After picking out Real Madrid at the Bernabeu with a clean score of 4-0, Xavi set a record of 12 unbeaten games in charge of Barca, and won nine of them. What is even more gratifying is that in 6 of the last 11 games, Barca Firepower has scored 4 goals in a single game.
Barca's recent performance, in addition to the visible improvement in the data, in the game scene, team atmosphere, and tactical play, it is obvious that they have given fans a refreshing feeling. If the previous seasons were in a state of sealing, today's Barça seems to have a sense of fully opened.
Under Xavi's coaching, Barça have received targeted training in most conceivable places, although there is still room for improvement, especially in defense, but compared with Barça, which has surrendered its weapons after falling behind in the previous game, taking a big lead, away from home, and has no morale in important games, Xavi is gradually breaking these problems that have plagued Barca for a long time.
Although Barça's glorious history is inseparable from heavy reinforcements, like many enduring clubs, Barça's talent pool has never been a problem, which means that how to fully stimulate the inner talent has become the driving force to put Barca on the right track. With the emergence of a group of fledgling hairy boys such as Pedri and Garvey, and the continuous recovery of the record, Xavi led the Barca revival, although it is still too early, but grasping the three key points to work together has made the signs of the team's recovery more and more obvious.
Grasp the offense, grab the rankings, Harvey turned the decline into confidence
Messi's departure at the beginning of the season not only confused the outside world and fans, but also for Koeman and the team, it was like a bottom of the pot. The record of 3 wins and 3 draws in the first 6 league games of the season, although not too bad, can vaguely see Koeman's inability to do so, and the players' scattered hearts.
Sure enough, in the following 6 games, Koeman delivered a record of 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses that almost collapsed. For a team of Barca's level, even in the reconstruction period, it is difficult to accept the embarrassing result of being in the middle and lower reaches of La Liga. Therefore, In the condemnation of all parties, Coman freed up the position of manager for Harvey.
As a legend of camp Nou, Xavi knows that Barca cannot lose confidence after losing Messi's reassurance, otherwise it will fall into a deeper quagmire. The most direct result: First, young players will shrink in the face of public opinion, and second, without financial support, the transfer market cannot play the sentiment card, and the visa-free operation is even more difficult to perform.
H.S. Harvey said after taking office: We need to control the ball and space and show happy offensive football!
It is clear that during Xavi's tenure in West Asia, his focus on Barca never stopped. In the six games before the end of class, Koeman had 63% possession and created 68 shots on goal, but only achieved a record of 2 wins and 4 losses, indicating that Barca lacked a goal to solve the actual problem.
Xavi's return gradually ignited Barca's goal firepower. In his 17 league games since taking office, Barca have scored 40 goals, averaging 2.45 goals per game, compared to Koeman's efficiency of 16 goals and 1.45 goals per game in the first 11 games of the season, Xavi has increased the number of goals per game by 1 goal.
The improvement in the conversion rate of the attack has made barca, which was ridiculed by the outside world at the beginning of the season, quickly raise their heads and let the players regain their confidence. In the last 12 games in all competitions, Barca have won nine games and have not lost one, and the league ranking has rushed to the third place, while in the case of one less game, it is only 3 points less than the second-place Selivia.
Although Xavi has very little chance of challenging Real Madrid to top the table this season, at least Xavi has brought Barca back into the familiar competitive sequence, and has also fully tapped the potential of Barca, which is currently in ruins. In particular, the six games since entering February that have scored four goals have been shown to the fullest. If you consider the dilemma of taking over the team, the current result is estimated that many fans are unexpected.
Visa-free + rental + installment, Barca extreme operation to create a full winter window
Taking over the team in November last year, Harvey is equally important to the operation of the winter window in addition to awakening the team's self-confidence. However, with the club's financial situation well known, Harvey knew that the goal of reinforcements must be operational and plug-and-play.
Therefore, the introduction of Barcelona's winter window can be said to be the limit operation. Free of signs for Alves and Aubameyang, loan-free Traore, almost did not let the club too much financial difficulties, from Manchester City 55 million euros to sign Ferrantores, although for the current Barca can be described as a heavy reinforcement, but the way of staging plus Ferrantore's 22-year-old age, how to see is not a loss-making business.
Of the 4 reinforcements, except for the veteran Alves who "regained his old dream", the remaining 3 new signings were all from the front, which undoubtedly coincided with Xavi's concept of wanting to build offensive football when he took office. So don't think that Barça is just trying to save money, but actually picking up leaks with purpose.
At the same time, the background of the 4 new signings joining Barca, Alves, Ferrantore, Traore have a deep Barca feeling, and Aubameyang is abandoned by Arsenal, so whether it is to do something, want to make a name for itself, or seek proof in a new environment, at least in terms of enthusiasm, Xavi does not have too many concerns. Therefore, as long as Xavi gives full trust, it is clear that he will definitely pay more than he will gain from Barca.
The actual results are obvious, Aubameyang contributed 9 goals and 1 assist in 11 games, And Ferran Torres contributed 6 goals and 5 assists in 14 games, which is efficient enough; Traore did not contribute goals, but gave 4 assists in 10 games, you know that in 23 games against Wolves this season, Traore has only scored 1 goal; not to mention the veteran Alves, 1 goal and 3 assists data is really valuable.
After the arrival of four new signings in the winter window, directly involved in the proceeds of 29 goals, for Barca and Xavi, the operation of the winter window can undoubtedly score a perfect score.
The iron fist subdued Dembele, and Harvey turned waste into treasure
While the signing market has won a big victory, Harvey has another job to do, that is, to reduce the burden on the lineup. After sending Coutinho on loan, Dembele's departure was properly handled, which also tested Xavi.
Dembele, which bears the sky-high transfer fee, has always been known for charging for 2 hours and using 5 minutes, and on the issue of contract renewal, Dembele not only does not accept salary cuts, but constantly clamors for salary increases before it is willing to renew. Apparently, in the only few months since Harvey took office, Dembele's unreasonable demands have given Harvey the opportunity to show his iron fist.
In fact, after the introduction of Ferrantore, Traore and Aubameyang in the winter window, Dembele has no weight to negotiate with Barca on the renewal conditions, and the salary cut and renewal are actually just the steps given by Barca. Therefore, after Dembele made unreasonable demands, Harvey decisively pointed out 2 ways, either to renew the contract with a salary cut within the stipulated period or to be blocked during the contract period.
Whichever Dembele chooses is a dilemma. It is clear that Dembele is reluctant to accept a pay cut, but if it is blocked, it cannot seek a convincing performance, and even if it negotiates with the new owner, it is in a passive state.
In the end, Dembele chose to compromise and no longer create a negative impact on the issue of contract renewal, and Harvey also withdrew the warning of the ban. At this point, dembele's hidden dangers have been completely lifted. At the same time, Harvey can also use Dembele's surplus value to the extreme, in the past 5 games, Dembele contributed 1 goal to send 7 assists, it can be said that Harvey once again achieved the magical operation of turning waste into treasure.
Write at the end:
Messi left, Koeman was dismissed, finances were in a hurry, and at a time when Barca was in ruins, Harvey returned to Camp Nou to take on the burden. In the eyes of many people, reversing the status quo of Barca will be a long-term plan, but from the perspective of Xavi's few months in charge, at least the efforts in improving self-confidence, reinforcing reinforcements and controlling the right to speak seem to have put Barca out of the quagmire and on the right track.