Interessante twitterthread met uitspraken van Xavi Hernández ivm tactiek en spelsystemen. Vergelijkingen tussen bijvoorbeeld Simeone en Guardiola, het belang van De Bruyne, waarom Ronaldo makkelijker te verdedigen valt dan Messi of Neymar, waarom het middenveld van Spanje meer talent heeft maar minder power dan dat van Duitsland, het verschil tussen Busquets en Casemiro, waarom hij vindt dat Barça Santi Cazorla in de rangen had moeten hebben, waarom hij LeBron James herkent in Lionel Messi et cetera.
De tweets komen van Juan Arango, maar als ik het goed begrijp zijn dit quotes uit een interview met Xavi dat werd afgenomen door Diego Torres, medewerker van El Pais.
In plaats van alle tweets hier te zetten, zet ik hier enkel de eerste tweet. Wie de thread op twitter wil lezen kan er op die manier dus aan geraken.
Voor de anderen heb ik uit alle tweets de tekst gecopy/pastet.
Ik kijk er alvast naar uit om Xavi aan het werk te zien als coach! Heeft duidelijk zijn vista behouden en houdt ervan te analyseren. Veelbelovend.
Xavi: “Football has become similar to (American) football. Nothing is left to chance. There was a point when if Guardiola went on vacation, the team knew what to do. The only thing you didn’t do was analyze the rival. Well, I did.”
“I believe that the coach’s role is a bit excessive at times. We’ve improved at a physical level that is it very difficult to dribble past defenders. Except for Messi and Neymar, for Suárez, Cristiano or Bale it is very difficult to get past a defender because of their form.”
“The tactical level has exploded. Guardiola focused on those details. He had everything controlled. I had never worked on a defensive throw-in. He would give orders even for that. We would be positioned for a throw in that we had to defend.”
“What has happened? Everyone is trying to Guardiola’s style to an extent. People like Löw observed us and he got to where he did. Some have copied us, whole others went for the antithesis, like @Simeone.”
“(At @Atleti) they have players like Kokedropped back, closing spaces, looking to neutralize superior qualities.”
“Football has exploited the physical and the tactical. Now what needs to be exploited is the technical aspect; why things happen, how to attack. That’s talent. ”
“(The technical aspect) is not sufficiently developed because in top level football there are more Simeones than Guardiolas.”
“That happens in the PL. How many teams play like Guardiola? Three, Four? How many play like Simeone? 70 percent. In La Liga the same thing happens. The excuse from many coaches is ‘I can’t compete with Barcelona or City’. But they play the same way against Leganés.”
“In the PL you are seeing itt more this season because Guardiola is dominating matches. They’ve said, “I will forget about the ball, I’m dropping back’. There is a lack of exploiting the dominance of play. There is a need to risk more.”
“If I am at a small club and play Barcelona I want to take the ball away from them. The question is, “how do I take the ball away from them?”
“Do I do it like Paco Jémez? I am going to press high? If you give them space ter Stegen passes to Piqué and he moves up to the midfield and for me that is a death announced.”
“We started to train on (reduced spaces) back in 2008. With Luis Enrique, the same thing. With two lines of four and another that marks the pivot man. We tried to look for spaces quickly by switching sides. Not playing one line, but changing to our 2nd or 3rd lines.”
“Barça knew what they were going to face. We worked in situations with nine defenders where our central defender had to conduct and divide always in reduced space looking to keep possession. Playing to position and establish control based on separating from a rival within 2-3m.”
“The Mourinho we faced at Madrid, played us directly to our backs. He would tell his players to not stop the ball. They would play quickly and would break out with Di María, Cristiano and Benzema. Now they do it with Bale, etc. They don’t want to play football.”
“DeBruyne and Silva have adapted to the midfield because that type of player knows how to set up at 360 degrees. They can move in both directions. They see the entire pitch. Because based on the the way Guardiola plays you need players down the wings, like Sané.”
“Sané would have a hard time playing inside. Because he does not have the capacity to dribble or to make the turn that creates space. That type of turn is made by Messi, Iniesta, Silva, De Bruyne or Gundogan and if you really push me, Sterling. Not Sané. He needs space.”
“Cristiano is another example. He can’t play in the middle. He doesn’t position himself well. @DeBruyneKev and Silva are spectacle to watch. it seems like just now we are discovering Silva.”
“Stimulate creativitity? With rondos. People still think that rondos are just to have fun. It is a great exercise- use both feet, look at the second line, make the inside pass, attract, attract and when you reel in the defender, boom, you pass to the other side.”
“Rondos have no limit. It’s an exercise that that allows infinite development. For example, 7v2 or 5v2... 9v2 is more lucid. Or you can do a rondo with three in the middle- two that press and the third that drops back and you have to see where there is space.”
“ @RealMadrid gets fractured. Seven go on the attack and @Casemiro is then all alone covering the middle of the pitch. This is heads or tails. Busquets can’t do this because even I am faster than Busquets. Casemiro is super fast.”
“Casemiro is super fast, but everything else is more difficult for him because it wasn’t worked with him. He has another characteristic- he is more defensive. He steals balls. He gets there first. He takes up more space in the midfield, But he doesn’t dominate time and space.”
“If Casemiro were stimulated that way at 12, 13, 15, he’d have those qualities. Why does Madrid have Kroos? Because that was worked with him when he was in Germany. @Thiago6 ? Because he was at (La Masía).”
“The shocking part, how does @19SCazorla have it? You ask him and he says, “I was developed in Avilés, at @RealOviedo and then went to @recreoficial. That’s innate talent.”
“I ask myself why didn’t @FCBarcelona ever sign (@19SCazorla) ... players like Silva, @ToniKroos @lm19official ... why didn’t Barça sign them? Those are players that fit the profile there.”
(Guardiola’s football) is associative. He’s always trying to figure out where the empty space will be. If you play against @LevanteUD , you know that their wingers will man mark your fullbacks. If their winger follows your fullback, the space is there for your winger.”
Bielsa used to do that. He would place the fullback towards the middle. It created space for your winger. Because sometimes that fullback interrupts the pass from a Piqué to a Messi. It gets interrupted because the winger now doesn’t want that pass to come through.”
“So if they man mark, you bring in a Zabaleta or Walker on the inside, if the opposing winger doesn’t follow, he’s unmarked and if he follows, there’s a pass out wide. Space and time. This is uncontrollable for a rival.”
“Guardiola is doing different things (at City). He works the defense based on the wide crosses. He discovers who is making the crosses and he places people in front of the players that are going to receive those crosses.”
“Messi knows that he has a player marking him. But he also know that he’s afraid of him, so he waits for the second defender to come in. Just when he has a 3v1, that’s when he passes. I saw this same quality in @KingJames.”
“ @KingJames is not just good individually, when he was double-teamed, he would find the open man that could make a three. This is what Messi and @andresiniesta8 can do. They bring you in until there is a player freed up.”
“If a player is not freed up, let’s play. We’ve been working on this since we were kids. We learned where to figure out where there was the free man and where there was space. Even ter Stegen knows is. Even he trains knowing that.”
“When @FCBayern came to Camp Nou, they man marked us, but left ter Stegen alone. He then would pass the ball to @LuisSuarez9 and it was a 3v3.”
“I believe that the majority of footballers don’t step onto the pitch to do sprints. What do they do? They touch the ball. We play football because the ball is our vice.”
“Brazil have recovered. They have a tremendous team. They have two things- talent and physical capability. That is difficult. That’s why @SeFutbol has so much merit. Because they won with barely any physical qualities, with maybe the exception of @SergioRamos Arbeloa, Puyol”
“ #Spain above all have talent. There is no midfield in the world like that one. There is no Silva. Is there a better player than Silva? There isn’t. Better than Iniesta? No. Better than Busquets? Those are players that carry the weight of the team.”
“Spain might have more physical attributes now, but they can’t compete with Germany there. Spain has to compete on talent.”
“Barça and Madrid are two demanding crowds. Difference is that at the Bernabéu they can’t stand laziness.. Their reference is the spirit of Juanito. Juanito or the spirit of Camacho are part of the culture at Madrid.”
“What is Barcelona’s culture? It is not the Víctor Múñoz or Calderé culture. Barcelona’s culture is that of Cruyff. Cruyff turned, looked, understood the game. He never lost that.” #FCBLive
"Neymar is an incredible leader. He's tremendous on the pitch. He has the type of personality that he does not fear anything. That is a virtue. This is what differentiates a great footballer. In the most difficult moments he says, 'give me the ball'."
"What happened at Barça was that when things were complicated, we all wanted the ball. Everyone had personality. What happened to @PSG_inside and @ManCity in recent years? They had competed with players who weren't accustomed to that weight."
"Now you see @PSG_English and, damn, you see Cavani, Di María, Verratti... they have lifted trophies. They have been there. Neymar gets mad when he doesn't get the ball. That is a great."
"I believe that there will be a time after Cristiano and Messi that Neymar will be the reference. He's Brazilian and Brazil has what it takes to get to the World Cup final. There will be a Neymar era that will last three or four seasons. They will will be @KMbappe"
"@KMbappe has tremendous potential. He's just 19 and he's a beast. I think talent is greater than physicality, Neymar is like Messi- talent and physicality. I think Mbappe has more physicality than talent. And how I see it players make a difference on talent over physicality."
"If you put @KMbappe at Barça, that kid will improve. He will understand everything. If a coach like Guardiola gets him at 8.5, he will make him a 9.5. @neymarjr is already a 9.5."
"Mbappé has to improve on a lot of things, especially when it comes to understanding the game. When he was a youth player, he didn't have to think. All he had to do was make the play based on strength and velocity. I want to see him face a defense like @atleti."
"All I can say is that right now, @neymarjr is the best."
----------
EDIT/ Het volledige artikel, in het Spaans:
https://elpais.com/deportes/2018/01/08/ ... 50263.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;