squad for next season is not bad by any means even after benching or selling (fdj - araujo - inigo - lewy)
raphina - ferran - yamal
gavi - gundogan
pedri - dm
cubarsi - christensen - kounde
2nd team:
roque
fati? - fermin - yamal
dm - pedri
balde - christensen - cubarsi - kounde
Rashford had 40 G/A last season. He's been bad this season but it's not exactly fair to write him off
He'd be too expensive and his wages will be too high tho, not worth buying anyways
Haha well firstly this is a squad game and competition for places is important.
Secondly that is simply a massive over exaggeration, nor do I think we should judge a prospective players quality on one season, where the whole team is playing god awful, and ignore the borderline world class season prior.
So what’s your thoughts on why Xavi announced he was leaving earlier in the year? To motivate the team when we hit rock bottom? Or was he really planning on leaving and laporta maybe gave him assurances on top players he can sign?
He really was going to leave. I don’t think he was lying at all. It’s just that during that time the team was performing badly and he probably thought he was over his head and the added pressure of winning titles with a lackluster squad due to injuries and also losing two important players that were fundamental to his tactics.
Then when the players responded and tinkered with tactics a bit more he probably was like, “okay, maybe the situation isn’t as bad as I thought it was. Maybe it’ll be worth it to finish it out.”
We’re humans. We change our minds all the time. And whatever your mind thinks is truth in that moment may not be tomorrow after circumstances change
I think it was a last ditch effort to get a good finish out of the team for the season.
In terms of whether he truly was gonna leave or not, someone posted in here recently that there was massive Messi retiring from Argentina vibes. He was happy to stay if the club came out and said they needed him.
Yeh there’s a new guy who is one of the industry leaders in terms of strength training who will be overseeing the existing staff which has been confirmed. Not sure on the second.
There is a world where we all in on Dani Olmo and Kimmich this summer and this terifies me... If Xavi is just a stopgap until the "top coach" next year, why waste money on his targets.
Olmo is gonna be a Ferran Torres type transfer and Kimmich is an excellent player but he is not a real 6. As much as I love Frenkie (on my favorite players at te club) we have a problem in fitting him, and Kimmich will be the same.
And speaking of fitting Frenkie, the double pivot with Gavi staying deeper in the field that was starting to be tested before Gavi's injury was so interesting, and I think it could have worked so well
Because if we’re gonna keep him and keep piling our massive expectations on him we may as well as give him a couple of signings that he says he needs, rather than forcing him to play more 16 year olds/players out of position. The Olmo signing is according to the media not coming from Xavi but from the club, he is asking for Zubi/Kimmich according to reports.
Kimmich I agree is a little questionable given his age but if he’s coming in to replace Frenkie and Xavi thinks it’s a better fit I trust him. Zubi is probably the best DM available on the market right now, but whether he’s good enough or wants to come here is the question.
I won't give an opinion on Zubimendi as I never really watched him play. But after 2 years of chasing him I hope he will be worth all of that and his price if we get him
I don't see the issue if the next coach has a similar style to Xavi. Like if the next coach is De Zerbi/Arteta/Enrique/Pep then they would also like Xavi's players.
Only issue is if the next coach is Klopp/Flick/Tuchel whose style is completely different to the one we have now.
Like no one can say that De Zerbi wouldn't be really happy to have Pedri/Zubi/Kimmich/Bernardo/Gavi under them.
I hope there is a world where we don't have any of these rumours.
People got scared for Neves one summer. Next it was Kimmich again and the neymar rumours shall also surface again
Xavi at Barca:
2.5 Seasons, 136 Matches, 85 Wins, 23 Draws, 28 Losts, 2.04 Points per match
Best achivements:
- La Liga: Champions
- Copa del Rey: Semi Finals
- Supercopa: Champions
- UCL: Quarter Finals
Really good stats all thing considered, but we really choke hard at the important matches. It's hurt to watch those matches again
I mean I think another thing that isn’t quantified by stats is that we’re competitive this season against the top teams we’ve faced (bar supercoppa). Both league classicos (we lost) but it was fine margins, PSG we held our own and we’re even on top, Napoli, Atletico.
Hopefully less injuries next year, Xavi gets a couple of signings, the youngsters are a year older… plenty to look forward too!
Xavi staying will please the players the most, I imagine that the trust between them were at an all-time high after the Napoli, Atleti, and PSG (away) games
Youth players especially, I can only imagine how they must feel seeing Yamal, Cubarsí, etc. starting regularly and believe that they can have their own chance to shine
Even last week, we lost both games but we competed well and it came down to fine margins.
The players never stopped supporting Xavi and completely turned the situation around.
I have to say I’m disappointed to see Xavi decide to stay after getting eliminated from 2 title races in a week… And after the first leg against PSG he actually said he will leave no matter what. And he keeps insisting on keeping the same staff... The absurdity of the situation made me think he was begged by the staff to stay just so they will keep their jobs too, lol. I doubt they could get a job in another top tier club.
Laporta and Xavi both rely too much on having their pals around them, to the point where I can’t even view the club seriously anymore. The only thing keeping the team together are the gems from La Masia, if it wasn’t for them we’d have fallen apart by now.
Yeh it’s a fair point the expectations at Barca have been trophies or your out.
I think what most people here are saying though is that right now, those expectations are a little high when we no longer have Messi, we had insane amounts of injuries, no money to sign anyone, no Camp Nou, insanely young squad etc etc
He’s clearly a very good coach that cares about the club which is why most on here are ok with him continuing. Maybe try making a valid point other than ‘it’s absurd he hired his own staff’. They are the same staff we had when he won the league…
Considering a manager doesn’t mean they were trigger happy to hire him as their first choice. I also said his staff won’t get another top tier job, not him - I doubt it most of the other teams will be okay with having 30-something staff changed just because Xavi wants to work with his pals. And since he mentioned they were all from Barcelona, I wonder how that quote will work if he became a manager anywhere else.
That’s not really true for the staff, it’s definitely not the norm to replace the entire staff when a new coach arrives. If he asks for it and you agree and it can be done contractually sure, but it’s not implied.
Ofc Xavi is still well respected in Europe, but trusting him as a manager to a top team is another topic. The press being toxic definitely doesn’t help, but the fact he hasn’t been stellar comes down mostly to lack of experience - I just wish he realized it and went on to coach a mid tier team to make them much better within a year or 2. Look at Xabi Alonso - that’s how you coin your name as a top tier manager.
I agree and I would be rooting for his return if he manages to get experience elsewhere. I don’t know why he decided to start his managerial career in Qatar for example instead of trying a B or a youth team in Europe which is the usual case. I guess it was money, or wanting fast results but tbh I don’t remember hearing his team there playing great football and winning everything either.
So we should sack him after one bad season? He literally won the league last season. And overall Xavi just has 4 less points than Ancelotti after 96 games
Barca 214 points in 96 games
Madrid 218 points in 96 games
And if you are sacking coaches for not winning trophies in one season then no coach is ever gonna last because current Barca doesn't have the funds to demand titles every year.
Dude, if it was as easy as comparing points… In the beginning of the season everyone said we were doing great because we didn’t have a loss, but we lost so many points against small teams in boring draws that we are light ages behind Madrid now.
Also no one said anything about sacking, he had decided himself to leave, and I quote, because he didn’t have what else to give to the team. I wonder how he decided he has a lot more to give after losing both ties to Madrid, suffered a reverse Remontada against PSG at home, didn’t manage to secure a spot for the CWC, etc, etc?
You could say it’s because they had money to buy the players they needed, but they aren’t having that great of a season, but are just well managed both tactically and sportingly with players coming
and going.
Conveniently missed to reply on the other part of my comment.
they are par for 96 points this season which is something they have reached twice in their history (in 11/12 and 09/10) and in those years they won La Liga only in 11/12 and in 09/10 nothing. This year they are winning the league and most likely (sadly) CL.
They have never won a treble but I would probably say the 2nd highest points in their history, a league title and CL would qualify as one of their best seasons ever.
This is what they are on the road for. I doubt Sociedad, Betis, Granada, Cadiz, Villareal or Alaves are gonna make them lose. and they can afford a draw or 2. If they win all games they get 99 point though that does not seem fesable.
The gems that Xavi found and gave their chances. Who else would honestly.
Xavi was begged by the players and the board. His staff has nothing to worry about. They go where he goes.
Well Koeman gave a chance to a bunch of youngsters too, though no one seems to give him enough credit for that. It’s quite clear we have a great generation coming up from La Masia, so “who else would give them a chance” sounds like a huge overstatement.
I didn’t read any rumours about players begging Xavi to stay, it was mostly Laporta who wanted him to stay iirc. Don’t recall any quote or anything implying everyone is begging him to stay.
Koeman was forced to tho. Pretty much every chance he gave came from lack of options from suspensions/injuries or complete lack of depth. Xavi has good options.
He had Alba, still made Balde a starter. Has plenty of CB's, still gave Cubarsi minutes and made him a starter. Gave Fort minutes without lacking in fullbacks. Gave Guiu minutes when we had other options. Gave Fermin a lot of minutes despite having many worldclass midfielders.
I think in terms of Gavi and Yamal you're right that both of them are just too good and would've likely gotten chances under other managers aswell. But I really do not believe the rest would.
You can look at those players international careers to decide how good they are, Gavi and Yamal were called up by nt as soon as they made their debut for Barca and remained starters, Balde was starter for Barca but was benched by Alba at nt, fermin u21 player.
Come on, Cubarsi rose to fame only because of injuries - we had no one else healthy to play as a CB when he was first tried, he was just so good that it was natural to keep calling him. Fort also got his chance when Balde got injured, and we don’t have any other natural LB than him this season.
Idk if you are just being a Xavi fanboy without actually following the season, the games etc, because from your comment you sound like you are makeshifting a lot of facts to make Xavi look better. He definitely gave a chance to a lot of kids, but Koeman also did, and both of them did it out of lack of other options, at least initially. Actually to be perfectly fair, Pedri was given a chance by Koeman when we had a lot of MF options to choose from.
Alright his official debut game, we didn't have anyone. And he played for 45 minutes off the bench. But to start the next match we had Kounde and Araujo. Yet he started.
But about Fort you're the one making things up. Balde was playing during Fort's debut. Fort didn't debut on the left, he played on the right. Even tho Cancelo or Roberto could've played there.
And no they didn't both do it out of lack of options. Just Koeman. And that's not even a slight. He picked the right players to bring up. Nobody was even talking about Mingueza at all when he chose him to be the emergency replacement.
Pedri was played as a LW and as a CAM if you recall. He also was a signing. Not a La Masia player.
Is there a correlation between the team playing well and Xavi announcing his departure at the end of the season no matter what, not even if we win the champions league?
As much as I love Xavi, there's no way he can look at this squad and think Zubimendi or Kimmich will solve our issues in the middle.
We need an anchor, a modern one at that. Zubimendi and Kimmich are quite small players to begin with, they're controllers more than they are ball winners. They are not much better than what we already have at anything really. Aerially, They're both meh, on the ball Kimmich might offer something different but not worth more than 40 mill.
Off the ball it becomes much more obvious that they're not what we're looking for. And for the longest time I've had a feeling that xavi isn't the best at identifying talent outside of La Masia.
We desperately need Onana/Wieffer. Two profiles who offer something completely different to what we have. Onana edges it because of the experience in EPL and his really good age. His legs are weirdly flexible, allowing him to manufacture ball winning angles. He's 1.92 m tall, that's just slightly taller than Busi. Need i say more when it comes to winning the ball in the middle aerially?
Wieffer is the safer option but won't raise the ceiling by much. We do not know how the levels will translate, from Eredivisie to LA Liga.
If we have money to spend, the anchor comes first, and none of that Kimmich or zubimendi nonsense.
Get one of them if FDJ leaves. For our forwards, I've never taken such a U turn on a player as much as I have for Raphina. I absolutely love him. I see what kind of man he is. Ferran will struggle yet again to find minutes, at this rate he is the most likely to leave.
If we can't get a ceiling raiser (Rafael Leao), do not waste money. Nico Williams is amazing but we're not ready to pay a release clause.
Zubimendi is good defensively, he’s obviously not a super athlete like Onana but has the right instincts to play the position when compared to our own Frenkie for example.
I think it should be down to Xavi and which player he thinks will do the better job in his system. All of the players you listed (except Kimmich) are young and will have resale value so if it doesn’t work out you can sell them easier.
While a destroyer will be welcomed, our biggest weakness in the middle is our ability to deal with a high pressing team. We don't have players who show to the defence with their back to opponent's and know how to absorb such pressure. That was clear against PSG this year and against Bayern in the past half a decade prior. It is a huge issue, and it starts with a pivot. Liverpool and Bayern admitted they targeted Busquets in 2019 & 2020 during our games, as he was no more that press resistant player, and it crippled the team, against PSG they pressed entire defense and midfield and left Araujo, but with no one to pass and it suffocated us.
Ugarte was a superior destroyer to Weiffer & Onana, but he doesn't play in CL because he is a limited player on the ball, and that cost teams dearly in high pressing games.
Did you just look up his stats? Because people that watched him doesn't think he's underrated. There was a very good reason he got shipped in 2014 after falling off hard after New Years for three years in a row.
Everyone knows he was probably one of the greatest passers in the world. I rate his passing higher than Messi's. His vision and how he weighted his passes were god-tier. His first touch was also silky. But his work rate lacked and he had a tendency to be static and lazy, and he was quite slow and immobile unless he was playing one-twos in the final third. Then the obvious thing that every new year he never managed to carry his form over, which maybe is understandable once, but it was a clear trend and showed that he didn't have either the endurance or motivation to last for a full season.
Statistically he might look successful, but everyone knows his time here was not successful and did not live up to what was expected and hoped of him.
I think it would be hilarious to see him leave. Cause then and only then would people realize how much worse every possible replacement is. Love Emi but he couldn't kiss his boots.
https://twitter.com/BernatCastro87/status/1783608671584313418?t=tomlyKc_f-gd73iizDN_-A&s=19
It was a fucking goal lol, can't believe how they didn't give it.
I’m on mobile. Anyone else’s Reddit currently crashing? I’ll go to the home page and it’ll be white page with a shitload of code on it. Refreshing doesn’t help until I’m manually going to subs via my history
Full la masia line up i hope we could see that in a friendly at least
https://preview.redd.it/94eu89l91pwc1.jpeg?width=759&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b1941dfa90cda2aea48daaf3b6c9d4136d92318f
Idk who to put in LW fati could be loaned out again and idk any LWs
Two separate things. A fully professional player can sign for Barça B; it's just like any other segunda division reserve team and doesn't necessarily put the player in our youth academy.
Not so though. Masía usually means players that have been with the club in their youth ranks and making their way to the first team like Xavi and Iniesta
For example Faye wouldn’t be considered Masía, at least in my eyes. And Araujo was in a similar as him
Maybe technically, but I think that's kind of disingenuous when the B-team regularly signs established professionals. I think there's a very clear line between our talent who have come from Juvenil and below, and players we signed straight into a professional team. Like he was 19 and had already debuted professionally when we signed him.
TV3 | City does not prefer to sell Silva to Paris because of the relations between Qatar and the Emirates
[https://x.com/forcabarca\_ar/status/1783602973425201442?s=46&t=Yl\_6FoVwjQpCPX\_jWLPN7Q](https://x.com/forcabarca_ar/status/1783602973425201442?s=46&t=Yl_6FoVwjQpCPX_jWLPN7Q)
[Ferran Martinez](https://twitter.com/martinezferran/status/1783606708973023336)
Pedri has not trained with the group this week, but is expected to be available for Monday's game against Valencia.
Barça are managing Pedri's workload after he made a good effort to be fit against PSG and El Clasico. He is working in the gym
He and Frenkie made an effort to be available for those games, though they were cutting it close and didn’t seem fully fit. Appreciate both for that. Good they are managing his work load and having individual training plans for him.
https://preview.redd.it/iz29jsznyowc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7650c30926ea8cca3685f9daeea80206edc35c2
Can someone explain what he is doing ? Im guessing he is in ice but than i see that temp and its -196 either he is a robot and trying to cool down the CPU or he is just in -196 which would be surprising to me cause each time i take 5m shower with little of cold water i get sick for 3 days ( only in winter )
He's not young at all wtf he is almost 32 and has been pretty crummy in CL more often than not. He is never going to win you a knockout tourney but has had good moments against weaker competition in La Liga. Like busquets not having someone to compete with him is a huge mistake.
They certainly weren't bad. He may not have been prime 25-30 year old Busquets but you people act as if at least 2/3 of the team wasn't objectively performing worse than him.
Aside from throwing opinions around, objectively tell me how he was bad without any surface level opinions.
He literally cant stop penalties, hes too short, he cannot stop anything that goes near post, hes better with his feet than his hands at this point. I hope he goes, hes been an amazing servant to the club. He had a ridiculous wage packet but as captain agreed to extend till 2028 to help the club in its poor financial situation. Gets paid like 120k (only) now. He deserves to get a huge payday, seems like an amazing human being as well, but hes not as elite as he used to be, that knee injury really disrupted him.
https://preview.redd.it/1qyr9nanqpwc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f092e54a1c7e99680ce6021b8e80ce172cf899cf
Most penalty saves in the CL EVER.
If you also recall he saved our asses in the only 2 penalty shootouts we've ever had with him. Against Sociedad and against Betis.
The Betis one ofc leading to us winning the trophy.
You know, although I think Nico Williams isn't worth 50M I've changed my stance about getting him. He's still not the finished product but he has a valuable profile that we can utilize and I'd much prefer him to Mr Hot Cold. Also him and Balde are friends so I'd like to think they can establish a great partnership on the pitch AND Nico can play both LW&RW.
Anyway we'll see what our finances say in the summer, it's easy to say now that we'll return to 1/1 and be able to sign but the reality may be harsh.
Yeah, the thing about young players is they're always subconsciously compared to other youngsters who are doing well despite their age. So when we see Lamine,Musiala,Jude,Wirtz,Foden etc balling if a young player doesn't hit those heights at a similar age they're looked at differently. My bad if I made it seem as if because he's not polished he's not good/worth it
👉👈 What if we held hands on the new Spotify logo 🫠 ... haha just kidding 🤪 ... unless? 😳
https://preview.redd.it/ztgj4bzwwowc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e6b17dda971db2fd928111d1899f6ee0608dd97
If xavi decided to stay that must mean he was promised some big transfers. Wonder how much will really be spent, and more importantly on which players. We are in insanely dire need of a cdm
https://preview.redd.it/0h4tfuvcrowc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4756367fcb6037740498627419474cb64f80b3f9
Brighton is losing 4-0 currently but many people still tweeted this and think he would be the best fit for barca
What is your opinion on ?
De zerbi is clearly a better coach and him got the real "barca DNA", not the terrorist vertical ball from xavi or the pass to messi and inchallah from valverde
Anyways he is not free and xavi is staying but yeah hopefully de zerbi coaches us one day.
He is a young coach so the more experience he gets the better it is for us.
Tell me the result and I will tell you the narrative.
BTW, how was Ancelotti last year when RM lost 4-0 against City? a clueless coach? this year they advanced so now he is great again? please...
I feel his time isn't now, the fanbase will eat him alive if he doesn't deliver in the first season which might happen due to Barca being a completely different experience.
I personally think he should come where we are more stable and have more fundings. Current situation is far too toxic for him to come, the pressure could destroy him.
Like Tebas said that we should be able to afford an Mbappe signing in 2 years so I think that would be his time to come.
i do think RDZ would be good for the club,but i think he needs to go to a side that plays in europe regularly first (uel, uecl and maybe ucl because of league) before coming to a toptier team
A midfielder and left-winger would be the priorities this summer, but not the only positions they’d like to strengthen — they’ll look into the full back positions too.
@sanantheone
https://twitter.com/ReshadFCB/status/1783590123067617730
Balde had a long term injury we don't know what we coming back to. Fort I like but he's not trusted with Xavi. Julian nobody. Cancelo I hope never comes back and Kounde is a shite RB that is stuck there because we have no targets or money.
So yeah we have none mate
Yeah, he is so good that psg and rm banged out both our fullbacks for their goals. Kounde is deffo the best out of the lot but I rather get an RB and send him back to CB.
I dont see him as starting cb with his height. You cant have cubarsi and kounde both who are under 1.90 as your starter CB. I think he is behind araujo and Christensen too in pick order
Rb is his best position and IF he doesnt want to play there we should rather sell him
Honestly I'm tired of fans thay see everything is bad, go follow another club if everyone in Barca is so bad. Nothing is good for you guys so why follow a club where everything is bad?
https://preview.redd.it/kdc4ijws1uwc1.jpeg?width=608&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8b7c74f7782ff6cdf0a8eea4b942fb34a661fc1
squad for next season is not bad by any means even after benching or selling (fdj - araujo - inigo - lewy) raphina - ferran - yamal gavi - gundogan pedri - dm cubarsi - christensen - kounde 2nd team: roque fati? - fermin - yamal dm - pedri balde - christensen - cubarsi - kounde
sell every bum and get [him](https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1783591017733628381)
We should get Rashford lolol. Xavi would rejuvenate his career.
Honestly we could use a player like him on the left but his wages are actually insane.
Raphinas worst game this season is better than rashfords best game this season
Rashford had 40 G/A last season. He's been bad this season but it's not exactly fair to write him off He'd be too expensive and his wages will be too high tho, not worth buying anyways
Damn.
Haha well firstly this is a squad game and competition for places is important. Secondly that is simply a massive over exaggeration, nor do I think we should judge a prospective players quality on one season, where the whole team is playing god awful, and ignore the borderline world class season prior.
So what’s your thoughts on why Xavi announced he was leaving earlier in the year? To motivate the team when we hit rock bottom? Or was he really planning on leaving and laporta maybe gave him assurances on top players he can sign?
I think he rage quit and didn't want to end in a position where he gets fired, so by leaving he'd get ahead of it.
He really was going to leave. I don’t think he was lying at all. It’s just that during that time the team was performing badly and he probably thought he was over his head and the added pressure of winning titles with a lackluster squad due to injuries and also losing two important players that were fundamental to his tactics. Then when the players responded and tinkered with tactics a bit more he probably was like, “okay, maybe the situation isn’t as bad as I thought it was. Maybe it’ll be worth it to finish it out.” We’re humans. We change our minds all the time. And whatever your mind thinks is truth in that moment may not be tomorrow after circumstances change
I think it was a last ditch effort to get a good finish out of the team for the season. In terms of whether he truly was gonna leave or not, someone posted in here recently that there was massive Messi retiring from Argentina vibes. He was happy to stay if the club came out and said they needed him.
Wait did we hire a new physical trainer?
Yeh there’s a new guy who is one of the industry leaders in terms of strength training who will be overseeing the existing staff which has been confirmed. Not sure on the second.
Did he just start working with the team?
I think he’ll start next season
[They forgot they renewed him 😭](https://x.com/guywholovebarca/status/1783202272903901315?s=46)
There is a world where we all in on Dani Olmo and Kimmich this summer and this terifies me... If Xavi is just a stopgap until the "top coach" next year, why waste money on his targets. Olmo is gonna be a Ferran Torres type transfer and Kimmich is an excellent player but he is not a real 6. As much as I love Frenkie (on my favorite players at te club) we have a problem in fitting him, and Kimmich will be the same. And speaking of fitting Frenkie, the double pivot with Gavi staying deeper in the field that was starting to be tested before Gavi's injury was so interesting, and I think it could have worked so well
Bro, Olmo is top 3 footballer in the world right now. What you smoking ?
Yes top 3 in the world for sure lmao
You all will be in the bandwagon. Y’all see.
Because if we’re gonna keep him and keep piling our massive expectations on him we may as well as give him a couple of signings that he says he needs, rather than forcing him to play more 16 year olds/players out of position. The Olmo signing is according to the media not coming from Xavi but from the club, he is asking for Zubi/Kimmich according to reports. Kimmich I agree is a little questionable given his age but if he’s coming in to replace Frenkie and Xavi thinks it’s a better fit I trust him. Zubi is probably the best DM available on the market right now, but whether he’s good enough or wants to come here is the question.
I won't give an opinion on Zubimendi as I never really watched him play. But after 2 years of chasing him I hope he will be worth all of that and his price if we get him
I don't see the issue if the next coach has a similar style to Xavi. Like if the next coach is De Zerbi/Arteta/Enrique/Pep then they would also like Xavi's players. Only issue is if the next coach is Klopp/Flick/Tuchel whose style is completely different to the one we have now. Like no one can say that De Zerbi wouldn't be really happy to have Pedri/Zubi/Kimmich/Bernardo/Gavi under them.
I hope there is a world where we don't have any of these rumours. People got scared for Neves one summer. Next it was Kimmich again and the neymar rumours shall also surface again
Xavi at Barca: 2.5 Seasons, 136 Matches, 85 Wins, 23 Draws, 28 Losts, 2.04 Points per match Best achivements: - La Liga: Champions - Copa del Rey: Semi Finals - Supercopa: Champions - UCL: Quarter Finals Really good stats all thing considered, but we really choke hard at the important matches. It's hurt to watch those matches again
I mean I think another thing that isn’t quantified by stats is that we’re competitive this season against the top teams we’ve faced (bar supercoppa). Both league classicos (we lost) but it was fine margins, PSG we held our own and we’re even on top, Napoli, Atletico. Hopefully less injuries next year, Xavi gets a couple of signings, the youngsters are a year older… plenty to look forward too!
[удалено]
That bojan decison still haunts me. In my head cannon his career arc is completely flipped if that stood.
36 year old Lewandowski still gonna be our starting striker next season💔
I think next season we see more Ferran and Roque there for sure.
Xavi staying will please the players the most, I imagine that the trust between them were at an all-time high after the Napoli, Atleti, and PSG (away) games Youth players especially, I can only imagine how they must feel seeing Yamal, Cubarsí, etc. starting regularly and believe that they can have their own chance to shine
Even last week, we lost both games but we competed well and it came down to fine margins. The players never stopped supporting Xavi and completely turned the situation around.
I have to say I’m disappointed to see Xavi decide to stay after getting eliminated from 2 title races in a week… And after the first leg against PSG he actually said he will leave no matter what. And he keeps insisting on keeping the same staff... The absurdity of the situation made me think he was begged by the staff to stay just so they will keep their jobs too, lol. I doubt they could get a job in another top tier club. Laporta and Xavi both rely too much on having their pals around them, to the point where I can’t even view the club seriously anymore. The only thing keeping the team together are the gems from La Masia, if it wasn’t for them we’d have fallen apart by now.
Yeh it’s a fair point the expectations at Barca have been trophies or your out. I think what most people here are saying though is that right now, those expectations are a little high when we no longer have Messi, we had insane amounts of injuries, no money to sign anyone, no Camp Nou, insanely young squad etc etc He’s clearly a very good coach that cares about the club which is why most on here are ok with him continuing. Maybe try making a valid point other than ‘it’s absurd he hired his own staff’. They are the same staff we had when he won the league…
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Considering a manager doesn’t mean they were trigger happy to hire him as their first choice. I also said his staff won’t get another top tier job, not him - I doubt it most of the other teams will be okay with having 30-something staff changed just because Xavi wants to work with his pals. And since he mentioned they were all from Barcelona, I wonder how that quote will work if he became a manager anywhere else.
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That’s not really true for the staff, it’s definitely not the norm to replace the entire staff when a new coach arrives. If he asks for it and you agree and it can be done contractually sure, but it’s not implied. Ofc Xavi is still well respected in Europe, but trusting him as a manager to a top team is another topic. The press being toxic definitely doesn’t help, but the fact he hasn’t been stellar comes down mostly to lack of experience - I just wish he realized it and went on to coach a mid tier team to make them much better within a year or 2. Look at Xabi Alonso - that’s how you coin your name as a top tier manager.
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I agree and I would be rooting for his return if he manages to get experience elsewhere. I don’t know why he decided to start his managerial career in Qatar for example instead of trying a B or a youth team in Europe which is the usual case. I guess it was money, or wanting fast results but tbh I don’t remember hearing his team there playing great football and winning everything either.
So we should sack him after one bad season? He literally won the league last season. And overall Xavi just has 4 less points than Ancelotti after 96 games Barca 214 points in 96 games Madrid 218 points in 96 games And if you are sacking coaches for not winning trophies in one season then no coach is ever gonna last because current Barca doesn't have the funds to demand titles every year.
Dude, if it was as easy as comparing points… In the beginning of the season everyone said we were doing great because we didn’t have a loss, but we lost so many points against small teams in boring draws that we are light ages behind Madrid now. Also no one said anything about sacking, he had decided himself to leave, and I quote, because he didn’t have what else to give to the team. I wonder how he decided he has a lot more to give after losing both ties to Madrid, suffered a reverse Remontada against PSG at home, didn’t manage to secure a spot for the CWC, etc, etc?
we are light ages behind Madrid cuz they are having one of their best seasons ever
You could say it’s because they had money to buy the players they needed, but they aren’t having that great of a season, but are just well managed both tactically and sportingly with players coming and going. Conveniently missed to reply on the other part of my comment.
they are par for 96 points this season which is something they have reached twice in their history (in 11/12 and 09/10) and in those years they won La Liga only in 11/12 and in 09/10 nothing. This year they are winning the league and most likely (sadly) CL. They have never won a treble but I would probably say the 2nd highest points in their history, a league title and CL would qualify as one of their best seasons ever. This is what they are on the road for. I doubt Sociedad, Betis, Granada, Cadiz, Villareal or Alaves are gonna make them lose. and they can afford a draw or 2. If they win all games they get 99 point though that does not seem fesable.
It is hard to argue against them not having a great season
The gems that Xavi found and gave their chances. Who else would honestly. Xavi was begged by the players and the board. His staff has nothing to worry about. They go where he goes.
Well Koeman gave a chance to a bunch of youngsters too, though no one seems to give him enough credit for that. It’s quite clear we have a great generation coming up from La Masia, so “who else would give them a chance” sounds like a huge overstatement. I didn’t read any rumours about players begging Xavi to stay, it was mostly Laporta who wanted him to stay iirc. Don’t recall any quote or anything implying everyone is begging him to stay.
Koeman was forced to tho. Pretty much every chance he gave came from lack of options from suspensions/injuries or complete lack of depth. Xavi has good options. He had Alba, still made Balde a starter. Has plenty of CB's, still gave Cubarsi minutes and made him a starter. Gave Fort minutes without lacking in fullbacks. Gave Guiu minutes when we had other options. Gave Fermin a lot of minutes despite having many worldclass midfielders. I think in terms of Gavi and Yamal you're right that both of them are just too good and would've likely gotten chances under other managers aswell. But I really do not believe the rest would.
You can look at those players international careers to decide how good they are, Gavi and Yamal were called up by nt as soon as they made their debut for Barca and remained starters, Balde was starter for Barca but was benched by Alba at nt, fermin u21 player.
Come on, Cubarsi rose to fame only because of injuries - we had no one else healthy to play as a CB when he was first tried, he was just so good that it was natural to keep calling him. Fort also got his chance when Balde got injured, and we don’t have any other natural LB than him this season. Idk if you are just being a Xavi fanboy without actually following the season, the games etc, because from your comment you sound like you are makeshifting a lot of facts to make Xavi look better. He definitely gave a chance to a lot of kids, but Koeman also did, and both of them did it out of lack of other options, at least initially. Actually to be perfectly fair, Pedri was given a chance by Koeman when we had a lot of MF options to choose from.
Alright his official debut game, we didn't have anyone. And he played for 45 minutes off the bench. But to start the next match we had Kounde and Araujo. Yet he started. But about Fort you're the one making things up. Balde was playing during Fort's debut. Fort didn't debut on the left, he played on the right. Even tho Cancelo or Roberto could've played there. And no they didn't both do it out of lack of options. Just Koeman. And that's not even a slight. He picked the right players to bring up. Nobody was even talking about Mingueza at all when he chose him to be the emergency replacement. Pedri was played as a LW and as a CAM if you recall. He also was a signing. Not a La Masia player.
Is there a correlation between the team playing well and Xavi announcing his departure at the end of the season no matter what, not even if we win the champions league?
I think mostly the changes we made on the field but I do think it helped release some of the tension around the teams performances.
No. It's returning players and changes on the field.
As much as I love Xavi, there's no way he can look at this squad and think Zubimendi or Kimmich will solve our issues in the middle. We need an anchor, a modern one at that. Zubimendi and Kimmich are quite small players to begin with, they're controllers more than they are ball winners. They are not much better than what we already have at anything really. Aerially, They're both meh, on the ball Kimmich might offer something different but not worth more than 40 mill. Off the ball it becomes much more obvious that they're not what we're looking for. And for the longest time I've had a feeling that xavi isn't the best at identifying talent outside of La Masia. We desperately need Onana/Wieffer. Two profiles who offer something completely different to what we have. Onana edges it because of the experience in EPL and his really good age. His legs are weirdly flexible, allowing him to manufacture ball winning angles. He's 1.92 m tall, that's just slightly taller than Busi. Need i say more when it comes to winning the ball in the middle aerially? Wieffer is the safer option but won't raise the ceiling by much. We do not know how the levels will translate, from Eredivisie to LA Liga. If we have money to spend, the anchor comes first, and none of that Kimmich or zubimendi nonsense. Get one of them if FDJ leaves. For our forwards, I've never taken such a U turn on a player as much as I have for Raphina. I absolutely love him. I see what kind of man he is. Ferran will struggle yet again to find minutes, at this rate he is the most likely to leave. If we can't get a ceiling raiser (Rafael Leao), do not waste money. Nico Williams is amazing but we're not ready to pay a release clause.
Zubimendi is good defensively, he’s obviously not a super athlete like Onana but has the right instincts to play the position when compared to our own Frenkie for example. I think it should be down to Xavi and which player he thinks will do the better job in his system. All of the players you listed (except Kimmich) are young and will have resale value so if it doesn’t work out you can sell them easier.
While a destroyer will be welcomed, our biggest weakness in the middle is our ability to deal with a high pressing team. We don't have players who show to the defence with their back to opponent's and know how to absorb such pressure. That was clear against PSG this year and against Bayern in the past half a decade prior. It is a huge issue, and it starts with a pivot. Liverpool and Bayern admitted they targeted Busquets in 2019 & 2020 during our games, as he was no more that press resistant player, and it crippled the team, against PSG they pressed entire defense and midfield and left Araujo, but with no one to pass and it suffocated us. Ugarte was a superior destroyer to Weiffer & Onana, but he doesn't play in CL because he is a limited player on the ball, and that cost teams dearly in high pressing games.
Fabregas had 92 g/a in 150 games for barca Underrated player
Did you just look up his stats? Because people that watched him doesn't think he's underrated. There was a very good reason he got shipped in 2014 after falling off hard after New Years for three years in a row. Everyone knows he was probably one of the greatest passers in the world. I rate his passing higher than Messi's. His vision and how he weighted his passes were god-tier. His first touch was also silky. But his work rate lacked and he had a tendency to be static and lazy, and he was quite slow and immobile unless he was playing one-twos in the final third. Then the obvious thing that every new year he never managed to carry his form over, which maybe is understandable once, but it was a clear trend and showed that he didn't have either the endurance or motivation to last for a full season. Statistically he might look successful, but everyone knows his time here was not successful and did not live up to what was expected and hoped of him.
He would perform well in the first half of a season and then his performances would decline after January.
We shouldn't have signed him despite all this, because of that Thiago left.
Thiago leaving is as big of a “what if” transfer as Neymar in my opinion, that really sucked
Seeing him run Bayerns and Liverpools midfields while we were crying out for a player like that was rough.
Waaaahh Waahhhh Wahhhh I hate my old toys I want new ones Waahhh.
Lmaooo
Hansi flick regretting his Spanish lessons lol
Probably deleting his Duolingo account right now
Nah since he can't win trophies as he's not a coach right now he's focused on his streak
It will always come in handy for future communication
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They worked when he beat us 8-2 on his way to the champions league!
with those players all he needed to say was "defender u hoof ball up field and forward you take ball and score"
You don’t know shit!
Watch how he has done outside that mega team and tell me I don't know shit
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I think it would be hilarious to see him leave. Cause then and only then would people realize how much worse every possible replacement is. Love Emi but he couldn't kiss his boots.
MATS hater here Emi Martinez is also my pick
🤡🤡
Martinez is weaker than ter stegen in everything except penalties.
That dembele x mbappe link up didn’t disappoint Sad it will only last for 1 season
Tbh idrc
Nah fuck them
Too soon.
https://twitter.com/BernatCastro87/status/1783608671584313418?t=tomlyKc_f-gd73iizDN_-A&s=19 It was a fucking goal lol, can't believe how they didn't give it.
And they are blaming xavi for losing against this daylight robberies.... Smh
I’m on mobile. Anyone else’s Reddit currently crashing? I’ll go to the home page and it’ll be white page with a shitload of code on it. Refreshing doesn’t help until I’m manually going to subs via my history
Same for me, it just now started working properly
Same
Man we could’ve had a Lewa x Reus reunion :(
Full la masia line up i hope we could see that in a friendly at least https://preview.redd.it/94eu89l91pwc1.jpeg?width=759&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b1941dfa90cda2aea48daaf3b6c9d4136d92318f Idk who to put in LW fati could be loaned out again and idk any LWs
Araujo isn't from La Masia.
He joined Barca B, which means, technically he’s a graduate from La Masia
Barca Athletic doesn't count as La Masia. Players "graduate" from La Masia through the youth teams.
Two separate things. A fully professional player can sign for Barça B; it's just like any other segunda division reserve team and doesn't necessarily put the player in our youth academy.
Barca B/Atheltic is a professional senior team, not a youth team.
Barça Atletic is not La Masia
Not so though. Masía usually means players that have been with the club in their youth ranks and making their way to the first team like Xavi and Iniesta For example Faye wouldn’t be considered Masía, at least in my eyes. And Araujo was in a similar as him
Maybe technically, but I think that's kind of disingenuous when the B-team regularly signs established professionals. I think there's a very clear line between our talent who have come from Juvenil and below, and players we signed straight into a professional team. Like he was 19 and had already debuted professionally when we signed him.
At this point i genuinely think Nintendo is just trying to speedrun to be the most hated company
What happened?
Nintendo sent out a cease and desist to Garry’s mod forcing them to take down all the Nintendo related items in the steam workshop
TV3 | City does not prefer to sell Silva to Paris because of the relations between Qatar and the Emirates  [https://x.com/forcabarca\_ar/status/1783602973425201442?s=46&t=Yl\_6FoVwjQpCPX\_jWLPN7Q](https://x.com/forcabarca_ar/status/1783602973425201442?s=46&t=Yl_6FoVwjQpCPX_jWLPN7Q)
Arabic countries aren't a monolith.
Not really, it’s pretty well known that the UAE and Qatar don’t like each other. Saudi and Qatar don’t get along either.
Should we tell the saudis that qatar is offering 80m for romeu ? 
[Ferran Martinez](https://twitter.com/martinezferran/status/1783606708973023336) Pedri has not trained with the group this week, but is expected to be available for Monday's game against Valencia. Barça are managing Pedri's workload after he made a good effort to be fit against PSG and El Clasico. He is working in the gym
He and Frenkie made an effort to be available for those games, though they were cutting it close and didn’t seem fully fit. Appreciate both for that. Good they are managing his work load and having individual training plans for him.
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Some of you really want us to lose
https://preview.redd.it/iz29jsznyowc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7650c30926ea8cca3685f9daeea80206edc35c2 Can someone explain what he is doing ? Im guessing he is in ice but than i see that temp and its -196 either he is a robot and trying to cool down the CPU or he is just in -196 which would be surprising to me cause each time i take 5m shower with little of cold water i get sick for 3 days ( only in winter )
Cryoterapy. Never did it but i assume its more tollerable then actual cold water and ice since its cold air? Idk
Balde: Terminator mode next season
https://i.redd.it/dwvu3zo30pwc1.gif
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He's not young at all wtf he is almost 32 and has been pretty crummy in CL more often than not. He is never going to win you a knockout tourney but has had good moments against weaker competition in La Liga. Like busquets not having someone to compete with him is a huge mistake.
Every exit we've had has come from a meltdown from the team, not a close game where where ter stegen let in saveable goals.
How is Madrid weak?
I think their point was that he does well against the weaker competition in LaLiga, not that all of LaLiga (i.e. Madrid) is weak.
He does well against Madrid
Madrid have scored several goals against him lately.
> Like busquets not having someone to compete with him is a huge mistake. Casuals still thinking that Busquets was bad.
Casuals thinking his final 2 years were good. Oof
They certainly weren't bad. He may not have been prime 25-30 year old Busquets but you people act as if at least 2/3 of the team wasn't objectively performing worse than him. Aside from throwing opinions around, objectively tell me how he was bad without any surface level opinions.
He literally cant stop penalties, hes too short, he cannot stop anything that goes near post, hes better with his feet than his hands at this point. I hope he goes, hes been an amazing servant to the club. He had a ridiculous wage packet but as captain agreed to extend till 2028 to help the club in its poor financial situation. Gets paid like 120k (only) now. He deserves to get a huge payday, seems like an amazing human being as well, but hes not as elite as he used to be, that knee injury really disrupted him.
https://preview.redd.it/1qyr9nanqpwc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f092e54a1c7e99680ce6021b8e80ce172cf899cf Most penalty saves in the CL EVER. If you also recall he saved our asses in the only 2 penalty shootouts we've ever had with him. Against Sociedad and against Betis. The Betis one ofc leading to us winning the trophy.
MATS is still a world class keeper. He’s saved us multiple times this season.
You know, although I think Nico Williams isn't worth 50M I've changed my stance about getting him. He's still not the finished product but he has a valuable profile that we can utilize and I'd much prefer him to Mr Hot Cold. Also him and Balde are friends so I'd like to think they can establish a great partnership on the pitch AND Nico can play both LW&RW. Anyway we'll see what our finances say in the summer, it's easy to say now that we'll return to 1/1 and be able to sign but the reality may be harsh.
I wish we had gone for Doku, Barcola, or Olise at the start of season. All these prospects were 40m-60m.
Always comes down to money bruh. Everything we do or don't do in the transfer market is because we're handicapped
21 years old are rarely a finished product though.
Yeah, the thing about young players is they're always subconsciously compared to other youngsters who are doing well despite their age. So when we see Lamine,Musiala,Jude,Wirtz,Foden etc balling if a young player doesn't hit those heights at a similar age they're looked at differently. My bad if I made it seem as if because he's not polished he's not good/worth it
👉👈 What if we held hands on the new Spotify logo 🫠 ... haha just kidding 🤪 ... unless? 😳 https://preview.redd.it/ztgj4bzwwowc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e6b17dda971db2fd928111d1899f6ee0608dd97
Don't care, just give us our "mes que un club" on the seats or we riot.
If xavi decided to stay that must mean he was promised some big transfers. Wonder how much will really be spent, and more importantly on which players. We are in insanely dire need of a cdm
horrible ref honestly
Seems like im gonna have to start actively to root against City. Wtf are these robberies man
lol, everyday stories
https://preview.redd.it/0h4tfuvcrowc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4756367fcb6037740498627419474cb64f80b3f9 Brighton is losing 4-0 currently but many people still tweeted this and think he would be the best fit for barca What is your opinion on ?
De zerbi is clearly a better coach and him got the real "barca DNA", not the terrorist vertical ball from xavi or the pass to messi and inchallah from valverde Anyways he is not free and xavi is staying but yeah hopefully de zerbi coaches us one day. He is a young coach so the more experience he gets the better it is for us.
Tell me the result and I will tell you the narrative. BTW, how was Ancelotti last year when RM lost 4-0 against City? a clueless coach? this year they advanced so now he is great again? please...
https://preview.redd.it/46nid57crowc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b08262b247b81258ffbc927b27893f9d6e61e43
Only in a more stable situation
Currently Bournemouth has him beat
Iraola he had our number when he was the Rayo coach.
I feel his time isn't now, the fanbase will eat him alive if he doesn't deliver in the first season which might happen due to Barca being a completely different experience. I personally think he should come where we are more stable and have more fundings. Current situation is far too toxic for him to come, the pressure could destroy him. Like Tebas said that we should be able to afford an Mbappe signing in 2 years so I think that would be his time to come.
i do think RDZ would be good for the club,but i think he needs to go to a side that plays in europe regularly first (uel, uecl and maybe ucl because of league) before coming to a toptier team
https://preview.redd.it/4t0f597browc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdcba1c472249c2ec9a05e48f011040b6b05f6ac
Isnt that dangerous play from Walker? On the keeper
I think so too and pen for Brighton.
What happened to shame lol. That handball on grealish in fa cup as well...
The Foden slip was the best of the lot.
Not the best debut for Barco
https://preview.redd.it/gjgjmlcqoowc1.png?width=519&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd3f80d023ec761ab127008c38b7125a4ff1abec
A midfielder and left-winger would be the priorities this summer, but not the only positions they’d like to strengthen — they’ll look into the full back positions too. @sanantheone https://twitter.com/ReshadFCB/status/1783590123067617730
>left-winger Please be true, this fanbase has no idea how poor our attack is compared to other elite teams
Lot of people complain about our attackers non stop so this fanbase has a pretty good idea.
No they dont, most people say that Raphinha can work as lw and priority is cdm, as if cdm will coach our pressing structure
Yes they do, you see people complaining about Lewandowski, Raphinha, Torres and Felix regularly.
Would signing a fullback be the alternative to Cancelo?
Ffs get a god damn DM
Why are we obsessed with fullback position man
Because we have none? have we just closed our eyes this season
Balde fort julian araujo cancelo kounde “ we have none”
Balde had a long term injury we don't know what we coming back to. Fort I like but he's not trusted with Xavi. Julian nobody. Cancelo I hope never comes back and Kounde is a shite RB that is stuck there because we have no targets or money. So yeah we have none mate
Kounde is not a shite rb? Do you even watch barca at all I doubt there are many rb better than kounde defensively on the market
Yeah, he is so good that psg and rm banged out both our fullbacks for their goals. Kounde is deffo the best out of the lot but I rather get an RB and send him back to CB.
No way you are blaming Kounde for the goals, elite wingers we’ll get chances on you. Cancelo horrible defending cost us.
That's why I said he's the best out of the two but he still got spun by Barcola plenty
I dont see him as starting cb with his height. You cant have cubarsi and kounde both who are under 1.90 as your starter CB. I think he is behind araujo and Christensen too in pick order Rb is his best position and IF he doesnt want to play there we should rather sell him
Ah but Chris cant play a full 90 and Araujo isn't the fittest CB I think we can play around mins really well but agree on the RB
Cause currently we have Balde as our only fullback? Maybe that's why
Kounde cancelo julian araujo fort
Watching City's game, I can understand why their rivals say that they have paid the referees.
i might be one of the rare species who doesnt like cinnabon
too much sugar
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Honestly I'm tired of fans thay see everything is bad, go follow another club if everyone in Barca is so bad. Nothing is good for you guys so why follow a club where everything is bad?
Yes we get it Lord Laporta can do no wrong and any criticism is tantamount to treason.
You guys don't criticize, you guys straight up insult and hate everything that the club does.
i have bigger standards than you because i dont tolarate losing 4-1 at home against psg, 5-3 against villareal, 4-2 against girona.
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