El Maestro: Xavier Hernández Creus

It's a good thing we have mostly youngsters right now. More of the old guard should be let go. I can see them causing troubles for Xavi by not following these rules. Especially those who actually played with him like Pique, Roberto etc. - might get too chummy. Maybe, maybe not.

Phase them out ASAP and build a culture of discipline, which is possible with youngsters coming in, who would generally be in awe of Xavi.

Seeing all of Xavi's training videos, I think he can actually come off the bench in CdR matches and against La Liga minnows.

Been watching training videos. Xavi can be seen participating in rondos a lot. Found it interesting. I remember Cruyff saying way back that the only reason he coached was to take part in football training and that he would stop coaching when he could no longer play in training.
Wonder if its common with other recent player coaches. Can't remember if Pep was a part of training with us. Likes of Arteta, Lampard, Pirlo etc. Do they participate in training?

Xavi is basically like a player-manager so far in training. Pep would participate for sure but rather quite sporadically and definitely not as actively as XH

Apperently, there are 14 "cases" which Xavi needs to solve. I don't know how legit this talk is but I thought its worthwhile of note.

Ter Stegan, Dest, Eric Garcia, Umtiti, Araujo, Pique, Busi, Puig, Sergi Roberto, Coutinho, De Jong, Memphis, Luuk and Demir.

My guess some of these are their role in the team and how best to use them and others are and others it's more about if they should be moved on or not.

Some of these names, it's not totally obvious the category they fall into.

Some should be straight out. Umtiti, Pique, Luuk. Xavi seems impressed by Umititi but I think he is done. Maybe even Coutinho and Roberto to the out list. I dont mind Coutinho staying since we have a brittle front line and he can score goals. Roberto is a decent squad option.
Ter Stegen if we get a great deal, we should sell. He is terrible in the air and has not covered himself in glory in big games.
Demir should go on loan. He is not ready.
Busquets should be a bench option. He is done as a starter.

First game today. really excited to see what we can take from the game today.