Xavi (Spanish Lego Pep) | Manager watch

NLunited said:
That‘s from April: we have seen no evidence of a possession based style being implemented.

We have seen a different approach since the last three games of last season: but it isn‘t possession football.
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I'm not sure we have, the only difference I've seen is Mount but if Mount is injured all the time then the system doesn't work. It also seems Casemiro can't play in the system.

Fulham didn't look too bad

Brighton first half was not so bad but after Mount went off we lost our shape and it seemed like we were regressing back to last season

Liverpool could have just been another match from last season.

We really don't know if a style has been dictated from the top but I still think the way xavi plays is not a million miles away from us.
 
horsechoker said:
I think we're miles off the CL at this point so that's not an immediate concern. His lack of experience in the PL could be a worry but it's not like managers with no PL experience have always done badly.
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Agreed.
 
Xavi's style of play is atrocious. Many Barcelona fans on online forums spent the entire season moaning about his boring style of play.


I watched most of their games over the last couple of seasons. His style of play is extremely static, slow and for the last couple of seasons, his team was just looking to spam crosses and hope for the best. He also made poor signings and had no clue how to get the best out of them.


People here who think he plays beautiful possession Football just because he was a legendary midfielder in Pep's system are in for a big shock! The guy has no patterns of play in possession and can't coach a team to press cohesively.


He had lots of meltdowns on the touchline for Barca and had some disastrous press conferences too. He's extremely entitled and petulant since his playing days.


The positives would be that he's a decent man manager, good with young players and the players of this generation respect him a lot for his credentials as a Footballer. He did win the league with Barcelona but that was mostly due to Lewandowski carrying them for the first half of the season and Ter Stegen having an absolutely amazing league campaign from start to finish.


United shouldn't touch him with a barge pole. It'll be a downgrade from Ten Hag and you won't even win any domestic cups.
 
The way Xavi wanted to set the team up and play just wouldn't have worked with the philosophy of Barca or to a lesser part the squad he had.

I was fortunate enough to be in Doha and watch his Al Sadd team and they were a joy to watch. They played a 3-4-3 and constantly overloaded the wings and and outnumbered the opposition in attack. They scored bucket loads and yes I know you'll say "It's Qatar" but the point is you could see his coaching in practice. He had them playing in a way he wanted them to and they bought in and it was beautiful to watch. We can play that same system at United, we have the perfect back 3 setup and with this won't get outnumbered on the counter or in the middle. He would sometimes switch it to a 4-3-3 when needed too so he was very fluid with it. He couldn't implement this at Barca consistently, only played this way briefly but this squad at United would be perfect for it.
 
TenonTen said:
Xavi's style of play is atrocious. Many Barcelona fans on online forums spent the entire season moaning about his boring style of play.


I watched most of their games over the last couple of seasons. His style of play is extremely static, slow and for the last couple of seasons, his team was just looking to spam crosses and hope for the best. He also made poor signings and had no clue how to get the best out of them.


People here who think he plays beautiful possession Football just because he was a legendary midfielder in Pep's system are in for a big shock! The guy has no patterns of play in possession and can't coach a team to press cohesively.


He had lots of meltdowns on the touchline for Barca and had some disastrous press conferences too. He's extremely entitled and petulant since his playing days.


The positives would be that he's a decent man manager, good with young players and the players of this generation respect him a lot for his credentials as a Footballer. He did win the league with Barcelona but that was mostly due to Lewandowski carrying them for the first half of the season and Ter Stegen having an absolutely amazing league campaign from start to finish.


United shouldn't touch him with a barge pole. It'll be a downgrade from Ten Hag and you won't even win any domestic cups.
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I agree with the majority of this post.

The only bone of contention is that last sentence, I think Xavi and Ten Hag are pretty similar in their level as managers. Xavi's Barcelona team didn't really impress in either Europa League game against us a couple of seasons ago but the tie still could've gone either way. We were only marginally better.

The only match we impressed in en route to winning the two domestic cups was the FA Cup final vs Man City at the end of last season. Them and Liverpool are the only teams of note we had to beat to win either of those trophies. It isn't unfathomable that another pretty average manager could've done the same. Either way, I'd steer clear of Xavi too.
 
NLunited said:
That‘s from April: we have seen no evidence of a possession based style being implemented.

We have seen a different approach since the last three games of last season: but it isn‘t possession football.
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Agreed. Ten Hag doesn't seem to be attempting to implement a possession based system at all. There is no sign of any structured building up - the aim is to get the ball forward quickly from deep positions or to win it high up the pitch in counterpressing situations and attack from there with forwards who are at their best when running into space. It has all the elements of transition football, which is Ten Hag's stated aim ("best transition side in the world"). Under Ten Hag, we've had some of the lowest average possession figures of any post-SAF manager.

The only change since April has been with our pressing shape, which is now a 4-2-4.
 
Infra-red said:
Agreed. Ten Hag doesn't seem to be attempting to implement a possession based system at all. There is no sign of any structured building up - the aim is to get the ball forward quickly from deep positions or to win it high up the pitch in the counterpress and attack from there with forwards who are at their best when running into space. It has all the elements of transition football, which is Ten Hag's stated aim ("best transition side in the world"). Under Ten Hag, we've had some of the lowest average possession figures of any post-SAF manager.

The only change since April has been with our pressing shape, which is now a 4-2-4.
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Yeah we simply have to appoint a manager who values possession but worry how long that will take. So why is Xavi being hammered for his style of play by some in this thread then?
 
He’s 10 years younger than ten Hag. People are taking like he is the finished article. He has relatively little experience in management and a lot to learn, yet he has already won a league title in Spain. There is potential for a great manager in him.
 
golden_blunder said:
That’s like saying Rangers won the league the year that Celtic were off
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They finished with 88 points that year, with not a spectacular squad and the best defence the league.

For context that's only seven points less than Madrid's much celebrated 23/24 season.

For further context, the last time Madrid beat Xavi's 88 point La Liga finish was 16/17, almost a decade ago.

Even the seasons Madrid weren't "off" in the last decade they couldn't beat Xavi's 88 point haul.

It is what it is. Statistically, 22/23 Barcelona would have finished above any Real Madrid side, except for 16/17 and 23/25.
 
Would take him in an instant. Guarantee he would work on our ability to keep the ball which is non existent.
 
I think Xavi will do better outside of Barcelona as a manager.

But I wouldn't prefer him over Tuchel.
 
crossy1686 said:
Barcelona and Bayern have really took the focus off us this season. Well done lads, never stop being mental.
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Watching Barcelona crash and burn has been absolutely glorious after years of them winning everything. I got so tired of all of their arrogance and "Mes Que Un Club" bullshit. Long may their downward spiral continue.
 
Is that his kid? We all knew Xavi had a soft spot for United (especially Scholes) so it's interesting to see his kid supporting us as well.
 
Not sure about Xavi at all, but I'd take him tomorrow if it means ending this ETH hell, and puts an end to any Southgate and Potter links.
 
Probably a Berrada special. Only other thing I know he’s done is sign Yoro
 
Wouldn't be my preference but honestly we're so bad that anything other than the current manager would do.
 
I can only imagine this being a disaster so please no. It'll be basically an improved-LVG-mark-2.

We'll be much better on the ball, organised to an extent but utterly toothless against most teams that can sit behind the ball. There's no way he's going to be able to motivate our players to go out on the pitch and fight technically and physically to win consistently in this league.
 
It would definitely help with the trend of Giggs, Carrick, Ruud and Ole. All of the best players employed by the club being on the coaching staff.
 
criticalanalysis said:
I can only imagine this being a disaster so please no. It'll be basically an improved-LVG-mark-2.

We'll be much better on the ball, organised to an extent but utterly toothless against most teams that can sit behind the ball. There's no way he's going to be able to motivate our players to go out on the pitch and fight technically and physically to win consistently in this league.
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This is my concern, I feel like we need a manager who knows the league and won’t be overcome by how physical it is for the first year or so.
 
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