Xavi Hernández

Meuller is right. Bayern and other top teams found a way to blend technique together with athleticism. Technical skills with physique. That's the way modern football is going, along with strong mentality. We need to get rid of these slow weak ass players like Busquets and Pique asap. Alot of fans have been saying this for years. Too bad it's taken even Meuller to point it out.

serghei said:

It's a product of training and fitness methodology. And dieting. And treatment of workouts in the gym. Basically the athlete element of the game. We had it, it was key for our game, and we lost it more and more gradually. Tell me which players in this team can compare with the speed and fitness of players like Pedro, Alves, Eto'o, Yaya Toure, Henry, Puyol, Marquez, Mascherano, Abidal, Adriano, David Villa.

All those stories about Spalletti saying they'd lose 18-0 if they prepared the match like we do, Aguero saying lights were out in the gym or whatever, all those ex-players saying the training at their new teams are harder etc.

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I never said we didn't have it. But for some reason, this "Barca way" at some point got corrupted as fuck to meaning "technically sound trumps everything".

We were the hardest working team in Europe under Pep and 14/15 Lucho and that was with the best players too.

Modern football has moved towards emphasizing the athletic, physical aspects more so than what was already important 10 years ago. And instead of keeping with the times, we regress and somehow every manager who comes in here seems to find that acceptable.

jairzinho said:

Meuller is right. Bayern and other top teams found a way to blend technique together with athleticism. Technical skills with physique. That's the way modern football is going, along with strong mentality. We need to get rid of these slow weak ass players like Busquets and Pique asap. Alot of fans have been saying this for years. Too bad it's taken even Meuller to point it out.

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We need to get rid of slow weak ass culture that has been plaguing the club and keeping us down, more than just a few players. If not, younger players will succumb to it and it will be the same again.

BBZ8800 said:

Again, I see too much hope and scapegoating here.
As if we will be better without oldies Busi, Pique etc.

Ok, fine. We will be somewhat faster.
But: Eric is still weakish and slowish and fits Muller's comments.
Puig, the same.
Gavi is a fighter, but still physically looks like a kid playing vs men.
Nico is tall and strong but slowish and his technique is questionable for the top level.
Pedri is weakish and slowish also.
Dest the same.

So, after reading some posts here, it sounds as if: when we get rid of old amigos, we will be way better.
But imo, when you dig deeper: when you get rid of Busi and oldies, you get the same shit except that they are 10 years younger. They are as equally as slow, weak and similar. The only difference is that they are younger.

Why?
1. we don't rely on strength and similar skills in La Masia. I posted some numbers a few weeks ago, Barca is by far the shortest top team in the world. If there were some numbers regarding top speed and stamina, we would probably also be the top team with the slowest acceleration and stamina in the world.
And if there were a test about an amount of aerial duels won, we would again be at the bottom.

Do they teach kids in our academy to win aerial duels, to run 12 kms per match and similar?
No.
We play pig in the middle 24/7.
That's the core or our DNA. We don't rely on physicality, we rely on brains, IQ, movement and how we'll outsmart those physical teams with smart movement and smart passing.
It worked once with our best generation ever, paired with Pep and the best footballer ever, Messi.
Without the best generation ever, you know my opinion = those tactics are the ultimate shit in 2022.

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You are a logical man are you not?

You have two options for root cause:

Genetics (something in the environment in Barcelona leads to a loss of power) or preparation.

I go with preparation. Preparation is not made by a DNA, but by men in the flesh. Men who accept compromise, accept standards dropping.

You don't make sense really. Guardiola is the man most identifiable with modern Barca and his City team is dominating the most physical league in the world.


Hypothetical scenario.

Rodri at City. Looked slow and sluggish at first. Almost a Barca-like player. Is turning into a full beast this season, physically at a new level.

Imagine Rodri at Barca. The man would be going down from his Atletico days, purely because of poor training and an overall environment that is not encouraging the growth of players from an ATHLETIC standpoint. At City, the same player is going up.

It was too early for Xavi to come back.....

mc_lovin said:

?

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I?m frustrated, that?s all! 2 shots on target by a team that should be doing a heck of a lot better than this. I can?t even remember those two shots, can you? Our team isn?t this bad! Gavi, Busi, Memphis, Dembele, Alba, de Jong. We were sterile.

I fucking told people Xavi was not the answer at this point in time. Inexperienced, came from a shitty league. Al Saad are the biggest club there. His approach to football is one dimensional. He is just using a cookie cutter approach to our situation. We need an experienced manager who will tailor the football style according to the players we have. Xavi is trying to make a Fiat race like a Ferrari 😂

It is probably better for Xavi to not have to worry about the CL distraction at the earliest season point possible. Even if it sucks having to exit in the group.

As for the team, Koeman spoke frank and straight. But completely correct.

Barcilliant said:

I fucking told people Xavi was not the answer at this point in time. Inexperienced, came from a shitty league. Al Saad are the biggest club there. His approach to football is one dimensional. He is just using a cookie cutter approach to our situation. We need an experienced manager who will tailor the football style according to the players we have. Xavi is trying to make a Fiat race like a Ferrari 

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Maybe he is, maybe he isn't.

But which manager do you think would have us do better tonight? Nuno Espirito Santo?

serghei said:

What do you mean by Barca DNA tactics in specific? It became a term you just never define.

Don't tell me 4-3-3 is Barca DNA or some half-baked idea like that. All the best teams play it almost.

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Barca DNA is the thing when a fkng clown like Riki Puig can get a shirt number in your team.
Could Riki get a number at Bayern or Liverpool?

I wrote 100s of times.
I didn't mind Barca DNA in 90s and under Rijkaard when our DNA was attacking football, possession, fun but when it was just a random attacking football with possession.
But when Pep came, he went into extremes.
We moved from pivots like Davids, Motta, Edmilson, Van Bommel to Busquets. And today some posters think that Pedri could be a good pivot. Like wtf? That can happen only at Barca.
So, Pep traded those few physical players who we had for even more technique and smart movement. (I know, I know, you'll know say that we had Keita. But he was a squad player. Among starters, Pep started that revolution of going full retard with 170cm midfielders).
And till the current day, we re following that shit. Riki, Gavi, Pedri. Liverpool, Chelsea or Bayern would take one short/weak midfielder and surround him 2-3 beasts to compensate for him.
Yet, we have the whole midfield built around the same type of players.
Then that thing with no shooting, introduced by Pep where we need to walk with the ball into the net.
Or Pep's hate for a No9 and his invention of a false 9, short false 9 and similar.

That's Barca DNA which I hate.
And now, don't reply: but City is winning EPLs. Well, Pep is apparently the only guy in the world who can make that tactics work.
But he is playing that style for 15 years and he mastered it. And even he can't do shit in Europe even though he is playing that style for 15 years and even though he has unlimited amount of money at Oil City.

So, my point:
1. Barca DNA can work ONLY if you have the best team ever like Barca in 2011 with Xavi, Iniesta + Messi, coached by Pep (the best coach + the best generation of players + GOAT himself)
2. or if you have the best coach + filthy rich team (Pep + City)

Then, go to Barca and compare it:
1. no money
2. no Pep
3. no good players

How to make it work?
You can't.
But we are sticking to it eternally.

And just look at guys here, everything else is guilty but Barca DNA.
1. we don't have money
2. Barto
3. Laporta
4. bad players

Ok, if everything sucks and we can't play Barca DNA from 2010, then why the fck do we want to replicate it?
Why don't we play something simpler, which might work better in current era?

But we won't change and play anything else, because:
1. the board, the media, fans, Xavi still believe that our tactics from 2011 are still the best thing in the world, and the same as you think: with a few right signings and the right coach, we could make it work again, lol.

serghei said:

. Guardiola is the man most identifiable with modern Barca and his City team is dominating the most physical league in the world.

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Pep's football has evolved while we have remained stagnant.i guess that's the simple way to look at it. He's found a way to adapt his football to a more physically demanding league while at the same time still retaining the technical principles. At Barca it seems we've never even gotten to grips with the physical and athletic shift in football over the years. That's why we crumble in high intensity moments.

Bayern and Liverpool had meme players of their own last few years.

jairzinho said:

Meuller is right. Bayern and other top teams found a way to blend technique together with athleticism. Technical skills with physique. That's the way modern football is going, along with strong mentality. We need to get rid of these slow weak ass players like Busquets and Pique asap. Alot of fans have been saying this for years. Too bad it's taken even Meuller to point it out.

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Exactly.

we run away from physicality, height, speed, stamina, aerial duels as if that is something bad and a bad way of playing football.

If we'll dumb it down, let's say that football has 2 skills:
1. technical skills
2. physicality

Yet, for some reason we are only trying to improve in technical skills and we totally neglect physicality.
While other teams recenetly like Bayern, Liverpool, Chelsea (and even City) are playing on both field, trying to get the best out of BOTH worlds = from technique and physicality.

And then in our team you have guys like Demir and Puig.

Btw it isn't just about the lack of physicality that goes with the "cannot cope with intensity" quote, but also the lack of pace in the team. We've been one of the slowest teams in Europe for years now and we keep signing slow players.

We only have one properly quick player and he's totally useless and brain dead.

DonAK said:

Btw it isn't just about the lack of physicality that goes with the "cannot cope with intensity" quote, but also the lack of pace in the team. We've been one of the slowest teams in Europe for years now and we keep signing slow players.

We only have one properly quick player and he's totally useless and brain dead.

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Yeah you could see it today. Only player who runs past any Bayern player was Dembele. Everyone else slow. They ran past us for fun.

The physical level of this team is a joke. Put them on some strength training. We need way more explosive first steps.