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Welcome back! Since Xavi’s first game in charge of Barcelona, the Catalans have picked up the second most points in La Liga and they’ve become an entertaining side to watch again. So join me today as I explain how Xavi is transforming Barcelona by taking a look at his 21/22 tactics! Statman Dave Clips ➡ http://bit.ly/StatmanClips Despite being a relatively new manager, Xavi Hernandez has some clearly defined footballing ideas and is already starting to show progress at Barcelona. First and foremost, Xavi has reverted Barcelona back to a positional play style last seen under Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique. Moving the ball to create superiorities. And from a formation perspective, Xavi has moved away from the back 3 seen under Koeman and settled on a 4-3-3. In possession, Xavi’s Barca build out from the back. In his system, the centre backs are responsible for a lot of deep progression but unlike a lot of modern sides, the midfield three tend to hold their positions. Xavi is also using inverted full backs to free up his number 8s. Xavi’s wingers stay extremely high and wide, stretching the opposition and creating space for teammates. This leaves the space in the inside channels free for the number 8s as the defensive midfielder and the full backs adopt the deeper midfield space. We see Barca attack in a 3-2-5. However within this structure there is quite a bit of positional rotation, notably on the left hand side between the left winger, central midfielder and full back. This rotation makes Barca much more difficult to deal with and makes it harder for the opposition to man mark their players and creates unpredictability in attack. Xavi has transformed Barcelona’s possession game for the better and there are big similarities between Xavi’s Barca, Guardiola’s City and Arteta’s Arsenal. In terms of chance creation, Xavi’s Barca have a clear plan and this has transformed their attack into a potent unit. They create a lot from the wide areas. January recruitment means that Xavi has the likes of Ferran Torres, Adama Traoré and Ousmané Dembele at his disposal - basically dynamic but very tricky wide players. Because of their extreme width and positional play, these players are generally always available to receive and when they do, they’re usually in 1 v 1 situations or a qualitative overload - situations they often come out on top of. ► SUBSCRIBE to STATMAN DAVE: http://bit.ly/StatmanDaveYoutube Another transformation at Barcelona comes in Frenkie De Jong. Rising to prominence at Ajax as a modern day Libero or playing in a single pivot for the national team, De Jong has always been used as the deepest midfielder but Xavi has moved the Dutchman further forward. A key part of Barcelona’s DNA is using third and fourth man runs and Xavi’s side use this a lot. Notably however they’re used to get players in between the opponent’s midfield and defensive lines. And finally, Xavi has transformed Barcelona’s pressing game. Without the ball they press in a 4-3-2-1 deploying an aggressive man to man scheme. The striker presses the player in possession whilst the ball side central midfielder steps up to support. By using the central midfielders high, Xavi tends to block progression through the middle, forcing the opposition to go down the line or go long. Key to their defensive game is Sergio Busquets, who often sweeps up behind the press and regains the ball however the energy of De Jong and Pedri is also key, adding aggression and work rate to Barcelona’s defensive shape. ► CHECK US OUT ON TWITCH: http://bit.ly/SMDTwitch For such a young coach managing at the highest level Xavi is doing superbly to translate his philosophy onto the pitch and if the Catalans stick with their former captain, Xavi will return Barcelona to the pinnacle of European football. But what do you think? Have you been impressed by Xavi’s Barcelona? Let me know what you think in the comments below! #Barcelona #Xavi #TacticsExplained Socials: 🐦Twitter: https://twitter.com/StatmanDave 📸Instagram: http://bit.ly/StatmanInsta 🖥See more at https://statmandave.com ________________________________________________________________________ ► Artist Attribution Music By: "After The Fall" Track Name: "Pieces (Extended Version)" • ATF LinkTree - https://linktr.ee/AftertheFall • DOWNLOAD @ https://www.chilloutmedia.com/atf License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) - Full license here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... • Music released by: Chill Out Records @ https://goo.gl/fh3rEJ & https://www.LoFi-HipHop.com • (C) Copyright Notice: This is FREE (Royalty Free Music) that has been publicly released by Chill Out Records - No Copyright Music (Chill Out Records LLC) for use by content creators within their own YouTube and TikTok Musical.ly videos. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
