Xavi’s Barcelona: overcoming challenges, unleashing youth, and Henry’s support
For the 15th time, the stadium announcer erupts with “VICTOR!” In response, nearly 50,000 Napoli fans roar “Osimhen!” For a Barcelona fan seated in the Diego Armando Maradona away stands, this felt like the rallying cry of an invading army.
It’s the 75th minute, round of 16 of the Champions League, Barcelona leads Napoli by a goal, courtesy of Lewandowski’s strike after a sublime assist from Pedri. However, a sluggish defensive response, starting with Jules Koundé failing to close off the pass to the middle, results in an innocuous forward pass slipping through, erasing Barça’s lead.
Napoli players celebrate, almost taunting the Barça faithful as their team concedes its 25th goal in 13 games, marking the leakiest defence among Europe’s top-5 leagues at that moment, not even one season after being the continent’s best defence.
The initial reaction from supporters is one of anger, quickly shifting to frustration. As Napoli players retreat to their side of the field, the prevailing emotion turns to sympathy.
Sympathy for Barcelona legend and head coach Xavi Hernández, who recognizes the need for adjustments despite a solid performance against a tough opponent. During the post-game press conference, he noted, “In the first half, they didn’t create a single chance. After our goal, we lacked the composure and control of the game.”
“Our goal was to find numeric superiority with Christensen, De Jong, Pedri and Gündo. I think that we executed our plan well. We found Pedri and Gündo between the lines many times.”
This strategy worked well in the first half, especially in the opening 20 to 25 minutes. However, Napoli came out fighting in the second half, displaying superior physicality, intensity, and heightened pressure.
“Physically, Napoli are superior to us. They win more duels, but we competed well.”
“Napoli played a great match, and they made it difficult for us.”
As Xavi pointed out, Barcelona lacked the maturity required to secure a victory after Lewandowski’s goal in the 60th minute. It’s no secret that Barcelona boasts a youthful roster this season.
While we all know Pedri, Gavi, and Alejandro Baldé showcase immense talent and potential, there are also emerging stars like Héctor Fort (17), Fermin López (20), Marc Guiu (18), Vitor Roque (19), and the exceptionally skilled Lamine Yamal (16).
These young players bring desire, ambition, talent, and a hunger for titles to the team. They’re the ones stepping up after Xavi’s appointment, fighting tirelessly for the club they adore.
But Lamine Yamal is in a league of his own.
“Lamine Yamal is only 16 years old and he’s a massive talent. He plays like he’s at the park.”
In a recent match against Mallorca, Lamine Yamal clinched victory for Barça with a stunning strike into the top corner, showcasing his ability to deliver when the team needs him most. This season, the wonder boy has already amassed over 2,000 minutes of play, featuring in 38 different games, starting in 19 of them.
Right now, he is practically an undisputed starter for FC Barcelona at the age of 16, which is completely out of this world.
Yamal brings a unique dimension to the team. Aside from his exceptional dribbling and passing skills, his football IQ at 16 is astounding. He knows precisely when to pass, dribble, cross, or shoot, and his creativity knows no bounds.
Even if Lamine fulfils his defensive duties diligently, his young peers and him obviously lack experience, a crucial element in competitions like the Champions League.
“Attack wins games, defence wins titles,” as Sir Alex Ferguson famously said.
Barcelona’s primary issue this season lies in defence. Unlike the previous season, where they conceded just 39 goals in 48 games across all competitions, making them the best defence in Europe’s top-5 leagues, this season presents a stark contrast, already conceding 45 goals in 36 games.
Why such a huge gap?
Firstly, there’s a lack of coordination between the defensive line and the midfield, as well as between the midfield and the forwards. It’s as if each unit operates independently, resulting in vulnerability to balls played into dangerous areas.
This disjointed play occurs frequently, with defenders failing to cover spaces effectively, leaving gaps for opponents to exploit. On multiple plays in virtually any match this season, Cancelo sinks for no reason, Araújo follows him, messing up the whole line, Raphinha/Lamine stays with the left-back, but doesn’t tilt and doesn’t reduce enough space. This causes an inferiority inside, leading to easy passing situations for the opponents and a lot of free space.
Secondly, Barcelona’s positional defence is notably weak. There’s often excessive space left between players and lines of players, sometimes lack of intensity and concentration, and the decision-making is not the best, allowing opponents to receive the ball unchallenged and make decisive plays.
Christensen’s late jump does not cut back or harass the player with the ball, so he can receive and turn, as Lewandowski does not cover the pass back towards central areas, leaving FC Barcelona totally naked. This can’t happen, Barça are missing Sergio Busquets too much.
Former Spanish national team coach Vicente del Bosque once described Sergio Busquets as a player who could dictate the entire game without needing to move much. His presence was key in Spain’s and Barcelona’s defensive structure, organizing the team and ensuring effective pressing.
“You watch the game, you don’t see Busquets. You watch Busquets, you see the whole game.” – Vicente del Bosque.
It was in these pressing situations that Busquets shone the brightest. He knows how to press the ball, how and when to occupy the maximum amount of space to cut off passing lanes, when to communicate with his teammates and in general, he has the perfect timing, making the team press correctly and be much more solid defensively.
Busquets is almost the anti-stat, the footballer who can’t be measured or so easily deciphered. He changed the defensive midfielder (or pivot) position in football forever.
As Argentinian legend Juan Román Riquelme said: “The only No. 5 I’ve met in my life, who is a No.10 and does everything well, is Busquets. Busquets confused world football,” he then concluded, “there is only one Busquets”.
This brings us to FC Barcelona’s third main problem this season, the pressure has gone from bad to worse since the departure of Sergio Busquets at the end of last season. He was key for Barça’s pressure on the ball, for the immediate defensive reaction after the team loses the ball (counter-pressing), the reaction to “press-triggers” (poor first touch, poor pass, incorrect body positioning, opportunity for 2vs1…etc), the team’s coordination to pressure…etc.
To address these issues, Xavi experimented with deploying Christensen as a defensive midfielder or pivot, in a 3-1 victory against Alavés. Xavi is adopting the same approach as Pep Guardiola in the last two seasons, attacking with three centre-backs to enlarge the field and give more space for the players on the wings, converting one of the defenders into a Busquets-style pivot (Cubarsí and Christensen at Barça, mainly Stones, Rodri and sometimes Akanji at City).
With this modification by Xavi, Barcelona has become more aggressive and dynamic, evidenced by increased defensive actions (counter-pressing) and improved attacking contributions from the offensive midfielders.
The main beneficiary of this adjustment is İlkay Gündoğan. The German has been less involved (77.5 touches before the Alavés game, 49 after), but much more decisive. İlkay is adding 9% of his touches in front of the opponent’s box. In other words, 27% of his total touches happen in the final third. This is exactly what Xavi is looking for.
Map of Gündoğan’s touches before (up) and after (below) Christensen’s adjustment. Source: OPTA (Relevo)
This has translated into Gündoğan greatly improving FC Barcelona’s attacking ability. After Barcelona’s 4-0 victory over Getafe the weekend after Napoli, İlkay Gündoğan became the first player in Europe’s top five leagues to create 100 chances this season.
Just to highlight the difference between Gündoğan and the rest of his teammates, the second player in the team with the most chances created is João Cancelo with 37.
The German is probably the most important player for Barça this season, with 5 goals and 10 assists. He is an expert in scanning the free space, in partnering and combining with his peers, he also knows the sacrifices you must do to win the ball back quickly, and he’s one of the best in the world at giving the ultimate pass.
However, Barcelona’s struggles to maintain possession in the opposition half remain a significant concern, highlighted again by the considerable distance between the defensive and the offensive midfielders, meaning that there isn’t superiority in the ball zone, very little support, so a lot of wasted plays.
Not only that, but players’ movements are neither clear nor fast enough to surprise opponents, the speed of ball circulation is too slow and too few players take risks with the ball (only Cancelo, Gündogan and Lamine).
FC Barcelona continue to have many problems, both defensively and offensively, despite the improvements following Xavi’s adjustments. Barça must defend in a more compact way in all lines, they lack that central midfielder to organise everything, that player who knows how to recognise situations in defence, who makes the team shorter and allows them to rest while defending without having to readjust after each pass, a.k.a. Sergio Busquets.
Xavi’s style of play needs a player like Busquets, and he’s trying to find the solution without Frenkie de Jong, who has a lateral ligament sprain in his right ankle.
Barcelona showcased their potential in a recent match against Getafe, employing a 3-man defence with Cubarsí playing a pivotal role, shifting between defence and midfield. This tactical adjustment allowed Barcelona to play more compactly and exploit spaces effectively, resulting in a convincing 4-0 victory.
“They were pressing with Mayoral on the goalkeeper, so I put Pau in the middle. He’s our best centre-back with the ball.”
Cubarsí has the perfect abilities to be the free man, and Barcelona took advantage to find him and accelerate. His first touch passes are very frequent and accurate, he knows when to switch sides, when and how to give great balls in between the lines to the midfielders or even to Lewandowski, he is calm on the ball and has the maturity to control, give time to the team to restructure and make the right pass at the right time.
In an interview with TVP Sport, Robert Lewandowski praised Pau Cubarsí’s abilities: “It has been a long time since I met a centre back, especially at this age, who can pass the ball in triangles with such calmness.”
Source: ViaPlay
For example, in this João Félix goal against Getafe, Cubarsí is the one who starts the play, knowing when to make the risky pass. Pragmatic, brave, and intuitive defender, with the technical quality of a midfielder, and the vision of an inside forward. The eight games he started, Barça remain undefeated with 6 wins and 2 draws.
Remember his name, Pau Cubarsí, he will start against Napoli today, 100%.
Since the 1-1 draw against the Italian side, Barça hasn’t conceded a single goal, drawing 0-0 at Bilbao against Athletic and winning at home against Getafe and Mallorca. Another issue for Barça this season is not playing at Camp Nou, as it’s on a remodelling process until the start of the 2025/26 season.
Home advantage is famous in football, but it does not exist for Barça this season. Barcelona is currently unbeaten away from home, while already having lost three games at home in La Liga. Athletic Bilbao has not lost at San Mamés since August 2023. Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are unbeaten at home this season.
“We all miss the Camp Nou. Montjuïc is not the same. A return leg at the Camp Nou would have been way different.”
Moving away from the Camp Nou has hurt us more than any Barça fan hoped. Last season, Barça lost only one game at Camp Nou in La Liga, and it came when they had already secured the league title. The importance of a solid atmosphere cannot be underestimated, it’s intimidating for any opponent.
While Barcelona still faces challenges, particularly in defence and ball retention, there are signs of progress under Xavi’s leadership. With continued innovation, development, and the huge trust in La Masia, Barcelona can overcome any obstacles and return to their winning ways.
Xavi’s coaching prowess often goes underappreciated, despite the immense pressure he faces. Even if his decision to announce his departure at the end of the season, in my opinion, was a mistake, he did it with good intentions — to relieve pressure for his players. However, Xavi’s self-confidence appears to be very low, influenced by the relentless scrutiny from the media, fans, and the club.
Thierry Henry, his former teammate, and a respected pundit has been vocal in his support for Xavi. In a recent interview on CBS Sports, Henry expressed his admiration: ‘The first thing to say is that I am impressed with the work you have done. I don’t care what people say. You have won the league, and you have to be proud of what you are. I am very proud to have shared the playing field with you and you taught me a lot at Barcelona.’
I hope you move on because your brain to me has no comparison. The only one who is up there with you is Pep (Guardiola) in terms of how you see the game. So, I hope you come back soon and we will see you on pitches soon. I know there’s still the season and all that, but you know what I mean. So please come back soon.’
Despite its ups and downs, Xavi’s time at Barcelona has made a lasting impression. Many people have acknowledged his football expertise and commitment to the club’s values. Xavi would never do anything to hurt FC Barcelona, the team of his heart.
As the season progresses, Xavi’s guidance will be crucial in navigating the challenges ahead. Barcelona, with its rich history and passionate fanbase, looks towards a good end of the season under his leadership.
Will Xavi’s adjustments work against Napoli this evening?
