Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez might not look like he has the capacity to give his side quite such a rollicking as the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson did in his day, but no doubt he can be very blunt about his thoughts. However it was not the ‘hairdryer treatment’ that Xavi turned to as the Blaugrana struggled in recent weeks.
His side had not just been struggling for results when they came into the Porto match following a 1-1 draw with Rayo Vallecano, but were not playing to the standards they aim for, nor the ones set last season. According to Sport, the only occasion in which Xavi sat his players down for a more serious conversation was after defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in Hamburg towards the start of November, following a poor performance against Real Sociedad the previous match too.
Instead, he redoubled his efforts in terms of the tactical work, especially when regarding pressure. During his chat in Germany, and in general, one of his key messages was that his side were not hungry enough, something which showed particularly when trying to win the ball back. Against Atletico Madrid, arguably their best performance of the season, that may well have been the biggest difference, as they suffocated Los Rojiblancos in the opening stages.
The information goes on to detail that while he had clearly, as he publicly acknowledged, noted a drop in performance, he did not see the sort of crisis that he went through as a player under Louis van Gaal. Neither did he fear for his position, despite links to other managers popping up.
The other key area Xavi wanted to fix was the circulation of the ball. With Gavi injured, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Ilkay Gundogan were asked to up the tempo and play faster, something which was also seen against Atletico.
Naturally, it was just the third time since August that de Jong, Pedri and Gundogan had been on the pitch together, and both of the former are still getting back to full fitness. Their presence is bound to change things for any team, and while Raphinha has been inconsistent, once again the level of competition and the ability to rotate is ow available to Xavi again. The question will now be whether he can keep that hunger up.