Xavi Hernández has been the new Barcelona coach since the beginning of this week.
Idol of the Catalan team, he came to replace the Dutchman Ronald Koeman, the team’s star in a previous generation, who failed to lead the team.
At 41, Xavi is one of the new generation’s technicians. Barcelona will be their first big challenge, as they have only coached Al-Sadd, from Qatar, from 2019 onwards.
A financial power, so much so that it will host the 2022 World Cup, Qatar is a long way from being a football power.
It was at Al-Sadd that Xavi spent the final four years of his playing career – he left Barça in 2015 and headed for the Middle East.
Xavi Hernandez
❤️ A life in maroon blue. pic.twitter.com/UOMyONg3cn
— FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_br) November 7, 2021
On his return to Spain, the former midfielder – who while active, stood out for his class, creativity, great passing and leadership, as well as having marking power – gave the message: with him, Barcelona will not have easy with regard to work and discipline.
Xavi, according to his speech, will implement a hard line in training, and even beyond, so that, on the field, the team performs a style à la Johan Cruyff (1947-2016), Dutch that, when directing Barcelona, made him a reference in well played football from the 1990s onwards.
From what he said when he introduced himself, Xavi hopes that Barcelona can triumph in the post-Messi era –today at Paris Saint-Germain– by playing the “total football” of the Cruyff era.
“The idea is the same as Cruyff’s: my first defender is the striker, and my first striker is the goalkeeper. We have to work tactically, press high [na defesa do adversário] and dominate the ball.”
Xavi mentioned Cruyff, who coached Barça when he started playing in the club’s youth divisions, in 1991, at the age of 11, but the phrase refers to another well-known coach.
Anyone who follows football knows that this way of playing, with extensive control of ball possession and intense marking by pressure, has been carried out, with a good dose of success, for over a decade by Pep Guardiola, ex-Barcelona, ex-Bayern de Munich, now Manchester City.
Guardiola, who was Cruyff’s player, coached Xavi on the Spanish team from 2008 to 2012.
Together, they won two Champions League (European Champions League), two Club World Cups, three Spanish Championships and two King’s Cups.
After Guardiola left, Xavi, world champion with Spain in 2010, in South Africa, still won with Barça one Champions League, two Spaniards and one Copa del Rey.
Coincidence or not, after Xavi left in mid-2015, despite continuing to show strength within the country (three Spaniards and four King’s Cups), the team wearing blue and maroon no longer reached the top of Europe, the that bothers a lot, especially because the biggest rival, Real Madrid, won in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Xavi takes on a wavering Barcelona, which registers unexpected results, without confidence. A team that has shown common football, which is not consistent with what everyone is used to seeing.
In the final season of the then shirt 6 at Barça (2014/15), the team, in 60 matches, won 50, drew four and lost six.
There were 21 triumphs, including an 8-0 at Córdoba and an 8-1 at Huesca, and three titles: Champions, Espanyol and Copa del Rey.
Last season (2020/21), even with Messi, the team, in 55 games, won 35, drew nine and lost 11.
The victories by three or more goals ahead were 16, a good number, but what scored the most were scathing setbacks, at home, against Real Madrid (3-1), Juventus (3-0) and PSG (4-1 ). Worse: only one title, that of the King’s Cup.
To change that, Xavi has his formula: that of law and order. With a short rein.
“First of all, it is important for us to comply with rules and be more demanding with ourselves”, he declared, implying that it is necessary to organize the house, which would be quite messy.
“Then we can talk about values, respect and attitude, because if we don’t have values, we won’t have a team.”
At Xavi’s Barcelona, players will have to report for training an hour and a half before the start, so that there are no more cases of athletes rushing in for the session.
Everyone will have breakfast at the club’s CT and sometimes have lunch there.
A “curfew” will be established for players in the days prior to matches. At a specified time, everyone will have to be at home.
Another heterodox change of habit imposed on athletes is the prohibition of the practice of activities considered dangerous, such as extreme sports, in their spare time or free time.
Finally, the fines will return, abolished by coach Ernesto Valverde (2017-2020), for those who break the rules.
Even with so much rigidity and seriousness, it seems like a Herculean task to rebuild this Barcelona, which suffers from the ninth position in the Espanyol and experiences a “go no go” in the Champions League (two victories and two defeats in the group stage).
Barcelona seems to lack more than will, dedication and discipline.
It seems to lack talent, it seems to lack energy.
In 2015, the team that won the Champions had, in addition to Messi and Xavi, Iniesta, Suárez, Neymar, Rakitic, Piqué, Jordi Alba, Mascherano, Busquets, Ter Stegen. All young and/or in excellent shape.
Today, Piqué, Busquets, Alba and Ter Stegen are still there. The first three are 34, 33 and 32 years old, respectively, and the physical capacity of each one has dropped, it’s natural. The 29-year-old goalkeeper has an unreliable knee.
On the positive side, Xavi can count on a pair of very good Dutchmen, defensive midfielder Frenkie de Jong and forward Memphis Depay.
Along with them, names like Mingueza, Eric García, Ansu Fati, Dest, Araújo, Pedri and Gavi, young people who have to improve and/or evolve a lot to prove themselves trustworthy.
Also part of the squad, as he should leave in the next transfer window, is a tepid Philippe Coutinho, a shadow of the attacking midfielder who arrived at the 2018 World Cup, in Russia, as a highlight of the Brazilian team.
And then there’s the Argentine striker Agüero, who came from Manchester City and has been a constant presence in the infirmary for a couple of years.
Is it possible to improve this Barcelona? Yes. Is it believable that this squad could be European or even Spanish champions? Not.
Nicknamed Master as a player, Xavi will need to perform several master moves to make this Barcelona work.
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