I don’t think it is risky for him. Few candidates would be given as much time as Xavi by either fans or the board. He has little to lose by taking the job. Assuming he is a decent manager, I think he is probably their best hope right now.
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Honestly, there are a lot of things to like about Barca as a club and much of what we dont like emanates from the tenure of the man who has been forced to step down and, unusually for a departing chairman, has none of his people there to continue his mission. If they can go back to conducting themselves the way they did last time Laporte was in charge and Xavi was a player then a lot of that will become water under the bridge.
I did chuckle though that Dembele is out again with a hamstring injury after having played his first 30 minutes of the season against Kiev.
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Will be interesting to see what Laporta achieves at Barca, and do agree most of the dislike for them comes from the Bartomeu era.
Xavi threw his name behind Font rather than Laporta in the run up to the election - and Laporta was reportedly not pleased. Obviously they’ve kissed and made up for the move to happen.
Now that Messi is gone, it probably gives Xavi a true chance of doing something special there - but it will take time, and time is not something afforded to many mangers these days. Maybe Xavi at the Barca wheel will be a comedy show like Ole at United’s wheel.
Barca 3-0 at HT.
Iago Aspas with his second in the 96th to make it 3-3.
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If you only ever saw the Chelsea corner, you’d think he was shit, but he’s done well before and after us. Great strike.
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Just checked the score to see Barca letting in a goal. Love it. Seemed like last kick of the game?
That will take some doing!
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That was one hell of a goal by Aspas at the dying second.
Saw that at 3-0 half time and I thought wow that’s a quick turnaround for Xavi….
Gulp
But Xavi was not yet on bench today.
Like Xavi and before the Coutinho thing I liked Barca as a club.
Because of the 4-0 they’re always going to be a part of the history of our club too, so whilst it is good to see such a massive club suffer for a while I have no doubts that they will build again and go again.
In fact, what has happened to Barca over the last 3-5 years will probably make them stronger and give their famed Youth Academy a chance
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I think the Alves signing was more of probably Xavi wanting to bring some character and attitude back to Barca. Honestly, they used to produce so many great players from their very own academy and in the last few years have just lost their way. I would think Xavi might bring back some needed “tradition” if you can call that, someone who understood what it meant to play for the old Barca. And some of these old guards might be a strategic way that Xavi sees as important to him. But I think appointing Xavi is as good as they should have done, nothing is guaranteed but I think Xavi gives the club not only some direction but also to buy some patience from the fans with the goodwill that the fans would be willing to give to Xavi, who is one of their very own.
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Alves’ career is incredible. Still not over. Gotta respect that. Will love it if he wins more trophies.
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One of the things that has been reported is Xavi is trying to bring back some old traditions from his time about how the players conduct themselves, including much more time spent together at the training ground and fines for tardiness. This is all stuff Alves has already done and so you can see Xavi looking to him to be the manager’s avatar among the players and leading by example. He’s already got Pique and Busquets there who lived that approach previously, but seeing as they have been present during this period of waning application maybe he doesn’t trust in them to be those examples he’s looking for.
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That’s very sad, a fantastic player. Probably the right decision though.
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Sad ending, although that problem aside, I think he was already pretty much past his best. The whole Barca move was a bit weird, but they probably thought he could do a short term job for a season or two.
Great goalscorer.
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