Xavi Hernández

[serghei]

If the frontline is poor than it is because of money poorly spent.

Do you want to compare money spent by Barca under Xavi vs money spent by other top teams under other managers? I think not.

The reality is that in the current market, a good portion of the many hundreds of millions elite teams spend on players gets spent on players that do not rise to the expectations.

 

[fergus90]

Money spent doesn't always equate to success. Sometimes teams get it right such as Liverpool with the Coutinho money. Other times, teams get it wrong such as Barcelona with the Coutinho money.

 

[serghei]

Money spent doesn't always equate to success. Sometimes teams get it right such as Liverpool with the Coutinho money. Other times, teams get it wrong such as Barcelona with the Coutinho money.

Please... success at the top belongs to the elite teams, teams which happen to be constantly the biggest spenders.

This doesn't mean that just spending big is enough to get the job done. But if you don't spend a lot, you can't get to the top. Impossible.

 

[fergus90]

Please... success at the top belongs to the elite teams, teams which happen to be constantly the biggest spenders.

West Ham, Milan, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle, Arsenal, PSG & United are eight of the ten biggest net spenders in a decade. Barely more than a few titles amongst them. Man City and Barca being the other two. Coincidentally Barca's biggest downfall came after some of the biggest fees paid out.

Sometimes the worse thing a club can have is transfer money to waste.

 

[delancey]

Please... success at the top belongs to the elite teams, teams which happen to be constantly the biggest spenders.

This doesn't mean that just spending big is enough to get the job done. But if you don't spend a lot, you can't get to the top. Impossible.

Chelsea and Man U *cough* *cough* 😜

 

[mc_lovin]

Eh, spending money is a big fucking advantage. Not sure why anyone would try to relativate that. Even when you have clubs like United with the midas touch of shit.

Anyway, Xavi spend 150m on the frontline with the squad having no fundament*. Meaning we coudln't just splash it on one player but needed depth as well. Ferran, Raphina and Lewy are hardly great, but taht's what you get for 50m each. I fail to see the alternatives as well. Sure, Alvarez would have been nice, but then who? Not big on the likes of Antony, Diaz, Gekpo or Nunez (who else switched clubs in the windows Xavi was Barca coach? Harry Kane and Haaland were both impossible).

150m on a whole front line isn't a shit ton of money.


*Remember we came from a team with the likes of Abde, Adama, Jutgla, Demir and co being relevant.

 

[serghei]

Chelsea and Man U *cough* *cough* 😜

I told you money is not enough. Also Chelsea did get a CL title in 2021, not long ago. They are gonna be back at the top before Barca for sure.

 

[delancey]

I told you money is not enough. Also Chelsea did get a CL title in 2021, not long ago. They are gonna be back at the top before Barca for sure.

Just say it, a manager who understands football the way a chess champion understands chess would be ideal for Barca. 😝

 

[serghei]

Eh, spending money is a big fucking advantage. Not sure why anyone would try to relativate that. Even when you have clubs like United with the midas touch of shit.

Anyway, Xavi spend 150m on the frontline with the squad having no fundament*. Meaning we coudln't just splash it on one player but needed depth as well. Ferran, Raphina and Lewy are hardly great, but taht's what you get for 50m each. I fail to see the alternatives as well. Sure, Alvarez would have been nice, but then who? Not big on the likes of Antony, Diaz, Gekpo or Nunez (who else switched clubs in the windows Xavi was Barca coach? Harry Kane and Haaland were both impossible).

150m on a whole front line isn't a shit ton of money.


*Remember we came from a team with the likes of Abde, Adama, Jutgla, Demir and co being relevant.

Good post. People are still running their ideas based on how the market used to be 10 years ago.

 

[DonAK]

While we cannot spend big like we all wish we could, we have spent some money on signings.

Issue is that most of them have been on wrong players.

65m on a winger that cannot dribble, cannot score. 50m on a striker that looked finished after 6-7 months. 55m on a shark that turned out to be a rotten fish.

 

[mc_lovin]

While we cannot spend big like we all wish we could, we have spent some money on signings.

Issue is that most of them have been on wrong players.

Who were the right players even with hindsight?

 

[DonAK]

Who were the right players even with hindsight?

I updated my post, but in hindsight you could argue signing two wingers that cannot dribble with the plan to play them out wide where you need those skills, and then a sizeable amount on a striker that had his own fanbase questioning his performances in the clutch for years, that also was declining wasn't perhaps the smartest investments.

 

[mc_lovin]

I updated my post, but in hindsight you could argue signing two wingers that cannot dribble with the plan to play them out wide where you need those skills, and then a sizeable amount on a striker that had his own fanbase questioning his performances in the clutch for years, that also was declining wasn't perhaps the smartest investments.

So, you have no solutions - even with hindsight? Ferran and Raphina are infinitely better than the ones we had before them. And make no mistake, I am not a big fan either.

The reasonable path for me (that the club took) is get some solid forwards in and gamble on talents (Roque, Lamine). And we need to gamble some more, because the likes of Mbappe aren't coming.

 

[DonAK]

So, you have no solutions - even with hindsight? Ferran and Raphina are infinitely better than the ones we had before them. And make no mistake, I am not a big fan either.

The reasonable path for me (that the club took) is get some solid forwards in and gamble on talents (Roque, Lamine). And we need to gamble some more, because the likes of Mbappe aren't coming.

Luis Diaz instead of Ferran, and could have kept Aubameyang who was the perfect fit for us, and wouldn't have cost 50m instead of Lewandowski who just made us slower even if he's a better goalscorer in general.

Now go off and argue how Ferran is a much better player and how we've become a far better team with Lewandowski

 

[Porque]

Do you want to compare money spent by Barca under Xavi vs money spent by other top teams under other managers? I think not.

The reality is that in the current market, a good portion of the many hundreds of millions elite teams spend on players gets spent on players that do not rise to the expectations.

We have to be relative.

What other top teams under other top managers are we comparing Xavi's play to?

The reality is that in the current market, our spending is big relative to the rest of LaLiga which is where we play both the majority of our games and where the majority of our poor play is spent.

So after two years, that is why the goodwill has finally run out. Because we have spent millions on transfers, and in the seasons without transfers, spent millions on wage to lure players that the majority of LaLiga teams can only dream of. And yet we play worse than many.

So what City or an EPL spends doesn't factor into the equation. Because if it did, then we would also have to factor in City's spend relative to the rest of the EPL spend where the quality and competition is higher across the board. And that won't help Herb's argument by any means.

I'll add that we haven't hit the winter break yet so things can turn around. I'm not entirely against Xavi but I'm not looking at this blindly either. Pep is also a notorious slow starter in season first halves. So there is a benefit of doubt there for Xavi. In the end of the day it is better to peak in the right moments, though there are not really many signs of us progressing to that peak at the moment.