Xavi Hernandez Tactical Profile
Following is transcript of Xavi Hernandez tactics from his Al Sadd days based on his interview with CoachesVoice
The Philosophy:
It’s little surprise that Xavi’s philosophy mirrors that of Guardiola and Spanish football in general. Passing and possession are the aim of the game here. JDP, if you will.
Xavi looks to utilise the mobility of his players constantly oscillating in triangular formations in attack.
In the rear, defending in the high block and a high degree of organisation are the keys.
4–3–3 or 3–4–3: Variants of the Formation
Xavi Hernández began structuring Al Sadd in a 4–3–3 formation. A system that was familiar to him throughout his career. However, it evolved to a 3–4–3 with some tactical variations depending on the phase of the game.
In the 4–3–3 formation, the wing backs were open to their maximum width whilst the central defenders assumed the responsibility of driving the game forward. On reaching the middle of the park, one of the central defenders would join the midfield line.
Ideal set-up:
- Wide wingers (stretch the pitch & distract).
- Advanced CM’s in the “squares” (occupy)
- Central occupation (runs)
- Defensive midfielders (recycle possession)
As you’d expect from Xavi. The notion of squares: In the opponent’s 4–4–2, find the holes & occupy.
Set-up generating superiority:
From the beginning, Xavi points out that two forwards will get outnumbered by three, three forwards will get outnumbered by four.
Further up, players in the previously mentioned squares trap the opposition midfield: Superiority.
“In the end, all I want is to create numerical superiority, have the ball and create more chances than the opponent.” -Xavi
Xavi summarizes himself, much like Pep. His goal is to create 3v2 situations or any numerical superiority anywhere on the pitch. It doesn’t matter where.
Pressing:
His preferred tactic is to invite the opponent to advance to zone 2 where the defense waits for an ambush. While the front 3 press on like mentioned above.
At the first sign of the opponent revealing their attacking strategy, the team launches their suffocating pressure. Xavi’s ideology is always the same: defend forward.
Without a doubt, this tactic carries risk. The player who presses leaves his mark which means a teammate has to cover from the rear. They need to press with the same intensity to obtain the suffocating pressure.
Thus, instead of overlapping, the defense will stay in an intermediate space so as to always maintain the last line of defense.
Build-up phase:
Assuming this is a high-line (Question to ask: What if they counter-press? — Answer coming), Xavi wants to position wingers high enough to pin the opposition. With that said, the two remaining “free” defenders have to deal with three men (CMs + F9).
Question: What happens in the first phase if there are no options? Would Xavi go long?
No, he wouldn’t. Centre-backs dropping deep isn’t a revolution, but one of the pivots would drop deep in the wings — let’s count why.
Xavi’s team is 8 v 6 in this case: Numerical Superiority.
But what happens when they press high but will not fully commit?
Much like Europe has seen, you have a free man. Xavi beautifully shows a free lane that will force the opposition to make a choice: higher or deeper. Either way, Xavi will have 2 free men — find them!
Attacking:
Again, we turn to squares. Whether against a four or five-man defense, the square formation marks the attack.
Once the team is positioned in the last third of the field, the wingers remain open. They never enter the scoring zone unless they already have the ball. Therefore, it’s the midfielders that set the tone of the positional attack.
The forwards always remain in the scoring zone, or occasionally drop back a little, but always remaining in the centre of the field. Why? The premise is to favour receiving the ball from the midfielders and generate one-on-one situations and creating maximum space for the other centre forward.
The first passing option is always to the centre forward, who receives the ball from behind. The objective is to break through the defensive lines. On the ball, it’s the midfielders that decide how to finish the play, either via a filtered pass, playing one-on-one, a one-two with the striker…or attempting to score themselves.
How do they make this decision? If there is no option to go through the inside, the wingers are activated immediately. This is why the wingers are always expected to be as open as possible.
When the game moves to the wing, the wingers have two options, either they run the ball and take on their opponent’s or switch it to the other winger, who should also be open.
If there is no space to run or switch, they return the ball quickly to the midfield or centre back. From here they reset and start again.
Talent and quick decision making are the core of Xavi’s team.
“We had to change our philosophy a bit. I showed the players that the ball isn’t a bomb, but a treasure. They should not feel responsibility when having the ball, but enjoy having the ball.” — Xavi
A new vision for most players.
If you wanna see the tactics from man himself, make sure to check out the Coaches voice video on you tube itself.
