Depends how do you look at them, data can be revealing or deceiving. And when recently somebody compared the current Barcelona boss with the former Barcelona boss, the unthinkable happened – stats showed that Ronald Koeman is better than Xavi. Off course, this is the part where the vast majority of Barca fans will try to defend the club’s legend Xavi from the stats which show that he is worse than the other club’s legend Koeman. Xavi es la solución.Xavi vs Koeman después de 32 jornadas. Y e’ que la xavimeta botaFuego, fuego (Fire, fire)🔥 pic.twitter.com/2ufWgxv3fg— Carlos Bonilla (@dimecalin) April 25, 2022 In 30 games, Xavi has achieved just 16 victories at a success rate of 53.33%, which is not only worse than Koeman’s 58.21%, but also the lowest percentage of games won since Charly Rexach in 2002 who only managed 50%. On the other hand, Coeman left the club at the 9th position on the table (with some games rescheduled), and Xavi brought them to number 2 and thrashed the arch rivals Real Madrid 4-0, before collapsing first in the Europa League, and then against relegation strugglers Cadiz and Rayo Vallecano. ‘If there was no money for Messi, how did they pay 55 million for Ferran?’And coincidently Ronald Koeman, future Dutch national coach was in Barcelona for the first time since sacking and was asked to talk about his time with the club and his successor. Koeman pointed out at the difficulties he was faced while he was the coach before giving full support to Xavi. “The only thing I ask is support for Xavi, I haven’t had the full support of a president, I hope he has learned and does support Xavi. I didn’t have support from the club and I hope Xavi does. For example, when I left, Madrid was eight points behind and now the difference is almost double. I spent many months without a president, I had to make statements about the club’s situation, there was financial fair play. Then Messi and Griezmann left on the last day of the market…. I was heavily criticized for sign Luuk de Jong, who is very good when you need a finisher. Luckily his goals have given five or six points in the last few minutes. Surely the team has improved because the club has signed strikers who can play up front. Barça needs time to return to what it has been and I ask for long-term support” said Koeman. 89% – @FCBarcelona point percentage in @LaLigaEN 2021/2022:With Pedri – 89%(32/36 points – W10 D2 L0)Without Pedri – 49%(28/57 points – W7 D7 L5)Vital. ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/n3wQBZCy31— OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 19, 2022 One thing which also stood out in Xavi’s defeats is that the Catalonians are more and more dependent on Pedri, just like they were on Messi. For example, Barcelona have lost six games in La Liga this season, and Pedri did not play in any of them. The percentage of Barca’s victories with Pedri is higher than without him (89-49%), and that’s also an interesting fact. But to be fully fair, Xavi picked up the pieces left by Koeman, changed the mood in the locker room and revived Ousmane Dembele, who is now one of the key players and might even renew with Barcelona. So, the next season will probably be a better time to compare coaches.
