Alvaro Benito has analyzed the situation of Xavi in Barcelona, saying for AS that the club wants to return to last year’s levels.
“I think that is not a question of just one thing…
“Barca, thinking about what made them strong last year, was a team that ran a lot and well. I never tired of saying it, a very organized team, when it came to everything.
“What happened without the ball with a lot of effort maybe this year is defending worse and has to do with the fact that they are attacking worse.
“I don’t know if they settle in the opponent’s half with ease, it is more difficult for Xavi to build attacks more fluidly. And at the moment when you are not occupying the rival half with closed lines with more players in the zone, you are more vulnerable to the loss of the ball when you are building with a longer team in the field.
“It depends on the circumstances, it has a hard time building and I think this is a moment that something is not happening in the build-up and it is difficult to find a way to sink the opponents with ease.
“Last year one of the things that I liked the most is that many times Xavi skipped lines of construction and to get the ball much quickly to the extremes. But with that already manage to sink the rival.
“And from there you are much more comfortable when defending transitions and so that losses become positives if you press well, I think that Barca did it in a fierce way and this year the level of the defense and the aggressiveness has dropped of steals to recover quickly after the loss.
“I think that after the loss they suffer more in the transitions, but I think I have more to see in the end of the construction. If you build worse, you are worse prepared for losses and the team is less aggressive in that aspect.
“Obviously we talk also about important injuries Pedri and Lewandowski are less present than last year, despite the two goals on the weekend.
“Because at the end you begin to add an individual contribution, the loss of Busquets that let’s not forget he is an irreplaceable player, precisely what we are talking about in the order, in the construction of the attacks.
“Well, I think that a little of this all together and with other things that escape us, Xavi himself will know.
“Well, I think they know that Barca is set to drop in their performance a little bit, that everything is not palpable, but will see when all the important players are returned. Let’s see if they can recover the tone of the last year at least in these aspects that I commented,”- ended the pundit his analysis.
