Dickie Greenleaf Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/11/xavi-barcelona-spain-interview I don't particularly like the chap, but he has some very interesting stuff to say, especially on the English game.
Edmund Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 You watch Liverpool and Carragher wins the ball and boots it into the stands and the fans applaud. There's a roar! They'd never applaud that here. He speaks a lot of sense. Barcelona sum up how football is meant to be played. If only our players were trained in the same thought of mind, we'd be better of as a footballing nation.
cc_star Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 Amazing interview, really amazing. The fact he talks about fans applauding when the ball is won then booted out of play, speaks volumes about English football The most prominent bit for me was talking about Youth Academies: "That's at the heart of the Barcelona model and runs all the way through the club, doesn't it? When you beat Madrid, eight of the starting XI were youth-team products and all three finalists in this year's Ballon d'Or were too – Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and you.Some youth academies worry about winning, we worry about education. You see a kid who lifts his head up, who plays the pass first time, pum, and you think, 'Yep, he'll do.' Bring him in, coach him. Our model was imposed by [Johan] Cruyff; it's an Ajax model. It's all about rondos [piggy in the middle]. Rondo, rondo, rondo. Every. Single. Day. It's the best exercise there is. You learn responsibility and not to lose the ball. If you lose the ball, you go in the middle. Pum-pum-pum-pum, always one touch. If you go in the middle, it's humiliating, the rest applaud and laugh at you." This again speaks volumes about why they're successful, losing the ball is an embarrassment 8 of the starting 11 were from their youth academy, amazing
Dickie Greenleaf Posted 11 February 2011 Author Posted 11 February 2011 The bit about Busquets was interesting. He out of the whole team (club and national) will usually get the least praise etc, but obviously he's very highly rated and praised by his team mates for the work he does. Still a twat mind.
Kent Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 He just about sums up why Barca, Arsenal and Ajax are my three favourite clubs outside of Leicester
StanSP Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 Sums him all up... Xavi career: 1 World Cup, 1 Euro Champ, 2 Champions League, 1 World Club, 5 La Liga, 2 Spanish Cup, Olympic Silver medal I love watching him play. So calm and collected whoever the opposition, for club or country. And he doesn't always have to be next to Iniesta to play well. But those 2 on the pitch are fantastic to watch. He's level-headed too. Doesn't get too carried away on or off the pitch and he'd be one of the best role models to have for any academy player, like Guardiola was to fox Xavi himself.
davieG Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 ...and yet I hear so many fans say things like "I don't care how we win I'm not bothered about being entertained all I want is the 3 points"
CosbehFox Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 Cracking interview, mainly because it talks about football as opposed to 'I've heard you''re going to so and so'. You're going inside a proper footballers brain there with decent questions. It's took years at Barcelona to get where they are. Same applies to Arsenal and Ajax. Years and years of education and slow revolution. Sousa attempted to do it in two months!
Dickie Greenleaf Posted 11 February 2011 Author Posted 11 February 2011 ...and yet I hear so many fans say things like "I don't care how we win I'm not bothered about being entertained all I want is the 3 points" True, although its very easy for someone like Xavi to say style is the most important thing when he's winning everything under the sun.
Joe. Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 Out of interest, why don't you particularly like Xavi? Probably the classiest footballer in the world, an absolute joy to watch most of the time.
Dickie Greenleaf Posted 11 February 2011 Author Posted 11 February 2011 Arsenal fan mate. His constant ramblings last summer about Cesc's Barca DNA/ Arsenal can do nothing to keep him/ etc etc etc kinda pissed us off a bit But that aside he's one of the best players I've ever seen.
OzFox Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 ...and yet I hear so many fans say things like "I don't care how we win I'm not bothered about being entertained all I want is the 3 points" Maybe they're of the younger variety and haven't had to sit through years of turgid, risk-averse football. There's only so much you can take before you start begging for entertainment, whatever the result. Good read that Xavi interview. Nice to see an articulate footballer with a good knowledge of the game. Seems to be more of them in Spain and Italy for some reason.
Guest Bilo Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 ...and yet I hear so many fans say things like "I don't care how we win I'm not bothered about being entertained all I want is the 3 points" Yep, my housemate and I have the same argument regularly. He says he'd be happy to see us play like Stoke if it earned us success whereas I would derive no pleasure from that 'style' of football whatsoever. Football, contrary to popular business, should not just be a results business but an entertainment one. I'd genuinely rather see us play passing, attacking football and draw than scramble a 1-0 win through kick-and-rush bullcrap partly because I know the former would have a greater chance of leading to long-term success. Ultimately, playing the right way and encouraging your young players to do the same will reap dividends if you stick at it. Barca were utter gash between 2002-2004 but have built one of the best club sides in European football history and are THE best in the world right now precisely because of the approach that Xavi has spoken about. There is so much more footballing intelligence about Spanish, French and German players compared to their English counterparts in general that you really do worry about how far we have to go. On a not unrealted note, I honestly think the most valuable player in the world is a two horse race but not between Messi and Ronaldo, but between Xavi and Iniesta. They keep that Barca side and the Spain side ticking in midfield, much as Wellens and King do for us, albeit somewhat more accomplished.
Guest ttfn Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 Am I the only one who found that article completely pretentious?
Jackirius Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 Am I the only one who found that article completely pretentious? Yes
Jimothy Posted 11 February 2011 Posted 11 February 2011 He's talking out his arse when he say people in this country cheer when a ball is won then booted into the stand, nobody cheers that. Sure we'll roar at a full blood tackle, which might result in the ball flying into the stand but we'd never cheer at someone winning a tackle, taking control of the ball and then sticking it in row Z. Even as a half decent Championship team last season, there was a groan at the Walkers every time Wayne Brown shanked one onto touch, and this board was full of people lambasting him for his inability to even kick the ball in the general direction it was intended. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, and maybe he means we love a good strong player who will take man and ball, and we do, but we also love the showboaters and the technically gifted as well.
OzFox Posted 12 February 2011 Posted 12 February 2011 He's talking out his arse when he say people in this country cheer when a ball is won then booted into the stand, nobody cheers that. He was talking about the Scousers. They cheer anything these days.
davieG Posted 12 February 2011 Posted 12 February 2011 He's talking out his arse when he say people in this country cheer when a ball is won then booted into the stand, nobody cheers that. Sure we'll roar at a full blood tackle, which might result in the ball flying into the stand but we'd never cheer at someone winning a tackle, taking control of the ball and then sticking it in row Z. Even as a half decent Championship team last season, there was a groan at the Walkers every time Wayne Brown shanked one onto touch, and this board was full of people lambasting him for his inability to even kick the ball in the general direction it was intended. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, and maybe he means we love a good strong player who will take man and ball, and we do, but we also love the showboaters and the technically gifted as well. When I've heard plenty when teams are winning 1-0 with 20 or so minutes to go and our fans are amongst them.
Corky Posted 12 February 2011 Posted 12 February 2011 ...and yet I hear so many fans say things like "I don't care how we win I'm not bothered about being entertained all I want is the 3 points" I suppose it depends on your philosophy. A crap 1-0 win gets more points than an exciting 3-4 defeat. In an ideal world you win and win well, like we are doing under Sven.
lcfc_jme Posted 13 February 2011 Posted 13 February 2011 Xavi seems like a top bloke. Comes across as being delighted but exceptionally grateful to have been given a chance to shine, and loves the fact he's part of the modern blueprint for total football. I genuinely can't see anything wrong with anything he says. Great interview and makes a change from the usual shit that is regularly trotted out to the sterotypical braindead pro we're used to hearing from.
Dickie Greenleaf Posted 15 February 2011 Author Posted 15 February 2011 Am I the only one who found that article completely pretentious?
Guest ttfn Posted 17 February 2011 Posted 17 February 2011 For the record I wasn't. Richard Williams wrote an excellent piece in the Guardian arguing a similar point. Guff like "i'm a romantic", "I spend all day looking for spaces" and "football is played to win but our satisfaction is double" is the sort of pompous faux-intellectualism which really gets my goat.
Guest ttfn Posted 17 February 2011 Posted 17 February 2011 I suppose it depends on your philosophy. A crap 1-0 win gets more points than an exciting 3-4 defeat. In an ideal world you win and win well, like we are doing under Sven. Exactly. And we don't piss about with the ball on the halfway line, completing a zillion passes that get you nowhere. Our style is exhilarating without resorting to over-elaboration. Perfect. I go to football to be entertained and get behind the team, not to receive a lesson in modern art.
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