I believe he will do well. He has a very clear style of play. It won't be any of that stuff around heart and passion.
Xavi (Spanish Lego Pep) | Manager watch
- Thread starter Samid
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Really interested to see how this goes. Xavi clearly has a defined way that he views football should be played. It'll be interesting to see if he's able to coach those ideas into his team.
Good appointment for them. I think it's important when a big club goes astray that you bring in someone that can bring the club back to its roots, Xavi is an academy product and was at the club under a lot of extremely good managers, he will know what is not working when he settles. I hope he gets the time he needs but I think the Barca supporters will find themselves in a similar position we've found ourselves with things not going so well and a club legend at the helm. Ultimately you can't polish a turd and the players at his disposal will not be winning a league any time soon. That will cost him eventually.
No idea about him as a coach but it seems to be a bad time to join Barcelona. Can see them having 2-3 more tough years.
Hahaha.
I've always felt like Xavi was the one who dictate the whole tiki-taka thing on the field. Pogba would be his first sign.
Bit too early for him, he should get more experience first at lower clubs. I think it may end badly.
I think he'll perform better in his first season than many are expecting.
It'll be a high-press, win-the-ball-back-within-8-seconds, high-line, dominate the game with possession approach which requires lots of running and movement off-the-ball. It's easy to look at all the young players in the team, but, you could argue that they're all young enough to run for 90 minutes intensively and buy into his traditional Barça methodology.
At the very least it's clear to see that he has elite tactical understanding and knows how to implement his ideas well. Watch a few Al Sadd games and you'll notice you're not just watching a team of good players, but a collective performing a specific type of football at a very high level.
It'll be a high-press, win-the-ball-back-within-8-seconds, high-line, dominate the game with possession approach which requires lots of running and movement off-the-ball. It's easy to look at all the young players in the team, but, you could argue that they're all young enough to run for 90 minutes intensively and buy into his traditional Barça methodology.
At the very least it's clear to see that he has elite tactical understanding and knows how to implement his ideas well. Watch a few Al Sadd games and you'll notice you're not just watching a team of good players, but a collective performing a specific type of football at a very high level.
Fat chance they can afford his wages and the fatman's sign on fee.
But as a genuine A list Barca legend, and someone who many would name in their greatest ever Barca 11… you have to imagine they’ll give him 25 years just to win his first match
Pogba is the least tiki taka player I've ever seen.
I'm quite surprised to see that most think he'll be a success at Barcelona. He could for sure, but there's a truckload of great tactical masterminds on the pitch that never managed to be good coaches.
Like Pep or Zidane?
Time will tell if he's either one of those or another Lampard/Pirlo.
Pogba is the definition of anti-tiki taka. He can't keep a ball to save his life and his accuracy of passing is generally below par.
Zidane was an assistant for Ancelotti for a year and coached the B team for 2 years, it's not a huge experience but it's still better than coaching in Qatar.
Either he becomes Pep or Ole of barca.
Will be interesting to see how his team plays, good to see clubs taking risks instead of going with same bunch of managers.
The best thing is, Xavi speaks English and is outspoken and a cnut. Would be entertaining to see him speak when things don't go his way. I am pretty sure, he will complain about anti football and grass size soon 
.
I don't care how he does on pitch, I just want him to be entertaining off it.
.I don't care how he does on pitch, I just want him to be entertaining off it.
The difference being that those two walked into teams littered with great talent and bearing large pockets. Xavi comes to a mediocre Barcelona that is spiraling downward and has no money.
He can’t really lose. If he performs badly the players were shit.
Also for him as a manager he’ll get 1-2 years surely to implement his style as he’s such a hero. Barca are brought up to play tika taka and he is the king of it. I don’t see how anyone loses here except their entitled fans.
Also for him as a manager he’ll get 1-2 years surely to implement his style as he’s such a hero. Barca are brought up to play tika taka and he is the king of it. I don’t see how anyone loses here except their entitled fans.
Xavi’s at the wheel
I dunno why but I have a feeling, he will draw us(not you guys) and Ole(Cristiano) will beat him, and than we will have Ole at wheel for 5 more years
A club's ex-champions winning player who has returned as manager after only finding success in a lesser league, prefers a double pivot in midfield with the 4-2-3-1, and has the responsibility of reinstating the club's DNA and set the path straight again.
Wish him the best.
Wish him the best.
Why the hell would they give hun such a long contract ? He should only get a year. If things are poor then he’s gone if it looks like nothing is making sense then he’s off
A player who holds the ball way too long and likes to lose possession in dangerous areas?
This'll be the time to discover whether Barcelona was really just Messi all along or not.
He can lose. See Koeman
You don't need anything to know that having one of the best player of all time makes a massive difference. Also Barcelona had a bit more than Messi and have historically been inconsistent.
Interviews about his philosophy and understanding of football. Footage of his team. Xavi has given some really insightful talks while all I saw from Solskjaer in that department is a video of him telling his players to shoot more in training. But of course, there's more evidence of Solskjaer being shit than Xavi being great.
Yup.
It's not a good time for any manager, but Xavi has a real connection and love for the club, he'll feel he can make them much better than they are currently and ensure they get top 4. Where they go from there who knows, but that's why Xavi has been brought in, because of his loyalty.
Interesting you say that, nice supportive comments even though he has less experience than Ole.
Is the nepotism brigade up in arms against this appointment?
The guy on the TalkFCB YouTube channel is having a wet dream with excitement about this.
Well when your one of only 2 teams expected to win the league that entitlement is certainly magnified.
They have a shite enough squad, too many coming to the end and too many young players coming through but not enough in between. But it's still better quality than at least 17 other teams.
Should still finish top 3 or 4, with a couple of astute signings they could be challenging for the league next year.
So basically you have thread bare evidence and yet you have come up with a statement. If Xavi was as great as you think he is as a manager, he would be doing it in some other club rather than in Qatar. You really think top coaches go there at the start of their career to take on behemoths of club football?
Again, not saying Ole is great but to comment that Xavi is absolutely better than Ole is bias and nothing more at this stage. He could absolutely flop and there's no evidence he will be a hit. Even Lampard was a better pedigree as a manager than Xavi and yet he came apart when managing Chelsea.
Based on the few interviews I’ve read, he’s going to be absolutely insufferable as Barca manager. He’ll spend most of his time sneering at clubs for not playing the Barca way.
Better quality than 17 others? Mate their winger just got back from a year long injury and the other has been injured for years now. That's it, no other wingers. They only have one good CB, no left back and their RBs are bang average. Their squad is shite and top 4 would be a huge accomplishment for Xavi. You're underestimating the other La Liga teams if you think a bunch of 17 year old midfielders gets you top 4.
I think he's judging it based on the fact that Xavi despite minor experience has a clear style of play centred around pressing, being ball dominant, the use of triangles, building up play and attacking through quick movement and switches of wings. Meanwhile Ole has no clear style of football. Now, you're right, he could flop but those youth players will learn a lot more under Xavi than they would under Ole.
Ole has a squad worth 890 million and our style of play can basically be summarised as look for Ronaldo meanwhile Xavi has a bunch of players in Qatar that no ones heard of playing good football.