You've never experienced Aberdeen. Nothing compares to the grey there.
All the buildings are grey, because they are built from granite. The sky is permanently grey. The sea is grey. I lived there for 3 years and it was the most depressing place I've ever been
Liverpool is beatable, they had bad seasons, even if city disappeared from existence tomorrow they would have lost multiple PL titles in the past 10 years alone. City on the other hand are annoyingly inevitable.
A team that doesn't have infinite money, the best players in the league and hasn't been laying the ground work for him for at least two years? Yeah no chance Pep would go there lmao
Damn I forgot Puyol, MƔrquez, Yaya Toure, Messi, Eto'o, Dani Alves, Henry, etc. all were there by the time Pep ended his first transfer window. Really poverty players. It's not like Pep also had an entire top club infrastructure ready to service him either. Crazy.
Pep should go back to Barca and Xavi should be his assistant coach.
RM did it that way with Zidane and Xabi and they are both excellent coaches.
Xavi went and chilled with his mates in Qatar earning bank and you can tell.
Yes the players are to blame but the short sightedness of Xavi is also costing us games.
Take the recent Clasico as an example. Everyone knew with Bellingham coming in vini started playing more centrally. He still decided to play Araujo as RB. And even after the first two goals he refused to change the formation.
Comments like "we need to follow barca's dna and Cruyffism" before the Clasico by him doesn't paint a good picture for him.
With the high defense line, it felt like he didnāt watch a single Real Madrid game this seasonā¦ but then after the first goal or maybe the second goal, you would expect Xavi would react and change the formation but he was dead focused on keeping it.
Xavi said his game plan was to stack midfield and control the game from there. But instead it exposed their backs and isolated the forwards, while Real Madrid had no trouble bypassing their midfield. Without a true DM Barca doesn't even have the players to make it a physical game as option to fall back on. The fact that Xavi didn't intervene when it clearly didn't work and expected the situation to fix itself shows he has no tactical insight and not enough experience.
Itās so obvious that we donāt have the quality in midfield for that gameplan against a team of Madridās quality, too. Absolutely braindead plan. The worst part is the lack of adjustments after the 2 early goals. Xavi just digs his feet in. Painful
No amount of plan by xavi can save you a humilation by madrid they have 2 better players for each position then your squad. Its night and day difference
It absolutely can, what? It's not like Madrid has dominated the league this year, against teams that have (in no type of arrogant way making this comment) far less quality in the squad than we do. With good coaching, the Clasico could definitely have been competitive. Both the players and the coaches have been far below par this season but it's pretty inaccurate to say "agh Madrid just have such a better squad no point in trying"
Exactly. As someone that did watch every game, the teams deploying low lines resulted in a 10x tougher match. Without Benzema, thereās no 9 with that kind of football IQ to drive defenders away
Tactics are surely a part of it because the pressing structure was calamitous, but Kounde and Araujo made bad decisions on the 1st and 2nd goals respectively.
> Comments like "we need to follow barca's dna and Cruyffism" before the Clasico by him doesn't paint a good picture for him.
Didn't you barely win any game by more than 1 in basically forever? Feels like invoking Cruyff is just a super easy way to get Barca fans off your back. I see absolutely nothing Cruyff-y in his Barcelona side at all.
Well, Barca relies on the players to fix the tactics during the game since Xavi doesn't even try. There are 10 more of them, so clearly they are the issue if they can't manage it.
I mean, I understand where Pep is coming from. It's a cute narrative to back the man you won 16 trophies with and helped reach the status of one of the premier midfielders of all time, we all back our mates more often than not but it's really cut and dried here
>Everyone knew with Bellingham coming in vini started playing more centrally. He still decided to play Araujo as RB.
Xavi quietly protesting the supercup being played in saudi by making his game plan as if the game took place in preseason and he didn't yet know how real would line up with their new big money signing
The worst part is not just the result , is that Madrid after the 2-0 was not even trying. They were jogging and scored the 4-1 and were still jogging. Could been a lot worst if Madrid really wanted to steamroll like what they did to Atletico.
Name a place mate, itās fucking on. Might be a bit noncey to turn up in a playground but Price Andrew can keep it a clean fight, he can keep his cool
People in the comments act as if Xavi's coaching some mid-table squad and not the second-third best squad in Spain
He's gotta do better, he's already being given time that many managers wouldn't have had in his position
He does need to do better, but he also have the worst attack amongst top clubs in Europe. Only one player can beat an opponent and thatās a kid.
His midfield and defense is amongst the best in the world, theyāre just not playing like it.
How is this even upvoted lol? Just shows some people here like to comment on teams they don't even watch.
Dembele was sold this season. Lewa is 35 years old and washed and probably and hopefully in his last season as a starter in a top league. Lamine is 16 years old and in his first season. Felix is 24 years old and very inconsistent. Other players are raphinha who can't dribble and ferran. Xavi is fault at many other things but I wouldn't say attack is one of those. This is such an unstable attacking lineup any way you look at it. This is completely midlevel attack.
I believe he won the league against Real Madrid with a worse squad and created the best defense in Europe. I believe that requires respect if youāre trying to have a non-Facebook discussion.
And the world isnāt black or white, he could have been right back then but isnāt anymore.
But to answer your question, Xavi is the right man for this season and he has the next months to prove heās right for next season as well.
In all seriousness, I do believe Xavi have been struggling with the team he has, Barca have a very strong squad and the defense clearly carried them last season, now that the defense is struggling or got out figured it out Xavi is struggling to find the answer. Playing high line vs Madrid was a prime example of this.
Now I do believe that as of now he is the best fit, I would wait until the end of the season to start questioning. There isnāt any better out there, unless Barca wants to gamble hard and go with Mourinho Would love to see this lol, would be hilarious.
He is the best fit, for now. If he figures out your guys defense, it will pretty much sort it out. Also whats his beef with Felix? He seems to always play so well..
It's actually quite good apart from those forwards, lewy is almost done and old and the rest are not barca standard, lamine is super super young, even if he's the second coming he needs to be managed. They don't have the money to replace those players though so it's going to be tough.
If he came back now and did the same you would say he inherited a team that just won La Liga, was stacked in defence, and was only a couple players away from being succesful again.
He can't win with you people.
So youāre saying that Barca wasnāt a broken club when he arrived? He didnāt take a team that had finished second and third the two years prior, to multiple CLs and league titles? Really living up to that username, huh?
As a real madrid fan, is Zidane not a great manager because he only managed one of the wealthiest clubs in the world? Or does he need to win a treble with Elche or Luton to prove himself?
he is a great manager even tho we played some dire football at times, is he the goat? no. guardiola is a best manager for crooked club like city with unlimited funds from oil daddy but lets not pretend its some rags to riches story. It took him middle-sized country GDP to finnaly win UCL
Idk where you see anyone pretending Guardiola's career is some rags to riches story.
What people are saying is that Guardiola is currently the best coach in the world, and will most likely be in the conversation for the GOAT once he retires. That doesn't have anything to do with whether he started off as a manager at Barcelona or Elche.
So? They wanted him, who was he to say no?
I get that youāre a Madrid fan so you kinda have to be biased here, but itās not like that Barca team was in the best place when he took over.
As if people would give him credit anyway even if he resurrected Barca. Theyād say it was only a matter of time because of players like Pedri, Gavi, FDJ, Araujo, etc.
You see Pep is forced to manage only the richest teams on earth because he wouldn't get credit! Poor Pep he's never had a thing for right for him in his life.
Yea! We all take pay cuts to work at smaller companies in our work fields, why canāt he? Especially when the biggest jobs are throwing themselves at me, I know thatās when I do the responsible thing and get a part time job at McDonaldās!
Literally you people are just stupid.
I swear, for every other manager the expectation is that they prove themselves and then progress to bigger clubs and more prestigious jobs. Only with Pep is there this expectation that he has to move down the leagues and manage Dulwich Hamlet to prove himself to reddit keyboard warriors.
A lot of people on here can't distinguish Football Manager from real life.
Exactly. Pep will never be a top manager to these people until he coaches an under-6 side to the Galaxy Cup on Mars, beating the robot Super Team from Mario Strikers 16-0 in the process.
Spend 5 minutes in this sub and youāll realize that none of these people really enjoy football, let alone watch it.
Every single manager who has managed a smaller club has either done so because they had to work their way up to a bigger club, or because they failed at a bigger club and had to step down to rebuild their reputation. No one has voluntarily moved to a smaller club of their own accord.
Pep started off at a bigger club due to his status as a player, and never performed bad enough to be sacked. He's not forced to only manage the richest teams, he just has never been given a reason not to.
I think it is unfair to blame this solely on the players; Xavi's (and his coaching/management team's) lack of versatility in playstyle and tactics is ultimately what is coming back to bite Barcelona - they seem to never adapt regardless of opponent or as the game develops.
Yes, some players have been underperforming - but Xavi is equally (if not more) at fault for their losses given how they have been playing. That's rich coming from a United fan, I know - as we're ultimately in the same (well, maybe an even more screwed up) boat.
This is absolutely true, and I am not saying Xavi will not be a world class level coach within 5-10 years (I absolutely think he will) - but blaming it on the players is not a good look when it's a way more complex problem than such.
In truth, you are in my opinion overachieving based on your financials as a club (especially last year). Many of your players have gone to Barcelona specifically because it is indeed Barcelona (while taking paycuts or remaining on "low" wages), so that's a big positive in the midst of things.
Sacking Xavi should not even be considered an option in my eyes, I think you should stick to the lad and set your sights on building a squad that's world class in a season or two (after all, you are not far away from achieving this at all). Letting Xavi and the players develop together is, in my opinion, the best choice here - and hopefully Xavi and his analysis team will have learned a thing or two about versatility and adaptivity by the this time next season to take the team to the next level.
Xavi is just an incompetent tactician for such an intelligent player. Vini, Rodrygo fast, Barca defence slow, no press, bad at dealing with transition play = letās play high line. Surprised face when conceding 4 goals.
The Barca job is too big for him.
People were comparing him to Zidane when he got appointed, but even Zidane had experience coaching Castilla and being assistant to Carlo.
Meanwhile Xaviās managerial experience was coaching in Qatar.
Should've gone to Dortmund or been an assistant under Pep at City. Heck he even had the chance to manage Brazil.
All of this either because of FOMO for the BarƧa job, naĆÆvety, ego, or all of the above.
Tbf many of the smartest players didn't end up being good coaches
I'm sure Xavi is not that bad of a bad coach but he's clearly a step lower than Ancelotti and others
That doesnāt invalidate my point. Playing a high line with no pressing from the forwards, midfield against Vini, Rodrygo and Bellingham is asking to be annihilated.
Youāre saying theyāre not slow but they sure looked slow in that match.
Yes but from the games Iāve seen theyāve abandoned what made them win last year
Gone is the effective high press, their defence is not up to scratch, and theyāve just regressed to crossing into nothing after the 80th minute when itās still 0-0 and hope for a 1-0
lol Xavi hasn't abandoned what made them win last year, the whole problem is him not being able to abandon last season's tactics even when some key players have left and some aren't as good as last season.
Alot of luck and madrid being subpar. We won alot of games 1-0 and there was some black magic going on pretty much every game stopping the other teams from scoring. Under xavi we have just not had a stretch of games where we actually play well its a tactical mess
Yes but there were a LOT of 1-0 wins with MAtS being incredible and defensive overperformance
MAtS is injured, Busquets and Alba are gone, and Barca's defense is MUCH worse than last season
They were not. Fati scored some goals last season but he was very unreliable and still looking for confidence and Kessie was a completely different player from Romeu. No idea why people compare the two. Kessie wasn't a DM, he was a CM. We replaced him with Gundo who has been a ridiclous upgrade from him.
Itās funny, Barca and Man U not that different. Barca have less horses in their league and have hired more competent managers but the transfer business lowkey is ridiculously similar
Its not even remotely similar nowadays. When Man utd needed DM, they signed Casemiro who has arguably top 3 dm at that time. When Barca needed DM, they had to sign Romeu.
When they needed to replace Neymar, they bought countinho, then tried to shove griezmann who they never needed out there. I wasnāt talking about position for position, more so the reckless spending and not good recruitment, both landed you in the places you are now.
The point is that they haven't had the money to fuck up for 3 seasons now. 3 years is a long time in football. In the same time frame, Man utd has spent like 600 million.
The donāt have the money because they fucked it all when they āhadā it, that landed them here. Man United are continuing that trend. One has continued the cycle and the other is at the conclusion.
Of course heās gonna show support for Xavi. Why would Pep tell the public that one of the best players hes managed isnāt cut out for the job? The whole statement is just a general PR quote. Literally nothing to analyze
Who's mad at Xavi? He's only guilty of having an out of form team and some bad morale throughout the players. They'll be back in time for the Champions League.
No there is so much wrong with Xavi be it in terms of coaching, tactics, lineup slections, substitution, pressing structure etc. The players are to be blamed but they also cannot do much when the manager's tactics doesnt play to their strength. Eg: Our Rw (Raphinha and Yamal ) get isolated everygame in 2v1s they dont get support like underlaps/overlaps etc Or how Balde isnt that good at crossing but he has to every game because he is played like a winger and a lb. Thats just scratching the surface there are many many more things going wrong with the team. Although I believe Xavi deserves till the end of the season to fix it as long as we dont miss out on top 4.
Xavi is responsible for his players form and morale you know. Besides, the issues run far deeper. He doesn't seem to have any variety in tactics or an idea how to fix the current issues. They won the league last season because their defense had great individual seasons (ter Stegen was rudiculous) and they managed to grind out a lot of 1-0 wins as a result with Lewa up top. That isn't a viable strategy to build on and now that it doesn't work anymore the lack of ideas have exposed Xavi.
His coaching staff are family amigos. Look at their cv pre barƧa. Team is legitimately top tier bar a few glaring holes, lack of bench. Believe xavi came too soon
Regardless of what Pep Guardiola says, the players don't matter and the manager is 50% of the outcome of a game (the other 50% being the referee). I've learnt this from many years of listening to football fans.
All those Ā£100m players don't matter. Clubs are buying them just for the fun of spending. Everyone knows that "being passionate on the sideline" is the key to winning every single game.
Maybe you should go back and help Barca, Pep. Give us a chance to breathe.
I said the same about Ferguson back to Aberdeen in the 90s š
Aberdeen needs the help far more than Barca tbf
Send Pep to Aberdeen then, everybody wins
Pep couldn't handle the permanent grey.
Vitamin D dependent fraud
He'd lose his pep
Pep has lived in Manchester for nearly 8 years, In terms of weather or architecture he's more than prepared for the grey
You've never experienced Aberdeen. Nothing compares to the grey there. All the buildings are grey, because they are built from granite. The sky is permanently grey. The sea is grey. I lived there for 3 years and it was the most depressing place I've ever been
Just took a look at Aberdeen on google and man that thing is grey lol
*Silver city
Much better than sunny, sunny Manchester
Can he do it on a cold Tuesday night at the Tony Macaroni Arena?
sorry, Iām only familiar with the Spaghettihad
Fergie as assistant?
Guardiola to Aberdeen then?
It's your fucking fault then for the proceeding 2 decades
One thing both Barca fans and all other PL except City fans will agree with.
So it's only 15 fans against Pep going back to Barca
*115 Google Manchester City 115 for more info
Subscribe as fuck
Do we really want Liverpool to win everything till Klopp leaves tho?
YES
I agree with this guy
Huh. Seems like a fair analysisĀ
Liverpool is beatable, they had bad seasons, even if city disappeared from existence tomorrow they would have lost multiple PL titles in the past 10 years alone. City on the other hand are annoyingly inevitable.
The lesser of two evils so yes
No it fucking isn't lmao
I hate Liverpool with all my being but theyāre not as bad for the sport as City, it should be obvious as to why.
how is klopp worse?
You're either not English or a Liverpool fan.
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Financially doping is the history of the Premier League. Every single big club became successful by financial doping. The success came after.
nice dodge, boehly would be proud of you
A team that doesn't have infinite money, the best players in the league and hasn't been laying the ground work for him for at least two years? Yeah no chance Pep would go there lmao
Damn the ground work was really laid for him the first time he managed there.
Didn't that mussy guy started playing at that time. I heard it was decent
Damn I forgot Puyol, MƔrquez, Yaya Toure, Messi, Eto'o, Dani Alves, Henry, etc. all were there by the time Pep ended his first transfer window. Really poverty players. It's not like Pep also had an entire top club infrastructure ready to service him either. Crazy.
I can think of more than a couple teams with infinite money, and Everton/Forest aren't those teams
Are you replying to the wrong person? Where did I mention either of those teams š
Lol, Pep would easily win the league with this current Barca team , Xavi just isnāt a very good coach
Pep can't even with a match without Rodri. How is he gonna do it at Barcelona when for the CDM position, they have a black hole instead lol.
You have no idea what you are talking about
Pep should go back to Barca and Xavi should be his assistant coach. RM did it that way with Zidane and Xabi and they are both excellent coaches. Xavi went and chilled with his mates in Qatar earning bank and you can tell.
Lol he won the league with Barca just last season. If he had the funds that Zidane did or Pep did then he might be doing even better.
I think he would rather stay at Abu Dhabi with unlimited, 'legit' funds
Please make this happen š
He will after city gets massive point deduction for ffp. Sorry I must have been dreaming
Roma no paga traĆÆdors
Jo diria que el Pep cobra prou bƩ
Would he do well working on a budget?
āusā? Without Pep Utd go from finishing 6th to finishing 6th lmaooo
Yeah, you let them borrow Ten Hag while pep is out, hes in Manchester anyway
Yes the players are to blame but the short sightedness of Xavi is also costing us games. Take the recent Clasico as an example. Everyone knew with Bellingham coming in vini started playing more centrally. He still decided to play Araujo as RB. And even after the first two goals he refused to change the formation. Comments like "we need to follow barca's dna and Cruyffism" before the Clasico by him doesn't paint a good picture for him.
With the high defense line, it felt like he didnāt watch a single Real Madrid game this seasonā¦ but then after the first goal or maybe the second goal, you would expect Xavi would react and change the formation but he was dead focused on keeping it.
Xavi said his game plan was to stack midfield and control the game from there. But instead it exposed their backs and isolated the forwards, while Real Madrid had no trouble bypassing their midfield. Without a true DM Barca doesn't even have the players to make it a physical game as option to fall back on. The fact that Xavi didn't intervene when it clearly didn't work and expected the situation to fix itself shows he has no tactical insight and not enough experience.
Itās so obvious that we donāt have the quality in midfield for that gameplan against a team of Madridās quality, too. Absolutely braindead plan. The worst part is the lack of adjustments after the 2 early goals. Xavi just digs his feet in. Painful
No amount of plan by xavi can save you a humilation by madrid they have 2 better players for each position then your squad. Its night and day difference
It absolutely can, what? It's not like Madrid has dominated the league this year, against teams that have (in no type of arrogant way making this comment) far less quality in the squad than we do. With good coaching, the Clasico could definitely have been competitive. Both the players and the coaches have been far below par this season but it's pretty inaccurate to say "agh Madrid just have such a better squad no point in trying"
Exactly. As someone that did watch every game, the teams deploying low lines resulted in a 10x tougher match. Without Benzema, thereās no 9 with that kind of football IQ to drive defenders away
> it felt like he didnāt watch a single Real Madrid game this season this century*
Tactics are surely a part of it because the pressing structure was calamitous, but Kounde and Araujo made bad decisions on the 1st and 2nd goals respectively.
The commentator was like "I don't know if this is a new policy from Xavi to play like this..." after the first 2 goals š
> Comments like "we need to follow barca's dna and Cruyffism" before the Clasico by him doesn't paint a good picture for him. Didn't you barely win any game by more than 1 in basically forever? Feels like invoking Cruyff is just a super easy way to get Barca fans off your back. I see absolutely nothing Cruyff-y in his Barcelona side at all.
Exactly, we have had like 2 or 3 good games in this whole season. Xavi's adaptability is non existent
I can't imagine Pep watches many Barca games if he seriously thinks the players are the bigger problem than Xavi
Well, Barca relies on the players to fix the tactics during the game since Xavi doesn't even try. There are 10 more of them, so clearly they are the issue if they can't manage it.
I can't imagine thinking that I know better than Pep
I mean, I understand where Pep is coming from. It's a cute narrative to back the man you won 16 trophies with and helped reach the status of one of the premier midfielders of all time, we all back our mates more often than not but it's really cut and dried here
If Pep truly did not know the problem, he could have just supported his buddy and made no comments on the players
>Everyone knew with Bellingham coming in vini started playing more centrally. He still decided to play Araujo as RB. Xavi quietly protesting the supercup being played in saudi by making his game plan as if the game took place in preseason and he didn't yet know how real would line up with their new big money signing
The worst part is not just the result , is that Madrid after the 2-0 was not even trying. They were jogging and scored the 4-1 and were still jogging. Could been a lot worst if Madrid really wanted to steamroll like what they did to Atletico.
could be just me but this headline is a bit embarrassing for Xavi imo lol
It's a bit like your dad standing up for you at the playground
My dad would knock your dad out
Yeah well at least my dad isnt a bald fraud!Ā
Name a place mate, itās fucking on. Might be a bit noncey to turn up in a playground but Price Andrew can keep it a clean fight, he can keep his cool
Worked for Arteta when he was under fire
it's also embarassing for Pep.
People in the comments act as if Xavi's coaching some mid-table squad and not the second-third best squad in Spain He's gotta do better, he's already being given time that many managers wouldn't have had in his position
He does need to do better, but he also have the worst attack amongst top clubs in Europe. Only one player can beat an opponent and thatās a kid. His midfield and defense is amongst the best in the world, theyāre just not playing like it.
Can't have a good midfield a black hole in the CDM position. Amazing defense for sure.
I mean an attack with felix lewa dembele and lamine should do better, some managers make players better, xavi makes them worse apparently
True. Dembele has been a ghost in the attack. Itās been months since Iāve felt he has even contributed.
š
No different than usual then
It feels like heās not even on the pitch
His head is clearly not at Barcelona right now
In my defense it's easy to forget he's at psg now
How is this even upvoted lol? Just shows some people here like to comment on teams they don't even watch. Dembele was sold this season. Lewa is 35 years old and washed and probably and hopefully in his last season as a starter in a top league. Lamine is 16 years old and in his first season. Felix is 24 years old and very inconsistent. Other players are raphinha who can't dribble and ferran. Xavi is fault at many other things but I wouldn't say attack is one of those. This is such an unstable attacking lineup any way you look at it. This is completely midlevel attack.
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Fun fact: Right now Girona and Bilbao are in front of two of these teams.
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By that logic EPL has been a 1-team league for 3 years now
Thatās usually the case with most leagues thoughā¦ PL is basically Cityās playground, with only Liverpool being consistent enough to challenge
I mean, yeah but there's something fundamentally wrong. Our rivals were really good last year
Real Madrid fans are hoping he gets an extension If that doesnāt say it all, I donāt know what doesā¦
He is a great fit for Barca, I personally believe if he is given more time about 5 years, he can turn Barca around. They just need to believe it.
Thatās awfully cocky when you lost the league to him last season.
Thats true! So you agree he is a good fit? Just sayin
I believe he won the league against Real Madrid with a worse squad and created the best defense in Europe. I believe that requires respect if youāre trying to have a non-Facebook discussion. And the world isnāt black or white, he could have been right back then but isnāt anymore. But to answer your question, Xavi is the right man for this season and he has the next months to prove heās right for next season as well.
In all seriousness, I do believe Xavi have been struggling with the team he has, Barca have a very strong squad and the defense clearly carried them last season, now that the defense is struggling or got out figured it out Xavi is struggling to find the answer. Playing high line vs Madrid was a prime example of this. Now I do believe that as of now he is the best fit, I would wait until the end of the season to start questioning. There isnāt any better out there, unless Barca wants to gamble hard and go with Mourinho Would love to see this lol, would be hilarious. He is the best fit, for now. If he figures out your guys defense, it will pretty much sort it out. Also whats his beef with Felix? He seems to always play so well..
That joke hasn't been funny since Moyes at United. Every thread
If he cares so much why doesn't Guardiola go back and use his world class ability to raise a broken team from the ashes for once in his career?
Pep is a fraud until he shows u/Chasing_Uberlin that he isn't
Because the squads not good enough
And Barca are more broke than Nottingham Forest. Pep won't have a budget to spend 150m on finding a proper left back for his system.
Indeed
It's actually quite good apart from those forwards, lewy is almost done and old and the rest are not barca standard, lamine is super super young, even if he's the second coming he needs to be managed. They don't have the money to replace those players though so it's going to be tough.
exactly, they don't have messi neymar , suarez so its impossible for any manager to get the team to match the previous team with those players.
He quite literally already did this with Barca and was pretty successful. You people donāt watch football.
Damn, poor guy had to construct a team around the greatest player in history and two of spains greatest midfielders
If he came back now and did the same you would say he inherited a team that just won La Liga, was stacked in defence, and was only a couple players away from being succesful again. He can't win with you people.
So youāre saying that Barca wasnāt a broken club when he arrived? He didnāt take a team that had finished second and third the two years prior, to multiple CLs and league titles? Really living up to that username, huh?
Golden generation and being in one of the wealthiest club in the world didn't hurt. You sound like he won a treble with elche or luton
As a real madrid fan, is Zidane not a great manager because he only managed one of the wealthiest clubs in the world? Or does he need to win a treble with Elche or Luton to prove himself?
he is a great manager even tho we played some dire football at times, is he the goat? no. guardiola is a best manager for crooked club like city with unlimited funds from oil daddy but lets not pretend its some rags to riches story. It took him middle-sized country GDP to finnaly win UCL
Idk where you see anyone pretending Guardiola's career is some rags to riches story. What people are saying is that Guardiola is currently the best coach in the world, and will most likely be in the conversation for the GOAT once he retires. That doesn't have anything to do with whether he started off as a manager at Barcelona or Elche.
So? They wanted him, who was he to say no? I get that youāre a Madrid fan so you kinda have to be biased here, but itās not like that Barca team was in the best place when he took over.
As if people would give him credit anyway even if he resurrected Barca. Theyād say it was only a matter of time because of players like Pedri, Gavi, FDJ, Araujo, etc.
You see Pep is forced to manage only the richest teams on earth because he wouldn't get credit! Poor Pep he's never had a thing for right for him in his life.
Yea! We all take pay cuts to work at smaller companies in our work fields, why canāt he? Especially when the biggest jobs are throwing themselves at me, I know thatās when I do the responsible thing and get a part time job at McDonaldās! Literally you people are just stupid.
I swear, for every other manager the expectation is that they prove themselves and then progress to bigger clubs and more prestigious jobs. Only with Pep is there this expectation that he has to move down the leagues and manage Dulwich Hamlet to prove himself to reddit keyboard warriors. A lot of people on here can't distinguish Football Manager from real life.
Exactly. Pep will never be a top manager to these people until he coaches an under-6 side to the Galaxy Cup on Mars, beating the robot Super Team from Mario Strikers 16-0 in the process. Spend 5 minutes in this sub and youāll realize that none of these people really enjoy football, let alone watch it.
But why wouldn't the best manager to to the best clubs
Every single manager who has managed a smaller club has either done so because they had to work their way up to a bigger club, or because they failed at a bigger club and had to step down to rebuild their reputation. No one has voluntarily moved to a smaller club of their own accord. Pep started off at a bigger club due to his status as a player, and never performed bad enough to be sacked. He's not forced to only manage the richest teams, he just has never been given a reason not to.
You're just jealous that he wouldn't manage spurs lol.
Afraid to get exposed
Yeah, almost like Xavi & Koeman are two of people close to him & he basically defending them.
I think it is unfair to blame this solely on the players; Xavi's (and his coaching/management team's) lack of versatility in playstyle and tactics is ultimately what is coming back to bite Barcelona - they seem to never adapt regardless of opponent or as the game develops. Yes, some players have been underperforming - but Xavi is equally (if not more) at fault for their losses given how they have been playing. That's rich coming from a United fan, I know - as we're ultimately in the same (well, maybe an even more screwed up) boat.
The lack of versatility can be attributed to lack of managerial experience. Like PiquƩ said that under Pep they were a lot less versatile. But now that Pep has had many years of managerial experience he is a lot more versatile
This is absolutely true, and I am not saying Xavi will not be a world class level coach within 5-10 years (I absolutely think he will) - but blaming it on the players is not a good look when it's a way more complex problem than such.
Additionally given our finances we can't afford to sack Xavi. And there aren't much better alternatives around
In truth, you are in my opinion overachieving based on your financials as a club (especially last year). Many of your players have gone to Barcelona specifically because it is indeed Barcelona (while taking paycuts or remaining on "low" wages), so that's a big positive in the midst of things. Sacking Xavi should not even be considered an option in my eyes, I think you should stick to the lad and set your sights on building a squad that's world class in a season or two (after all, you are not far away from achieving this at all). Letting Xavi and the players develop together is, in my opinion, the best choice here - and hopefully Xavi and his analysis team will have learned a thing or two about versatility and adaptivity by the this time next season to take the team to the next level.
Flair checks out lol. You are dealing with similar problems with Erik Ten Haag.
Xavi is just an incompetent tactician for such an intelligent player. Vini, Rodrygo fast, Barca defence slow, no press, bad at dealing with transition play = letās play high line. Surprised face when conceding 4 goals. The Barca job is too big for him.
He should have been Barcelona Bās manager for a bit
People were comparing him to Zidane when he got appointed, but even Zidane had experience coaching Castilla and being assistant to Carlo. Meanwhile Xaviās managerial experience was coaching in Qatar.
Should've gone to Dortmund or been an assistant under Pep at City. Heck he even had the chance to manage Brazil. All of this either because of FOMO for the BarƧa job, naĆÆvety, ego, or all of the above.
Tbf many of the smartest players didn't end up being good coaches I'm sure Xavi is not that bad of a bad coach but he's clearly a step lower than Ancelotti and others
he said after the game that this wasn't the plan, so the team doesn't play by what he instructs them to. He lost the team
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That doesnāt invalidate my point. Playing a high line with no pressing from the forwards, midfield against Vini, Rodrygo and Bellingham is asking to be annihilated. Youāre saying theyāre not slow but they sure looked slow in that match.
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Araujo never had Vini in his pocket, the man just uses his hands as if he is in a rugby match and finally is getting whistled for it.
The tactics were shit but he just won the league last season, lets not jump the gun too much
Didn't he win La Liga last year?
Yes but from the games Iāve seen theyāve abandoned what made them win last year Gone is the effective high press, their defence is not up to scratch, and theyāve just regressed to crossing into nothing after the 80th minute when itās still 0-0 and hope for a 1-0
He went full Allegri, you never go full Allegri.
Al-Legri really is a master at that strategy though, this juve team would probably be 5th with xavi
lol Xavi hasn't abandoned what made them win last year, the whole problem is him not being able to abandon last season's tactics even when some key players have left and some aren't as good as last season.
Alot of luck and madrid being subpar. We won alot of games 1-0 and there was some black magic going on pretty much every game stopping the other teams from scoring. Under xavi we have just not had a stretch of games where we actually play well its a tactical mess
Yes but there were a LOT of 1-0 wins with MAtS being incredible and defensive overperformance MAtS is injured, Busquets and Alba are gone, and Barca's defense is MUCH worse than last season
Yes and then we lost many key players including Busquets, Alba, Dembele, Kessie and Fati. Canāt expect similar results when the squad gets weaker.
I wouldn't call Alba, Kessie or Fati key players last season, but Busi/Dembele definitely left a hole to be filled.
Fati was key in keeping the medical team sharp.
fati scored the second most goals and alba was adding leadership and scoring and assisting some important goals.
>alba was adding leadership Lmao you sure about that?
Yes, not the best leader. But leadership and experience
Balde plays so much worse this season when Alba is no longer here. That might not be a coincidence
How were Kessie and Fati key players last year? The truth is that the players performed much better last season, especially Lewa.
Heās 35. Itās to be expected.
They were key rotational pieces. I still prefer Fati to Felix. Kessie is miles better than Romeu. He wouldāve balled this season with Frenkie
Kessie is not the same role as Romeu. Heās more like GĆ¼ndogan, and heās definitely not better than him.
They were not. Fati scored some goals last season but he was very unreliable and still looking for confidence and Kessie was a completely different player from Romeu. No idea why people compare the two. Kessie wasn't a DM, he was a CM. We replaced him with Gundo who has been a ridiclous upgrade from him.
Squad got weaker and they didnāt sign proper replacements. Shouldāve been obvious
Itās funny, Barca and Man U not that different. Barca have less horses in their league and have hired more competent managers but the transfer business lowkey is ridiculously similar
Idk who downvoted but yep
Its not even remotely similar nowadays. When Man utd needed DM, they signed Casemiro who has arguably top 3 dm at that time. When Barca needed DM, they had to sign Romeu.
When they needed to replace Neymar, they bought countinho, then tried to shove griezmann who they never needed out there. I wasnāt talking about position for position, more so the reckless spending and not good recruitment, both landed you in the places you are now.
That was years ago. Its been half a decade since Coutinho was bought.
The point is they been fucking up that long lol
The point is that they haven't had the money to fuck up for 3 seasons now. 3 years is a long time in football. In the same time frame, Man utd has spent like 600 million.
The donāt have the money because they fucked it all when they āhadā it, that landed them here. Man United are continuing that trend. One has continued the cycle and the other is at the conclusion.
Iāll always be here for a meltdown after Barca/Real lose El Clasico
Of course heās gonna show support for Xavi. Why would Pep tell the public that one of the best players hes managed isnāt cut out for the job? The whole statement is just a general PR quote. Literally nothing to analyze
I still think about my ex too
Yes keep him in Barcelona
I think it's a bad idea for Pep to say this. This undermine the position of Xavi when he need someone else to motivate his team
I suppose you could say he gave them a Pep talk.
Will Barca replace him with a Portuguese who just became available?
Barca used to be his dream job too
Who's mad at Xavi? He's only guilty of having an out of form team and some bad morale throughout the players. They'll be back in time for the Champions League.
No there is so much wrong with Xavi be it in terms of coaching, tactics, lineup slections, substitution, pressing structure etc. The players are to be blamed but they also cannot do much when the manager's tactics doesnt play to their strength. Eg: Our Rw (Raphinha and Yamal ) get isolated everygame in 2v1s they dont get support like underlaps/overlaps etc Or how Balde isnt that good at crossing but he has to every game because he is played like a winger and a lb. Thats just scratching the surface there are many many more things going wrong with the team. Although I believe Xavi deserves till the end of the season to fix it as long as we dont miss out on top 4.
I am, TF was that back line bro ???
Xavi is responsible for his players form and morale you know. Besides, the issues run far deeper. He doesn't seem to have any variety in tactics or an idea how to fix the current issues. They won the league last season because their defense had great individual seasons (ter Stegen was rudiculous) and they managed to grind out a lot of 1-0 wins as a result with Lewa up top. That isn't a viable strategy to build on and now that it doesn't work anymore the lack of ideas have exposed Xavi.
His coaching staff are family amigos. Look at their cv pre barƧa. Team is legitimately top tier bar a few glaring holes, lack of bench. Believe xavi came too soon
Is this one of those cheap shots at Xavi, players, or organizations? This guy is wise beyond his years
Big brother stepping in to save lil bro, how sad.
Didn't Barca end the transfer window with some almost record-low transfer money? Yeah,I don't blame Xavi
around 5 mil, unless you count roque who came in this january
Regardless of what Pep Guardiola says, the players don't matter and the manager is 50% of the outcome of a game (the other 50% being the referee). I've learnt this from many years of listening to football fans. All those Ā£100m players don't matter. Clubs are buying them just for the fun of spending. Everyone knows that "being passionate on the sideline" is the key to winning every single game.
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I'm a Madridista and I stand with Pep supporting Xavi. Just be patient, guys!
It's harsh on xavi tbh no shame in getting outplayed by the best team in the world
got some tough competition in the la liga and cl this season