Rate Xavi's football.

Rating of Xavi's football


  • Total voters
    42

xXKonan

Senior Member
I would say it's both disappointing and terrible considering the expectations and who Xavi is. Every now and then we would play some good stuff but for the most part, it's disappointing.

Xavi is no doubt one of the greatest Central Midfielders who ever played the game and he played under a number of different coaches such as Van Gaal, Rijkaard, Aragonés, Pep, Del Bosque, Tito, Martino, Lucho.

Seems like he took inspiration the most from Van Gaal but a zombified version of his ideas.
 

Behrox

Vice President of FC Barcelona
Its been on the spectrum from Ok to Terrible.

The display vs Ossasuna was Terrible, we were essentially played off the park by a vastly inferior but well drilled team. Only some individual brilliance/luck contributed to us walking away with 3 points.
 
I'd say his 11 selections are the thing that holds him back the most. Maybe its because he isnt on the field that he doesn't trust his midfielders? But forcing a 4 man midfield when you have serviceable wingers on either flank against even the weakest competition (the kind that parks the bus where 3 attackers would likely help us). Its almost like he plays not to lose rather than win lately.
 

Givenchy

Senior Member
Terrible.

I'm posting here because you didn't give 0 as an option but I give Xaviball 0/5. Even against the B team of a lower La liga side it feels like we are lucky to win.. and it's not a one off either.
 

Birdy

Senior Member
Oscillates between terrible and disappointing.
Given who he is and the expectation from him, it's out and out terrible.
The most infuriating thing is the scandalous leeway he has been given by the board and fans because of his privilege. The same people that wanted Koeman's head with every bad result (despite Koeman having played for 3 months better football than what Xavi has in 2 years) are always eager to find excuses for him.
I am not even gonna waste any second answering to all his shameless apologists.

Just gonna say to the ones that are not blindfolded, open your eyers and look at the world of football.
You have Di Zerbi at Brighton playing positional masterclasses with the likes of March, Dunk, Veltman etc
You now have Postecoglou at Spurs and, despite years of defensive setups and mindset, after 2 months of preseason he has them playing free-flowing attacking stuff and destroying opponents. Same with Poch at chelsea transforming a bad team from last season. Etc...

There are elite coaches out there that can make Barca Barca again, if you mind is open enough, and not confined within the narrow scope of going for the safe choice
 

JohnN

Senior Member
I would have gone for "bellow expectations" instead of disappointing, if option existed.
Barcelona are not played against like Brighton. Opponents give 110% against us every game and we have to be at 100% consistently too to win.
Xavi is trying to build a wining team, which is of course the point, but beautiful football doesn't seem to be on his mind at the moment.
Do not compare with Koeman, who had superstars in his team. Obviously do not compare with the mister, who had a world class team.
 

Andresito

Senior Member
Staff member
Mostly disappointing but with a touch of OK. We're still getting results aren't we.
With terrible being at the bottom of the scale I interpret it as absolute trash football combined with a mid-table position. Terrible can only be applied in Europe so far.
 

Horatio

You're welcome
I'll still support him. We have a nice collective of players. With a few eye-openers could turn into something nice.
 

Birdy

Senior Member
In 2 months it'll be 2 years since he's been appointed. Think it's a fair sample of matches.

And during those 2 years, he only had a purple patch of good football for 2 months in Feb-March 2022.
Meanwhile he devised the squad according to his liking, even burdening us with retirees like Lewy on high wages and amortization.

That's enough of a sample to pass a judgment...
He must really go
 

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