After Valverde left the class, Xavi did not choose to return to Barca, and after the 2-8 fiasco, Xavi still waited for the opportunity. When Messi was "tricked" by Laporta's lies, and when Barca's record fell again and again, the fans' expectations for red and blue fell to the lowest. At this moment, Harvey came, and judging from the 3 requests and reinforcement directions put forward by Harvey, he really could become the leader of the revival of Barca.
01. Please return to Harvey's three reasons: to unite people +create "Dream Four that belongs to La Porta"
Laporta's desire to send away Koeman's heart is well known, and even after the latter won last season's Copa del Rey, he still made various demands, even hinting to the media that Koeman's heart problems and hoping that the Dutchman would "retire". Because Koeman is the manager appointed by the previous president Bartomeu, and although Koeman is a big contributor to Barca's first Champions League title and a meritorious hero, he represents the "foreign culture" of the team.
Corresponding to Koeman, Xavi represents the Catalan native merits, which has a more special significance in the history of Barca. Guardiola's success has given La Masia a different meaning. In the context of the low morale in the Barca team and the focus of the team on cultivating the young people of the team's youth, the symbolic significance of returning to Xavi is even greater.
The biggest difference between Laporta and his predecessor, Bartomeu, and his sworn enemy Lotser, is that he also represents the Catalan natives. This is fundamentally different from Roselle, who has long worked in South America, playing "Barcelona globalization" and even reforming La Masia (bringing in more children from Africa, Asia and North America to create the concept of Greater La Masia).
In addition, Laporta's biggest rival in the election of the chairman, Fonte, is to make Harvey his biggest chip. Born in La Liga and raised in West Asia, the son of a wealthy family may be greatly reduced in the next presidential election after losing Harvey.
Xavi himself is eager to coach Barca, but he has been waiting for a suitable moment. The current Barca have fallen to a real low, while the team's finances are in a warming phase (Laporta has deliberately made a loss in the previous year to make room for the next 2-3 years of profits). Laporta has the ability to give Xavi more support, Harvey has a short-term fault tolerance rate in the record, and the financial strength of the team will gradually improve in the long term, which is one of the reasons why he is willing to return.
02. Harvey's tactical system is not mature enough: the offensive strength and defensive weakness are obvious
Harvey, who is now only 41 years old, has been coaching Qatari league giants Al Sadd since May 2019. This team has a huge advantage in financial resources, and the team's card face is similar to the existence of the peak Guangzhou Evergrande in the Chinese Super League. In the past 2 years, Xavi has reached the final of the domestic cup five times and won all of them, including 2 Qatar Cup titles, 1 Qatar Super Cup, 1 Qatar Emirates Cup and 1 Qatar Prince's Cup. In addition, in the Qatari league in the 2020-21 season, the team won the championship unbeaten with 19 wins and 3 draws, ushering in a new peak.
However, Al Sadd, who won the Qatari domestic triple crown last season, has a poor record in the AFC Champions League, and the team stopped in the round of 4 in 2019. In 2020, it was the round of 16, and this season it was directly folded into the group stage, which became a stain on Harvey's coaching career.
Al Sadd's strength is among the best in the Qatari league and even in the AFC Champions League, with a number of Qatari internationals in addition to aces like Cazorla. Under Harvey's 4231 formation, the front pressure of the team's front court is very high, while the full-backs on both sides assist at the same time. The team attaches great importance to high pressing, as well as horizontal reception on the offensive end.
However, this kind of high-level pressing style of play will have a greater advantage in the Qatari league, and the success rate of going to the AFC Champions League is not high. Once the opponent breaks through THAAD's oppression, there are often opportunities.
It can be clearly seen from the GIF that THAAD's pressure in the AFC Champions League is limited by the individual ability of the players and does not reach the level of European teams. The playing habits of West Asian players are not very fond of this discipline-demanding style of play.
Because of the large number of troops invested at the offensive end, while the back defense of the wingers on both sides is average, Al Sad's full-back defensive pressure is very high. Opponents counterattacking to find the flanks can often hit Harvey's team.
Just like in this defense, the high-level pressing of THAAD is actually not strong enough, but it causes a disconnect between the front and the back. The opponent's long pass directly penetrated Thaad's full-back defense, instantly forming a one-handed opportunity.
It is even said that such a situation does not exist only on one side, because the timeliness of the players in the front court is not good, and after one side is penetrated, the other side is equally empty. Riyadh won the group stage double-killEd al-Sad and eliminated the latter, relying on this move.
Harvey advocates offense in his coaching style, and even has some persistence. The holes on the defensive end were exploited many times by Riyadh in the first game, and the second meeting in the group stage, but still did not fill the loopholes in this piece, and the other side still found the opportunity.
Of course, after returning to Barca, Xavi will bring a team with better technology and awareness, and the players' execution may also be greatly improved. Alsard has won 8 and drawn 1 in the first 9 league rounds of the season, with fantastic scores of 7-2, 6-4. Xavi's team played very spectacularly, even a little romantically, and I believe this will allow Barca to continue its beautiful style.
03. Harvey's goal is clear: the psychology of future team building has a bottom
Let's look at Xavi's requirements for coaching Barcelona. The first is that his coaching team will come to Barca together, which shows that Xavi needs the absolute support of president Laporta, trusting him to complete the tactical revolution and selection he wants in the coming period.
The second is Xavi's request to return to the former team doctor Ricard Bruna, which is also in response to Barca's current serious injury situation, and the team does need to make some changes. Although Xavi is not at Barca, he still knows a lot about the team.
Finally, on the issue of reinforcements, Xavi wants to buy Conde and the wingers, as well as ask for a renewal of Dembele's contract. Comte is a short centre-back with a reputation for flexibility, indicating that In Harvey's plan, Araujo will be the future of the defensive line, while there is a lack of trust in the current team such as Garcia, Mingosa and other young flexible centre-backs.
The renewal of Dembele's contract, as well as the introduction of wingers, is that Xavi has seen the lack of players with the ability to speed up the team at the moment. The addition of wingers is even more significant to Fati than the center forward, and it will also help Barca to reduce their dependence on Alba and carry out a deeper purge in the future.
If no one pulls away the offensive width, the opponent will continue to add to the middle when defending against Barca's attack, resulting in increasing pressure on the striker. Alba can indeed play a role in pulling the width apart, but he can't break through and hold the ball, and must ask for a certain amount of outside space. Adding a winger on the right would be extremely beneficial to Barca's tactical diversification.
Conclusion:
In summary, perhaps Harvey is not mature enough as a coach at the moment, and there are some problems. However, he still knows Barca very well and understands the needs of the team. Coupled with the cohesion and personal prestige of the dressing room, Xavi may be able to bring Barca in the trough to play morale and play a special role in the short term. In the future, as the economy improves (at least during Laporta's personal reign, the book looks to improve), the team will also bring in more useful good players in the transfer market. Will Barca get better? At least for now, Laporta and Xavi's goal of making the team better is the same, and the whole team can have "one heart".
(lust)