Managing Barca

Problems with Xavi

Historically, FC Barcelona has been known for its attractive brand of football and titles. But in recent years, Barca has been nowhere near playing attractive football or winning titles.

Shakil Ahmed

January 27,2024

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Though under Xavi last season, Barca won La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup, now it is going through one of the worst moments in the club’s history. This club is not only struggling athletically but also financially. Financially, the club can’t sign players that are required to compete at the top level. Sportingly, the club suffered heavy defeats against their rival Real Madrid and table-topping Girona, which prevented them from approaching the top position in the standings. With 44 points, they are far from the top, also 8 points behind the league leaders Girona (with one game in hand) and Real Madrid (7 points behind). La Liga seems too far away at this moment. Making things worse, Xavi also failed to win the Super Cup against Real Madrid with a humiliating 4-1 scoreline, and in the Copa Del Ray Athletic Bilbo defeated his team with a 4-2 scoreline. As expected, fans are very disappointed, and their confidence in him is getting lower, though the club president and sporting director are still supporting the manager and believing in his ability to turn down the situation. If he continues as a manager at Barcelona, he has to solve some issues to repay the faith of the club.

Injuries and Player Performance 

During the 2023–24 season, Barcelona suffered 16 serious injuries. Key players like Pedri, Gavi, Ter Stegen, De Jong, Kounde, Arujo, Cencelo, and Lewandowski weren’t available for some matches. Even after coming back from injury, players like Pedri, De Jong, Kounde, and Arujo aren’t performing at their best and are also inconsistent. The form of the entire team hasn’t been up to the mark. Players are losing balls here and there, making individual mistakes. Xavi’s training sessions and the low intensity of the training can also be topics of discussion.

Solution for an Unbalanced Squad 

Due to the financial mess, Barcelona can’t sign the required players. To implement Xavi’s tactics on the field, he badly needs a good defensive midfielder to cover up defensive problems, retain possession, and also break the opponent’s line from the deep. As the club can’t sign any players, the manager has to find a solution to prevent opponent counter attacks and disrupt opponent attackers in the midfield. Also, Xavi has to find a solution for interiors. As we know, his attacking play mostly depends on the interiors, especially on Pedri, Gavi, and Gundogan. But in recent matches, Gundogan has had to play deeper to support De Jong, and Pedri hasn’t been performing well after injury; he should use wingers instead of interiors.

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Lack of Identity

I mentioned that historically, Barcelona has been known for its attractive brand of football. But in recent years, this attractive football seems nowhere even close. Now, under Xavi, forget about beautiful football; Barca even doesn’t have an identity. Fans don’t understand Xavi’s style of play, approach to the game, or how he wants to control the game. Xavi is taking a ‘by any means necessary’ approach to get a result without any identity. Fans feel frustrated when they watch Barcelona and Xavi’s tactics. Even some players have started questioning his approach.

Lewandowski’s Performance 

Since the World Cup, Lewandowski’s form has fallen drastically. He hasn’t been the same player, we know. He can’t score goals, create spaces for others, make proper touches, or even press higher at the top. It is also creating pressure on other players; for example, Pedri has to press at the top.

Defense 

In the 2022–23 season, Barca has really been minimizing the number of goals conceded. The defensive side of this team isn’t performing well. Last season, they conceded only 20 goals in the league and had the best defensive record of any team in the world. But right now, they constantly look like opposites. They are conceding goals for fun due to individual mistakes. Instead of defending as a unit like last season, they are relying on the back line. Xavi’s defensive orientation has also been questionable.

Inexperience and leadership

One of the major problems for Barca is the lack of a leader in the dressing room as well as in the field, which is affecting the team’s performance. Veteran players have to step up in the big matches and show a winning mentality, as most of the players in the current squad are young.

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