Barcelona’s two consecutive defeats put coach Xavi Hernandez’s position under threat. The coach who led Barca to win the Spanish La Liga competition last season had to face speculation about his dismissal from the coaching chair.
Indeed, this issue is very difficult to avoid. Barca suffered defeat from Girona, which incidentally is currently at the top of the 2023/24 Spanish League standings and as a result Barca was shifted to 4th place in the standings.
The opportunity to retain the Spanish League trophy is threatened if Barca does not immediately improve its performance. After losing to Girona, Barca suffered another defeat in the Champions League to Antwerp, a club from Belgium in the last match in the Champions League. The defeat did not affect Barca’s place in the top 16.
However, the defeat was like rubbing coarse salt on Barca’s wounds, which have appeared stagnant in the last few matches. Several sports newspapers from Barcelona even commented. The Mundo Deportivo newspaper wrote that “No Forgiveness” was the headline for Barca’s defeat at the hands of Antwerp.
Obviously, Xavi’s position is increasingly shaken. Various names of replacement coaches are circulating in public space.
The shock in Xavi’s position as coach is quite reasonable. First, this season Xavi is complemented by many quality players. The depth of the squad occurred after last season, Xavi had several names such as Roberto Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Rapinha, Christensen, M. Alonso, and these players were able to help Barca win the Spanish League trophy.
This season, Xavi again received the privilege of getting Ilkay Gundongan from Man City for free, borrowing Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid and Joao Cancelo from Manchester City, and getting Oriel Romeu from Girono to replace Sergio Busquets.
However, this was not accompanied by a convincing performance, both in the Spanish League and in Europe this season. In fact, some players performed below the best standards.
Second, Barca’s playing intensity decreased. Barca’s game as a team is increasingly blurred. What happens is that players place more priority on individual performance rather than playing as a team.
For example, when Cancelo, who acted as a left back in the match against Girona, was caught preferring to shoot at Girona’s goal and ignored Lewandowski and Felix who had a better chance of scoring.
Likewise, during the incident, Lewandowski “scolded” the young star, Lamine Yamal, who tends to play individually rather than as a team.
The result of this individual play of course has an impact on reducing the quality of other players. Lewandowski lost his spurs in front of goal due to minimal support. Likewise, Gundongan, who has the character of a team player and has long been formed by Pep Guardiola at Man City, also appears gray in Barca’s midfield.
This issue is of course related to the trainer’s work system. In which case, the coach seems to have difficulty uniting the players to play as a team.
Therefore, a replacement for Xavi in the coaching chair emerged. Of course, Barca’s scenario in finding a replacement coach also needs to be careful. In other words, the club is not just dreaming of looking for a coach who fits Barca’s DNA, but a coach who can process the existing squad. In general, Barca has a group of quality players, and perhaps the team needs the right hands to develop that squad.
With this, the coach may be at odds with Barca’s DNA, but this figure can answer the demands of the team’s game. Barca already have a group of quality players, and they just need a coach who can bring out the best in them.
For this reason, the opportunity to replace Xavi must be a coach who can unite the available players, as well as a coach who can build a solid team with the composition of players already available.
Visiting Mestalla, Valencia’s stadium, was a big challenge for Xavi. The 43-year-old coach said the match felt like a final in order to improve the team’s image which had temporarily fallen.
Barca’s advantage when visiting Valencia is that Valencia is also in an unstable condition. Of the last four matches, Valencia has never won.
However, this has also become a serious challenge for Barca. If they suffer defeat at the hands of Valencia who are currently appearing unconvincing, it is possible that the speculation surrounding Xavi’s place in the Barca coaching chair will come true and the club will have to look at every opportunity as a replacement coach.
ASL
