January 07 News Barcelona coach Xavi attended the pre-match press conference against Atletico Madrid
Did you talk to the players about this in the dressing room after the game against Intercity FC?
Why is the team always unable to keep up with the stable results?
I think it is more a psychological problem than a technical and tactical problem. Our technical and tactical performance in the past two games was still good, but when we controlled the game, we should win more. We need to be more careful in both penalty areas.
decisive.
And that’s what we’ve said before in our press conference.
I think after watching the previous two games, I can feel that Barcelona has a huge advantage on the scene, but we brought the game into a difficult situation.
For example with the Spaniard, we lost 2 points because of our own mistakes.
In the match against Intercity FC, we were once in trouble because of our own problems. This is also the problem Barcelona encountered in this new stage.
There will be no Lewandowski in tomorrow’s game. You tried Memphis, Ferran and Fati in the last game, so who are you going to use in tomorrow’s game?
Tomorrow we have two important players who will not be able to play, that is, Lewandowski and Alba, but we are still starting with 11 players. As for who will start tomorrow, we will wait and see.
We have a lot of options, many players can play in different positions and have different characteristics, some are good at using depth, some are good at getting into the penalty area, and some are more decisive in shooting inside the penalty area.
We will wait and see tomorrow.
Is tomorrow’s game a barometer of Barcelona’s ability to compete for the league title?
I think that’s the case every week, not only certain games, but next week’s games, it’s still the same.
Every game is the most important. Tomorrow’s game is not decisive, but if we can beat Atletico Madrid away, it will be an important blow. This is something we haven’t done in two years.
Atletico Madrid’s home court is very difficult. Their defense is very solid and their lineup is very strong. Cholo’s defense is almost perfect. It is difficult for us to create opportunities. At this time, we need to improve our effectiveness.
Tomorrow’s game is not decisive, but very important.
What are your expectations for Atletico Madrid tomorrow?
I think Cholo’s teams are very strong defensively and often look for two forwards in the frontcourt.
They’ve switched between 5-3-2 and 4-4-2 a lot this season.
Atletico Madrid is an opponent that is difficult to predict and changes a lot. It is difficult to determine whether they will choose a high press or other strategies.
Without Lewandowski, what do you think is the difference between Ferran and Fati?
I think Ferran has a wider range of activities, while Fati’s position is more clear. Both players have good coordination and linkage skills.
Phelan can create a lot of space for his teammates, which is invisible to everyone, but we value this very much.
He’s able to keep getting away from defenses in depth while also being involved in returning defenses.
Fati is different, both players can play center forward, and Memphis is also very good, tomorrow we decide who will start.
The Copa del Rey Barcelona has drawn Ceuta and is going to play in Africa. This schedule does not look very good:
Yes, I have been to Ceuta, and Barcelona, and the journey experience is definitely not very good, but the schedule is such that we have nothing to complain about.
As I said before, it seemed that we were unlucky before, but now we are lucky again, but whether the luck is good or not, we need to show it on the field.
In many Barcelona games this season, players will make mistakes at certain moments. What do you think can be done as a coach on this issue?
Or can’t do anything at all?
I don’t think there are absolute individual mistakes, because every mistake is actually a team-wide mistake, and I need to take responsibility as a coach first, and then the players.
We want to be as error-free as possible, but that’s impossible because football is a game of mistakes.
What we can do is not to eliminate mistakes, but to reduce mistakes. The fewer mistakes, the greater the possibility of winning. We made a lot of mistakes in the last game, but we were promoted in the end.
Both Barcelona and Intercity FC played very well, even against teams from the third tier, they performed very well.
Barcelona will welcome Griezmann tomorrow. Griezmann has changed a lot this season and played very well in a new position.
What do you think of Griezmann’s form and why do you think Griezmann has not been successful at Barcelona?
To be honest, I don’t know the specific situation of him in Atletico Madrid, how to adapt to the team.
But from the video analysis, we can see that Griezmann is very important to Atletico Madrid. He keeps handling the ball, often retreats to catch the ball, passes the ball to create space, is very important to Atletico Madrid’s game, and can score goals.
, for us Griezmann is the opponent to focus on.
What do you think of the last game against Intercity FC that almost turned over…
Almost overturned?
This statement is quite new (laughs).
Does that mean that everyone who wins a ball is "almost overturned"?
But during this process, Barcelona was equalized by their opponents and entered overtime…
That means, isn’t that you?
Hahahaha, this statement is so amazing, it almost overturned… You all want to see it, don’t you?
I think at least Barcelona did not come up with any outrageous results, we qualified, Barcelona did not