El Maestro: Xavier Hernández Creus

Great photo. Xavi

Sorry if its been posted elsewhere, but Xavi is the first player ever to record assists in two Euro finals

Xavi Stats per season (Barca+Spain) #fcblive #xavi 743 games (463W, 164D, 116L) - 82 goals - 170 assists - 647 Starts. http://pic.twitter.com/bIvsPAY0

Awesome video:



Surely he has asisted in some other final, no? Supercups 10 and 12? European supercups... Copa 2009...?

free_cat wrote:Awesome video:



Surely he has asisted in some other final, no? Supercups 10 and 12? European supercups... Copa 2009...?

But I thought that Xavi only made backpasses..... /sarcasm

Khaled, where did you get Xavi assist stats from before 2007?
It's difficult to find it.

free_cat wrote:Khaled, where did you get Xavi assist stats from before 2007?
It's difficult to find it.

Checked different sources.. including match reports from elmundo deportivo.. etc..

Hey guys... I have been given a position writing for this website. Here's my first article. Please read!

http://goldenfoot.com/el-maestro-xavi-hernandez-a-worthy-candidate/

good reed...

it's always harder to write about our idols...makes it hard to remain objective or makes it easier to become pompous.

i'll be watching for your articles. really enjoyed it

BarcaKizz wrote:Hey guys... I have been given a position writing for this website. Here's my first article. Please read!

http://goldenfoot.com/el-maestro-xavi-hernandez-a-worthy-candidate/

good stuff Kieran (Drop the "e", the name will look better )

Looking forward to more articles from you Kizz.

Imo Xavi's chance to win it was in 2010 when he clearly deserved it. I cant see him seriously challenging for it again like he did back then.

Adit wrote:Imo Xavi's chance to win it was in 2010 when he clearly deserved it. I cant see him seriously challenging for it again like he did back then.

Golden Foot and Ballon D'Or are two very different awards lol...

Btw guys... On this, you should all vote for Xavi or Puyol in the award!

Cant believe nobody posted on this thread after the Valencia game.
A majestic performance and I would rank this among his top 20 performances.Even more impressive considering it was against Valencia, who have been his Achilles heel the past few years.Showed that he can run the midfield even without Iniesta and Busquets.
The touches,the passes,the turns into space,the glance around every 2 seconds.
A supreme vintage performance from a supreme player.Its funny when people keep mentioning that he has declined.He has put in 2 of his best performances in the last couple of months.The Euro final and this game.
Still the best midfielder on the planet without a shadow of a doubt.

If I was Tito,I would lock Cesc in a room and ask him to watch the game over and over again.Focus just on the way Xavi played.

Possession and distribution game is still great, but for me his creativity is being worse every year, which is worrying. He seems to be more and more conservative passer, even too conservative, choosing more and more the easy way out. Even against Valencia you could see couple times, were throughball could have been made, but he didn't pull the trigger, and this is becoming more and more frequent.

League + UCL throughball for Xavi, for every minute played

09-10 74 min
10-11 113 min
11-12 125 min
12-13 201 min

for 12-13 its a very small sample, it will probably improve from 201

jiopsi wrote:Possession and distribution game is still great, but for me his creativity is being worse every year, which is worrying. He seems to be more and more conservative passer, even too conservative, choosing more and more the easy way out. Even against Valencia you could see couple times, were throughball could have been made, but he didn't pull the trigger, and this is becoming more and more frequent.

League + UCL throughball for Xavi, for every minute played

09-10 74 min
10-11 113 min
11-12 125 min
12-13 201 min

We had this debate before but let me explain once more.
The stats you mention can be directly related to Messi moving permanently into the false 9 role.
You keep posting gifs of Messi's final passes in the Messi thread.Why do you think that is?
Its because Xavi has handed over the final pass delivery to Messi more and more as the seasons pass.
Messi is dropping deeper and deeper as the seasons pass.he has outrageous number of touches and passes for a false 9.He has the passing figures of a CM.
Messi drops deep,Xavi passes the ball to him and Messi plays the final pass.
In short Xavi is being selfless at handing over the limelight to Messi.
That makes him an even greater player imo,willing to sacrifice a part of his game for the benefit of the team and another teammate.
So you are completely wrong when you say that his creativity is getting worse.He is just as creative as before.Just that he is being selfless for the team.
Take the pass to Pedro against Valencia.It was an eye of the needle pass and there was zero room for error.yet he pulled it off.The pass of the season so far and come the end of the season,it will still be so.
Still comfortably the best and most creative passer on the planetHim being selfless for the team doesnt change that fact.

alexjanosik wrote:

We had this debate before but let me explain once more.
The stats you mention can be directly related to Messi moving permanently into the false 9 role.
You keep posting gifs of Messi's final passes in the Messi thread.Why do you think that is?
Its because Xavi has handed over the final pass delivery to Messi more and more as the seasons pass.
Messi is dropping deeper and deeper as the seasons pass.he has outrageous number of touches and passes for a false 9.He has the passing figures of a CM.
Messi drops deep,Xavi passes the ball to him and Messi plays the final pass.
In short Xavi is being selfless at handing over the limelight to Messi.
That makes him an even greater player imo,willing to sacrifice a part of his game for the benefit of the team and another teammate.
So you are completely wrong when you say that his creativity is getting worse.He is just as creative as before.Just that he is being selfless for the team.
Take the pass to Pedro against Valencia.It was an eye of the needle pass and there was zero room for error.yet he pulled it off.The pass of the season so far and come the end of the season,it will still be so.
Still comfortably the best and most creative passer on the planetHim being selfless for the team doesnt change that fact.

+1
This is the pass that you are mentioning, right?
At 01:18

Spoiler:

And making final passes isnt the only way to be creative. You can be a creative player by making long passes to the wings who will later cross or make a easy pass to a teammate who can tap it in.. '


Kinda like this pass

Spoiler:

The only reason I didnt mention it, other than in the Valencia match thread was I cant be surprised by Xavi anymore.

He comes on the pitch, owns, leaves the pitch. No fuss, no hype, no media talk but total class.

Pleasure to watch. You almost want people to continue to talk about him slowing down..its like tempting fate.

alexjanosik wrote:

jiopsi wrote:Possession and distribution game is still great, but for me his creativity is being worse every year, which is worrying. He seems to be more and more conservative passer, even too conservative, choosing more and more the easy way out. Even against Valencia you could see couple times, were throughball could have been made, but he didn't pull the trigger, and this is becoming more and more frequent.

League + UCL throughball for Xavi, for every minute played

09-10 74 min
10-11 113 min
11-12 125 min
12-13 201 min

We had this debate before but let me explain once more.
The stats you mention can be directly related to Messi moving permanently into the false 9 role.
You keep posting gifs of Messi's final passes in the Messi thread.Why do you think that is?
Its because Xavi has handed over the final pass delivery to Messi more and more as the seasons pass.
Messi is dropping deeper and deeper as the seasons pass.he has outrageous number of touches and passes for a false 9.He has the passing figures of a CM.
Messi drops deep,Xavi passes the ball to him and Messi plays the final pass.
In short Xavi is being selfless at handing over the limelight to Messi.
That makes him an even greater player imo,willing to sacrifice a part of his game for the benefit of the team and another teammate.
So you are completely wrong when you say that his creativity is getting worse.He is just as creative as before.Just that he is being selfless for the team.
Take the pass to Pedro against Valencia.It was an eye of the needle pass and there was zero room for error.yet he pulled it off.The pass of the season so far and come the end of the season,it will still be so.
Still comfortably the best and most creative passer on the planetHim being selfless for the team doesnt change that fact.

I don't think that's entirely true, at all. You can see Xavi in the positions to pull the trigger, but he just doesn't do it anymore, you could see in the Valencia game, you could see it almost every game this season, you could see it last season. One of the reasons why Messi has to drop deep is because midfield can't provide the ball to him. The throughball for Pedro was his first in this season, Messi has made atleast 5 already, and two of them actually were even better. Also, the excuse Messi dropping deep,

League throughballs (Messi + Xavi + Iniesta)

09-10 26 + 33 + 15 = 74
10-11 34 + 21 + 25 = 80
11-12 56 + 18 + 17 = 91

League + UCL throughball for every minute played

Messi - Xavi - Iniesta

09-10 109min - 74min - 120min
10-11 85min - 113min - 102min
11-12 61min - 125min - 125min

, hasn't affected Iniesta's creativity. For me Xavi just keeps ignoring players runs more and more, you can see it in statistics, you can see it in games. Possession and distribution game is still great, but that alone doesn't win you games, you need something concrete, something creative to win games. And saying Xavi is the most creative passer of the world, I'm sorry, but that's just isn't true, at all.

jiopsi wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:

jiopsi wrote:Possession and distribution game is still great, but for me his creativity is being worse every year, which is worrying. He seems to be more and more conservative passer, even too conservative, choosing more and more the easy way out. Even against Valencia you could see couple times, were throughball could have been made, but he didn't pull the trigger, and this is becoming more and more frequent.

League + UCL throughball for Xavi, for every minute played

09-10 74 min
10-11 113 min
11-12 125 min
12-13 201 min

We had this debate before but let me explain once more.
The stats you mention can be directly related to Messi moving permanently into the false 9 role.
You keep posting gifs of Messi's final passes in the Messi thread.Why do you think that is?
Its because Xavi has handed over the final pass delivery to Messi more and more as the seasons pass.
Messi is dropping deeper and deeper as the seasons pass.he has outrageous number of touches and passes for a false 9.He has the passing figures of a CM.
Messi drops deep,Xavi passes the ball to him and Messi plays the final pass.
In short Xavi is being selfless at handing over the limelight to Messi.
That makes him an even greater player imo,willing to sacrifice a part of his game for the benefit of the team and another teammate.
So you are completely wrong when you say that his creativity is getting worse.He is just as creative as before.Just that he is being selfless for the team.
Take the pass to Pedro against Valencia.It was an eye of the needle pass and there was zero room for error.yet he pulled it off.The pass of the season so far and come the end of the season,it will still be so.
Still comfortably the best and most creative passer on the planetHim being selfless for the team doesnt change that fact.

I don't think that's entirely true, at all. You can see Xavi in the positions to pull the trigger, but he just doesn't do it anymore, you could see in the Valencia game, you could see it almost every game this season, you could see it last season. One of the reasons why Messi has to drop deep is because midfield can't provide the ball to him. The throughball for Pedro was his first in this season, Messi has made atleast 5 already, and two of them actually were even better. Also, the excuse Messi dropping deep,

League throughballs (Messi + Xavi + Iniesta)

09-10 26 + 33 + 15 = 74
10-11 34 + 21 + 25 = 80
11-12 56 + 18 + 17 = 91

League + UCL throughball for every minute played

Messi - Xavi - Iniesta

09-10 109min - 74min - 120min
10-11 85min - 113min - 102min
11-12 61min - 125min - 125min

, hasn't affected Iniesta's creativity. For me Xavi just keeps ignoring players runs more and more, you can see it in statistics, you can see it in games. Possession and distribution game is still great, but that alone doesn't win you games, you need something concrete, something creative to win games. And saying Xavi is the most creative passer of the world, I'm sorry, but that's just isn't true, at all.

You are wrong and nobody will agree with you on this.Its painfully obvious that the reason Xavi's throughballls have gone down is because of Messi playing false nine and dropping deeper and deeper.Messi isnt dropping deeper because he isnt getting the ball.Thats ridiculous.We have the best midfield on the planet by a mile.If he stays upfront he will see plenty of the ball.Messi is dropping deep because he wants the ball more and wants to influence play more.Just his evolution as a player.So instead of making runs for Xavi to find with throughballs,he is coming towards the ball(away from goal).Xavi gives him the ball in between the lines.
The Valencia game served up the perfect example.Xavi intercepts a pass, feeds the ball between Valencia players to Messi,who then lays it off for fabregas.Fabregas missed the one on one.
This is what happens pretty much every game.How the hell is Xavi supposed to make throughballs when the central player is coming towards the ball instead of away from it and demanding the ball all the time.
Xavi is the best and most creative passer on the planet.I dont see what there is to argue about this.

Alex, I wasn't really looking your approval, rather stating my opinion. You're are just insisting on the matter, and that really doesn't change my view on it, what I see pretty much in every game.

declining like a boss



that guy didnt include the xavi pass in this video at 0:5 seconds

xavi does nothing but sideways passes

Here is a little piece I wrote on Xavi:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1347194-xavi-barca-legend-golden-foot-candidate

Similar to one I did earlier on him, but on a different website. Hope you all vote for him

Love this man