FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández during the Barcelona team’s training ahead of Sunday’s game against Cádiz CF. Alejandro Garcia (EFE)
Getafe choked. And now Cadiz is the challenge to digest. Within a week, Barcelona went from being mere wingers to being orphans. And Xavi had his right eye gouged out on the wings. Dembélé bid farewell to Barcelona – in a “disappointing” way for his coach and maximum support within the Barça side – to fill a spot at PSG. And Raphinha received red against Getafe and his desperate and crushing game against the Colosseum. Like his coach, he will miss the next two games. Absent pure and deep wingers – as Xavi’s game favors – the line-up of substitutes is left open-ended: Abde is said to be the most popular starter, alongside three other candidates – Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal – who are joining. However, since not all players are registered due to financial fair play and the market is open until September 1st, it is difficult to put together Xavi’s dream team.
And then there’s his expulsion. A red card for “unsustainable protest” against the referee’s decisions has put the coach out of action for two games. “You have to stick to the sanction. I don’t want to create any further controversy. “My anger is gone and I’m concentrating on what I can control,” commented Xavi ahead of this Sunday’s game against Sergio González’s side (7:30 p.m., Movistar LaLiga). And like him, Raphinhia, his bet to unbalance the bands and break the lines without Dembélé. “He’s the best in the world in his position,” Xavi assured the Frenchman. He had earned her trust and ownership. “Our game is a bit adapted to Ousmane,” commented ter Stegen. But without the Frenchman, and also without his clear replacement, Xavi and his Barcelona will have to recalculate.
During the game against Getafe, Xavi asked for more touches. More depth. More width. There was no room for the passing line and rhythm that Xavi wanted. The only one who understood it at the time was Raphinha with his long-range shots, but his game soon ended: an elbow to Gastón made everything fall apart. And neither Abde nor Lamine Yamal nor Gavi could remedy the situation. And in the attack, the teeth were missing again. Last season, that ironclad defense kept them clean in countless games won and a one-goal advantage on the scoreboard.
But now Xavi is looking for a more offensive game. “We will play with the intention of attacking and creating superiority, with completely open ends,” explained the Barca coach. Trying to fight against last season’s 1-0. And for that he needs two open, clean, unbalanced wingers who can score a good cross in a Lewandowski-led 3-4-3. Without individualism, with pure association play. For long ball possession, have the ball and attacking spaces ready. A riskier system that sacrifices a winger and leaves Balde free to move up and down with his left flank to aid in attack and defence. He will continue to alternate it with his usual 4-3-3 and 4-4-2: with the club’s full-back, albeit the most lame right-back.
Absent pure wingers, bets on youngsters Lamine Yamal and Abde, who is returning from loan at Osasuna, are gaining weight. Yamal, a left-hander, has more opportunities to get into the middle and it’s an opportunity for the young man from the quarry to shine in style after his debut at the Gamper. Also on the table are the options of Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres to fill the far left, although they aren’t as dizzying and have more association play and diagonal to goal. Even Balde could take that position, or Pedri and Gavi as false wingers, a decision Xavi has already made. The latter, more used to making sacrifices and not sticking so much to the goal, was more of a success than a failure in the classic Spanish Super Cup final.
But both Ansu and Ferran’s futures are still on the table. “Anything can happen up until August 31,” assured Xavi when asked about Fati. With or without Ansu in eleven. Xavi will have to deal with the cracks at the end and make a choice among the candidates to fight and defuse last season’s 1-0 defeat.
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