Xavi has already started life as Barcelona Coach, but will he be successful or is he just another failed experiment for Laporta?
Xavi Got The Job
Some days ago, Barcelona appointed Xavi as replacement for Ronaldo Koeman. It wasn’t the smoothest negotiations with Al-Sadd, and Barcelona representatives had to fly to Qatar to wrap up talks. Al-Sadd understandably didn’t want to let their manager go just yet. However, after days of talks, he finally signed. It certainly did cause some excitement among Barcelona fans that hated the quality football under Ronald Koeman.
Experience at Al-Sadd
The former Spanish midfielder retired as a footballer in May 2019. Since then, he has coached Al-Sadd. The Al-Sadd squad is made up of players that Qatar plans to field during the World Cup next year. Xavi was tasked with developing them, showing them how to play as a team, and instilling a winning mentality within the group. He has done quite well for himself in Qatar. Since 2019, Xavi won 7 trophies with Al-Sadd and boasts an impressive 66% win ratio.
Can Xavi Save Barcelona?
With his impressive stats in Qatar, can Xavi Hernandez save Barcelona?
Barça are 11 points off the top of La Liga although they have a game in hand. The performances from the Catalans this season has been very average and they look like a mid-table team. Many might cut Barcelona some slack because they lost Lionel Messi this summer, but they really should be doing better.
Xavi will aim to bring out the best from Barcelona players and try to save their dwindling quality on the pitch of play. As he has said in his interview that Barcelona should be aiming to win every game, he will try to instill that mentality into his players, and hopefully, that will save their season.
Tikitaka?
Also, Barcelona fans won’t just be expecting the team to win by any means possible.
Barcelona fans are now confident that with the appointment of Xavi Hernandez as Barcelona boss, the team’s style of play will change back to that of the famed days under Pep Guardiola.
Comparisons
There will always be comparisons in football, and football fans will be drawing their tables out to compare Xavi’s coaching style to Pep Guardiola’s.
Even as a player, fans compared Xavi to Guardiola. So there won’t be any difference now that he has his chance to lead Barcelona.
With all these factors explained, Xavi is not joining Barcelona at the best time. So, he can easily become just another failed experiment for Barcelona.
However, if he can perfectly communicate his ideas to his players and they buy into it, Xavi could be the hero to bring Barcelona out of their current troubles on and off the pitch.
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