\n
Why are Barcelona struggling under Xavi this season?<\/p>\n
Gab & Juls debate why Barcelona are struggling to replicate their form from last season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
City have enjoyed similar productivity with the likes of Phil Foden, Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer, although the latter joined Chelsea earlier this year. In total, 27 players who have graduated from the club’s academy since Guardiola became manager in 2016 have been selected in their respective age-group squads for England’s fixtures during the current international break. Four are with the Three Lions at the U17 World Cup, where they could meet Spain in the final if both teams continue to progress.<\/p>\n
Bar\u00e7a’s ingrained style of play and standards, which are still having the desired effect at youth level, have been mirrored at City. At the English club, they stress the significance of the philosophy and the standards running all the way through the club. They want to play the same attacking brand of football that Xavi talks of, and which he played so well under Guardiola at Bar\u00e7a. Everything is geared towards that — even the youngest age groups in the academy are being taught a style of football that you could link to Bar\u00e7a, Guardiola or Johan Cruyff before him. Sources say the staff from Catalonia, who have a tremendous work ethic, are a key part of that process.<\/p>\n
It is at the first-team level, however, where Bar\u00e7a are looking for immediate answers. In the summer, they looked to City to find them, signing G\u00fcndogan and Cancelo in a bid to help evolve their playing style. However, there is no quick fix, and City’s steady progression is testament to that.<\/p>\n
Even with all the advances behind the scenes, spending and the arrival of Guardiola, it took until 2023 — seven seasons into Guardiola’s tenure, and over a decade after Begiristain’s appointment — for them to get their hands on the Champions League trophy for the first time.<\/p>\n
Xavi is in just his second full season as Bar\u00e7a coach. Deco only joined in the summer. Patience is required, but will they get it? Xavi is already under pressure despite<\/em> beating Real Sociedad and Alaves, while games against Rayo Vallecano, Porto, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid and Girona in the coming weeks have taken on increased significance. As for Deco, he is operating from a position of austerity with Bar\u00e7a still working hard to improve their financial situation at the same time as renovating Camp Nou.<\/p>\nJust as G\u00fcndogan can help steer things on the pitch, City can vouch for the benefits of stability off it, but things are rarely that simple at Bar\u00e7a.<\/p>\n
With additional reporting by Moises Llorens and Rob Dawson<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have Barca’s coaching, talent losses been Man City’s gain?\u060c Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondentNov 21, 2023, 05:23 PM For almost a full week after El Cl\u00e1sico on Oct. 28, Barcelona coach Xavi Hern\u00e1ndez fielded questions about midfielder Ilkay G\u00fcndogan’s comments following the 2-1 defeat to title rivals Real Madrid at the end of October. G\u00fcndogan, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3737,3676,5246,3475,6096,32,6095],"class_list":["post-10498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-barcas","tag-citys","tag-coaching","tag-gain","tag-losses","tag-man","tag-talent"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10500,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10498\/revisions\/10500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}