Barcelona lost its defense! The root of the problem is not Xavi, someone has dismantled the team again

Last season, Barcelona won the La Liga title again after four years under Xavi's leadership, and at the same time defeated Real Madrid 3-1 in the final of the Spanish Super Cup to win the title, and the future looks bright.

Unexpectedly, after saying goodbye to Busquets in the summer window and losing Dembele, the team never found the right way after the tactical board was missing half of the sky. Xavi has a youthful side, but his failure is not the same as Koeman's?

01. Who's breaking up the team? Xavi and Koman's failures are "the same"

a. Koeman, who is on the rise: "taking the blame" after being dismantled

Koeman took the initiative to resign from the thriving Dutch national team when Barcelona was at a low ebb, and firmly chose to come to Barcelona to put out the fire.

After an unsuccessful first half of the season, he bounced back strongly in the late stages, winning the Copa del Rey and almost overtaking Atletico Madrid in La Liga.

The problem is that in the summer window offseason, the duo of Messi (willing to renew his contract with Barcelona) and Griezmann (the hero of the Copa del Rey, with 20+ goals and 10+ assists in the season) was abandoned and sold by the management successively.

At the same time, in exchange for Depay, Aguero and Garcia, it can be said that they "demolished" a team and smashed Koeman's tactical board.

Especially before Griezmann left, Coman had created a new trident of Depay, Braithwaite and Griezmann, La Liga 2 wins and 1 draw unbeaten start, the offensive side has been reorganized, but had to be "dismantled" for the second time after September 1.

In desperation, Coman could only use his network to get center forward Luuk de Jong on loan. This embarrassment has some similarities with the last summer window, when Xavi got 3.4 million euros for the "standard king" Romeu.

So when Coman left class, the reason for the team's record to drop sharply was really the incompetence of the coach? When Xavi paid out of his own pocket, terminated his contract with the Qatari side, and returned to Barcelona, what kind of Barcelona did he take over?

b. Is this really the lineup Xavi wants?

Last season, Xavi led the team to win the La Liga title after a long absence, and some people will say that this is because the team's president Laporta decisively "leveraged" 755 million euros, and at the same time spent a total of nearly 300 million euros in transfer fees (including Ferran Torres and Roque) to buy people.

The question is, is anyone other than Xavi specifying that Kounde is needed, really the right person for his tactical board?

Fans who have been watching Barcelona games know that Xavi's favorite type of striker should be like Aubameyang. He has speed, is good at outflanking and grabbing points in front of goal, and at the same time likes to counter-grab on the spot, and is good at pressing the opponent's defense.

From a certain point of view, Xavi's part of the tough game is actually better when he uses Ferran Torres to start without Lewandowski.

Lewandowski last season did play a huge role in Barcelona's victory in La Liga. The question is, if Aubameyang doesn't go, even without Lewandowski, will Xavi really not be able to win La Liga?

In the opening game of the Champions League group stage last season, Barcelona lost 2-0 away to Bayern Munich, and Xavi's team dominated possession, shots and late goals.

The reason for the defeat was that Barcelona missed three great scoring opportunities. What's even more tragic is that Lewandowski's soft feet against Bayern are just the beginning, and this season has even become a daily routine.

Barcelona's Europa League exit, which was only half a squad last season (Pedri, Dembele, and Gavi were all absent in the second leg), Lewandowski had a chance to score the equaliser in stoppage time, but he was cleared from the goal line.

This shot needs to be sideways, which is indeed difficult, but from this lens, we have enough to foresee Lewandowski's irreversible decline due to his age.

Looking at the expected assists and key passing statistics of the La Liga midfielders this season, it can be seen that Pedri is the undisputed leader, with Gundogan also in the top eight.

You must know that from last season to this season, Barcelona has been the team with the highest number of scoring chances created in Europe's top five leagues. Xavi shouldn't be blamed too much for his attacking creativity, and his team definitely doesn't rely on crosses.

Another problem is that after Sergio Busquets left in the summer window, Xavi said that his most desperate need for new signings was the midfielder.

As a result, there was a 3.4 million euro Romeu, as well as the winter window target Roque (the transfer fee confirmed by the German transfer has been triggered is 40 million euros).

It's hard to use Barca's lack of money to explain why they haven't strengthened their midfield, and it's also hard to explain why the manager's needs have been completely ignored.

02. Xavi needs a winger very much!

A. Xavi on the rise: Half the sky has collapsed on the tactical board

Xavi's success last season was based on the fact that he found two backfield strength points for the team: Araujo and Balde. At the same time, Sergio Busquets in the midfield is extremely precise in the selection and selection of positions in the rush to grab the ball, and after breaking the ball, he can attack on the spot (this is something that De Jong can't do, De Jong can fight, but often after the ball is broken, it is safe).

There is also a key point for winger Dembele, who can pull away the width. In this way, the forward midfielder Pedri has some space to get the ball, and can also send high-quality transfers to the wings and organize sudden acceleration on the wings.

In Xavi's tactical board, there is actually no fixed role in crossing, what he needs is to accelerate into the core area of the side and pass horizontally or transfer to the back point, and the middle has a layered outflanking.

The problem is that without Dembele, without a strong winger, the wing can only play outside crosses. Yamal was used as Dembele, apparently a bit of a plucker.

In this match against Villarreal, Barcelona completed a 3-2 reversal after 0-2. 2 times in a row, it was a cross after cutting inside on the wing, and the ball was stopped in the middle and mistaken, bringing two points of outflanking, still got the ball, and then scored with a shot. That's Xavi's wide attack and he doesn't want to cross.

The problem is that without Sergio Busquets and Dembele this season, the speed of the transition has become less and the pressure on the flanks has weakened.

This time, after Pedri won the ball in the middle, he used his backfoot left foot to give a beautiful transfer to the wing, and Cancelo cut inside and scored to help Barcelona beat Porto and successfully advance to the last 16 of the Champions League.

Some fans say that it depends on the individual ability of the players to win, but in fact, Xavi wants a strong winger who can let Pedri release the value of the midfielder.

Alemany not only ruined Barcelona's nearly 300 million euros in reinforcements, bought a group of older, high-paid, and inferior players, but also made a big mistake in the issue of Dembele's contract renewal (first of all, a player of Dembele's level should not be free to appear, let alone sign a 50% release fee that is almost "disgraceful and humiliating").

Although Alemany's departure from Barcelona, the harm he has caused may continue to haunt the team for many years to come (Lewandowski's annual salary of 32 million before tax next season, Gundogan's annual salary of 18 million to 20 million euros before tax, and Raphinha and Kounde's annual salary of 13 million to 13.5 million euros before tax, etc.).

B. Xavi's defense collapsed: 2 Portuguese are responsible

Barcelona's excellent results in La Liga last season were due to their good defensive performance, allowing opponents to shoot only 8.7 times per game, and the super high completion rate at the back was the foundation.

Araujo and Balde's two power points, plus Christensen and Kounde as new signings, combined with Busquets' selection and Ter Stegen's recovery, have made a season of iron-blooded defence.

Felix and Joao Cancelo have had flashes of inspiration in some games since they joined the team this season, but both have had attitude issues defensively.

Felix doesn't like to get involved in pressing and deep defending, (Yamal can't continue to output on the defensive end due to confrontation and age), and Cancelo has serious defensive leaks and mistakes.

In this defeat to Villarreal, Joao Cancelo was one of the worst players, and he was directly responsible for at least two goals conceded.

This time the retreat, Cancelo's choice is completely incomprehensible. He was originally parallel to Guedes, but allowed the off-ball man to sprint deep behind him.

At the same time, Cancelo, who was adducted inside, had no interception action or willingness when Sollot passed, causing Guedes to easily enter the penalty area and score.

03. Who will be the new Barcelona coach? Xavi's tragedy, please don't repeat it

a. 谁会是巴萨新帅?是名帅还是DNA

Barcelona's current coaching environment is relatively poor. In such a situation, there are not many coaches who are willing to take over. Barcelona B coach Marquis has expressed his desire to coach, but his record has been disappointing and it is almost impossible to be selected.

In contrast, Motta, who is more widely regarded as La Masia's academy, Inter Milan and Parisian legend, said he only wanted to focus on Bologna when asked if he would like to coach Barcelona. Isn't this a kind of rejection?

There are also sources mentioning Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho, but the odds are slim. While the German is certain to leave Liverpool, his plan is to take a break for a while.

Jose Mourinho's arrival at Barcelona naturally stimulates his own coaching motivation, but Mourinho's performance in the league in recent years has been far worse than in the cups. Barcelona's football culture is destined to be stable in the league in order to work together, and Mourinho's coaching philosophy may encounter a lot of trouble at Barcelona.

b. 谁会是巴萨新帅？是名帅还是DNA

The key to Barça's success is not just to hire the right coach. According to Deloitte's financial report data, Barcelona's salary expenses last season accounted for 81% of revenue. The salary burden of 648 million euros is even higher than when Messi and Griezmann were in the team.

The chaos in management and the poor vision of recruiting have greatly reduced Barcelona's overall competitiveness, which is not even a decline that a manager can reverse.

Harvey's failure was due to his own immaturity and poor flexibility. Especially as a manager, he will only focus on me when making adjustments on the spot, and he is rarely able to seize the opponent's loopholes and find out the winning and losing moves, which is the reason why Xavi can't win the key game in the cup.

But Xavi's failure, which has many similarities with Koeman, was in his own ascending period, and unfortunately suffered a "team breakdown", which led to the tactical board being pushed down. At the same time, the team did not have any decent reinforcements. Failure is inevitable for most coaches.

Conclusion:

Xavi's coaching at Barcelona, although he won a La Liga title and beat Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, will eventually be branded as a failure because of the decline of this season.

The question is, will Barcelona really get better after Xavi leaves? Maybe this will require Deco to turn a little more decay into magic in the matter of recruitment, and then bring in a really good coach.