Villarreal vs. Barcelona or how Emery praised Xavi, who talked mainly about his team

At the end of the day on Saturday, we have a very interesting match from the Spanish La Liga, when Villarreal welcomes Barcelona with their new coach Xavi. Both teams are on positions that are not worthy of their quality, so we can expect a tough performance from both teams.

However, the Catalan side has a very young squad and the arrival of Xavi has accentuated this fact, giving space to new faces who they believe should rule football in the future.

This is what Emery spoke about at the press conference, and although he doesn’t know him personally, he has very positive references for the new Barcelona coach. “He is a football man.”

How did Emery comment on Barcelona at the press conference?

“Barcelona still has very young players who are not so well known yet, but they are destined to define Barcelona’s style in a few years and write a new stunning history. Xavi will undoubtedly encourage them and increase their motivation.

The difference between a good Barcelona and an excellent Barcelona is in the defensive phase of the game, which they used to manage perfectly with players like Iniesta or Xavi. If Xavi can bring that back to Barcelona, he will return to the limelight.”

Meanwhile, Emery himself may not have been at Villarreal anymore when Newcastle tried to acquire him. However, the Spanish coach refused and will focus on his current players, who are currently 12th in La Liga.

Villarreal are certainly not performing badly, but they are failing to win, having only fully scored 3 times out of 12 games, otherwise they have notched up 7 draws, which together with Levante is the most in this season’s La Liga.

Xavi focused on his team in the press conference

“I think we are on the right track. The only thing we lack is to be more courageous in attack. I’m happy with the defence, I’m happy with the pressing after losing the ball, but we’re losing in the final stages where games are lost.

The assessment of our play is not that we are missing goals, but a lack of courage. But that happened to me when I was 18 too, that’s what coaches and analysts are for.”

This is something Xavi has in common with Mikel Arteta, who also has a number of young players who are not yet mature enough to give a steady performance at the level needed.

However, there are a lot of really interesting young players at Barcelona right now and it will be interesting to see how quickly they can develop to be elite players, if at all. That, after all, is Xavi’s job in the first place.

Source: Marca, FC Barcelona