Xavi is doing a great job at Barcelona! What is behind his success?

A convincing 4-0 win against Real Madrid only confirmed Barcelona that they are on the right track. Its success is now mainly attributed to coach and former Barcelona player Xavi.

It has been 4 months since Xavi became the new Barcelona coach. In this time, FC Barcelona has managed to transform itself from a dysfunctional club with no concept to a club with a clear game face and a functioning team. All of this seems to be thanks to one man – Xavi Hernandez.

Yes, even now Barcelona are far from having all their problems solved, but the situation around the Catalan club now seems much more positive. After the summer departure of Lionel Messi, far worse scenarios were expected.

Xavi’s success so far is not based on some miracle, but on honest systemic work. So what are the most important steps he and the management have taken?

A clear game face

Barcelona have been playing regularly in a 4-3-3 formation recently. However, on the pitch fans can see more of a 3-2-5 formation, especially in the attacking phase. What is behind this move?

The answer is not so complicated. Xavi uses several modern tactical elements to instill a clear gameplay in the team. The five-man offensive is designed to stretch the width of the pitch as much as possible to make life difficult for the defenders.

Ousmane Dembelé and Adama Traoré are particularly well suited to this type of attack, and although they don’t have fantastic stats in terms of goals and assists, they excel especially in one-on-one situations and subsequent centres into the sixteen.

Another distinctive element of Xavi’s Barcelona is the use of Dani Alves in the role of a midfielder, retreating to the middle of the pitch. This element was popularized in particular by Pep Guardiola, Xavi’s former coach at Barcelona.

Finally, a successful transfer

For many years, especially under the tutelage of former president Josep Bartomeu, Barcelona presented setback after setback in the transfer market. It was also thanks to this transfer policy that the club finally came to the brink of bankruptcy.

Due to a lack of funds, Barcelona was forced to take austerity measures, including on transfers. Even this season, however, the club’s performance in the transfer market cannot be described as ideal, but there is some progress.

Barcelona simply cannot afford to throw money out of the window anymore, as it did during the period of prosperity. Just think of the transfer of Antoine Griezmann.

In the winter transfer window, the management decided to strengthen mainly in the offensive area together with Xavi. Ferran Torres, Adama Traoré, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and defender Dani Alves.

Probably most fans will agree that the arrivals have been quite successful for the club. All of the signings quickly fit into a clear template. However, we have already explained this in the cases of Traore and Dani Alves, for example.

It must be added that Barcelona, along with Xavi, still have a very long way to go. However, we can already see the work that the club and the coach have done.

Source: Transfermarkt, Fabrizio Romano