Xavi (Spanish Lego Pep) | Manager watch

Robbie Boy said:
Oh the bitterness :lol:
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Says the one talking about a jammy goal and a clear pen that Bruno was brain dead on. United deserved to go through but Barca also could’ve scored more. It happens. Both sides had jammy goals in this tie.


Chief123 said:
I’m not convinced that’s valid. They had Pedri and Gavi start last week and were still outplayed. Meanwhile we had the best defender in Europe missing.
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I wouldn’t say outplayed. Barca with twice as many shots on target in the first leg and were actually able to control the midfield in that match where they couldn’t at all today in the second half. Barca could’ve had 4 goals in that first leg with some shots hitting the woodwork. United could have had more goals too but the difference between Gavi and pedri together Vs the midfield today is massive.


Oly Francis said:
And who overworked Pedri until he broke (again, for the same reason) may I ask?
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Koeman was doing it long before Xavi did
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
Says the one talking about a jammy goal and a clear pen that Bruno was brain dead on. United deserved to go through but Barca also could’ve scored more. It happens. Both sides had jammy goals in this tie.
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You're just acting like a massive fanny in here tbh. It's amusing and bitter. How could I be bitter that we won? :lol:
 
Kaos said:
Harsh to compare him to Ole. He seems to actually have an idea on how he wants his team to setup. Yes his approach can be naive at times with little to no plan B, but you could see what he's trying to do with the team. Unfortunately you couldn't say the same about Ole, whose whole approach was vibes and hit them on the counter. Arteta is a fair comparison.
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Having an ideo of how you want your team to setup doesn't give you the guarantee that this idea is going to work. Lets take Arteta as an exemple, who's the most important player in his team? It's a tie between Odegaard and Partey. Xavi would never use a player like Partey, he's far too stuck in his idea and I have no doubt that he'll try to find a Busquets like player after he used Busquets to the bone. Ideas often need to evolve and so far, Xavi seems unable to developp any kind of plan B.
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
Koeman was doing it long before Xavi did
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Was Koeman on the bench when Xavi kept Pedri on the pitch once more throughout the whole fricking game against Villareal despite him being the most used player in the team with an history an injury, a 1-0 lead in the game and an 8 points lead in La Liga.
Pedri's injury is on Xavi, but you seem too blind to admit it.
 
He'll last a couple years until the Barca fans get bored of not progressing past the round of 16 in the CL
 
RyRy11 said:
He'll last a couple years until the Barca fans get bored of not progressing past the round of 16 in the CL
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He will stay as long as the black magic works domestically, lets see when it ends, probably next season but who knows.
 
RyRy11 said:
He'll last a couple years until the Barca fans get bored of not progressing past the round of 16 in the CL
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Surely UEFA won't be able to draw them with Bayern + the strongest side of pot 3 every year. Specially if they win la Liga and get themselves to pot 1.

PS: the first elimination was only partially his fault... Benfica was already ahead when he joined.
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
I wouldn’t say outplayed. Barca with twice as many shots on target in the first leg and were actually able to control the midfield in that match where they couldn’t at all today in the second half. Barca could’ve had 4 goals in that first leg with some shots hitting the woodwork. United could have had more goals too but the difference between Gavi and pedri together Vs the midfield today is massive.
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You’ll obviously see it differently being a Barca fan. However, overall over the two legs that felt quite a comfortable tie. It felt more a case of when were we going to score rather than if. I know Barca are in transition but it’s clear to see there’s a huge drop off from what they used to be. Without sounding like a wum, I genuinely think we’ve had tougher games against the likes of Newcastle, Arsenal and even Leeds recently.
 
Chief123 said:
You’ll obviously see it differently being a Barca fan. However, overall over the two legs that felt quite a comfortable tie. It felt more a case of when were we going to score rather than if. I know Barca are in transition but it’s clear to see there’s a huge drop off from what they used to be. Without sounding like a wum, I genuinely think we’ve had tougher games against the likes of Newcastle, Arsenal and even Leeds recently.
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Today, sure, but that first leg Barca could’ve won and it would have been deserved. Plus again, no dembele who has been huge for them this season. It’s all good though, injuries happen


Oly Francis said:
Was Koeman on the bench when Xavi kept Pedri on the pitch once more throughout the whole fricking game against Villareal despite him being the most used player in the team with an history an injury, a 1-0 lead in the game and an 8 points lead in La Liga.
Pedri's injury is on Xavi, but you seem too blind to admit it.
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Barca winning la liga is more than enough for this season. It’s still a team I. Transition. Xavi has done a good job overall so far. I do agree he needs to rotate Pedri more.
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
Today, sure, but that first leg Barca could’ve won and it would have been deserved. Plus again, no dembele who has been huge for them this season. It’s all good though, injuries happen
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Obviously we’re both biased, but considering we were the away team in the first leg - and the general contextual appraisal that comes with that - I thought we were obviously the better team. You expect Barca to get some chances late on in any home tie, but before the last 10 we were comfortable, and as for shots - the XG bares out that our chances were a lot better than yours

I actually found it amusing how many people were painting it as an “amazing even tie for the ages” as generally when a home team has to come from behind to get a point in those things, the away team has had the better night by default. It’s like when Madrid beat us in that famous 4-3 and we tried to pretend it was a classic when actually they were largely always on top.

Again, your first half tonight had a similar vibe, in that you didn’t dominate or anything, and only had a couple of chances, but by virtue of being the away side you contextually had the better of it… second half though we dominated more than either had any other point in the tie.

All of this was a massive surprise btw cos I was pretty sure you’d beat us in both legs. But hey, as I said, may be biased, but everyone had been bigging Barca up all season that I was surprised at how ordinary you seemed.

Also we’re without our first choice striker and only AM… we’re playing fecking Weghorst upfront. Injuries sminjeries
 
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Mockney said:
Obviously we’re both biased, but considering we were the away team in the first leg - and the general contextual appraisal that comes with that - I thought we were obviously the better team. You expect Barca to get some chances late on in any home tie, but before the last 10 we were comfortable, and as for shots - the XG bares out that our chances were a lot better than yours

I actually found it amusing how many people were painting it as an “amazing even tie for the ages” as generally when a home team has to come from behind to get a point in those things, the away team has had the better night by default. It’s like when Madrid beat us in that famous 4-3 and we tried to pretend it was a classic when actually they were largely always on top.

Again, your first half tonight had a similar vibe, in that you didn’t dominate or anything, and only had a couple of chances, but by virtue of being the away side you contextually had the better of it… second half though we dominated more than either had any other point in the tie.

All of this was a massive surprise btw cos I was pretty sure you’d beat us in both legs. But hey, as I said, may be biased, but everyone had been bigging Barca up all season that I was surprised at how ordinary you seemed.

Also we’re without our first choice striker and only AM… we’re playing fecking Weghorst upfront. Injuries sminjeries
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our injuries were inarguably bigger though as dembele, pedri and Gavi are 3 of our 4 best players with the ball. It’s all good and I agree with everything else you said. Congrats on the win, that second half was splendid by your side.
 
Xavi's record in Europe:

4 wins
6 draws
6 losses
7 levers
 
Xavi is an exceptional manager, he's already showing that in the league, worth remembering that this Barca team is a work in progress, which can be seen with their exploits in Europe. To be fair to him, he was also missing some key players, Dembele in the first leg and Pedri Gavi in the 2nd. It's not like we played them out of the park, both games were close, the DeGea miskick or the Kounde header, or the Lewa goal line clearance could easily have gone the other way.

People always complain about Pep not having a plan B and occasionally it does come to bite them, but it's not like there are other team with a plan B that are doing better than Pep's teams. Look at Arteta now, even if they don't win the league, you can't call him a fraud or just another manger, he's deserves credit for this season. This is Xavi's first full season with this team, there's so much going on in the background there too, and he's still, in all likelihood, winning the league.

Just because what ETH is doing is almost akin to magic, does not mean Xavi is not a good manager.
 
Thought tactically Barca were very good. The amount of times they had 3 players on the right or left with one making the inside run was very interesting tactically. You saw in the first half Shaw getting pulled out wide and that inside run opening up, on the other side AWB was tucking in so much that Balde (what a player he will be) had loads of space.

I think without Dembele Barca don't really have players that can beat fullbacks etc so I think Xavi has them set up perfectly. At the end of the day as weird as it sounds we had the better squad for Ten Hag to make more impactful changes. Reckon if Xavi wins a few things maybe he takes over from Pep.
 
top1whoisman said:
Humble and respectful in his presser.

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He's actually one of the most respectful managers I've heard in a while. No issue talking up a team and giving them credit. I've no doubt he be using this as motivation to get back at it next year.

Would dare say he's a class act.


Hearing they have to clear another 200mil of the wages, not sure how true this is, but if they can get more players in they surely be a threat in champs league, with us too.

That was a high level champs league game last night imo
 
I actually thought the tie was more comfortable for us than the scoreline suggests, and they rarely looked threatening. A bit tactically naive but they’ve got some promising players, Xavi comes across ok. Sounds like they’re still on their arse financially though.
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
our injuries were inarguably bigger though as dembele, pedri and Gavi are 3 of our 4 best players with the ball. It’s all good and I agree with everything else you said. Congrats on the win, that second half was splendid by your side.
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yeah fair play. Sorry, I think it was just fed up of arguing with weird Barca fans on Twitter!… also I’d had a celebratory drink :smirk:
 
He spoke very respectfully and nicely about Utd all throughout the buildup to the games and after them as well.

I'm sure he's done interviews in the past where he's been complimentary of Utd and our history too. Seems a nice enough guy.
 
Xavi being humble in defeat is not something i expected of him as a manager, he was quite the sore loser as a player, maybe he has changed, or he feels its different than actually being on the pitch himself.
 
AltiUn said:
Me too, has a lot of potential. Also thought he was very respectful and classy about us in the build up which, a lot of manager's haven't been like that with us very often in the last decade so he's gone up a bit in my estimation.
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He has said in the past that we were his favourite English team. With his links to Qatar and them looking likely owners in the not too distant future, I also wonder if he has one eye on the Man Utd job if it doesn't work out at Barca (or if he eventually wants to move on like Pep did).
 
Morty_ said:
Xavi being humble in defeat is not something i expected of him as a manager, he was quite the sore loser as a player, maybe he has changed, or he feels its different than actually being on the pitch himself.
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He’s done nothing but praise us to be fair. Opposite to the likes of guardiola and arteta.
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
our injuries were inarguably bigger though as dembele, pedri and Gavi are 3 of our 4 best players with the ball. It’s all good and I agree with everything else you said. Congrats on the win, that second half was splendid by your side.
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Mate, we are without Martial and Eriksen, two of our best players. Plus dalot wasn’t fit either. You talk about a drop off, we are playing weghorst ffs, it’s like you playing luuk de Jong or braithwaite upfront. Going from Dembele to Raphinha, fati or ferran isn’t even comparable to going from Martial to weghorst.
 
DJ_21 said:
He’s done nothing but praise us to be fair. Opposite to the likes of guardiola and arteta.
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Good on him, and he has taken other losses well so far too, as i can recall.

Its just that as a player, he was very different whenever his team lost.
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
our injuries were inarguably bigger though as dembele, pedri and Gavi are 3 of our 4 best players with the ball. It’s all good and I agree with everything else you said. Congrats on the win, that second half was splendid by your side.
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I mean, we had our first choice midfielder and first choice striker out of both games, our first choice right winger only returning from injury enough to play half a match, our first choice central defender out for the first match, and our first choice right back struggling after recently returning from injury. We arguably had half our strongest 11 unavailable.
 
Haven't watched Barcelona as much as I did during their peak era, but this Barca team is terrible compared to the sides I'm accustomed to seeing. No idea how they are top of La Liga-- Player for player, I don't think a single Barcelona player would be in the Madrid starting XI. No real star power in that squad.
 
Ace said:
Haven't watched Barcelona as much as I did during their peak era, but this Barca team is terrible compared to the sides I'm accustomed to seeing. No idea how they are top of La Liga-- Player for player, I don't think a single Barcelona player would be in the Madrid starting XI. No real star power in that squad.
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Its not that hard, its simply impossible for them to concede goals in the league, so with that part done they just need to get 1 goal per match somehow, job done.
 
Surely the title of this thread should be Lego Pep Mark II? Xavi and Arteta are both Spanish.

I'm not going to have a dig at Xavi. I thought Barcelona played alright, considering Pedri, Gavi and Dembele were out. I didn't hear much sour grapes out of him in his post game interview or presser.

In my opinion Barcelona is compromised by having to compensate for Busquets' lack of legs. In many phases of play Barcelona actually play a midfield four. Its the same kind of thing you used to see with Ernesto Valverde.

I expect, once Busquets moves on and they find a more mobile controlling midfielder, Xavi will be able to play the way he really wants to play.
 
What i am surprised the most from Xavi is that he didnt try to replicate Peps Barca in any way. Actually Barcelona now looks more like Rijkaards Barcelona than anything else, ofcourse with the modern twists and tactical changes. Xavi is using for free the Pep-Arteta template but i really thought he will be obsessed with the midfield like Pep is. Thats just not the case..
 
Morty_ said:
Good on him, and he has taken other losses well so far too, as i can recall.

Its just that as a player, he was very different whenever his team lost.
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As a player he wasn’t used to losing tbf
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
Says the one talking about a jammy goal and a clear pen that Bruno was brain dead on. United deserved to go through but Barca also could’ve scored more. It happens. Both sides had jammy goals in this tie.




I wouldn’t say outplayed. Barca with twice as many shots on target in the first leg and were actually able to control the midfield in that match where they couldn’t at all today in the second half. Barca could’ve had 4 goals in that first leg with some shots hitting the woodwork. United could have had more goals too but the difference between Gavi and pedri together Vs the midfield today is massive.




Koeman was doing it long before Xavi did
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I’d say outplayed we would win that game 4 out of every 5. The most comfortable we’ve looked against a top side in years.
 
It was a great tie, could have gone either way. These matches are often won on moments - for once we took ours.

If DDG didn't make that header save or Varane the goal line slide, it could be different.

No need for bad blood. Accept it wasn't your day, say GG and move on.
 
GinobiliTheGOAT said:
Says the one talking about a jammy goal and a clear pen that Bruno was brain dead on. United deserved to go through but Barca also could’ve scored more. It happens. Both sides had jammy goals in this tie.




I wouldn’t say outplayed. Barca with twice as many shots on target in the first leg and were actually able to control the midfield in that match where they couldn’t at all today in the second half. Barca could’ve had 4 goals in that first leg with some shots hitting the woodwork. United could have had more goals too but the difference between Gavi and pedri together Vs the midfield today is massive.




Koeman was doing it long before Xavi did
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Nah mate Barca totally outplayed. Get over it
 
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