatigue/injuries do have a greater effect on him now but when he's fully fit he's still easily one of the top midfielders in the world.

He's a bit out of form and has suffered a few injuries lately. With a bit of rest, he should be fine.

Also, he's playing deeper now so he won't clash with Cesc.

Smile said:

He's been terrible. This is what separates Scholes from him imo. Scholes was amazing and stood out as one of the best for 15+ years and can still dictate a game now at 39 years old. Xavi is only 32 and stood out as a great for what 5 years? I've never seen such a fast decline of a great player. Legend no doubt, but certainly a lesser talent than Paul Scholes.

I don't doubt he can still dicate a game though but probably not for 90mins, so It's time to use him as a impact player or a player to bring on to see a game out and for Thiago to start.

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Well unlike Scholes Xavi has been a regular starter throughout his carreer, and has already played almost as much as Scholes, who is 6 years older. Not to mention that he's carrying a long-term injury that worsens the more he plays, and that he's barely rested at all this season. The MotM of the Euro final too.

Smile said:

He's been terrible. This is what separates Scholes from him imo. Scholes was amazing and stood out as one of the best for 15+ years and can still dictate a game now at 39 years old. Xavi is only 32 and stood out as a great for what 5 years? I've never seen such a fast decline of a great player. Legend no doubt, but certainly a lesser talent than Paul Scholes.

I don't doubt he can still dicate a game though but probably not for 90mins, so It's time to use him as a impact player or a player to bring on to see a game out and for Thiago to start.

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lolz

Smile said:

He's been terrible. This is what separates Scholes from him imo. Scholes was amazing and stood out as one of the best for 15+ years and can still dictate a game now at 39 years old. Xavi is only 32 and stood out as a great for what 5 years?

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Euros, World Cup, Euros, 3 Champions Leagues. The heart of arguably the two best teams of all time. Xavi's been at the top for 7 or 8 years now. Scholes is a great player, but nowhere near the level of Xavi.

I don't think the teams doing him any good with the play extremely narrow & Messi dropping as deep as him which is needless, everything is funneling through Messi & that is the main problem IMO. That said even when there are runs being made Xavi seems to ignore them more often than not, a Coaches decision? not sure..

Ode to Django said:

I don't think the teams doing him any good with the play extremely narrow & Messi dropping as deep as him which is needless, everything is funneling through Messi & that is the main problem IMO.

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Nailed it. For a central midfielder it is essential to have movement upfront. Now let's take a quick look at what Xavi has infront of him with this season's Barcelona.

On the left flank we have Iniesta. Who doesn't really play on the wing. He keeps drifting into midfield. He doesn't make any kind of off-the-ball runs like Villa would do. The left flank is pretty much empty.

Right infront of Xavi we have Messi. Who walks around 7 km per game, "saving energy for beast mode" and dropping deep to collect the ball. He too plays like a midfielder, he runs TOWARDS the ball, he doesn't run away from it like a conventional #9 would do to open up space.

On the right we have Pedro. Who is hugging the touchline "to keep width". With Spain he has freedom to move centrally. With Barcelona he doesn't.

To make things worse we also have Fabregas in the middle to further clog the middle.

There is no movement in this team. Only Alves and Alba provide movement but they provide it in the widest areas. They can only receive long diagonal balls. So what does Xavi do? He either plays a 5 yard pass to Messi, to Iniesta or to Fabregas all occupying the midfield zone and standing on his feet or he plays a diagonal ball out wide to Pedro or Alves. These are his options. No movement, no throughballs. Xavi doesn't play it save because he is a coward. With Eto'o and Henry providing movement upfront he produced around 30 assists in a season. An unheard of number for a central midfielder of his ilk whose main job isn't even creating in the first place but dictating.

But even this current "past it" Xavi is actually producing numbers which are completely fine for a central midfielder. Let's check the numbers:

Bastian Schweinsteiger (20 starts): 2 assists, 0.7 key passer per game, 0.2 throughballs per game (apparently the best central midfielder in the world in Bayern's record breaking season right now)

Xavi (19 starts): 5 assists, 1.4 key passes per game (EXACTLY as many as Messi!), 0.3 throughballs per game (EXACTLY as many as Messi!) (apparently past it and should be replaced)

So, yeah. It's disappoint really that Xavi has come down to only slightly above Schweinsteiger at his best levels with the shitty movement around him and injuries plaguing him for weeks now. But I guess people are just judging him by his own "the best central midfielder of all time" standards which he has set over all these years.