Xavi Hernández

My feeling after having read these secondhand quotes from Xavi is that he's now very much on the line ready if/when Koeman fails during the season
Laporta wants to have an even stronger case for sacking Koeman than he currently has, and didn't do it already as he realised Xavi will be fine to step in midseason.

Xavi can't even get out of the group stages of a mickey mouse AFC CL but somehow is ready to step in mideason because of Barca DNA.

Bobo32 said:

My feeling after having read these secondhand quotes from Xavi is that he's now very much on the line ready if/when Koeman fails during the season
Laporta wants to have an even stronger case for sacking Koeman than he currently has, and didn't do it already as he realised Xavi will be fine to step in midseason.

Click to expand...

You missed the part that Laporta rejected Xavi, not the other way round.
Xavi can make statements all he wants

Birdy said:

You missed the part that Laporta rejected Xavi, not the other way round.
Xavi can make statements all he wants

Click to expand...

No I didn't miss anything, I've read what has been written on this forum. This is my feeling, let's see what happens when Koeman gets sacked.

He should take the job seriously rather than just wait till perfect time.

Porque said:

We should try and sign Yahya Golmohammadi. In his first season managing Persipolis he won the league and got to the Asian Champions League final.

Elite level results in Asian football- the perfect stepping stone to FC Barcelona

Click to expand...

This is bigger than Xavi's Al Saad.

DonAK said:

Arrogance. That's what it is.

Click to expand...

Probably. This isn't a flaw by itself though. Some of the best managers are arrogant too, and weren't so only after they won things. Xavi will have to back it up when he will get a top job.

Modesty and humility are rarely common traits for leaders. So... Xavi being arrogant isn't worth much in terms of criticism.

khaled_a_d said:

So, you want us to repeat those mistakes? Get a coach whose team in Qatar was hesitant to renew after another underachieving season in Asian cup?

Click to expand...

How in the world is naming Xavi repeating those mistakes? Nobody since Pep is similar to what a Xavi appointment would be.

Repeating the same mistakes would be naming somebody like Marcelino Garc?a Toral. Middle of the bunch La Liga manager with plenty experience, but not premiere manager material now or probably ever.

We did not name super-promising young minds, nor experienced top class managers. We have named proven "C level" managers with some experience, but not the right kind of experience. The worst of the lot. Not going after an established first name, and not trying to discover the next top manager either.

As bad as Koeman was and probably will be in his final year here I'm not sure I would've been happy had Laporta named Xavi the coach of Barca. Such a pitty he couldn't find a good proven coach to hand the job.

Established top names and those who fit our style and our football are: Guardiola, Klopp, Tuchel, Naggelsmann, Hansi Flick.

Established top names that do not necessarily fit our style (most of them) are: Allegri, Conte, Zidane, Simeone, Pochettino, Ancelotti, Emery, Luis Enrique (questionable), Brendan Rodgers (questionable), Mourinho (questionable).

These are probably top 10-15.

From here on, you have a bunch of other managers who are promising because of various reasons, some have more experience but didn't have their breakout yet, some are past legends who people believe they'd make first-rate managers. And so on.

Marco Rose, Xavi, Arteta, Ten Haag, Gallardo etc. Wild bets that could be the next big managers. Or not obviously.

And then you have experienced, 2nd or 3rd rate managers who have been around for a long time already at decent or even good teams while not making the step to one of the aforementioned categories.

Valverde, Marcelino, Koeman (for now), Setien, Tata Martino etc. As you can see, 4 of our namings were from this category without a doubt. Not big names, not managers with possibly great future, just decent managers with some experience under their belts.

It's a bit like buying a car.

If you have the money you buy a brand new supercar like a Ferrari or something, drive it right away and feel like a million bucks.

Or if you have less than 150k and you still want a car that will be great, you can find a gem of a 68 Mustang or Hemi in a not great condition, repair it and still feel like a million bucks. But it takes more work and patience.

And if you don't have money, or don't want to work hard, and don't care about feeling like a million bucks while driving it, you can buy yourself a new Toyota Corolla (no pun intended) and feel like hundreds of thousands of drivers out there: decent.

serghei said:

How in the world is naming Xavi repeating those mistakes? Nobody since Pep is similar to what a Xavi appointment would be.

Click to expand...

Bringing someone who didn't prove he deserves the job.
That was the main idea of the post I replied to, why do we want Xavi to prove himself when we signed mediocre coaches who didn't prove themselves before.

serghei said:

It's a bit like buying a car.

If you have the money you buy a brand new supercar like a Ferrari or something, drive it right away and feel like a million bucks.

Or if you have less than 150k and you still want a car that will be great, you can find a gem of a 68 Mustang or Hemi in a not great condition, repair it and still feel like a million bucks. But it takes more work and patience.

And if you don't have money, or don't want to work hard, and don't care about feeling like a million bucks while driving it, you can buy yourself a new Toyota Corolla (no pun intended) and feel like hundreds of thousands of drivers out there: decent.

Click to expand...

So Xavi thinks he is a Ferrari but is in fact Toyota. What makes everyone believe he is the next wunderkind?? It's so weird. He needs more experience or pay the price before coaching Barca.

We don't know Xavi's level as a coach, and will only discover it once he manages Barca. He could go to Europe and have mediocre seasons like Luis Enrique did at Roma, and it would not be any indication of how he would fare as Barca's manager in the future.

te amo barca said:

We don't know Xavi's level as a coach, and will only discover it once he manages Barca. He could go to Europe and have mediocre seasons like Luis Enrique did at Roma, and it would not be any indication of how he would fare as Barca's manager in the future.

Click to expand...

Xavi being an unknown quantity is a powerful asset. If he joined a mid tier European club and does the expected (staying mid tier, not winning titles) nothing is gained but prejudices. Him coming in with noone knowing what to expect is much more exciting and could create a similar positive atmosphere at the club like Pep's first year.

Birdy said:

Status as a player does not guarantee anything about coaching abilities.
Just look at Pirlo, Lampard, and countless others.

This narrow-minded idealism of yours is eating the club from inside.
We want the best coach for Barca. We want to be a top team again.
You want to live in a nostalgia bubble.

Click to expand...

Great strawman but no one said every good midfielder will make a good coach. Have another try.

I predicted Pirlo to fail as a coach when he was appointed. A carefree personality who was having fun playing FIFA before a World Cup final and moaned about hard training session. All talent, no work. It was easy to predict he wouldn't make a good coach.

He has nothing in common with Xavi regarding Barca. Nor does Lampard who grew up in the huff and puff "rainy night at Stoke" environment of English football where he learned to shoot from 40 yards and how to "get stuck in".