Key takeaways from Xavi's 'first' victory

I am presupposing here that today's 4-2 win over Atleti is Xavi's 'first' real, important victory. Feel free to disagree. But these are the key takeaways:

1) We now boast decent, though not yet formidable, attack. The situation now at the top is much less concerning than it was at the end of 2021. We have several attacking options to play with and, judging by today's display, these all add something different. Still, long-term improvement will depend on consistency.

2) Adama lit it up. What a phenomenal signing--he looked dangerous whenever he was on AM's half, and his pace really made a difference. It looks like Xavi doesn't think he can keep it up for 90 minutes, which is fine by me if the 60 or so he plays are always as intense as they were today. But, as above: consistency will vindicate or invalidate the signing.

2.a) We don't need Dembele. Adama did more for us in 60 minutes than Dembele has done all season. I'm all for keeping Dembele around for the pretense of 'competition' so that Adama doesn't slack, but football-wise this seems to me a settled question.

3) Our defense is alarmingly frail. If today is anything to go by, we will see a lot of 3-2, 4-3 types of games: we may win but only if we outscore the opposition. Alba, Busi and especially Pique look vulnerable almost whenever they are called on to defend. Nail-biting stuff.

4) Alves will be a bit of a wild card this season.

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Unrelated but applicable: Pique matched Puyol for number of appearances for FCB today. Both are at 593. I don't know about you all but this strikes me as an insult.

good thread OG

Xavi needs to improve his in game tactics as other coaches getting better of him in second half too often.

Busi is once again showing he is done.

Great first half and set up.

Barcelona (0.82) 4-2 (1.57) Atletico

Luck that Atletico key players injured

Simeone: "I count the matches according to the scoring opportunities. Barcelona created four chances, and scored all of them. If we would take advantage of our chances, we would be talking about the power of 'remontadas'."

Simeones teams been masters of taking winning games with less chances.

Also Griezmann's loan contract bars him, I suppose, from playing against us.

Xavi needs to improve the conditioning, our tiki-taka style demands a lot more pressing for longer periods if we are to dominate such big games. I had the feeling around 65th minute that Atletico could turn this game around.

Windhook said:

Also Griezmann's loan contract bars him, I suppose, from playing against us.

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Nope, we don't do that (opposed to Real Madrid). He was injured.

Windhook said:

Also Griezmann's loan contract bars him, I suppose, from playing against us.

Xavi needs to improve the conditioning, our tiki-taka style demands a lot more pressing for longer periods if we are to dominate such big games. I had the feeling around 65th minute that Atletico could turn this game around.

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We don't insert those clauses. Madrid used to but I think it's gone from there as well.

Windhook said:

Also Griezmann's loan contract bars him, I suppose, from playing against us.

Xavi needs to improve the conditioning, our tiki-taka style demands a lot more pressing for longer periods if we are to dominate such big games. I had the feeling around 65th minute that Atletico could turn this game around.

Click to expand...

i had actually totally forgotten about Griezman. didnt notice his absence

I thought we played well with ten men. Better defense than usual.

FinBarcelonafan said:

I thought we played well with ten men. Better defense than usual.

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It's also because of movement and improved passing rate. We don't have to turn over the ball as soon as we get it anymore. We can finally do some controlling.

FinBarcelonafan said:

I thought we played well with ten men. Better defense than usual.

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Yes, because we dropped back, and Atleti are utter shite at attacking and opening up defenses.
It's all about trying to hit opponents on the counter

BarcaOG said:

I am presupposing here that today's 4-2 win over Atleti is Xavi's 'first' real, important victory. Feel free to disagree. But these are the key takeaways:

1) We now boast decent, though not yet formidable, attack. The situation now at the top is much less concerning than it was at the end of 2021. We have several attacking options to play with and, judging by today's display, these all add something different. Still, long-term improvement will depend on consistency.

2) Adama lit it up. What a phenomenal signing--he looked dangerous whenever he was on AM's half, and his pace really made a difference. It looks like Xavi doesn't think he can keep it up for 90 minutes, which is fine by me if the 60 or so he plays are always as intense as they were today. But, as above: consistency will vindicate or invalidate the signing.

2.a) We don't need Dembele. Adama did more for us in 60 minutes than Dembele has done all season. I'm all for keeping Dembele around for the pretense of 'competition' so that Adama doesn't slack, but football-wise this seems to me a settled question.

3) Our defense is alarmingly frail. If today is anything to go by, we will see a lot of 3-2, 4-3 types of games: we may win but only if we outscore the opposition. Alba, Busi and especially Pique look vulnerable almost whenever they are called on to defend. Nail-biting stuff.

4) Alves will be a bit of a wild card this season.

-----

Unrelated but applicable: Pique matched Puyol for number of appearances for FCB today. Both are at 593. I don't know about you all but this strikes me as an insult.

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Agree with all of this, but especially with the last thing.

BarcaOG said:

I am presupposing here that today's 4-2 win over Atleti is Xavi's 'first' real, important victory. Feel free to disagree. But these are the key takeaways:

1) We now boast decent, though not yet formidable, attack. The situation now at the top is much less concerning than it was at the end of 2021. We have several attacking options to play with and, judging by today's display, these all add something different. Still, long-term improvement will depend on consistency.

2) Adama lit it up. What a phenomenal signing--he looked dangerous whenever he was on AM's half, and his pace really made a difference. It looks like Xavi doesn't think he can keep it up for 90 minutes, which is fine by me if the 60 or so he plays are always as intense as they were today. But, as above: consistency will vindicate or invalidate the signing.

2.a) We don't need Dembele. Adama did more for us in 60 minutes than Dembele has done all season. I'm all for keeping Dembele around for the pretense of 'competition' so that Adama doesn't slack, but football-wise this seems to me a settled question.

3) Our defense is alarmingly frail. If today is anything to go by, we will see a lot of 3-2, 4-3 types of games: we may win but only if we outscore the opposition. Alba, Busi and especially Pique look vulnerable almost whenever they are called on to defend. Nail-biting stuff.

4) Alves will be a bit of a wild card this season.

-----

Unrelated but applicable: Pique matched Puyol for number of appearances for FCB today. Both are at 593. I don't know about you all but this strikes me as an insult.

Click to expand...

Strongly disagree with 2a)
Dembele should play together with Adama on different wings.
That will be the first time the team has proper wingers in ages

Strongly agree with 3)
It's amazing that almost every set piece Atleti took, they had a clear cut chance as a result.
There are positional errors, no offside trap, no serious man-marking OR zonal marking.
It's ridiculous.
Xavi has a lot to do there, and I am afraid he is not teaching that in training


My additional remarks:
-> Xavi has managed to restore some good pressing in the team.
For the most part Atleti could not play out, because our pressing was good.
Mind you, it's not enough yet. Koeman had reinstalled some good pressing (watch our best games last season like PSG away, the pressing was crazy) but then the players abandoned it and fell back
Xavi has to be persistent here and not allow old habits creep in

-> Personnel selection + management is still highly DUBIOUS from Xavi
Why did Ferran stay on the whole game?
Why did Adama come off?
Why did Gavi (despite his good performance) had to play on the wing? To fit in the XI all the 'sacred cows'?
It strikes me NOT ONLY that he has a soft spot for his buddies (Amigos), but that he has a 'pecking order' of sympathy, where some like Ferran are top, and will never come out, while others like Adama will always come out first no matter how they play
That shit is alarming.
Meritocracy means meritocracy...

-> Some tactical choices need to be more nuanced.
I like how Dani came out central, while Jordi and Adama were always maintaining the width.
But on the left, the selection of Gavi left too much room there for Atleti to attack on the right (check their 1st goal again)
The presence of 2 extra players centrally (Dani coming centrally from the RB area, and Gavi coming centrally from the LW area) eclipsed Pedri's presence in the game. It's as if the kid didn't play at all!
-> Subpoint:
Dominance needs to translate more into clear-cut chances.
Checked the chances tonight: only Araujo's goal was a clear-cut chance, while Atleti had 3 (!) out of which they scored 1.
Yes, Alba's wondergoal and Alves' screamer won't happen every game.
We need to find patterns of clear chance creation.

Conclusion: I wanna see more tactically from XAvi


PS: About Pique.
Yes it's an insult, eve more than that: It's a Hubris!