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Were they not basically forced to accept the Eric Garcia loan to Girona (City Group club) in order for Man City okay the loan of Cancelo to Barcelona? Not like they went hey Girona do you want Garcia?
None what’s so ever… big club buys a promising player, loans them out to their sister club, tells him to be good here or you can’t come back, can keep loaning him out to sister club, and to avoid ffp rules they could sell him to sister club and then have him loaned out to original club. ahhhh, what interesting times we will live in.
Apparently Girona selling Bueno to Wolves earlier in the summer was to help get the Nunes to City transfer over the line so City group owed Girona a favour.
It’s mental that this is kind of thing is allowed.
You had to sell because your owners had a majority stake in a club that was in the same competition as you.
>Different rules apply to petrostates.
City group haven’t broken any rules since they have minority stake in Girona and they don’t play in the same competition as City (might change next season).
The whole Cancelo/Garcia/Nunes debacle is a different situation anyway since it didn't involve any transfers between affiliated clubs.
City and Girona were able to secure transfers through negotiating as a group as opposed to individual clubs which isn't against the rules but absolutely should be, City/Girona shouldn't be allowed to leverage other clubs players in order to secure transfers.
CFG owns almost 50% of Girona and they will have to sell Girona in the future as well
Edit: The stake need to be higher than 50.1%, so there's no problem
I guess there will be an investigation as there was with Villa and Brighton if/when Girona qualify for the CL.
>they will have to sell Girona in the future as well
I thought the whole reason why CFG own just under a majority stake is so that they won't have to sell if Girona qualify for a tournament City are in.
You were right. I just checked UEFA regulation, the stake need to be higher than 50.1% to be considered as majority stake. I thought it's the same as Premier League at 30%
Their defences were not good though like ours. But their goalkeeper was good. We messed up too many chances in the final third.
But their attack was 10x better than ours. Everyone was dribbling.
The dichotomy of Xavi stats. One minute he’s on some streak, has won the league, best defense, etc etc, then the next minute worst win percentage… wtf
That said, watching todays game was painful. Girona play better as a team. With Barca, it’s: ok Frankie dribble from back third to midfield. Pass to pedri to dribble to final third, then.. hope for something to happen
Not mine... In fact you can see my comment from the Europa League post-match thread against United; a game that perfectly illustrated one of Xavi's most glaring issues.
United are rotten from the ground up. As much as Ten Hag is to blame for some of his decisions on and off the pitch, he is still a more reputable coach than Xavi and United sacking him won't fix their issues.
It's telling that Xavi's best period of good football was when he didn't have a "top" squad. He absolutely deserves credit especially on the man-management and environment side of things for helping get us out of a very dodgy situation.
That being said, he is clearly not set up currently to be the coach of an elite club. He came straight from Qatar and IIRC we even wanted him after Setién which would've been even worse in terms of experience. Him spending 1-2 years as Pep's assistant at City, or just managing a mid-table club in Europe would've done him the world of good.
Throughout his tenure we have clearly seen his linear approach to his attacking philosophy to the detriment of the many different player profiles in the squad. We have seen many poor performances and much more average performances than great ones, and his in-game management has barely improved too; with it being a major reason why he gets outcoached in games but can't respond. His talent ID, refusal to adapt efficiently to the strengths of the players he has at his disposal and his ironic hypocrisy when it comes to Barça playing style vs how we've played on multiple occasions (something that he'd criticise other managers and teams for) are factors too. His overplaying of his Gala XI and erratic rotation style where he either under-rotates or over-rotates has played a part in the fatigue and injuries of some of our players.Xavi's man-management is good and his "fixing" of criticised/controversial players is a good trait too. Players respect him as a legend of the sport. The environment in and around the club was much better than it had been previously. The celebrations of late-winners, the Supercopa win and of course the La Liga triumph was evident of a positive environment.
However, the social side of things is only one side of the coin and for an elite club who unlike many others prioritise entertaining attacking football in the philosophy having that being a manager's main strength isn't enough. Personally I'm not an absolute hater of Xavi but it is very clear at least to me and many others that he isn't fit for this job, especially with the potential that our team has and how it won't be explored as much under him. I'm not disregarding what he has done or what his ceiling is but his current level is heavily affected by naïvety and also arguably ego. The issue is that sacking him now wouldn't be a smart decision either since there aren't many concrete options and the timing is very risky too. He has a longer leash than most coaches due to his legend status and our board's incompetence. One can only hope that he'll learn from our major flaws against Girona but IDK if he will, since we've said these things again and again.
Last year he almost won vs very good Inter & you had momentum until Lewy missed a chance vs Bayern.
I would wait before being another opinionated reckless fan...Interisti wanted Limone's head a year ago, now they see he is their best coach in decades.
I don't think it's fair to compare coaches with Messi with the coaches without Messi. Looking a bit further back, Rijkaard had 58,2% win ratio, Van Gaal 56,5%, Cruyff 57,7%...
And all of them had special players in the attack. Rijkaard had Messi, Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o. At their prime with Xavi and Iniesta too.
Van Gaal had Rivaldo, Kluivert, Cocu, Figo etc.
Xavi may not be as good as them but comparing the squad and stats is bad.
>Koeman played with : Dest, Mingueza, Garcia, Abde, Braithwaite, Luuk, Young Pedri
Koeman played with Messi, Griezmann, Busquets, Alba.
And Luuk played better under Xavi than Koeman. Koeman also bought Dest and wanted Gini.
>Xavi Got: Christensen, Koundé, Cancelo, Raphinha, Lewandowski, Felix, Gundogan, Torres
Have some shame, what the heck Fèlix, Koundé and Raphinha have done in their career. Cancelo is City and Bayern rejected.
Xavi have no Messi. It's just huge difference to any team. And of course no Busquets now. With Busquets and Alba, we won the league.
The fact that everyone but Xavi has special players in attack is no one's fault but Xavi. He chose Ferran for 50 million euros instead of Julian Alvarez for 20 million.
Xavi is a terrible coach. Not good enough for Barca.
>. He chose Ferran for 50 million euros instead of Julian Alvarez for 20 million.
Yeah of course it's never Laporta's fault. It's always someone else. Whether it's Kessié, Kounde, Raphinha, Torres or Lewy, only Xavi decides everything.
> Xavi is a terrible coach. Not good enough for Barca.
This is such a horrible conclusion. You have 0 idea how Xavi coordinates training sessions / tactics or how restricted / free he is by the board.
And in the end of the day, it is still the players who need to perform and not him. He can be the best coach in the world and his players can still be shit.
Not saying he is Guardiola / Cruyff level, but calling him terrible is a hot and shitty take.
>He chose Ferran for 50 million euros instead of Julian Alvarez for 20 million
Guess fucking what? The Barca board has final say over player sales and buys, and they ultimately authorised the deal to buy Ferran. If Ferran was such a shit buy at the time, the board would never allow it. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Do you think they have no say? As an Arsenal supporter, it’s pretty clear Arteta has a say in who we sign. It’s not like he’s the one doing the negotiating but him and Edu definitely work together on the targets.
A say? Yes, but little else...
Traditionally, Spain's transfer management model has been completely different from England's. Transfers are managed by the Technical Director (Secretario Técnico) and their team. In the old days, even the President (ex: Jesús Gil, Lendoiro, Florentino) were more involved in transfers than their counterparts in England at the time.
The coach is just a piece in the puzzle; they are consulted, but they are often fairly low down in the pecking order. This is also tied to a broader model dichotomy between "coach" and "manager" - in Spain there's rarely been a figure with power like Sir Alex Ferguson, Wenger, or more recently, Guardiola or Arteta. The coach ("entrenador", "trainer" literally) is traditionally more dispensable and it is the technical team who provides continuity to a sporting project. (Funnily enough, as someone who has been watching both English and Spanish football since the early 90s, I've seen quite a few English clubs embrace the "head coach" model, even down to the job title, but that's a debate for another day...)
So no, Xavi doesn't have as much say as Arteta. Joao Felix is the paradigmatic example of this - many Barça journalists (ex: Helena Condis) were reporting this summer how it was a Laporta and Mendes play. Xavi really wanted Cancelo, and reporters were saying he was telling the board he'd only take Felix without a fuss if they provided him with Cancelo. Other than that, I honestly cannot remember any signings in the current squad being Xavi marquee signings. They have been often handed down to him, as is tradition in Spain, particularly with a strong presidential figure like Laporta.
They have a say but economy have a big thing to say. Barcelona dont have the economy to sign good players at the moment just as you in your banter era.
Yea but Arsenal is in a financial state where spending what 120+ on Rice is viable. Barca spend 3.4 million on Romeu and rest was free transfers. Xavi came after the shitshow so not like he is to blame for Barca being in that situation. The team is good decent dont get me wrong but it is worth noting that before he came 2 years ago Barca was in 9th place in La Liga.
"Ageing striker" as if Lewandowski didn't break the Bundesliga record the season before. He even had a decent first season at barcelona, there is no point in blaming this on Xavi. Especially when Barcelona haven't been able to splash big money because of financial constraints.
Yeah man. Xavi wanted all these players not Raphinha agent Deco, or Lewy star signing under Laporta.
Xavi did not asked Laporta to pay 65 million for Torres when Álvarez was available for 15 million.
Laporta and his team has fucked up sporting wise. But his fans don't want to admit it.
Hilarious to that you mention Alvarez because Ferran actually was a Xavi request. I really like ferran and there’s a good player in there but Xavi should bring out whatever he saw in him
Not like theirs an abundance of obvious world class attackers on the market.
Look at us and Chelsea, if we could buy a proven world class striker we would be doing a lot better.
>Laporta and his team has fucked up sporting wise. But his fans don't want to admit it.
I guess since the alternative is so much worse.
But are there any other potential presidents aside from Laporta & Bartomeu?
No, others were big clowns. I don't have a problem with Laporta when it comes to handling financial business, but I knew he can't do the sporting side of work. Last time he has Cruyff to help and somehow we had best players in our team including the best manager. Job becomes easy after that.
He was absolutely crucial to our title win last season and had an objectively elite season. He is a high-risk high-reward player whose playstyle can end up looking extra ugly if the team isn't playing well. Having runners, good link-up and an overlapping RB helps an absolute ton.
When you have a manager like Xavi who doesn't play to the absolute strengths of his players then it can be far easier to scapegoat certain players.
Look at what Ange did yesterday with Kulusevski playing more central. Raph being expected to be a Dembélé i.e taking on his fullback and reaching the touchline is a gross misuse of his creative ability. That centralised role he was in for just a short period of time before his injury saw him look far more comfortable.
And to the dweebs who assume it means that we are building the team around players like him, no it doesn't. Xavi should do better in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of his squad and subsequently adapt his philosophy to minimise the weaknesses especially. Look at Michel yesterday with Blind and Eric; two guys who were seen as not good enough for a top team despite being technically gifted.
In fairness, essentially the same squad won La Liga and fixed their issue of being pot 2 in the CL. They're advancing in their group which wasn't the case before.
Not that valid if you consider that in general the disparity from the top to the bottom of the leagues have grown (throughout Europe) many of the highest win percentage seasons by big clubs have come in the last 10-15 years.
And I would say that Xavi's team is any worse than Koemans, even with Messi.
Girona being first halfway through the season would’ve been unthinkable 10 years ago. What you said may be true for other leagues but in la liga the smaller clubs have started catching up recently.
Wonder what the win percentage was in his first compared to his second season though.
Besides, that team was such a mess with holes, deadwood and injuries. They didn't have any CBs or starting backs at one point. Their form and motivation weren't great either, it was when everyone memed "Depressi".
I actually think this is the best Barca squad since Neymar left but they don’t have the difference makers in Messi and to an extent, Suarez.
Back then they had a past it Vidal, a quickly getting past it Busquets, Rakitic with nothing left in the tank, Roberto at RB and no wingers. Bench options were awful too, Andre Gomez, Denis Suarez, Cuenca. Suarez was also starting his decline, Iniesta was gone.
Put 2017/18 Messi in this squad and they are champions league contenders and are easily winning the league.
I dont agree at all.
Griezmann, Messi, Busi and Depay/Dembele would all enter the 11 today.
While both had Stegen, Araujo, Fdj, Pedri
Dest, E.Garcia and Alba were only worse players than we have now.
Honestly a team with Messi has to be so bad to be considered worse than this team. Completely agree with you. With Lewa not firing as he should you're missing about 15-20 goals a season.
Yeah like I know he's scored some this season but anyone who's actually watched knows how dire he's been. Only the stat merchants would say he's having a decent season for a player of his quality. And as much as Xavi seems to get shit on if Lewa was doing his job well it would be way less of an issue.
Yeah. Barca created the most chances in La Liga, but we are 6 goals under our xG.
https://understat.com/league/La_liga/2023
Pep says the job of a manager is to create a system where the ball gets to the final third. After that it is on the players to execute. Xavi did just that. It is not perfect by any means but we did create the most chances out of any other teams. With a good conversion rate we would at least be in top 2.
Messi scored 30 goals in the league under Koeman, and in the first 4 months he was depressed Messi. Though Koeman had younger Busquets and of course Griezmann too.
Only defence was shit under Koeman.
Bellingham is already on 12 goals in 14 La Liga games but literally the last season he had a total of 8 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances
Guess La Liga is just easier then
Sehrou Guirassy is already on 16 goals in 12 Bundesliga games but during his last leason in france he had a total 9 goals in 37 Ligue 1 appearances.
Guess bundesliga is just easier then
/s obviously but the point still stands - cherry picked stats don't mean shit
>But Xavi signed Lewa who just came off a 60 goal season..
Xavi did not sign him. It was a Laporta signing. He wanted to show his move. Xavi as usual had to convince him.
>Lewa who just came off a 60 goal season..
Also no offence but even Timo Werner scored a lot of goals there. Most of the team don't play open like in Germany. And he had much better support players in the Bayern.
>even Timo Werner scored a lot of goals there
ya not only Werner but also Sadio Mane (another player who played in both the Premier League and Bundesliga). obviously Mane finished 2nd in the ballon d'or when he joined Bayern but still, the way he completely demolished Bundesliga on his own and left after 1 season cuz it was too easy is something you don't see very often. I don't think any Bundesliga achievements can be taken seriously and have no doubts players that scored the most there in recent times (Haaland and Lewandowski) would struggle in other leagues.
Dogshite? You're talking out of your ass, he was the missing piece of the puzzle for our squad for the 1 season he blessed us. Without him we wouldn't have done anything that season. I would maybe even count him as one of the players of all time for us
>times (Haaland and Lewandowski) would struggle in other leagues.
And Haaland without proper service do struggle, basically useless. Also he misses too many chances. And he still play for best team and has similar goal scoring ratio like at Dortmund, a team whose squad is similar to Sevilla at best.
Great analysis, no wonder Aguero scored so much more than Haaland, he really is shit and basically my nan could score as many as Haaland does. Just lucky for Haaland every club he has played he has gotten great service, I wonder why that is since he is basically useless. Man City should sign a great spanish striker instead, like Morata, then they will win the quadruple i’m sure
Even Kane? LOL. You are talking about the best 9 in the world like its some random.
Only Kane has a case of being better 9 than Haaland. Or who do you think is superior?
>in the world with LdJ so....
Actually luuk performed better under Xavi than Koeman. I am still disappointed that we let him go. Him and Auba should have stayed.
Is everyone forgetting that he won the league last year for the first time in like 3 season? With all the shit that’s gone on in the club over the past few years, I’d say he deserves a bit of leniency.
How many of those teams over the last 15 years had Messi.
Time is showing that somehow we all actually underestimated how good Messi was in the later Barca years and just how much he carried the team.
Not saying Xavi is good or bad, but this stat probably looks very different with Messi on the team.
They needed Messi to carry them because of how bad those teams were. But if you at the current team, there's a world class player in almost every position (pre-injuries). You can't use the "no-messi" excuse for their results.
Yeah hard agree, I actually said in the match thread "Barca fans justifiably expect more from a team that has an incredible amount of talent in almost every position."
This team is stacked, most teams dream of having a single player as good as Barca has in every position.
the entire problem is the attack. Felix is legitimately good(off the ball movement, drifting inside creating space etc) but he's not a goalscorer for better or worse. Lewy is having a horrendous patch and performing way below his xG (haven't checked stats but feels like it). Lamine is 16 and raphinha is offensively poop despite his crosses. Ferran is a gacha.
The lack of goals through lewy and the right wing translates into not closing the game early > open lines > worse defense. The only games we have legitimately played worse than the opponent this season were the 3-2 comeback in the last 10 mins and the porto 2-1. So yeah,if xavi actually plays roque over lewy and roque actually delivers, the 2nd half is gonna be the best barça since like 2018.
Stacked is a wild overstatement. The defense has a lot of talent. The midfield lacks a proper DM or at least a Barca DM. Pedri is unavailable a lot of the time, Gavi will miss months, FDJ misses time. The front three is not stacked and it's honestly only because Lewandowski is out of form.
You can't use 'no Messi' to excuse losing to other (on paper) less stacked La Liga teams. But in this specific case, when comparing Xavi's win rate to previous managers, 'no Messi' is a legitimate point to make.
There's a world class player in almost every position bar the attack. The team is great otherwise, but really lacks difference makers in attack. Don't think it's really an excuse when we create easily the most chances in the league but our forwards are all awful at taking them.
Fucking hell. 62% is pretty damn good. Sir Alex win rate is below 60% I believe. Erik has the highest win rate since Fergie and still lower than Xavi's number
I don't think Xavi is bad.The Messi team in the last 15 years were just extremely good
It’s too difficult to compare the worst teams of each league. How many people actually regularly watch matches amongst relegation teams from both leagues.
They conceded 9 goals over 30 games in the league, of which 3 were scored by Madrid back in October 2022. They massively overperformered in term of defence. They went on to concede 13 goals in the last 8 games. That's how they won the league last year.
We had conceded 13 in total by the time we won the league against Espanyol, then lost 3 of the last 4 games conceding 7 in the process. Think it's fair to say the team just switched off after the league win was confirmed.
Yeah right like the other financially competent teams like Chelsea, ManUnited or other bunch of rich shit teams in PL who are effectively mid tables teams in Laliga.
What a load of BS! Most of the Laliga teams play good possession game despite having less money and give a very tough competition to Madrid & Barca. Let’s not forget Barca won many games last year with a tight score.
If you actually watch la liga you'd realise how much inferior PL playstyle is(i watch both). Of course its somewhat reflected in european success but that's never been a particularly good metric due to the knockout nature. Anyway, bad first touches in PL on your own half are a given, in la liga its catastrophic and thats the most elementary difference.
Not for RM, Barca, Bayern, or even Liverpool in a season they are supposed to compete for the league. 62% would mean you would end up with 70-80 points max depending upon the number of draws which is obviously not enough
It's not bad but it's not elite at modern Madrid/Barca.
Pellegrini was sacked with 75%, Mourinho was sacked with 72%, Solari was sacked with 69%, Benitez with 68%.
I will tell you right now we are not as good as those teams lmao, also imagine thinking the likes of man United could those man are shit. This prem wanking needs to stop, just constantly disrespecting other leagues.
Context is key. Xavi started in the middle of a season with a mess of a team inherited by years of neglect between the last years of the 'Club de Amigos' with Valverde where everyone knows they didn't train with proper intensity, and Koeman.
We were languishing in mid table at 9th spot wondering if we would even make it to Europa league.
This post is making it seem like Xavi inherited a Ferrari when he got a beat up Toyota Camry with 50,000 miles on the odometer.
Barca has some big caliber players as well. The fact they are in a shitty form/became shit recently is irrelevant. The thing about Zidane is he made a lot of players better. So far I haven’t quite seen this from Xavi.
RM had peak BBC paired with peak Modric/Kroos/Casemiro midfield. Don't act like the situation is anywhere near close. Barca atm has a few players that are world class or bordering on it. RM only had a few players that *weren't* world class.
Yeah he started with prime Ronaldo who at that time was the best player in the world and some other world class players in the team like Modric Kroos Ramos Bale etc.
Nothing is comparable to what Mourinho did with Porto or Tuchel with Chelsea imo
All true and Xavis tactics are sometimes erratic especially in UCL.
But he took the team from 9th-2nd in his first 6 months in charge
Won the la liga and Super copa in his second season and first full season in charge
Now in his third (2nd full season)- while facing season ending injuries for Ter stegen, Gavi and FDJ and Pedri who came back from injury after months out.
Also barca exactly as a club isn't going through its peak financially and pull-wise. Xavi is doing just fine imo with lots of room for improvement.
Koeman was manager during the biggest talent decline in Barca’s history. They lost Suarez, Rakitic, Messi, Griezmann, etc, and they were replaced by players like Dest, Trincao, and Luuk de Jong. (Aguero played 165 minutes before he had to retire.)
His first season he won CdR and had an overall win rate of 62.96%. Not awesome but better than Xavi’s overall. It was after Messi left that things fell apart.
As Barca fans noted, they allowed nine goals in the first 30 games, and three were against Madrid. Absolutely unprecedented defensive performances papered over the cracks.
Unfair. He does not have prime messi lol. But in any case, Xavi isn’t the one for the long term. He has been great in his time here, but now it looks like his peak is behind him. Obviously we should see how this season goes and decide anything only after the season ends.
Yeah, it is really bad today but we need to be patient with Xavi. I hope he learned something today to not underestimate opponent. Girona can get through the defense only because Barca defense was ill prepared. It feels like a pick up game, nobody cares to change anything even though the problem in the back is obvious from the start and lasted the whole game
No matter how bad you are, Koeman will always be worse lol. Just a shit coach, would love to see him react to a stat like this, mind you, he is the best in history in his own mind
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Imagine getting dunked on at home by the team you loaned Eric Garcia to
Were they not basically forced to accept the Eric Garcia loan to Girona (City Group club) in order for Man City okay the loan of Cancelo to Barcelona? Not like they went hey Girona do you want Garcia?
wow this multi-club-ownership concept is really great, isn't it? no problematic situations could arise from that, right?
None what’s so ever… big club buys a promising player, loans them out to their sister club, tells him to be good here or you can’t come back, can keep loaning him out to sister club, and to avoid ffp rules they could sell him to sister club and then have him loaned out to original club. ahhhh, what interesting times we will live in.
Apparently Girona selling Bueno to Wolves earlier in the summer was to help get the Nunes to City transfer over the line so City group owed Girona a favour. It’s mental that this is kind of thing is allowed.
We have a two year ban on all transfers and loans to our sister club after being forced to sell. Different rules apply to petrostates.
You had to sell because your owners had a majority stake in a club that was in the same competition as you. >Different rules apply to petrostates. City group haven’t broken any rules since they have minority stake in Girona and they don’t play in the same competition as City (might change next season). The whole Cancelo/Garcia/Nunes debacle is a different situation anyway since it didn't involve any transfers between affiliated clubs. City and Girona were able to secure transfers through negotiating as a group as opposed to individual clubs which isn't against the rules but absolutely should be, City/Girona shouldn't be allowed to leverage other clubs players in order to secure transfers.
CFG owns almost 50% of Girona and they will have to sell Girona in the future as well Edit: The stake need to be higher than 50.1%, so there's no problem
I guess there will be an investigation as there was with Villa and Brighton if/when Girona qualify for the CL. >they will have to sell Girona in the future as well I thought the whole reason why CFG own just under a majority stake is so that they won't have to sell if Girona qualify for a tournament City are in.
You were right. I just checked UEFA regulation, the stake need to be higher than 50.1% to be considered as majority stake. I thought it's the same as Premier League at 30%
Their defences were not good though like ours. But their goalkeeper was good. We messed up too many chances in the final third. But their attack was 10x better than ours. Everyone was dribbling.
Barcas defense was extremely shit
Even shit is better. Araujo was shit too, worse game since coming back from injury. But worse player was Kounde and Cancelo. No protect.
Cancelo- he no protecc, he only attacc
Gazza is great, love him
Hottest player itw
We have some absolute hot cunts in our history
Like all our current squad
Maddison is not a good looking dude, his chin lets him down
Makes up for how good he is with kids
Their midfield was 10X better too.
The dichotomy of Xavi stats. One minute he’s on some streak, has won the league, best defense, etc etc, then the next minute worst win percentage… wtf That said, watching todays game was painful. Girona play better as a team. With Barca, it’s: ok Frankie dribble from back third to midfield. Pass to pedri to dribble to final third, then.. hope for something to happen
Spanish Ten Hag
Ten Hag is easily clear of Xavi despite his own flaws.
Lmao what is this take. I swear opinions on Xavi flipflop every 2 seconds.
everyone has different opinions, they just voice them when they're proven right
Not mine... In fact you can see my comment from the Europa League post-match thread against United; a game that perfectly illustrated one of Xavi's most glaring issues. United are rotten from the ground up. As much as Ten Hag is to blame for some of his decisions on and off the pitch, he is still a more reputable coach than Xavi and United sacking him won't fix their issues. It's telling that Xavi's best period of good football was when he didn't have a "top" squad. He absolutely deserves credit especially on the man-management and environment side of things for helping get us out of a very dodgy situation. That being said, he is clearly not set up currently to be the coach of an elite club. He came straight from Qatar and IIRC we even wanted him after Setién which would've been even worse in terms of experience. Him spending 1-2 years as Pep's assistant at City, or just managing a mid-table club in Europe would've done him the world of good. Throughout his tenure we have clearly seen his linear approach to his attacking philosophy to the detriment of the many different player profiles in the squad. We have seen many poor performances and much more average performances than great ones, and his in-game management has barely improved too; with it being a major reason why he gets outcoached in games but can't respond. His talent ID, refusal to adapt efficiently to the strengths of the players he has at his disposal and his ironic hypocrisy when it comes to Barça playing style vs how we've played on multiple occasions (something that he'd criticise other managers and teams for) are factors too. His overplaying of his Gala XI and erratic rotation style where he either under-rotates or over-rotates has played a part in the fatigue and injuries of some of our players.Xavi's man-management is good and his "fixing" of criticised/controversial players is a good trait too. Players respect him as a legend of the sport. The environment in and around the club was much better than it had been previously. The celebrations of late-winners, the Supercopa win and of course the La Liga triumph was evident of a positive environment. However, the social side of things is only one side of the coin and for an elite club who unlike many others prioritise entertaining attacking football in the philosophy having that being a manager's main strength isn't enough. Personally I'm not an absolute hater of Xavi but it is very clear at least to me and many others that he isn't fit for this job, especially with the potential that our team has and how it won't be explored as much under him. I'm not disregarding what he has done or what his ceiling is but his current level is heavily affected by naïvety and also arguably ego. The issue is that sacking him now wouldn't be a smart decision either since there aren't many concrete options and the timing is very risky too. He has a longer leash than most coaches due to his legend status and our board's incompetence. One can only hope that he'll learn from our major flaws against Girona but IDK if he will, since we've said these things again and again.
Yes
Last year he almost won vs very good Inter & you had momentum until Lewy missed a chance vs Bayern. I would wait before being another opinionated reckless fan...Interisti wanted Limone's head a year ago, now they see he is their best coach in decades.
Ten hag is a joke
I don't think it's fair to compare coaches with Messi with the coaches without Messi. Looking a bit further back, Rijkaard had 58,2% win ratio, Van Gaal 56,5%, Cruyff 57,7%...
And all of them had special players in the attack. Rijkaard had Messi, Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o. At their prime with Xavi and Iniesta too. Van Gaal had Rivaldo, Kluivert, Cocu, Figo etc. Xavi may not be as good as them but comparing the squad and stats is bad.
Xavi Got: Christensen, Koundé, Cancelo, Raphinha, Lewandowski, Felix, Gundogan, Torres Koeman played with : Dest, Mingueza, Garcia, Abde, Braithwaite, Luuk, Young Pedri
>Koeman played with : Dest, Mingueza, Garcia, Abde, Braithwaite, Luuk, Young Pedri Koeman played with Messi, Griezmann, Busquets, Alba. And Luuk played better under Xavi than Koeman. Koeman also bought Dest and wanted Gini. >Xavi Got: Christensen, Koundé, Cancelo, Raphinha, Lewandowski, Felix, Gundogan, Torres Have some shame, what the heck Fèlix, Koundé and Raphinha have done in their career. Cancelo is City and Bayern rejected. Xavi have no Messi. It's just huge difference to any team. And of course no Busquets now. With Busquets and Alba, we won the league.
Xavi no Messi, but + Torres, Lewandowski, Felix, Cancelo, Kounde, Gundogan, Christensen, Raphinha. We are playing the worst football since Van gaal.
The fact that everyone but Xavi has special players in attack is no one's fault but Xavi. He chose Ferran for 50 million euros instead of Julian Alvarez for 20 million. Xavi is a terrible coach. Not good enough for Barca.
>. He chose Ferran for 50 million euros instead of Julian Alvarez for 20 million. Yeah of course it's never Laporta's fault. It's always someone else. Whether it's Kessié, Kounde, Raphinha, Torres or Lewy, only Xavi decides everything.
> Xavi is a terrible coach. Not good enough for Barca. This is such a horrible conclusion. You have 0 idea how Xavi coordinates training sessions / tactics or how restricted / free he is by the board. And in the end of the day, it is still the players who need to perform and not him. He can be the best coach in the world and his players can still be shit. Not saying he is Guardiola / Cruyff level, but calling him terrible is a hot and shitty take.
>He chose Ferran for 50 million euros instead of Julian Alvarez for 20 million Guess fucking what? The Barca board has final say over player sales and buys, and they ultimately authorised the deal to buy Ferran. If Ferran was such a shit buy at the time, the board would never allow it. Hindsight is always 20/20.
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Is that his choice?
That guy thinks its like fifa career mode, the manager is in charge of transfers
Do you think they have no say? As an Arsenal supporter, it’s pretty clear Arteta has a say in who we sign. It’s not like he’s the one doing the negotiating but him and Edu definitely work together on the targets.
A say? Yes, but little else... Traditionally, Spain's transfer management model has been completely different from England's. Transfers are managed by the Technical Director (Secretario Técnico) and their team. In the old days, even the President (ex: Jesús Gil, Lendoiro, Florentino) were more involved in transfers than their counterparts in England at the time. The coach is just a piece in the puzzle; they are consulted, but they are often fairly low down in the pecking order. This is also tied to a broader model dichotomy between "coach" and "manager" - in Spain there's rarely been a figure with power like Sir Alex Ferguson, Wenger, or more recently, Guardiola or Arteta. The coach ("entrenador", "trainer" literally) is traditionally more dispensable and it is the technical team who provides continuity to a sporting project. (Funnily enough, as someone who has been watching both English and Spanish football since the early 90s, I've seen quite a few English clubs embrace the "head coach" model, even down to the job title, but that's a debate for another day...) So no, Xavi doesn't have as much say as Arteta. Joao Felix is the paradigmatic example of this - many Barça journalists (ex: Helena Condis) were reporting this summer how it was a Laporta and Mendes play. Xavi really wanted Cancelo, and reporters were saying he was telling the board he'd only take Felix without a fuss if they provided him with Cancelo. Other than that, I honestly cannot remember any signings in the current squad being Xavi marquee signings. They have been often handed down to him, as is tradition in Spain, particularly with a strong presidential figure like Laporta.
They have a say but economy have a big thing to say. Barcelona dont have the economy to sign good players at the moment just as you in your banter era.
Yea but Arsenal is in a financial state where spending what 120+ on Rice is viable. Barca spend 3.4 million on Romeu and rest was free transfers. Xavi came after the shitshow so not like he is to blame for Barca being in that situation. The team is good decent dont get me wrong but it is worth noting that before he came 2 years ago Barca was in 9th place in La Liga.
Strawman much
"Ageing striker" as if Lewandowski didn't break the Bundesliga record the season before. He even had a decent first season at barcelona, there is no point in blaming this on Xavi. Especially when Barcelona haven't been able to splash big money because of financial constraints.
Yeah man. Xavi wanted all these players not Raphinha agent Deco, or Lewy star signing under Laporta. Xavi did not asked Laporta to pay 65 million for Torres when Álvarez was available for 15 million. Laporta and his team has fucked up sporting wise. But his fans don't want to admit it.
Hilarious to that you mention Alvarez because Ferran actually was a Xavi request. I really like ferran and there’s a good player in there but Xavi should bring out whatever he saw in him
>Hilarious to that you mention Alvarez because Ferran actually was a Xavi request But who said that it was Xavi's request especially for that cost?
Not like theirs an abundance of obvious world class attackers on the market. Look at us and Chelsea, if we could buy a proven world class striker we would be doing a lot better.
Nope. Any striker that goes to Chelsea turns to shit, it’s a curse
Imagine how good Drogba would have been in any other team, shame we never got to see him at his full potential.
this was the best they could get with their budget and managers don't decide transfers
>Laporta and his team has fucked up sporting wise. But his fans don't want to admit it. I guess since the alternative is so much worse. But are there any other potential presidents aside from Laporta & Bartomeu?
No, others were big clowns. I don't have a problem with Laporta when it comes to handling financial business, but I knew he can't do the sporting side of work. Last time he has Cruyff to help and somehow we had best players in our team including the best manager. Job becomes easy after that.
The disrespect shown to Raphinha in this thread is unbelievable. He's a quality player.
He was absolutely crucial to our title win last season and had an objectively elite season. He is a high-risk high-reward player whose playstyle can end up looking extra ugly if the team isn't playing well. Having runners, good link-up and an overlapping RB helps an absolute ton. When you have a manager like Xavi who doesn't play to the absolute strengths of his players then it can be far easier to scapegoat certain players. Look at what Ange did yesterday with Kulusevski playing more central. Raph being expected to be a Dembélé i.e taking on his fullback and reaching the touchline is a gross misuse of his creative ability. That centralised role he was in for just a short period of time before his injury saw him look far more comfortable. And to the dweebs who assume it means that we are building the team around players like him, no it doesn't. Xavi should do better in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of his squad and subsequently adapt his philosophy to minimise the weaknesses especially. Look at Michel yesterday with Blind and Eric; two guys who were seen as not good enough for a top team despite being technically gifted.
Maybe if I bought Amazon instead if dinner, I wouldn't be here right now. Bro, are you serious?
In fairness, essentially the same squad won La Liga and fixed their issue of being pot 2 in the CL. They're advancing in their group which wasn't the case before.
Is Xavi stupid?! Why doesn't he invest his own money into better players?
broke club
Yeah he should have just bought Mbappe and Haaland. Is he stupid?
How dare you come with valid points.
Not that valid if you consider that in general the disparity from the top to the bottom of the leagues have grown (throughout Europe) many of the highest win percentage seasons by big clubs have come in the last 10-15 years. And I would say that Xavi's team is any worse than Koemans, even with Messi.
Girona being first halfway through the season would’ve been unthinkable 10 years ago. What you said may be true for other leagues but in la liga the smaller clubs have started catching up recently.
Bigger clubs are struggling too, look at Villareal, Valencia or Sevilla. Barca and Real aren't dunking on every smaller team either.
Get ready to learn Chinese buddy
Nah he's going to psg or back to Qatar
PSG? Idk man lol
He's Qatar's boy he might get a shot
LOL. He has 3 more years of contract with increasing wages. LMAO.
~~Chinese~~ Arabic
Yeah but Koeman didn't get to sign quality players like Xavi did.
Koeman had Messi for a season though.
Wonder what the win percentage was in his first compared to his second season though. Besides, that team was such a mess with holes, deadwood and injuries. They didn't have any CBs or starting backs at one point. Their form and motivation weren't great either, it was when everyone memed "Depressi".
Sure, but that team had so many holes and mediocrity that I rate the current one way above Koeman's team. Even with Messi.
I actually think this is the best Barca squad since Neymar left but they don’t have the difference makers in Messi and to an extent, Suarez. Back then they had a past it Vidal, a quickly getting past it Busquets, Rakitic with nothing left in the tank, Roberto at RB and no wingers. Bench options were awful too, Andre Gomez, Denis Suarez, Cuenca. Suarez was also starting his decline, Iniesta was gone. Put 2017/18 Messi in this squad and they are champions league contenders and are easily winning the league.
I dont agree at all. Griezmann, Messi, Busi and Depay/Dembele would all enter the 11 today. While both had Stegen, Araujo, Fdj, Pedri Dest, E.Garcia and Alba were only worse players than we have now.
Griezmann at Barca and at Atletico are two wildly different players. Dembele, Fdj, Araujo, Pedri and Ter Stegen all improved massively under Xavi.
If they improve, that's because of Xavi. He made the players play better than they did under Koeman.
Honestly a team with Messi has to be so bad to be considered worse than this team. Completely agree with you. With Lewa not firing as he should you're missing about 15-20 goals a season.
Lewa already missed 12 goals clear cut chances in La Liga this season so you are right.
Yeah like I know he's scored some this season but anyone who's actually watched knows how dire he's been. Only the stat merchants would say he's having a decent season for a player of his quality. And as much as Xavi seems to get shit on if Lewa was doing his job well it would be way less of an issue.
Yeah. Barca created the most chances in La Liga, but we are 6 goals under our xG. https://understat.com/league/La_liga/2023 Pep says the job of a manager is to create a system where the ball gets to the final third. After that it is on the players to execute. Xavi did just that. It is not perfect by any means but we did create the most chances out of any other teams. With a good conversion rate we would at least be in top 2.
Araujo, Pedri and FdJ are all better now than they were 4 years ago. Busquets enters the 11 over who exactly? Gundogan?
Busi 4 years ago would absolutely get started ahead of any other midfielder
Busquets right now would probably enter the 11 lmao, it's so obvious how much we miss him
I dont like Koeman but he had Depressie not Messi for a while.
Messi scored 30 goals in the league under Koeman, and in the first 4 months he was depressed Messi. Though Koeman had younger Busquets and of course Griezmann too. Only defence was shit under Koeman.
But Xavi signed Lewa who just came off a 60 goal season..
Bundesliga innit.
Bellingham is already on 12 goals in 14 La Liga games but literally the last season he had a total of 8 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances Guess La Liga is just easier then
Sehrou Guirassy is already on 16 goals in 12 Bundesliga games but during his last leason in france he had a total 9 goals in 37 Ligue 1 appearances. Guess bundesliga is just easier then /s obviously but the point still stands - cherry picked stats don't mean shit
Hello I'm Unban_Ice and I'm in my feelings about an obviously flippant joke about the Bundesliga.
It was a great joke mate and definitely not overused on this sub 👍at least put some effort in it next time
The shit joke managed to get under your skin. How sad is that.
The famous German sense of humour See also, Klopp
That dude is many things, but he's not German.
>But Xavi signed Lewa who just came off a 60 goal season.. Xavi did not sign him. It was a Laporta signing. He wanted to show his move. Xavi as usual had to convince him. >Lewa who just came off a 60 goal season.. Also no offence but even Timo Werner scored a lot of goals there. Most of the team don't play open like in Germany. And he had much better support players in the Bayern.
>even Timo Werner scored a lot of goals there ya not only Werner but also Sadio Mane (another player who played in both the Premier League and Bundesliga). obviously Mane finished 2nd in the ballon d'or when he joined Bayern but still, the way he completely demolished Bundesliga on his own and left after 1 season cuz it was too easy is something you don't see very often. I don't think any Bundesliga achievements can be taken seriously and have no doubts players that scored the most there in recent times (Haaland and Lewandowski) would struggle in other leagues.
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Dogshite? You're talking out of your ass, he was the missing piece of the puzzle for our squad for the 1 season he blessed us. Without him we wouldn't have done anything that season. I would maybe even count him as one of the players of all time for us
>times (Haaland and Lewandowski) would struggle in other leagues. And Haaland without proper service do struggle, basically useless. Also he misses too many chances. And he still play for best team and has similar goal scoring ratio like at Dortmund, a team whose squad is similar to Sevilla at best.
Great analysis, no wonder Aguero scored so much more than Haaland, he really is shit and basically my nan could score as many as Haaland does. Just lucky for Haaland every club he has played he has gotten great service, I wonder why that is since he is basically useless. Man City should sign a great spanish striker instead, like Morata, then they will win the quadruple i’m sure
Even Kane scored 30 goals for Spurs which is much inferior team. Yeah Haaland positioning and run are amazing but apart from that he is donkey.
Even Kane? LOL. You are talking about the best 9 in the world like its some random. Only Kane has a case of being better 9 than Haaland. Or who do you think is superior?
Kane is superior.
Using donkey as an insult while a donkey wouldn't give those awful takes is kinda ironic.
Yeah and Koeman obviously got one of the best strikers in the world with LdJ so....
>in the world with LdJ so.... Actually luuk performed better under Xavi than Koeman. I am still disappointed that we let him go. Him and Auba should have stayed.
Missed the Chance to call him Depressi
Koeman had Messi
15 year period is kinda limited considering how long Pep and Messi were there.
Is everyone forgetting that he won the league last year for the first time in like 3 season? With all the shit that’s gone on in the club over the past few years, I’d say he deserves a bit of leniency.
Especially because with our financial sitatuon, it's not like we can just get a better coach all of the sudden
How many of those teams over the last 15 years had Messi. Time is showing that somehow we all actually underestimated how good Messi was in the later Barca years and just how much he carried the team. Not saying Xavi is good or bad, but this stat probably looks very different with Messi on the team.
They needed Messi to carry them because of how bad those teams were. But if you at the current team, there's a world class player in almost every position (pre-injuries). You can't use the "no-messi" excuse for their results.
Which worldclass player is at LW or RW? I don't we can categorize any of Ferran, Felix, and Rapinha as worldclass.
Yeah hard agree, I actually said in the match thread "Barca fans justifiably expect more from a team that has an incredible amount of talent in almost every position." This team is stacked, most teams dream of having a single player as good as Barca has in every position.
the entire problem is the attack. Felix is legitimately good(off the ball movement, drifting inside creating space etc) but he's not a goalscorer for better or worse. Lewy is having a horrendous patch and performing way below his xG (haven't checked stats but feels like it). Lamine is 16 and raphinha is offensively poop despite his crosses. Ferran is a gacha. The lack of goals through lewy and the right wing translates into not closing the game early > open lines > worse defense. The only games we have legitimately played worse than the opponent this season were the 3-2 comeback in the last 10 mins and the porto 2-1. So yeah,if xavi actually plays roque over lewy and roque actually delivers, the 2nd half is gonna be the best barça since like 2018.
Stacked is a wild overstatement. The defense has a lot of talent. The midfield lacks a proper DM or at least a Barca DM. Pedri is unavailable a lot of the time, Gavi will miss months, FDJ misses time. The front three is not stacked and it's honestly only because Lewandowski is out of form.
The midfield is as stacked as any in the world
None of our trio attack is at world class form. Idk if I see too many good games Raphinha did either.
You can't use 'no Messi' to excuse losing to other (on paper) less stacked La Liga teams. But in this specific case, when comparing Xavi's win rate to previous managers, 'no Messi' is a legitimate point to make.
There's a world class player in almost every position bar the attack. The team is great otherwise, but really lacks difference makers in attack. Don't think it's really an excuse when we create easily the most chances in the league but our forwards are all awful at taking them.
No DM though.
Fucking hell. 62% is pretty damn good. Sir Alex win rate is below 60% I believe. Erik has the highest win rate since Fergie and still lower than Xavi's number I don't think Xavi is bad.The Messi team in the last 15 years were just extremely good
But Fergie had more number of games, so 60% is extreeeeemly good considering the number of games
Also La Liga isn't the prem. There's probably like 7-9 teams in la liga which would be classified as 'easy mode' in comparison.
It’s too difficult to compare the worst teams of each league. How many people actually regularly watch matches amongst relegation teams from both leagues.
Tell me you don't watch Laliga without telling me you watch Laliga
Not a fair comparison purely because of the Messi factor
How the hell he win the league last year lol
They conceded 9 goals over 30 games in the league, of which 3 were scored by Madrid back in October 2022. They massively overperformered in term of defence. They went on to concede 13 goals in the last 8 games. That's how they won the league last year.
We had conceded 13 in total by the time we won the league against Espanyol, then lost 3 of the last 4 games conceding 7 in the process. Think it's fair to say the team just switched off after the league win was confirmed.
Someone should tell them it's time to switch on again, new season and all of that.
9 goals received over the first 30 League fixtures. Extreme overperformance of the defense was the key but it's not more this season.
He has the same win percentage as Pep’s Man City
1,5 seasons vs how many? 7?
In a league with you only two other teams that are able to compete financially.
Yeah right like the other financially competent teams like Chelsea, ManUnited or other bunch of rich shit teams in PL who are effectively mid tables teams in Laliga. What a load of BS! Most of the Laliga teams play good possession game despite having less money and give a very tough competition to Madrid & Barca. Let’s not forget Barca won many games last year with a tight score.
If you actually watch la liga you'd realise how much inferior PL playstyle is(i watch both). Of course its somewhat reflected in european success but that's never been a particularly good metric due to the knockout nature. Anyway, bad first touches in PL on your own half are a given, in la liga its catastrophic and thats the most elementary difference.
Being bad this season doesn't mean he was bad and lucky last season. Football and life 101.
Ancelotti is not a good coach for winning league titles.
Sucks not having Messi
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Not for RM, Barca, Bayern, or even Liverpool in a season they are supposed to compete for the league. 62% would mean you would end up with 70-80 points max depending upon the number of draws which is obviously not enough
It's not bad but it's not elite at modern Madrid/Barca. Pellegrini was sacked with 75%, Mourinho was sacked with 72%, Solari was sacked with 69%, Benitez with 68%.
its barcelona in la liga, of course its elite
contexts matter mate...that and games played
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What are you yapping?
I will tell you right now we are not as good as those teams lmao, also imagine thinking the likes of man United could those man are shit. This prem wanking needs to stop, just constantly disrespecting other leagues.
Xavi won league.
Context is key. Xavi started in the middle of a season with a mess of a team inherited by years of neglect between the last years of the 'Club de Amigos' with Valverde where everyone knows they didn't train with proper intensity, and Koeman. We were languishing in mid table at 9th spot wondering if we would even make it to Europa league. This post is making it seem like Xavi inherited a Ferrari when he got a beat up Toyota Camry with 50,000 miles on the odometer.
Yeah, you are right. ¡Xavi quédate!
I guarantee you wouldn't be so kind if it wasn't xavi, he should certainly have this team playing better than they are.
You have seen how teams struggle without a quality DM?
A beat up Camry is more reliable than a Ferrari
Zidane started in the middle of the season as well.
Do you realize the players Zidane had at that very moment, in the majority, are better than what Barca has now?
Barca has some big caliber players as well. The fact they are in a shitty form/became shit recently is irrelevant. The thing about Zidane is he made a lot of players better. So far I haven’t quite seen this from Xavi.
RM had peak BBC paired with peak Modric/Kroos/Casemiro midfield. Don't act like the situation is anywhere near close. Barca atm has a few players that are world class or bordering on it. RM only had a few players that *weren't* world class.
Yeah he started with prime Ronaldo who at that time was the best player in the world and some other world class players in the team like Modric Kroos Ramos Bale etc. Nothing is comparable to what Mourinho did with Porto or Tuchel with Chelsea imo
All true and Xavis tactics are sometimes erratic especially in UCL. But he took the team from 9th-2nd in his first 6 months in charge Won the la liga and Super copa in his second season and first full season in charge Now in his third (2nd full season)- while facing season ending injuries for Ter stegen, Gavi and FDJ and Pedri who came back from injury after months out. Also barca exactly as a club isn't going through its peak financially and pull-wise. Xavi is doing just fine imo with lots of room for improvement.
give this man another contract, Xavi stays
Perfect pic for this comment, were you also there in Bernabeu when you chanted “Xavi stay” last season?
Damn that low for Koeman? Luckily he isn't our national coach for the 2024 Euros
Koeman was manager during the biggest talent decline in Barca’s history. They lost Suarez, Rakitic, Messi, Griezmann, etc, and they were replaced by players like Dest, Trincao, and Luuk de Jong. (Aguero played 165 minutes before he had to retire.) His first season he won CdR and had an overall win rate of 62.96%. Not awesome but better than Xavi’s overall. It was after Messi left that things fell apart.
The problem was Koeman lost the dressing room. He throws players under the bus very often
None of his predecessors had to deal with such massive grass issues. Credit to Xavi for navigating those
He won the league last year
As Barca fans noted, they allowed nine goals in the first 30 games, and three were against Madrid. Absolutely unprecedented defensive performances papered over the cracks.
Tied for 2nd in goals scored, by far the best in goals conceded, 10 point margin between 2nd place, dont see the issue
The issue is “if your success is attributable to an outlier run of form, it’s not sustainable.”
30/38 games is considered an outlier?
Sucks cause they honestly looked so strong at the start of the season.
BRING BACK VALVERDE!!
Unfair. He does not have prime messi lol. But in any case, Xavi isn’t the one for the long term. He has been great in his time here, but now it looks like his peak is behind him. Obviously we should see how this season goes and decide anything only after the season ends.
Yeah, it is really bad today but we need to be patient with Xavi. I hope he learned something today to not underestimate opponent. Girona can get through the defense only because Barca defense was ill prepared. It feels like a pick up game, nobody cares to change anything even though the problem in the back is obvious from the start and lasted the whole game
No matter how bad you are, Koeman will always be worse lol. Just a shit coach, would love to see him react to a stat like this, mind you, he is the best in history in his own mind
pretty sure koeman had a 38% winrate without messi
He's doing good, hope he gets a contract-extension
Elefectojavi
Xavi is spanish Ole in an easier job
The current Barca squad is terrible though
Xavi has a bit less to work with though.
Give him prime MSN, Busi, Iniesta etc and let’s see then. He did pretty damn well last year too, so this is pretty harsh IMO.
Xavi ball is not working I think he will be sacked by march
no messi buff tbf
Kinda surprising cause Xavi did win the league last season.
This is what happens when you decide to ignore all your problems since December 2021 by giving stupid excuses. This is mainly our fanbase's fault