It started Michel to work in the month of July 2021 at Girona, in a club, a squad and a city unknown to him, and in the Second Division, a category that, on the contrary, he knew from having been promoted from there to the Rayo Vallecano and Huesca. Five months later it reappeared Xavi Hernandez in Barcelona, his city – with permission from Terrassa -, in his club, to lead a team that was no stranger to him as a culé fan that he is.
Michel and Xavi faced each other in Montjuïc and those five months do not justify the difference that was seen on the pitch compared to the performances of Girona and Barça. “We have a team under construction”; said Xavi, hiding behind the hypothetical lack of time to complete the work he has undertaken.
A concreting team
The face to face left the Barça coach in a bad place due to the rounded work that Girona seemed to have and the disorientation that led Barça astray, when the latest performances suggested that they had found their way. That’s what Xavi said, who in defeat took refuge in the freshness of the project’s foundations, now denying the solidity to the current champion who won the title, showing himself as a concrete team that barely conceded goals.
Now, despite the time that has passed, he defends worse. He also attacks worse. And it presses worse. It makes everything worse. Or he did worse against Girona, that demanded the level that an aspiring champion usually demands, the leader of the League in any case. Such that the cement applied in that construction would have developed aluminosis, disintegrating the sand.
An eleven of experience
Xavi’s team under construction featured three signings in the starting eleven: João Cancelo, Ilkay Gündogan and João Félix. But Girona had four new players who arrived last summer: Eric Garcia, Daley Blind, Artem Dovbyk and Sávio.
Maybe he was alluding to Barça’s youth? Pedri was the youngest, at 21 years old (and three seasons in the entity); Then he was followed by Iñaki Peña and Ronald Araujo with 24. He dressed in white the youngest in the field, Sávio (19), accompanied by Yan Couto (21), Eric and Miguel Gutiérrez (22).
Barça had plenty of experience. Xavi lacked time, he lamented, and thus justified the weakness of his work two years and a month after Joan Laporta made him the architect. And Xavi is missing more things in the squad. The coach looked at the field to point out the deficiencies that justified the move.
Girona’s goals lacked defensive forcefulness and offensive forcefulness with only 2 goals in 31 attempts.
Defense, center and attack
The coach mentioned the lack of forcefulness, accusing the defenders of being lukewarm, something clearly visible when seeing the slowness with which Yan Couto progressed at 0-1, or the ease with which Miguel sneaked into the area at 1-2, not to mention the intimidation that Stuani exerted on another Uruguayan, Araujo, before Koundé will raise his foot before Valery in the divided ball that led to 1-3.
Xavi regretted the lack of effectiveness in attack, blaming the incompetence of the forwards, after repeating that 31 shots had been connected to Gazzaniga’s goal, the record for attempts by Xavi’s team. There was no post to reinforce the excuse, and yes another clearly failed header from Lewandowski and bad shots from Raphinha. The Polish striker scored from a corner and Gündogan, the midfielder, burst into the other’s area in the phase of local desperation.
Self-criticism in the template
The coach denounced poor execution of pressure, both the advance and the one after the loss of the ball, referring to the midfielders, due to the poor reaction time to recover possession.
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“Collectively we did not defend as necessary, Girona “He was able to keep the ball even under our pressure,” acknowledged Ilkay Gündogan. “We haven’t been sharp with the ball, neither have I,” Frenkie de Jong lashed out, in isolated manifestations of self-criticism.
Xavi, on the other hand, believed that Barça’s game “wasn’t bad”, and that the defeat fell on Girona’s side as it could have been for Barcelona fans. “We had the game in our hands; we didn’t take advantage of our moments and Girona did,” he explained in a reading that sought the positive side.
2023-12-11 17:00:30
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