Xavi Hernández

[BerkeleyBernie]

You are in total denial of reality, forget about symptoms and cause.

Okay, let's talk "reality", the Man City game I posted above, a recent critical game against a top team in an important competition. Please show how Xavi's "physical skills have deteriorated appreciably due to age" and affected his performance in that game.

Waiting...

Still waiting...

...

 

[JamDav1982]

FACT: Look at the stats FFS, or simply the link from the ManCity game I posted above- he is *still* the player that covers the most ground, still rarely misplaces passes, still rarely gets dispossessed or otherwise turns over the ball. Of course I agree he has/will decline, but it is a matter of what degree- he is essentially a distance runner who jogs all game. He is not affected in the same way as a player who requires pace, for the same reason top distance runners are often successful well into their 30s. The main difference is that older bodies require more time to recover. With proper rotation *and only where the tactics demand his skill set*, he can still be effective, as in the ManCity CL game last spring where he dominated (of course, they are minnows, right?).

Xavi does not even look close to the player he was a few years ago week in week out.

There is no way a player can cover the amount of ground Xavi did in the past and still be at their peak at his age.

His legs are not what they were and Xavi is not the player he was it is easy to see almost every game he plays.

 

[Sumlit]

Okay, let's talk "reality", the Man City game I posted above, a recent critical game against a top team in an important competition. Please show how Xavi's "physical skills have deteriorated appreciably due to age" and affected his performance in that game.

Waiting...

Still waiting...

...

Berkeley, if you are unable or unwilling to see what everyone else has come to understand and accept, I'm not going to sit here and futilely attempt to convince you of something you clearly do not want to concede.

Xavi was the engine of the best team in football 5 years ago, now he is leaving for the MLS or Qatar in the very near future, that is all the evidence I need.

 

[Lomar1o]

Berkeley, if you are unable or unwilling to see what everyone else has come to understand and accept, I'm not going to sit here and futilely attempt to convince you of something you clearly do not want to concede.

Xavi was the engine of the best team in football 5 years ago, now he is leaving for the MLS or Qatar in the very near future, that is all the evidence I need.

add to it the fact that a few years ago he was a rightful and a serious contender for ballon d'or, now he wouldn't even win a sideway passing award if there was one DD

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

Xavi does not even look close to the player he was a few years ago week in week out.

There is no way a player can cover the amount of ground Xavi did in the past and still be at their peak at his age.

His legs are not what they were and Xavi is not the player he was it is easy to see almost every game he plays.

And yet, he managed to dominate Manchester City, as well as outdistance every player on the pitch. FACT.

Here's the bottom line: I'm being very specific about what Xavi can and can't do, in certain situations, whereas you all are making generalized blanket perceptive observations ("easy to see," "at his age"). I'm not even arguing against Barça needing new blood and tactics, or that Xavi should play AT ALL, not unless the tactics demand a player with his skill set- as in the Man City game a mere few months back, where he dominated one of the top teams in the world. I say he can still dominate a game in the right circumstances, and show a recent example. You all say he cannot- so who are the ones denying reality?

 

[KingMessi]

A well rested Xavi could certainly perform really well if the situation calls for it. And bringing Xavi off the bench in the second half of games where we need more control, like the one match against Villarreal, would be a good idea.

 

[JamDav1982]

A well rested Xavi could certainly perform really well if the situation calls for it. And bringing Xavi off the bench in the second half of games where we need more control, like the one match against Villarreal, would be a good idea.

Xavi was rested a lot last season and still looked well below what he was.

Using him now just as a filler in easy games is doing little more than holding up the young players opportunities.

As phenomenal a player as he was the best thing in my opinion would have been for him to have left this summer.

 

[KingMessi]

According to El Pais Deportes, Lucho told Xavi: “Te vas, nosotros jamás te echaremos." “Si te quedas, para mí perfecto; pero si no te pongo, no me toques las pelotas”,

"If you go, we'd never kick you out of the club. If you stay, it's perfect for me, but don't complain if I don't play you."

 

[DonAK]

According to El Pais Deportes, Lucho told Xavi: “Te vas, nosotros jamás te echaremos." “Si te quedas, para mí perfecto; pero si no te pongo, no me toques las pelotas”,

"If you go, we'd never throw you out of the club. If you stay, it's perfect for me, but don't complain if I don't play you."

More like 'We'll miss you'.

 

[KingMessi]

Jamas means never. Echar means to throw out. Which is why I came to "we'd never throw you out."

 

[Sumlit]

The first part: “Te vas, nosotros jamás te echaremos." Is more loosely translated, interpreting meaning as well, as : "If you leave, it is because you decide to leave, we would never kick you out of the team"

Sort of like, you quit, because we're never firing you.

 

[KingMessi]

The first part: “Te vas, nosotros jamás te echaremos." Is more loosely translated, interpreting meaning as well, as : "If you leave, it is because you decide to leave, we would never kick you out of the team"

Ok, thanks. I studied Soanish for five years. But I'm quite rusty.

 

[instinct]

The Maestro has arrived

 

[frog-fcb]

Talk now xavi is maybe staying at barca to at least janurary

 

[Androutsos]

The Maestro has arrived

Looks like he is putting the rest of the players through the tests tbh