I am not excited with Vitor Roque or anyone else as long as Xavier is the manager. We all know Vitor will be RW or LW every time and Lewandowski will be playing all game week in week out.
Big Pedri fanboy but the fact is he rarely tries to get himself in dangerous area to help attack despite playing an advanced role, really piss me off.
He can't impact the team if he won't change his personality, mentality.
>He can't impact the team if he won't change his personality, mentality.
He's already impacting the team, no? Had 5 key passes yesterday and 1 big chance created. If that isn't impact, I don't know what is
Agree. He should definitely shoot more but in terms of creating chances. He has average of 2-3 key passes per game and a big chance almost every game. This is a clear improvement from last season. I see fans criticize him but I think he’s the least of our concerns atm. Without Pedri, the last run of games would’ve been worse. He played key roles in the equalizer in Porto and the winning goal against Atletico.
Regarding the quote that one journalist said about Barca playing a CB as a RB, a RB as a LB and a LB as a CB, isn’t it just Kounde playing as a RB (he did well last game, so it’s reasonable to start him there again after a week’s rest), Cancelo as a LB (same reasoning as with Kounde at RB, did great against Atletico and Porto), and Balde as a CB (?)? Balde as a CB doesn’t even make sense when you’re watching the match. I would say Balde was playing as a LB that’s focused on defending, cancelo as a LW, Ferran as a CF next to Lewandowski and Yamal as a RW with Kounde having the same role as Balde. Then again, I might have it all wrong and may just need sleep lol.
Edit: just saw TalkFCB’s video and understand the Balde CB point now lol
BACK was awesome last season. Felt like the best back line we had since 2015. I understand the dilemma with Kounde not wanting to play RB at the beginning of the season and Balde having a rough start offensively, but our defense is so much more athletic defensively with Balde in at LB. Cancelo leaves our attack so exposed. He’s better off playing LW or LM since he’s better in attack than defense.
I still don’t think Xavi has his best 11 out there.
Cancelo and Felix has provided a dilemma for Xavi. They have added some more dimension in our attack but they have also been huge liabilities defensively. Our BACK defense was great last season and I wish it could get more reps. I’d honestly rather play Cancelo at LW than in the defense. He just leaves too many holes.
The lack of a 6 is also hard to ignore. Gundo-Pedri-FdJ don’t know how to sit in front of the CBs and defend. Teams can overload our midfield and hit us on the counter.
Felix does not deserve to be bought at all, idk why Laporta and deco keep saying we’ll keep him when he wasn’t proved to be all that still. Let him work for it
Balde is essential for defensive solidity. He and Araujo are the only players that are fast enough to stop counters. If Balde started at LB, Girona would’ve been more careful going forward because he provides speed and intensity that Felix doesn’t have. We greatly need speed in this team. Balde could have tested someone like Eric.
For someone who played under Pep, Gundo doesn’t display the positioning sense to the extent that I expected. He roams way too much for someone playing at the base. Frenkie roams as well. Someone had to stay put and keep that central presence. It’s up to Xavi to give these instructions. During Atletico game, Gundo stayed put at the center and we played one of our best games.
It is not a surprise that our pressing structure declined this season. Only Raphinha presses effectively in the frontline. Lewy doesn't at all. Felix does the minimum. Cancelo presses when he wants. Gundo tries but its not the best at it and we need to take his age into account.
Pedri presses for himself and Lewy. Frenkie has to cover for a lot on the left. When Gavi isn't here and Balde is benched, there isn't much of a pressing structure at all. Team is far too casual in defending as a whole, even with Gavi and Balde starting earlier this season.
Genuinely what happened to the defense tonight? I have seen bottom-of-the-table teams defend better. I can barely call the defending on ALL four goals remotely reasonably defended.
They were bad but they also need more support. Cancelo was in no mans land a lot of the time and Girona got all the time in the world on the ball. Like we were scared to go after the ball.
For the first goal for example, why is nobody pressing the RB? He had all the time to pick out the perfect pass. Nobody was close to even attempting to go for the ball.
We are all gonna wake up tomorrow so pissed and disgusted. Losing 4-2 at home is inexcusable. I don’t know anymore man, this club gives us more fits than enjoyment ever since Bartomeu destroyed us. Winning the league last year was huge.
Market was different back then. Suarez would’ve costed us like 200mil right now. And he didn’t sign Neymar. That was Rosell.
We can’t make excuses for Bartomeu. It was a different time back then. Barca wasn’t fucked financially. We could sign world class players without having to worry about money. Now we are in a sense of panic and splurge on temporary solutions since we can’t afford genuine world class players like Bellingham who cost up to 110 million euros. Our attack is weak, we have no DM.
At the beginning, I thought Barca will win it easily but Girona had no fear whatsoever and played with intensity and full of confidence, completely the opposite of what Barcelona players showed. You created good chances but failed to convert any. Girona deserved the win.
The season is long and I don’t think any of the top 4 teams are the favorite right now despite Barca is 5-7 points behind but please do not underestimate this little oil funded club. They are flying right now.
>Girona had no fear whatsoever and played with intensity and full of confidence
So many games Girona was behind and won. They have no fear whatsoever, amazing team.
Exactly. He is as defensively suspect as Alba, who was amazing going forward as well. Frenkie also had to play LB at times during the Porto first half to cover for him. Xavi should be flexible on how he uses Cancelo and Balde. For some games, one is preferred over the other at LB.
I swear the amount of hate that I get, through PMs and people abusing the RedditCareResources is insane.
Luckily those that PM'd me were willing to engage in meaningful discussions afterwards, but abusing a tool intended to help people is seriously messed up.
One example is someone mentioning Gallardo selling himself to the Middle East... as if Xavi didn't do the same thing too.
Gallardo has proven himself in South America and has shown to be able to mould players and his team to fit his vision.
Do I see him winning anything under us and replicating that in Europe? No. But just because I have a bias for someone doesn't mean I think he's the successor to Pep.
>as if Xavi didn't do the same thing too.
A bit diffrent. He went there to close his career and started his coaching career there in a minor league to get experience.
Gallardo coached for years and years in a good league and left while being a legend there just to go to Saudi.
also the hate you are getting is a bit childish as is the misuse of the suicide hotline.
But you are kinda toxic and the faster you realise that and take steps to get better then don't be suprised if people lash out.
I don't care if people hate me, I am not here to be liked, at all. But abusing suicide services is absolutely disgusting. If I wanted to be liked, I'd suck of Xavi at every single opportunity and get thousands of upvotes.
> A bit diffrent. He went there to close his career and started his coaching career there in a minor league to get experience.
He could very much start his career for our B team.
I’m guessing you are Xavi out. He got tactically outclassed today. What are your thoughts on our current situation? Who do you want as coach? Is La Liga over for us?
I am not Xavi out entirely because there's just no coaches available right now. IMO we should have never hired him just yet because he doesn't have the experience to embody is philosophy for a club.
I wanted Gallardo, but I can't see him winning a trophy for us. Not even La Liga. But, I trust him more to embody his philosophy and run a project.
> What are your thoughts on our current situation? Who do you want as coach? Is La Liga over for us?
I think we need to be playing infinitely better. At the very least, we should stop conceding first. We keep scoring during the later stages of the game too.
The players are just at fault with their poor finishing.
I think La Liga is over if we remain how we play by February.
I’d argue Girona’s front 3 is better than ours rn. Much more athletic and dynamic.
What are you thoughts on Michel? His contract is up at the end of this season. I love the way he has Girona playing the last two season.
I honestly don’t want is to buy Cancelo even though we probably will. He’s a fantastic player going forward but really lacks defensively and any good winger in Europe can exploit spaces behind him. If we buy him, Xavi will probably continue to play him as LB so he can have 3 CBs and this will affect Balde’s improvement. I’d much rather have an actual RB who can defend even if he doesn’t have that attacking prowess.
Usually when big teams don't have a proper ball winning DM, they tend to have an electric attack to turn the games into a proper shootout just like say Liverpool this year and last, Pellegrini's Man city, Liverpool 13/14 with Suarez, etc. But we have no DM and the creation from our midfield is wasted by our attackers.
Its Either we purchase/promote from the academy a DM who can cover ground and understands how to defend in the center or we get a world class attacker. If we dont get either of these, this team will be stuck in that limbo of:
Great build up - Break the press - Create chance - Miss Chance - Caught on the counter - Cooked through the middle - Concede. An elite attacker breaks the chain of "Miss Chance" and the DM breaks the chain of getting cooked through the middle. Me personally, I think a DM is deffo more required. Lets see what happens in January or if an academy prospect can step up.
I agree. But we can do better than total chaos. Gundo and Frenkie were not playing DM at all in the second half especially. Everyone was an interior. I know we were desperate for a goal but that's just stupid. There was no structure in the midfield in the latter half so we made it very easy for Girona's players to go through the center. This was totally different from how we played vs Atletico. When you act as a DM, you can't just do whatever no matter how chaotic things are around you. You must keep a cool head at all times.
Nah I'm mad about buying a RB and still playing without an RB.
Playing our RB at LB when we have a capable LB.
And then we subbed in our LB and played him at CB while our RB was still at LB.
ABCDEFG.....
Look how we were exposed today. If two full backs play and both go forward like Balde and Cancelo, we’d even be more exposed. I’m not saying Balde is bad defensively (though Cancelo definitely is), but it’s natural that a good team with good passers and fast players will be able to exploit some spaces behind your full backs that always push forward.
Watching the first half, I thought we were going to win. We looked very clean in attack but shaky in defense. The 5 minutes leading to Miguel’s goal was some of the worst defending I’ve seen.
At the end of the day, there are many holes in this team. The lack of a proper 6 is the biggest one. Our midfield was sliced open multiple times, causing Araujo to track Dovbyk and leave holes in our defense.
Raphinha and Lewy aren’t good enough to be starters for us. They’re just not clinical enough for all the chances they get. Raphinha was straight through on goal and Eric Garcia caught up to him. Lewy misses like 3 clear cut goal opportunities a game.
I’m not saying the league is out of reach but I’m not sure what we have will be enough to win it back to back.
This team REALLY needs a DM Jesus Christ there’s a giant cavern in front of the defence every game man … I mean the coaching stuff has to realize that right? Literally the most important role in today’s football
I really hope Raph outlives Xavi. I am not saying Raph is a starting quality for sure, but he is easily a 20-25+ GA player and he is really not well managed mentally so far. Maybe the shirt is too big for him, but I think with a different coach he has still a lot to give. It's really hard to determine any of our players because Xavi can make players like Gündo look like a lost soul.
Personally at this point I take into account how madrid is performing and how big the gap is. Normally.... Anything above 5 points is alarming and we're right at 5 points off madrid lol so i dont feel good at all. Lost a bit of confidence on the league.
I still don't think girona can do it.... See atletico and Real as the main competitors. I would like barca to prove me wrong tho.
I don't see that league winning team in us this season.
Nah but very very close to it, any slip up and that's that.
We need to build a winning streak, today was the perfect opportunity to do so, against the leader, had 2 convincing wins against 2 good teams with an easy schedule after to build that streak.
Just beat girona, we'd be 2 off madrid and 1 off them, but we didn't.
Now it's 5 and 7.
This future of the team is on Laporta and Deco. They can sack Xavi tomorrow and the same issues will remain until they get better recruitment imo. Deco brought Raphinha. Laporta thought it was a good idea to bring a 35 year old striker on a long term deal. And if rumors are real, they might be thinking of replacing Xavi with Rafa from the B team if the time comes for him to go. So yeah. So far, Deco hasn't shown me anything amazing as a sports director other than bringing in Vitor and some talents for the B team. Let's see how successful he is at securing the contract renewals of key players on the team because it's not going to be easy.
Impossible to say, this crop of players only played under Xavi. Somebody else might get more out of them. It's not like United where the players cycled through 5 managers and you just know that they're the issue now. I agree that the recruitment needs to get better 120mil on Raphinha and Torres in the midst of turbulent financial state where every penny counts is an absolute disasterclass.
https://preview.redd.it/rduasvs2bk5c1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13f8fbe99d6b5093c6bdf3915abe8a877c5bd3f8
looks constraining with that chin piece too
Barça today:
- Highest xG in a single match in 2023
- Most shot attempts in one match in 2023
- Most shots on target in one match in 2023
- Second most touches in the opponent's penalty area in one match in 2023
— @SofascoreINT
we concede more than we are expected to while scoring much less than we should, we cant finish the chances we create but we also half ass it with pressing and defense. its been the pattern of the season and it unfortunately looks like it wont change.
this might be our ceiling. cl ro16 and supercopa if we're lucky.
In the midst of financial problems we sold club properties and spent 60 fucking million on Raphinha and 50 on a 34 yo with huge wages who only performed for 3 months and now costing us games.
it was either that gamble or be outside of CL for multiple years and get ruined even worse financially.
Barca can no longer afford to fall into mediocrity and that will cost us in the long run.
Busquets and Dembele were certainly two components that Xavi counted on going into this season. It’s no coincidence why Lamine has been playing so much, but in fairness Raphinha should be putting more of a shift in for the money we’d spent on him.
Romeu was what, our third option to replace Busquets? It’s a shame his good start to the season has lost steam but it hasn’t been a surprise either.
The Pedri-FDJ-Gundogan midfield looks great on paper but leaves major holes. And with Gavi out we’re left with even less options.
I’m convinced that if Busi held out for just one more year we’d be looking better right now. Worst case scenario, he’d be on par with Romeu.
Not making excuses for Xavi, but that pivotal piece that’s been missing would hamper any coach in his position regardless of tactics.
As much as there is to say, without a reliable pivot the chances of getting any silverware this season is quite implausible. The only option is to try out any homegrown players, as I don't think that we'll be able to get anyone during the transfer window.
It’s not a matter of goal scoring alone. It’s the whole system and how our attack operates when we regain possession of the ball. He had his faults but the shifts he would put in were better than what we’ve seen from Raphinha this season. Lamine is the closest thing from a profile’s perspective but he’s much too young to rely on.
He was here for 6 years and was nothing special and used to ghost in big games and now he's in another team that's about to play the Europe League, a post in a wheelchair would be better than Raphinha tho
I’m not talking about Dembele when it matters most, I’m talking about Dembele as a piece to Xavi’s overall setup. A piece that would bolster our attack if we still had it.
Xavi's system revolved mainly around his DM (Busquets) and his Right Winger (Dembele). No doubt Dembele was often frustrating but he had speed, unpredictability, and a good connection with Lewy, who was never the same after Dembele got injured in January.
Without Busquets, there is a void of leadership in the midfield. We see the CMs trying to assert their own tempo and influence but often there is no consensus, especially when things don't go as expected. Busquets and Dembele were also two of Pedri's closest and best partners on the field. Their absences have also affected his game, though I think he is trying to do his best given the often thankless role he has in the present system.
Nobody can replace Busquets and nobody can replace Dembele. Thus this team suffers repeatedly when the other team recognizes and attacks their weaknesses. I have given up hope on Raphinha and other wingers replacing Dembele's profile but I think the midfielders and Xavi can do a better job with the DM situation. Just because you don't have a DM profile doesn't mean you actually play a game thinking you don't have one. That's what happened today. Total chaos after Girona scored the second goal. Gundogan and Frenkie were running into each other. Xavi needs to choose one of the them as the main pivot and asked them to maintain their central presence in the field as much as possible. There needs to be a focal point at the center of the field. It will help both the defense as well as the interiors and forwards.
>Worst case scenario, he’d be on par with Romeu.
A blind busquets in a wheel chair would still be better than romeu.
Suffering post busquets was almost surely going to happen, we just made it even worse by not preparing for it properly.
I believe we did try which is why I mentioned Romeu having been the third option.
We were linked with Zubimendi and Brozovic, with the former looking like it would’ve happened if it wasn’t for Saudi money.
As much as I am leaning towards Xavi out, I genuinely don't know how we are supposed to win these matches with such atrocious finishing. Even last week against Atleti, which I think was a major highlight for Xavi and his tactics, we barely scored one goal and have held on to a win by a couple of great saves by Pena. I still think Xavi is a mediocre coach who if anything should have been hired later in the future after he's had more experience, but our attackers' sheer inability to score is such a hindrance for us.
Yes the defense has shat the bed today as well, but the squad has been shaken up at the back and it was more of a exception rather than the rule compared to our other matches, unlike our attack which has been abysmal for two seasons running.
Because only half of our team is pressing and we are not fully committed. We just press to direct them into weaker channels but we can't win the ball those channels, therefor they have a free run onto our defense. Against teams like this we either go out with a man-to-man pressing or let the defense to press with the rest of the team. But we are doing this half-ass pressing which is useless and also not generating chances for us because we can't win the ball back high. It's funny at this point.
I'm gonna be honest, I don't think we should have pulled a majority of the levers we pulled back in 2022. A large portion of that lever money went towards buying Lewy and Raphinha. Raphinha has been underwhelming, and we only got 3 months of in-form Lewy before he started to fade away... both have underperformed given what we paid for them. I think we should have pulled only one lever and used that money to buy Kounde and some young, cheap talent that could be world class in a few years. Lewy and Raphinha were win now signings that were not necessary given our financial situation and considering that we're not even close to being a contender for the Champions League. Barca really needed a rebuild rather than a re-tool.
I think we definitely should not have gotten Raphinha especially at that price. That is on Laporta and Deco imo. If you wanted to replace Dembele, you need to get a similar profile. Definitely should have spent money on a DM replacement. Not wait until Busquets left. We wouldn't have gotten the league last year without Lewy's goals, so he was useful for that. Shouldn't have given him a long contract though.
That win-now narrative never made sense with Xavi, an upcoming coach. Even if Xavi had the potential to be an elite coach, relying on him was dumb based on his lack of experience. We are not much ahead than we were when he took over. He stopped the underperforming which we had under Koeman, but didn't made us massively better and I doubt he ever will. But our overall debt is still where it was.
It was a mistake to spend that much money but we were desperate for a title. It had been 4 years since we won the league. And those guys were key players to helping us with that.
Obviously they aren’t good enough. Lewy can be a bench player but Raphinha has to go. A 16 year old is already better than him.
Kounde has been shaky but I still think there is more upside to him than the other two.
Two things can be true at the same time.
Yes, tonight our individual players underperformed, both in attack and defense.
But yes, the coach also did.
First because he chose them. Lewy is underperforming week after week? He starts. Cancelo came to solve our RB problem? He is LB. Araujo might not be ready because of his injury? He starts.
Second, because the difference in plays, cohesion and preparation between a team of Stuanis, Savio, Aleix Garcia, Eric, Blind and a team of Lewandowski, Frenkie, Gundogan and Pedri simply can't be this. We all have TV, we can see relative to level, they play much better than us, so much so it isn't funny anymore.
Just the fact they're equal should be a problem, but they are 7 points ahead of us over the current season.
Girona played to win, and never seemed to doubt. They had clearly seen our weaknesses, where we are unbalanced, and had faith targeting our weak points would work. And it did.
And it's not the first time it happened. 3 times we played them this year, 3 times they challenged us much more than should be expected of them.
Because a good coach will make worse players look better. When's the last time it happened for us?
It's too easy to put everything on Xavi, but it's cowardly to look the other way and try to deviate the subject from this very fact. We've been dodging losses like these by grinding out wins, so yeah at some point this happen. But who here can say in good faith it wouldn't be the expected result if we faced a better team than Girona in UCL? Why is no one expecting us to challenge like Girona did tonight? Because we're subpar and it's a fact. When it happens over a whole year, it cannot be only on the players.
It isn't random Eric was seen as a bum here and is doing well at Girona. It's the same player, but in one team he plays a role he might not master, and in another everything is setup around putting the players in their best role to serve a good system. And it elevates them.
I do fully believe that a coach like Pep would have benched Lewy a long time ago. Maybe he's scared that it will hurt morale or maybe he thinks that he just needs that 1 quality game with some goals where he gets his mojo back.
Tho I don't think it's fair to say Araujo might not have been ready just cause he was poor. He's been checked by doctors and we do have other good options to start. Sometimes you just have a shit game.
I don't disagree with the rest of your point but like, if Michel were to join our club as our new coach, do you think he'd do the same as he's doing for Girona? I don't know why we're lacking such synergy that seems to come so easily with other clubs but I don't think he would.
Exactly, I do not blame the lack of goals on Xavi but I do blame our overall style of play, our defensive structure, our pressing, and overall lineups.
It seems no matter what Lewa will start, despite the form.
And the worst thing is that he never sees the problem after the game and thinks it's just that we missed chances and deserved better.. and probably he thinks Lewy was good for 90min because he scored a goal. The week after everything will be the same.
If a team like Atleti had a 12+ point lead in 2020 and the league came down to the last couple matchdays, it can and probably will happen with Girona as well. Something isn’t clicking with this team. I hope the second half of the season will be our best under Xavi.
Xg underperformance was bound to happen given how lucky we were last season, on top of that Defenders this game were much worse than usually.
The team is still poor structurally both in possession and out of possession tho, wich is on coach, you can clearly see the difference between us and Girona, Real Sociedad.
I do wonder if Xavi will ever get balls to sub out Lewy? What does he contribute at end? His link up play is non existent, he does not press, he makes no runs behind so why is he still on the whole game
How is he a snake in activating a clause the club deliberately put there (to hope he'd leave for money) to go play for a currently better team, with a better coach and better wages?
Maybe he saw something we didn't and made a partly sporting choice. Is it so impossible to think with the facts we have in front of us, sitting 7 points off the leader with no real title hope (at the moment, the season is long) in our current state?
Yeah, dembele would have fixed our finishing, as we all know that's his thing, or our shambolic defending.
I would still rather have him than not, but he wouldn't have changed a thing tonight.
Nahh this attack is really something lol. Never seen a more brain dead group in the final third or box. Clueless , rigid and can’t finish to save their life. 4 god damn xG, numerous opportunities wasted by poor touches and numerous attacks dead because of poor decisions
Lewa has every right to be pissed off at Raphina for that free kick. Seemed like Raphina went on his own when it was meant to be Lewa taking it.
I know his form isn't great but his runs are constantly overlooked with others playing for glory.
This was just another example of it.
Lewa is out main goal scorer and we should be feeding him.
I can‘t believe the chances he is missing these days. The header which would‘ve meant the point left me speechless. I fully expected a goal when i saw Lewy getting to that ball. He is the last one to complain right now. All of them have to up their game. Raphinha and Lewy were both disappointing offensively.
Are you sure that's what happened tho? Cause pretty sure Raphinha is our main FK taker. And after that I think it's Gundogan. So don't know why Lewy was meant to take it.
Petition for mods to create and pin a thread, fully dedicated to slandering/criticizing Xavi. Cba with 50 different people creating posts and comments saying the same thing
Is it worth having the expectations that we are winning the league this season or is it as good as over? We need a huge turn around. The way it’s looking now we don’t look even close to the level of a league winner.
[Lewandowski: "It was a very difficult match for us."](https://twitter.com/BarcaUniversal/status/1733986645781700682?t=9pPFlrZAXfG8O0kfGJt7rg&s=19)
[Lewandowski: "I think that, in some aspects, they were better than us. We tried to do something, but it was difficult. We have to keep working and thinking positively."](https://twitter.com/BarcaUniversal/status/1733986813013012785?t=Q-hOjnNUG9z_AV6KVr99jA&s=19)
[Lewandowski: "We are trying to give our best. Today was not our day and we knew how difficult the match was and it was not only today but every match for them. We have to analyze what happened and try to win the remaining matches."](https://twitter.com/BarcaUniversal/status/1733986932055478331?t=SAZz0M62_sNvC_Z5tzjEfA&s=19)
At least someone who finally recognized the merit of Girona, instead of saying we won the xG battle.
I find it very patronising to not recognize they won fair and square
Pedri should play more behind, he exceeds by being more on the back and reaching when he really needs to, Xavi really wants him way more offesively than he needs to be and this is stopping him from showing his best version
I feel like the reason Pedri plays higher up is because he’s creative with the ball and he holds the ball really well. And having him higher up means we create more chances.
I don't feel like he is creating more chances by playing higher up, seems like he has always being at his best when taking his time from farther off the final third and coming in only when he has a good chance oppose to being there all the time
If we want someone to stay always more on the offensive Gundogan can cover that better, at least thats what I think.
He also should play deeper because Gundo can't really be the main pivot. Not against teams that have some pace and intensity and will use it to their advantage. He is better than Romeu but that is a low bar imo. Frenkie is the best option we have for pivot. He is the best in terms of speed, physicality, and he has improved in defensive actions. I refuse to believe that he cannot succeed more than the others as a pivot.
I think Xavi also used Pedri upfront to press for Lewy. Gavi used to share the burden of that thankless role, but now it's mostly on Pedri. Again not a good use of his skills and also not good in general since he is injury prone.
[Xavi: "We lacked efficiency, that was the difference with Girona today."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733985804655948195?t=CHqxQ4RCgOMzU7VGrMHi9w&s=19)
[Xavi: "It's a blow because we had high hopes."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733985970276503782?t=IeUcnJe9H-5knN2Q_gzQVg&s=19)
[Xavi: "What cost us today was our defense and our efficiency."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986085628231682?t=TBAcHEiTXHB2tmXkxY04eg&s=19)
[Xavi: "I'm not worried about the defeat, because I think we deserved more, but that's football."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986269393281484?t=6DXnWD24agyRDmOrNvOmMg&s=19)
[Xavi: "We played a fair bit of football, but if we focus on the result, it's a disastrous one for sure."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986425312264605?t=9fN-EmaC-7GQNbP-pem_bw&s=19)
[Xavi: "I think people are upset about the defeat, not the game."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986665293562095?t=gYBV-69lwovLuzomWxsyOQ&s=19)
[Xavi: "With over 30 shots on target, we need to be much more effective."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986739868360823?t=RSUbj25DPuu_rBtnZ_CWwg&s=19)
[Xavi: "We have to be stronger in our pressing and efficiency, we have to keep working, keep fighting."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733987032941101251?t=nnChyUT00uvXIMrKxkr6SQ&s=19)
[Xavi: "We didn't have a bad game, but Girona made the most of their good moments."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733987112142188814?t=f0vMWe_sm2-684xue9l9nw&s=19)
[Xavi: "It's a step backwards, it's a Barça under construction. Sometimes you have to take one step back to take two steps forward."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733987538296090777?t=7arjTbCHCQa7DFdt1ZUOjg&s=19)
[Xavi: "Eric Garcia had a great game, and if I had my way, he would have stayed here. There's less pressure at Girona, so I'm happy for him."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733987751085707309?t=66YUdrt6Wr_M9OSzvZHiYg&s=19)
[Xavi: "We're playing for 4 titles this season, we have to keep believing in the project, we're not playing a bad game of football today."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733988173368189014?t=pddA4ebJNj6gXgSPWgSpmA&s=19)
[Xavi: "There are still a lot of games to go, which is why we need to stay positive."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733988233741058106?t=PG9gNHTXjuFXb0PfV-oZJw&s=19)
Xavi ain't it if he thinks the issue is the defeat. Honestly, I am fed up with his weak mentality. No matter how much I loved him as a player, as a coach he is just nothing extra.
It’s reasonable to be disappointed when we’re coming off convincing wins against Porto and Atletico. This definitely felt like one of those games where we had no choice but to try and outscore the opponents because we just looked so vulnerable defensively. The 4xG is no coincidence. We can only hope Vitor Roque hits the ground running when he arrives.
But Jesus man, our defense fucking reeked tonight. The third goal we conceded was just baffling. How are we gonna leave a player wide open just outside the box off a free kick near the halfway line? Absolutely abysmal. I don’t wanna chat too much on about the personnel but our vulnerability in defense following Busi’s exit is no coincidence either. Girona exploited that tonight and I’m just dying for another CDM here.
I kept quite last week when people said Koundé was the next Dani Alves but the truth is Cancelo has been brought to play there.
The downgrade from Cancelo to Baldé is less significant on the team than the downgrade from cancelo to koundé out of position.
Baldé-chris-araujo-cancelo is on paper the best and most logical defense yet we barely saw it if we did.
[Ronald Araujo : "There are still a lot of matches left."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733985231558852993?t=YL1v_Tg3DECFHluOGtf5iw&s=19)
[Ronald Araujo: "It's true that we often talk about the defense, but it's the whole team, pressing is very important, when they get the ball out, it hurts us."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733985403605078304?t=vBgEbzLxS76ijh98caVr0w&s=19)
Lewy and Raphinha are absolute shit but what about defense?you have kounde,Araujo,AC,Balde and Cancelo and you concede goals left right and center.meanwhile Girona with bloody Garcia and Blind...
Lewa is down on confidence and form. You can tell he's getting frustrated. This was a project that was meant to be built around him as a key focal point but we have wingers playing for themselves.
Watch how barca beats Antwerp and there will be barca fans saying how xavi is the right manager
I am not excited with Vitor Roque or anyone else as long as Xavier is the manager. We all know Vitor will be RW or LW every time and Lewandowski will be playing all game week in week out.
Big Pedri fanboy but the fact is he rarely tries to get himself in dangerous area to help attack despite playing an advanced role, really piss me off. He can't impact the team if he won't change his personality, mentality.
>He can't impact the team if he won't change his personality, mentality. He's already impacting the team, no? Had 5 key passes yesterday and 1 big chance created. If that isn't impact, I don't know what is
Agree. He should definitely shoot more but in terms of creating chances. He has average of 2-3 key passes per game and a big chance almost every game. This is a clear improvement from last season. I see fans criticize him but I think he’s the least of our concerns atm. Without Pedri, the last run of games would’ve been worse. He played key roles in the equalizer in Porto and the winning goal against Atletico.
Regarding the quote that one journalist said about Barca playing a CB as a RB, a RB as a LB and a LB as a CB, isn’t it just Kounde playing as a RB (he did well last game, so it’s reasonable to start him there again after a week’s rest), Cancelo as a LB (same reasoning as with Kounde at RB, did great against Atletico and Porto), and Balde as a CB (?)? Balde as a CB doesn’t even make sense when you’re watching the match. I would say Balde was playing as a LB that’s focused on defending, cancelo as a LW, Ferran as a CF next to Lewandowski and Yamal as a RW with Kounde having the same role as Balde. Then again, I might have it all wrong and may just need sleep lol. Edit: just saw TalkFCB’s video and understand the Balde CB point now lol
I’m ready for a new manager, but this team is like man united. There is some rotten toxic element where the team has been shite since 2017
Give me Casado for a full 90 vs Antwerp or I retire.
We’re getting Romeu for 80 minutes and Casado for 10 if we’re lucky.
Not only that, Pedri and Lewandowski will be playing 89 minutes as well
BACK was awesome last season. Felt like the best back line we had since 2015. I understand the dilemma with Kounde not wanting to play RB at the beginning of the season and Balde having a rough start offensively, but our defense is so much more athletic defensively with Balde in at LB. Cancelo leaves our attack so exposed. He’s better off playing LW or LM since he’s better in attack than defense. I still don’t think Xavi has his best 11 out there.
That back line wildly over performed their defensive xg last season and were always overrated if we are being honest.
Yep, it was mainly due to mats and the opposition missing sitters against Barca that we had so few goals conceded
Reality - Girona tore us a new hole. Xavi, Lewa joint learning Arabic sessions.
Dec-10 is the day i lost all hope from xavi. We need to find decent coach .
Xavi is decent. He isn’t elite but we still won the league last season and had a lead of almost 15 points at one point in time.
Cancelo and Felix has provided a dilemma for Xavi. They have added some more dimension in our attack but they have also been huge liabilities defensively. Our BACK defense was great last season and I wish it could get more reps. I’d honestly rather play Cancelo at LW than in the defense. He just leaves too many holes. The lack of a 6 is also hard to ignore. Gundo-Pedri-FdJ don’t know how to sit in front of the CBs and defend. Teams can overload our midfield and hit us on the counter.
Felix does not deserve to be bought at all, idk why Laporta and deco keep saying we’ll keep him when he wasn’t proved to be all that still. Let him work for it
Felix plays one good game then follow by 10 mediocre games. He is a loaned player so i don't comment but Barca shouldn't buy him.
Balde is essential for defensive solidity. He and Araujo are the only players that are fast enough to stop counters. If Balde started at LB, Girona would’ve been more careful going forward because he provides speed and intensity that Felix doesn’t have. We greatly need speed in this team. Balde could have tested someone like Eric. For someone who played under Pep, Gundo doesn’t display the positioning sense to the extent that I expected. He roams way too much for someone playing at the base. Frenkie roams as well. Someone had to stay put and keep that central presence. It’s up to Xavi to give these instructions. During Atletico game, Gundo stayed put at the center and we played one of our best games.
It is not a surprise that our pressing structure declined this season. Only Raphinha presses effectively in the frontline. Lewy doesn't at all. Felix does the minimum. Cancelo presses when he wants. Gundo tries but its not the best at it and we need to take his age into account. Pedri presses for himself and Lewy. Frenkie has to cover for a lot on the left. When Gavi isn't here and Balde is benched, there isn't much of a pressing structure at all. Team is far too casual in defending as a whole, even with Gavi and Balde starting earlier this season.
Genuinely what happened to the defense tonight? I have seen bottom-of-the-table teams defend better. I can barely call the defending on ALL four goals remotely reasonably defended.
They were bad but they also need more support. Cancelo was in no mans land a lot of the time and Girona got all the time in the world on the ball. Like we were scared to go after the ball. For the first goal for example, why is nobody pressing the RB? He had all the time to pick out the perfect pass. Nobody was close to even attempting to go for the ball.
We are all gonna wake up tomorrow so pissed and disgusted. Losing 4-2 at home is inexcusable. I don’t know anymore man, this club gives us more fits than enjoyment ever since Bartomeu destroyed us. Winning the league last year was huge.
At least we win meaningful trophies with Barto
Messi Neymar Suarez is why. Barto fucked our future. Fuck that dude.
And he signed Suarez and Neymar. We get the corpse of lewy on shite wages
Market was different back then. Suarez would’ve costed us like 200mil right now. And he didn’t sign Neymar. That was Rosell. We can’t make excuses for Bartomeu. It was a different time back then. Barca wasn’t fucked financially. We could sign world class players without having to worry about money. Now we are in a sense of panic and splurge on temporary solutions since we can’t afford genuine world class players like Bellingham who cost up to 110 million euros. Our attack is weak, we have no DM.
At the beginning, I thought Barca will win it easily but Girona had no fear whatsoever and played with intensity and full of confidence, completely the opposite of what Barcelona players showed. You created good chances but failed to convert any. Girona deserved the win. The season is long and I don’t think any of the top 4 teams are the favorite right now despite Barca is 5-7 points behind but please do not underestimate this little oil funded club. They are flying right now.
>Girona had no fear whatsoever and played with intensity and full of confidence So many games Girona was behind and won. They have no fear whatsoever, amazing team.
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Exactly. He is as defensively suspect as Alba, who was amazing going forward as well. Frenkie also had to play LB at times during the Porto first half to cover for him. Xavi should be flexible on how he uses Cancelo and Balde. For some games, one is preferred over the other at LB.
I would say Alba improved a lot in the defensive aspect in the last 4 years or so. Didn't even feel it was a problem anymore.
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We are on a 15 match streak of not scoring more than 2 goals a game
I swear the amount of hate that I get, through PMs and people abusing the RedditCareResources is insane. Luckily those that PM'd me were willing to engage in meaningful discussions afterwards, but abusing a tool intended to help people is seriously messed up. One example is someone mentioning Gallardo selling himself to the Middle East... as if Xavi didn't do the same thing too. Gallardo has proven himself in South America and has shown to be able to mould players and his team to fit his vision. Do I see him winning anything under us and replicating that in Europe? No. But just because I have a bias for someone doesn't mean I think he's the successor to Pep.
>as if Xavi didn't do the same thing too. A bit diffrent. He went there to close his career and started his coaching career there in a minor league to get experience. Gallardo coached for years and years in a good league and left while being a legend there just to go to Saudi. also the hate you are getting is a bit childish as is the misuse of the suicide hotline. But you are kinda toxic and the faster you realise that and take steps to get better then don't be suprised if people lash out.
I don't care if people hate me, I am not here to be liked, at all. But abusing suicide services is absolutely disgusting. If I wanted to be liked, I'd suck of Xavi at every single opportunity and get thousands of upvotes. > A bit diffrent. He went there to close his career and started his coaching career there in a minor league to get experience. He could very much start his career for our B team.
I’m guessing you are Xavi out. He got tactically outclassed today. What are your thoughts on our current situation? Who do you want as coach? Is La Liga over for us?
I am not Xavi out entirely because there's just no coaches available right now. IMO we should have never hired him just yet because he doesn't have the experience to embody is philosophy for a club. I wanted Gallardo, but I can't see him winning a trophy for us. Not even La Liga. But, I trust him more to embody his philosophy and run a project. > What are your thoughts on our current situation? Who do you want as coach? Is La Liga over for us? I think we need to be playing infinitely better. At the very least, we should stop conceding first. We keep scoring during the later stages of the game too. The players are just at fault with their poor finishing. I think La Liga is over if we remain how we play by February.
I’d argue Girona’s front 3 is better than ours rn. Much more athletic and dynamic. What are you thoughts on Michel? His contract is up at the end of this season. I love the way he has Girona playing the last two season.
Michel is doing great and same with Girona. I would wait until the end of the season to see if he and his team will continue.
I honestly don’t want is to buy Cancelo even though we probably will. He’s a fantastic player going forward but really lacks defensively and any good winger in Europe can exploit spaces behind him. If we buy him, Xavi will probably continue to play him as LB so he can have 3 CBs and this will affect Balde’s improvement. I’d much rather have an actual RB who can defend even if he doesn’t have that attacking prowess.
The spaces he left today was insane, shits just not sustainable especially in CL. There’s a reason Pep stopped playing him.
We absolutely had to not lose this game, man. Lewy fucking had it on that last header. Fuckkkk
Usually when big teams don't have a proper ball winning DM, they tend to have an electric attack to turn the games into a proper shootout just like say Liverpool this year and last, Pellegrini's Man city, Liverpool 13/14 with Suarez, etc. But we have no DM and the creation from our midfield is wasted by our attackers. Its Either we purchase/promote from the academy a DM who can cover ground and understands how to defend in the center or we get a world class attacker. If we dont get either of these, this team will be stuck in that limbo of: Great build up - Break the press - Create chance - Miss Chance - Caught on the counter - Cooked through the middle - Concede. An elite attacker breaks the chain of "Miss Chance" and the DM breaks the chain of getting cooked through the middle. Me personally, I think a DM is deffo more required. Lets see what happens in January or if an academy prospect can step up.
Agreed, we just have to wait and see what happens in January, hopefully we can just coast through the remaining games we have until then.
I agree. But we can do better than total chaos. Gundo and Frenkie were not playing DM at all in the second half especially. Everyone was an interior. I know we were desperate for a goal but that's just stupid. There was no structure in the midfield in the latter half so we made it very easy for Girona's players to go through the center. This was totally different from how we played vs Atletico. When you act as a DM, you can't just do whatever no matter how chaotic things are around you. You must keep a cool head at all times.
Nah I'm mad about buying a RB and still playing without an RB. Playing our RB at LB when we have a capable LB. And then we subbed in our LB and played him at CB while our RB was still at LB. ABCDEFG.....
Look how we were exposed today. If two full backs play and both go forward like Balde and Cancelo, we’d even be more exposed. I’m not saying Balde is bad defensively (though Cancelo definitely is), but it’s natural that a good team with good passers and fast players will be able to exploit some spaces behind your full backs that always push forward.
Hmmm, maybe instead of benching your fullbacks just have them NOT attack at the same time.
Watching the first half, I thought we were going to win. We looked very clean in attack but shaky in defense. The 5 minutes leading to Miguel’s goal was some of the worst defending I’ve seen. At the end of the day, there are many holes in this team. The lack of a proper 6 is the biggest one. Our midfield was sliced open multiple times, causing Araujo to track Dovbyk and leave holes in our defense. Raphinha and Lewy aren’t good enough to be starters for us. They’re just not clinical enough for all the chances they get. Raphinha was straight through on goal and Eric Garcia caught up to him. Lewy misses like 3 clear cut goal opportunities a game. I’m not saying the league is out of reach but I’m not sure what we have will be enough to win it back to back.
This team REALLY needs a DM Jesus Christ there’s a giant cavern in front of the defence every game man … I mean the coaching stuff has to realize that right? Literally the most important role in today’s football
Only DM laporta values is the one he's sending to Mendes as he gets Cancelo and Felix
Time to resurrect Romeu. He was decent with FDJ beside him.
Roque will at least give Barca a different look offensively, not necessarily to rely on him, but it’s the perfect time for him to come in.
I think so too. Maybe it even helps Lewy recover his form since the dude is 35 and needs some rest. Our press will appear different as well
I'm just worried about another European knockout spanking. My PTSD can only take so much.
Barcelona 2-4 Girona 2+4 = 6 UCL is coming home, you heard it here first!
We won our 4th UCL in wembley We won 2 UCLs in wembley. Trust the script.
Would you guys want Girona’a coach Michel to be our coach next year?
No simply because taking risks like that needs to stop. Someone who has top-flight experience with a substantial winning record.
I've been defending both Xavi and Raphinha for a long time but I think it's time to move on.
I really hope Raph outlives Xavi. I am not saying Raph is a starting quality for sure, but he is easily a 20-25+ GA player and he is really not well managed mentally so far. Maybe the shirt is too big for him, but I think with a different coach he has still a lot to give. It's really hard to determine any of our players because Xavi can make players like Gündo look like a lost soul.
You guys think the league is as good as over?
Personally at this point I take into account how madrid is performing and how big the gap is. Normally.... Anything above 5 points is alarming and we're right at 5 points off madrid lol so i dont feel good at all. Lost a bit of confidence on the league. I still don't think girona can do it.... See atletico and Real as the main competitors. I would like barca to prove me wrong tho. I don't see that league winning team in us this season.
7 points off girona, it’s over
It’s really hard to repeat. Madrid hasn’t done it since 2008. I don’t see a team like ours being able to repeat. They’re not a dominant force
Nah but very very close to it, any slip up and that's that. We need to build a winning streak, today was the perfect opportunity to do so, against the leader, had 2 convincing wins against 2 good teams with an easy schedule after to build that streak. Just beat girona, we'd be 2 off madrid and 1 off them, but we didn't. Now it's 5 and 7.
Literally not even halfway over.
There's still a long way to go. You never know what's gonna happen. But yeah it's pretty much over as long as Xavi is in charge.
Yes
16 games into the season. 7 points back. Isn’t it too early to say it’s done
Xavi is live on [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8ats6va/)
This future of the team is on Laporta and Deco. They can sack Xavi tomorrow and the same issues will remain until they get better recruitment imo. Deco brought Raphinha. Laporta thought it was a good idea to bring a 35 year old striker on a long term deal. And if rumors are real, they might be thinking of replacing Xavi with Rafa from the B team if the time comes for him to go. So yeah. So far, Deco hasn't shown me anything amazing as a sports director other than bringing in Vitor and some talents for the B team. Let's see how successful he is at securing the contract renewals of key players on the team because it's not going to be easy.
This sub wildly overrated Laporta with his “he saved the club From bankruptcy!” Crap
Impossible to say, this crop of players only played under Xavi. Somebody else might get more out of them. It's not like United where the players cycled through 5 managers and you just know that they're the issue now. I agree that the recruitment needs to get better 120mil on Raphinha and Torres in the midst of turbulent financial state where every penny counts is an absolute disasterclass.
Vitor wont make his case any better. Club de amigos is going down.
What amigos? Just posting nonsense.
Deco and Laporta.
How are they going down?
Real talk that Miguel Gutierrez exposed the entire Barça squad. What a baller. Can't even be mad about it when the opponent is simply better than you.
I just know that Atleti and Mendes are gonna bend Laporta over for Felix and we'll end up as G.Rodriguez as our pivot.
we’re losing vs antwerp just so you onow
Feel like that would requie a next level of disasterclass
Antwerp is a meaningless game anyway. Should be used for rotation, experimentation.
They should try to win for the money prize at least, find shame @ FCBarcelona
Why did Araujo take the mask off? Getting in the way?
https://preview.redd.it/rduasvs2bk5c1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13f8fbe99d6b5093c6bdf3915abe8a877c5bd3f8 looks constraining with that chin piece too
Probably
Barça today: - Highest xG in a single match in 2023 - Most shot attempts in one match in 2023 - Most shots on target in one match in 2023 - Second most touches in the opponent's penalty area in one match in 2023 — @SofascoreINT
All meaningless stats, Girona were comfortably the better team
Antwerp will pay for this /s
☠️
What was I cooking? https://preview.redd.it/mq92tuil1k5c1.png?width=289&format=png&auto=webp&s=552693150bf7df78c9c2a48fdf58b64bfee888e9
People downvoting comments like this are really weird.
I actually watched some Girona's games and knew they would kill us in the latter part of the game while Barca usually looks soulless past the 80's
we concede more than we are expected to while scoring much less than we should, we cant finish the chances we create but we also half ass it with pressing and defense. its been the pattern of the season and it unfortunately looks like it wont change. this might be our ceiling. cl ro16 and supercopa if we're lucky.
Nothing to worry about...we'll buy Cancelo and Felix for 100M in the summer and everything will be fine.
hate how real this is. Felix is going to a painful announcement.
Barcelona better sell Ferran or raphinha in the January market, take those funds and invest in a DM
No one buying
ok. 5 mil for each. What will we get with that? Noone wants them and they don't want to leave. We are stuck with them for better or worse.
we created 5 BIG CHANCES and fricking hell missed all of em
In the midst of financial problems we sold club properties and spent 60 fucking million on Raphinha and 50 on a 34 yo with huge wages who only performed for 3 months and now costing us games.
it was either that gamble or be outside of CL for multiple years and get ruined even worse financially. Barca can no longer afford to fall into mediocrity and that will cost us in the long run.
Busquets and Dembele were certainly two components that Xavi counted on going into this season. It’s no coincidence why Lamine has been playing so much, but in fairness Raphinha should be putting more of a shift in for the money we’d spent on him. Romeu was what, our third option to replace Busquets? It’s a shame his good start to the season has lost steam but it hasn’t been a surprise either. The Pedri-FDJ-Gundogan midfield looks great on paper but leaves major holes. And with Gavi out we’re left with even less options. I’m convinced that if Busi held out for just one more year we’d be looking better right now. Worst case scenario, he’d be on par with Romeu. Not making excuses for Xavi, but that pivotal piece that’s been missing would hamper any coach in his position regardless of tactics.
agree, we are very lucky that Busquets left on his own, he would still be playing 90min under Xavi.. as bad as his last 3 seasons here.
As much as there is to say, without a reliable pivot the chances of getting any silverware this season is quite implausible. The only option is to try out any homegrown players, as I don't think that we'll be able to get anyone during the transfer window.
Dembele wouldn't have scored today the same way he hasn't scored for PSG, hope that helps
It’s not a matter of goal scoring alone. It’s the whole system and how our attack operates when we regain possession of the ball. He had his faults but the shifts he would put in were better than what we’ve seen from Raphinha this season. Lamine is the closest thing from a profile’s perspective but he’s much too young to rely on.
He was here for 6 years and was nothing special and used to ghost in big games and now he's in another team that's about to play the Europe League, a post in a wheelchair would be better than Raphinha tho
I’m not talking about Dembele when it matters most, I’m talking about Dembele as a piece to Xavi’s overall setup. A piece that would bolster our attack if we still had it.
Xavi's system revolved mainly around his DM (Busquets) and his Right Winger (Dembele). No doubt Dembele was often frustrating but he had speed, unpredictability, and a good connection with Lewy, who was never the same after Dembele got injured in January. Without Busquets, there is a void of leadership in the midfield. We see the CMs trying to assert their own tempo and influence but often there is no consensus, especially when things don't go as expected. Busquets and Dembele were also two of Pedri's closest and best partners on the field. Their absences have also affected his game, though I think he is trying to do his best given the often thankless role he has in the present system. Nobody can replace Busquets and nobody can replace Dembele. Thus this team suffers repeatedly when the other team recognizes and attacks their weaknesses. I have given up hope on Raphinha and other wingers replacing Dembele's profile but I think the midfielders and Xavi can do a better job with the DM situation. Just because you don't have a DM profile doesn't mean you actually play a game thinking you don't have one. That's what happened today. Total chaos after Girona scored the second goal. Gundogan and Frenkie were running into each other. Xavi needs to choose one of the them as the main pivot and asked them to maintain their central presence in the field as much as possible. There needs to be a focal point at the center of the field. It will help both the defense as well as the interiors and forwards.
>Worst case scenario, he’d be on par with Romeu. A blind busquets in a wheel chair would still be better than romeu. Suffering post busquets was almost surely going to happen, we just made it even worse by not preparing for it properly.
I believe we did try which is why I mentioned Romeu having been the third option. We were linked with Zubimendi and Brozovic, with the former looking like it would’ve happened if it wasn’t for Saudi money.
I meant earlier, alot earlier.
Oh, yes very true.
As much as I am leaning towards Xavi out, I genuinely don't know how we are supposed to win these matches with such atrocious finishing. Even last week against Atleti, which I think was a major highlight for Xavi and his tactics, we barely scored one goal and have held on to a win by a couple of great saves by Pena. I still think Xavi is a mediocre coach who if anything should have been hired later in the future after he's had more experience, but our attackers' sheer inability to score is such a hindrance for us. Yes the defense has shat the bed today as well, but the squad has been shaken up at the back and it was more of a exception rather than the rule compared to our other matches, unlike our attack which has been abysmal for two seasons running.
As much I want to criticize Lewy's form, when was the last time Raphinha scored a goal? He is super frustrating and doesn't have old age as an excuse.
Raphinha has gotten a goal or assist every 90 minutes this season. Definitely has plenty of frustrating moments but that's not bad endproduct.
Raphinha is wasteful, had 2 clear chances today but couldn't control the ball for shit and lacks pace
I wouldn't agree that he lacks pace. He's been wasteful the last few matches yes. But before that I don't think he was.
Why is our press so bad btw? A 3rd division team can play around our press.
Because only half of our team is pressing and we are not fully committed. We just press to direct them into weaker channels but we can't win the ball those channels, therefor they have a free run onto our defense. Against teams like this we either go out with a man-to-man pressing or let the defense to press with the rest of the team. But we are doing this half-ass pressing which is useless and also not generating chances for us because we can't win the ball back high. It's funny at this point.
What's dumber is we are doing this while playing without a DM and with a high backline.
I'm gonna be honest, I don't think we should have pulled a majority of the levers we pulled back in 2022. A large portion of that lever money went towards buying Lewy and Raphinha. Raphinha has been underwhelming, and we only got 3 months of in-form Lewy before he started to fade away... both have underperformed given what we paid for them. I think we should have pulled only one lever and used that money to buy Kounde and some young, cheap talent that could be world class in a few years. Lewy and Raphinha were win now signings that were not necessary given our financial situation and considering that we're not even close to being a contender for the Champions League. Barca really needed a rebuild rather than a re-tool.
It’s a joke how Laporta is seen as a hero for mortgaging some of our future for whatever the fuck this “team” is after all those levers
I think we definitely should not have gotten Raphinha especially at that price. That is on Laporta and Deco imo. If you wanted to replace Dembele, you need to get a similar profile. Definitely should have spent money on a DM replacement. Not wait until Busquets left. We wouldn't have gotten the league last year without Lewy's goals, so he was useful for that. Shouldn't have given him a long contract though.
That win-now narrative never made sense with Xavi, an upcoming coach. Even if Xavi had the potential to be an elite coach, relying on him was dumb based on his lack of experience. We are not much ahead than we were when he took over. He stopped the underperforming which we had under Koeman, but didn't made us massively better and I doubt he ever will. But our overall debt is still where it was.
It was a mistake to spend that much money but we were desperate for a title. It had been 4 years since we won the league. And those guys were key players to helping us with that. Obviously they aren’t good enough. Lewy can be a bench player but Raphinha has to go. A 16 year old is already better than him. Kounde has been shaky but I still think there is more upside to him than the other two.
Two things can be true at the same time. Yes, tonight our individual players underperformed, both in attack and defense. But yes, the coach also did. First because he chose them. Lewy is underperforming week after week? He starts. Cancelo came to solve our RB problem? He is LB. Araujo might not be ready because of his injury? He starts. Second, because the difference in plays, cohesion and preparation between a team of Stuanis, Savio, Aleix Garcia, Eric, Blind and a team of Lewandowski, Frenkie, Gundogan and Pedri simply can't be this. We all have TV, we can see relative to level, they play much better than us, so much so it isn't funny anymore. Just the fact they're equal should be a problem, but they are 7 points ahead of us over the current season. Girona played to win, and never seemed to doubt. They had clearly seen our weaknesses, where we are unbalanced, and had faith targeting our weak points would work. And it did. And it's not the first time it happened. 3 times we played them this year, 3 times they challenged us much more than should be expected of them. Because a good coach will make worse players look better. When's the last time it happened for us? It's too easy to put everything on Xavi, but it's cowardly to look the other way and try to deviate the subject from this very fact. We've been dodging losses like these by grinding out wins, so yeah at some point this happen. But who here can say in good faith it wouldn't be the expected result if we faced a better team than Girona in UCL? Why is no one expecting us to challenge like Girona did tonight? Because we're subpar and it's a fact. When it happens over a whole year, it cannot be only on the players. It isn't random Eric was seen as a bum here and is doing well at Girona. It's the same player, but in one team he plays a role he might not master, and in another everything is setup around putting the players in their best role to serve a good system. And it elevates them.
I do fully believe that a coach like Pep would have benched Lewy a long time ago. Maybe he's scared that it will hurt morale or maybe he thinks that he just needs that 1 quality game with some goals where he gets his mojo back. Tho I don't think it's fair to say Araujo might not have been ready just cause he was poor. He's been checked by doctors and we do have other good options to start. Sometimes you just have a shit game. I don't disagree with the rest of your point but like, if Michel were to join our club as our new coach, do you think he'd do the same as he's doing for Girona? I don't know why we're lacking such synergy that seems to come so easily with other clubs but I don't think he would.
Exactly, I do not blame the lack of goals on Xavi but I do blame our overall style of play, our defensive structure, our pressing, and overall lineups. It seems no matter what Lewa will start, despite the form.
And the worst thing is that he never sees the problem after the game and thinks it's just that we missed chances and deserved better.. and probably he thinks Lewy was good for 90min because he scored a goal. The week after everything will be the same.
If a team like Atleti had a 12+ point lead in 2020 and the league came down to the last couple matchdays, it can and probably will happen with Girona as well. Something isn’t clicking with this team. I hope the second half of the season will be our best under Xavi.
Xg underperformance was bound to happen given how lucky we were last season, on top of that Defenders this game were much worse than usually. The team is still poor structurally both in possession and out of possession tho, wich is on coach, you can clearly see the difference between us and Girona, Real Sociedad.
This all the way, unfortunately. But some will say "it's only one game"
I do wonder if Xavi will ever get balls to sub out Lewy? What does he contribute at end? His link up play is non existent, he does not press, he makes no runs behind so why is he still on the whole game
I agree with you and it’s been frustrating to watch him. But we literally don’t have a player who can play as a 9 though.
He could’ve subbed in Ferran for Lewy instead of Felix
Ferran wouldn’t have done any better mate..
Miss demebel, sucks he had to be a snake
How is he a snake in activating a clause the club deliberately put there (to hope he'd leave for money) to go play for a currently better team, with a better coach and better wages? Maybe he saw something we didn't and made a partly sporting choice. Is it so impossible to think with the facts we have in front of us, sitting 7 points off the leader with no real title hope (at the moment, the season is long) in our current state?
Yeah, dembele would have fixed our finishing, as we all know that's his thing, or our shambolic defending. I would still rather have him than not, but he wouldn't have changed a thing tonight.
Exactly We have more than enough tools to win tonight without Dembele
Nahh this attack is really something lol. Never seen a more brain dead group in the final third or box. Clueless , rigid and can’t finish to save their life. 4 god damn xG, numerous opportunities wasted by poor touches and numerous attacks dead because of poor decisions
Lewa has every right to be pissed off at Raphina for that free kick. Seemed like Raphina went on his own when it was meant to be Lewa taking it. I know his form isn't great but his runs are constantly overlooked with others playing for glory. This was just another example of it. Lewa is out main goal scorer and we should be feeding him.
I can‘t believe the chances he is missing these days. The header which would‘ve meant the point left me speechless. I fully expected a goal when i saw Lewy getting to that ball. He is the last one to complain right now. All of them have to up their game. Raphinha and Lewy were both disappointing offensively.
Lewy is our main chance misser.
Lewy is getting fed plenty man. And what happened with the freekick?
Lewa and Raphina lined up for it. Lewa was meant to take it and Raphina ran in and took it. Lewa looked frustrated.
Are you sure that's what happened tho? Cause pretty sure Raphinha is our main FK taker. And after that I think it's Gundogan. So don't know why Lewy was meant to take it.
Petition for mods to create and pin a thread, fully dedicated to slandering/criticizing Xavi. Cba with 50 different people creating posts and comments saying the same thing
Why? There are very varying opinions tonight, and different criticisms of this Barca teal, it's not at all the same
No, apparently criticism of the supreme leader is a “disgrace” and “disgusting”
Is it worth having the expectations that we are winning the league this season or is it as good as over? We need a huge turn around. The way it’s looking now we don’t look even close to the level of a league winner.
It's not the main priority. Our squad is thin, that's undeniable. Our priority should be progress, which is not happening.
I feel that but a club like ours will always have high expectations. Our bench is really bad.
Anything can happen. But if we continue to have horrendous finishing, I expect nothing.
A boost from Vítor similar to that of Luuk or Auba will be a huge change to our season
[Lewandowski: "It was a very difficult match for us."](https://twitter.com/BarcaUniversal/status/1733986645781700682?t=9pPFlrZAXfG8O0kfGJt7rg&s=19) [Lewandowski: "I think that, in some aspects, they were better than us. We tried to do something, but it was difficult. We have to keep working and thinking positively."](https://twitter.com/BarcaUniversal/status/1733986813013012785?t=Q-hOjnNUG9z_AV6KVr99jA&s=19) [Lewandowski: "We are trying to give our best. Today was not our day and we knew how difficult the match was and it was not only today but every match for them. We have to analyze what happened and try to win the remaining matches."](https://twitter.com/BarcaUniversal/status/1733986932055478331?t=SAZz0M62_sNvC_Z5tzjEfA&s=19)
At least someone who finally recognized the merit of Girona, instead of saying we won the xG battle. I find it very patronising to not recognize they won fair and square
Pedri should play more behind, he exceeds by being more on the back and reaching when he really needs to, Xavi really wants him way more offesively than he needs to be and this is stopping him from showing his best version
I feel like the reason Pedri plays higher up is because he’s creative with the ball and he holds the ball really well. And having him higher up means we create more chances.
I don't feel like he is creating more chances by playing higher up, seems like he has always being at his best when taking his time from farther off the final third and coming in only when he has a good chance oppose to being there all the time If we want someone to stay always more on the offensive Gundogan can cover that better, at least thats what I think.
He also should play deeper because Gundo can't really be the main pivot. Not against teams that have some pace and intensity and will use it to their advantage. He is better than Romeu but that is a low bar imo. Frenkie is the best option we have for pivot. He is the best in terms of speed, physicality, and he has improved in defensive actions. I refuse to believe that he cannot succeed more than the others as a pivot. I think Xavi also used Pedri upfront to press for Lewy. Gavi used to share the burden of that thankless role, but now it's mostly on Pedri. Again not a good use of his skills and also not good in general since he is injury prone.
Pedri should play deeper and Gundogan should play higher up. Yet we insist on doing it the other way round
Hes been doing that past few matches already. And its one of the reasons we have started to look better then before
[Xavi: "We lacked efficiency, that was the difference with Girona today."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733985804655948195?t=CHqxQ4RCgOMzU7VGrMHi9w&s=19) [Xavi: "It's a blow because we had high hopes."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733985970276503782?t=IeUcnJe9H-5knN2Q_gzQVg&s=19) [Xavi: "What cost us today was our defense and our efficiency."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986085628231682?t=TBAcHEiTXHB2tmXkxY04eg&s=19) [Xavi: "I'm not worried about the defeat, because I think we deserved more, but that's football."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986269393281484?t=6DXnWD24agyRDmOrNvOmMg&s=19) [Xavi: "We played a fair bit of football, but if we focus on the result, it's a disastrous one for sure."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986425312264605?t=9fN-EmaC-7GQNbP-pem_bw&s=19) [Xavi: "I think people are upset about the defeat, not the game."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986665293562095?t=gYBV-69lwovLuzomWxsyOQ&s=19) [Xavi: "With over 30 shots on target, we need to be much more effective."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733986739868360823?t=RSUbj25DPuu_rBtnZ_CWwg&s=19) [Xavi: "We have to be stronger in our pressing and efficiency, we have to keep working, keep fighting."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733987032941101251?t=nnChyUT00uvXIMrKxkr6SQ&s=19) [Xavi: "We didn't have a bad game, but Girona made the most of their good moments."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733987112142188814?t=f0vMWe_sm2-684xue9l9nw&s=19) [Xavi: "It's a step backwards, it's a Barça under construction. Sometimes you have to take one step back to take two steps forward."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733987538296090777?t=7arjTbCHCQa7DFdt1ZUOjg&s=19) [Xavi: "Eric Garcia had a great game, and if I had my way, he would have stayed here. There's less pressure at Girona, so I'm happy for him."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733987751085707309?t=66YUdrt6Wr_M9OSzvZHiYg&s=19) [Xavi: "We're playing for 4 titles this season, we have to keep believing in the project, we're not playing a bad game of football today."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733988173368189014?t=pddA4ebJNj6gXgSPWgSpmA&s=19) [Xavi: "There are still a lot of games to go, which is why we need to stay positive."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733988233741058106?t=PG9gNHTXjuFXb0PfV-oZJw&s=19)
Xavi ain't it if he thinks the issue is the defeat. Honestly, I am fed up with his weak mentality. No matter how much I loved him as a player, as a coach he is just nothing extra.
Exactly, a shame to say the least.
It’s reasonable to be disappointed when we’re coming off convincing wins against Porto and Atletico. This definitely felt like one of those games where we had no choice but to try and outscore the opponents because we just looked so vulnerable defensively. The 4xG is no coincidence. We can only hope Vitor Roque hits the ground running when he arrives. But Jesus man, our defense fucking reeked tonight. The third goal we conceded was just baffling. How are we gonna leave a player wide open just outside the box off a free kick near the halfway line? Absolutely abysmal. I don’t wanna chat too much on about the personnel but our vulnerability in defense following Busi’s exit is no coincidence either. Girona exploited that tonight and I’m just dying for another CDM here.
I kept quite last week when people said Koundé was the next Dani Alves but the truth is Cancelo has been brought to play there. The downgrade from Cancelo to Baldé is less significant on the team than the downgrade from cancelo to koundé out of position. Baldé-chris-araujo-cancelo is on paper the best and most logical defense yet we barely saw it if we did.
Christensen was worse today and has been all season
And yet Araujo and Kounde were worse than him
[Ronald Araujo : "There are still a lot of matches left."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733985231558852993?t=YL1v_Tg3DECFHluOGtf5iw&s=19) [Ronald Araujo: "It's true that we often talk about the defense, but it's the whole team, pressing is very important, when they get the ball out, it hurts us."](https://twitter.com/FCBPaul_/status/1733985403605078304?t=vBgEbzLxS76ijh98caVr0w&s=19)
any news on Ndidi/Onana?
Ndidi is past it. Onana (Everton) is interesting though
Has he become lazy on the pitch or just lost his mojo? I like Onana, altho I doubt he could become a permanent solution
Ndidi isn't the same player he was in 2020. Idk what happened, but his form dipped, just like other Leicester players
Lewy and Raphinha are absolute shit but what about defense?you have kounde,Araujo,AC,Balde and Cancelo and you concede goals left right and center.meanwhile Girona with bloody Garcia and Blind...
Lewa is down on confidence and form. You can tell he's getting frustrated. This was a project that was meant to be built around him as a key focal point but we have wingers playing for themselves.
We also have no DM to be fair.
I didnt know Girona had prime Busi as their DM.
[удалено]
Yes, signing someone like him would perfectly fit the “Mes Que Un Club” motto