Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has claimed that accusations of him asking the media to ease off their criticism of their players are not faithful to what he said. The Blaugrana coach, who rightly or wrongly is gaining something of a reputation for making excuses for his team’s play.
After the Blaugrana beat Alaves 2-1 before the international break, in a game that saw his side struggle considerably, Xavi told the press that it was affecting his players.
“Negativity is generated. In the second half, no. The team was recognisable. They too are affected by what is said around them. It doesn’t affect me. I’m not playing the games. I don’t get nervous. They told me I was Barca’s cancer and here I am. This is what I told them at half-time. These players deserve credit. We are bad at the moment, but we managed to pull off a win in a game that turned very ugly.”
Ahead of their clash with Rayo Vallecano, Xavi was asked about his comments,
“I said what I thought. At half-time against Alaves I realised that many were affected by external criticism and I insisted that they free themselves from that pressure, that the pressure was for me, that I had total faith in them, and that they pay no attention to the criticism.”
Xavi claims that it was not an excuse or a reason for their poor play, but an explanation of how he tried to motivate the side.
“That’s why I said at a press conference that it was affecting us, but at no time did I put it as excuse for the level of play, we played poorly in the first half because of us. Did the criticism from the environment around us affect us? Of course. But I’m don’t make excuses, let me be clear on that.”
Several of his previous justifications have been thrown back at Xavi, including when he noted that they were not used to playing early in the day and that the heat and the sun affected his side against Getafe. One journalist asked whether he thought the climate or the pitch might impact Barcelona’s performance against Rayo, which Xavi did not take well.
“What a great question! Is the question yours? Nothing, no excuses. Let’s beat Rayo and try to have a great game. Nothing more.”
im afraid to have to tell you xavi you are wrong here imo since you have been in charge of fc barcelona you have continuously used excuses especially when the team isn’t performing or getting results and this is coming from a barca fan,personally i think its a case of you have used that many excuses and are running out of them that you have forgotten yourself that you use them lol.