Xavi returns as Barca coach

[Zidane82]

Welcome back home legend! One of my all-time favourite players. Let's hope it works out from the sidelines!

I hope you are not hating him in 6 months time !

[jamrock]

I really hope he has the balls to bench busquets, he can still contribute but shouldn't be a starter every game, I know it will be rough benching these guys who he won everything with, which is probably why he wanted to wait until they left, but he is here now, so he has to make the tough decisions.

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

The man is winning personified.

When he was in his prime, Spain won everything.

When he was in his prime, Barcelona won everything.

Welcome back, GOAT CM.

Barca didnt need him in 2015

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Xavi with Iniesta as his assistant manager

add Busquets to make the trio perfect

[xxxxxx]

I wish him the best.

[soul24rage]

A glorious decade of dominance is coming.

[Mateka]

His managerial career may be short, but there is no arguing with his football experience. One that very few could match. If he can continue that as a manager, he will be outstanding.

Youth career: 1991-97

Pro career: 1997-2015

767 games

85 goals

185 assists

133 caps for Spain

4x Champions League

8x LaLiga

3x Copa del Rey

2x Club World Cup

2x UEFA Super Cup

6x Spanish Super Cup

International:

1x World Cup

2x European Championship

[Birdy]

The expectation I will be having from him:

LEt's start with the most important:
1) The best players to play
You know who exactly this is targeting: the Amigos.
No privileges in the dressing room, meritocracy based on performance.
What we hoped Koeman to do, but he eventually made a pact with the Amigos

Xavi pushes away his buddies to do that, and he immediately gains my respect

2) Better football obviously.
But I wanna be more specific:
Better construction of build-up and attacks and more innovation as to the movement of the players close to the final 3rd

I know that our defense will suffer in transitions, that's expectable with the football Xavi envisions

3) Sub-point of the above, but really imporant:
See again the team having WINGERS and WIDTH in attack.
It has been painful all those years to see the team playing with false-RW, and false-LW, who all want to occupy the same central space

4) Having a healthy and fit team
That means proper training of as many hours per week as top clubs, and not fooling around between Amigos as it has been for years.
That also means improving the medical department of the team. OK, that's not totally on him, but on Laporta as well,
but I hope to see some influence in delegating responsibilities and blame for the constant injuries and re-lapses of players.

That's about it.

Really low bar,
no expectation of either trophies OR becoming top-5 team in Europe again (for that we need a truly WC coach, and it will happen prob after Xavi)
but to steady the ship towards the correct pathway

[Windhook]

I'd gladly move on from the 5m release clause as fast as possible. Just get Xavi and start the rebuilding process. Also I expect some bad results in the following months but I can live with that, I'm pretty sure Xavi will leave his mark with this young squad.

[Messigician]

I'd gladly move on from the 5m release clause as fast as possible. Just get Xavi and start the rebuilding process. Also I expect some bad results in the following months but I can live with that, I'm pretty sure Xavi will leave his mark with this young squad.

Tebas block move

Xavi will pay the ?5m release clause out of his own pocket to come to Barcelona.

? @Qatari

[Horatio]

Wish him the best.

[khaled_a_d]

Nothing but best wishes.
Hope he proves all doubters wrong, guess that could include me

[Zidane82]

Xavi will pay Al Sadd 5 million euros out of his own pocket to come to Bar?a. [@Qatari]

[Gari]

They also write about half and half with Barsa. They also write that this money will be returned to him, as the ambassador of Qatar at the World Cup. A lot of gossip.

[serghei]

The expectation I will be having from him:

LEt's start with the most important:
1) The best players to play
You know who exactly this is targeting: the Amigos.
No privileges in the dressing room, meritocracy based on performance.
What we hoped Koeman to do, but he eventually made a pact with the Amigos

Xavi pushes away his buddies to do that, and he immediately gains my respect

2) Better football obviously.
But I wanna be more specific:
Better construction of build-up and attacks and more innovation as to the movement of the players close to the final 3rd

I know that our defense will suffer in transitions, that's expectable with the football Xavi envisions

3) Sub-point of the above, but really imporant:
See again the team having WINGERS and WIDTH in attack.
It has been painful all those years to see the team playing with false-RW, and false-LW, who all want to occupy the same central space

4) Having a healthy and fit team
That means proper training of as many hours per week as top clubs, and not fooling around between Amigos as it has been for years.
That also means improving the medical department of the team. OK, that's not totally on him, but on Laporta as well,
but I hope to see some influence in delegating responsibilities and blame for the constant injuries and re-lapses of players.

That's about it.

Really low bar,
no expectation of either trophies OR becoming top-5 team in Europe again (for that we need a truly WC coach, and it will happen prob after Xavi)
but to steady the ship towards the correct pathway

Yeah, really low bar. All 4 haven't been done since Lucho.

I agree with all 4, especially first 3 will be his and his staff's direct responsibility. They need to work close with Laporta and the board and get things done. Now we can say the club is pulling through the shit Bartomeu left behind and is starting the rebuild with all elements but one: funds for signings to fix the weak spots.

However, in my opinion we have enough quality to play much better, and the signings wouldn't be meant to make us play well, but to compete against the very best domestic and European rivals.