Is Xavi Hernández’s Barça similar to Ernesto Valverde’s who won Leagues?

BarcelonaIn 2017, Ernesto Valverde took charge of Barça after the departure of Luis Enrique. The winger, who suffered the departure of Neymar and a worrying start to the season – Real Madrid thrashed him in the Spanish Super Cup – remade the team from a pragmatic perspective. He forged a block that was very reliable defensively and that, in attack, often relied on the inspiration of Messi. The two Txingurri Leagues were flawless in terms of results: a single defeat in 2017-18 and just three in 2018-19. But his team was criticized for having an unattractive game. “At Barça, it’s not enough to win. When you win, you also have to play well. But, if you don’t win, you lose the job,” sources close to Valverde explained to ARA during his first season. The two consecutive defeats in the Champions League – Rome (quarters) and Liverpool (semi-finals) – overshadowed his stage.

Five seasons later, Barça is still shipwrecked in Europe, but, with the help of Xavi, it is once again leading the League with an iron fist. A fact that hadn’t happened since the penultimate year of the current manager of Athletic Club, the Blaugrana’s next rival. The situation when Valverde landed is hardly comparable to the one found in Egarenc, but Xavi’s team – like the winger’s – is getting stronger in defence. The last performance at the Bernabéu, the ten wins in the League by 1-0 or 0-1 and the good performances in defense (in the state competitions), draw several parallels between the two.

Undo offensive trident

Valverde started the 2017-18 League without Suárez – absent the first two days – and still without Dembélé. In fact, he was only able to count three games – one in the Champions League – with the Frenchman before he was seriously injured against Getafe on the fourth day. In the two games he had played as a starter, Dembélé had accompanied Suárez and Messi. Deulofeu was the most natural replacement, but Valverde had little faith in him. It didn’t take long to dispense with a third striker and opt for a fourth midfielder, which was often Paulinho. The Brazilian was the fourth midfielder who played the most minutes that season – only behind Rakitic, Busquets and Iniesta – and, apart from Suárez and Messi, no striker played more than him.

The following season, Valverde regained the trident and had a dazzling start: 15 goals, shared between the French, the Uruguayan and the Argentine, in the first six games. But Coutinho would end up winning the game for Dembélé in the eleven, even though the Brazilian is not a winger. Valverde used to draw an asymmetrical Barça to favor Jordi Alba’s rise. Xavi is a staunch defender of wing play, but has also ended up opting to field a fourth midfielder. If the Txingurri bet on Iniesta, first, and Coutinho, then, the Egarenco does it with Gavi. Alba’s attacks now go to Balde. “We will alternate the systems depending on how our players are and the game plan,” they told ARA from the Sports City.

Refer from the defense

Valverde had Messi and Suárez. Xavi has Lewandowski as his best offensive exponent and Pedri – who is suffering from his fifth muscle injury – his most talented footballer. The Pole – who could return this Sunday – has decreased his performance compared to a great start (13 goals in the first 12 League games) and is not as differentiating as the Argentine was. But, even though Valverde had more offensive talent, he chose to build a rocky Barça in defense.

In 2017-18, Pique and Umtiti were the fifth and seventh most used outfield players. The team closed the League with 93 points, 99 goals in favor and 29 against. With less gunpowder (46 goals in 24 games), Xavi’s Barça are setting records in defence: only 8 goals conceded in the championship. In the 2017-18 season, after 24 matches, the team had scored 62 and conceded 11. “I think we generate enough to score more goals, but the scores are being given 1-0. Ser Solvents at the back is bringing us a lot, but we have to score more goals,” said the coach after the game against Valencia.

The bet for young people

After promoting several players from the squad at Athletic, it was expected – this was how it was sold from the club, then chaired by Bartomeu – that with Valverde the home players would gain weight. More than a dozen players debuted with Txingurri – among them, a very young Ansu Fati – but the winger preferred, for the most part, to bet on experienced footballers. Carles Aleñá, who it seemed he could count on, started the 2019-20 season – the coach’s last – already as a full member of the first team. The Maresmenc started (45′) in the defeat (1-0) at San Mamés on the first day of the League and was withdrawn or was a substitute in the following 14 days. In January, shortly before Valverde was fired, he left on loan to Betis.

The winger didn’t count on Cucurella or Miranda – Júnior Firpo arrived – and neither did Riqui Puig – who made his debut – or the aforementioned Aleñá, as he preferred a more experienced and different footballer, like Arturo Vidal . The Chilean, signed in the summer of 2018, was the third most used midfielder by Valverde that year. Riqui Puig, in fact, did not convince either Koeman or Xavi. Aleñá also preferred to find a life abroad, at Getafe. Gavi and Balde are consolidating with Egarenc, waiting for Ansu to regain the spark. Pedri and Araujo – he went through the subsidiary – are also permanent. On the other hand, in front of Pablo Torre, Xavi has preferred footballers with more experience such as Kessie and Roberto.

Against Valencia, Xavi completed 50 matches in the League as a coach. He has totaled 118 points, one more than Valverde and Pep Guardiola. Only Luis Enrique surpasses him, with 124. When the Txingurri was presented, on June 1, 2017, he said that he would “deepen the style of Barça”: “We will give it a spin and keep moving forward”. On Sunday, Egarenco said that it is not enough to win, but that “he must be convinced”: “We must improve in the game, in the construction, in how to attack”. Barça has duties to be a team that shines. But everything is easier when the results accompany. Joan Laporta has already said that he wants to renew Xavi.