Xavi 433 Tactic at Barcelona FM22, Written by William Donnelly

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This post is about Xavi 433 Tactic at Barcelona FM22 created by William. Xavi Hernández, a club legend who came up through La Masia, is now the man with the reigns.

He started a new career as Manager of the Al Sadd in 2019.

Xavi had managed to help Al Sadd win seven trophies, including the league and the AFC Champions League, within two and a half years.

Then in 2021, he took charge of his youth and beloved team, Barcelona.

Now Xavi has been described as having similar tactical philosophy to that of Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruff.

Now, you can see as he plays tiki-taka style but is more direct in attack. But here is a manager that brings out the best in each of the players in the team

When Barcelona come up against teams with tough defence to gain wins, they control the possession of ball play.

Xavi has become a leading tactician in his short time as a manager.

He is compared to Pep, who is known to play with a tiki-taka style.

So far, he has shown some severe tactical intuition, and he has become one of the most impressive managers to take the team in recent years since Pep.

Xavi 433 Tactic at Barcelona FM22: Style of play

Xavi has overhauled the club from adding the ten commandments to be reapplied and rebuilding the Barca ethos.

The most used formation is the 4-3-3; now, the way Xavi gets his team to play is very similar to Peps Barca but more direct and quick in its end goal.

Xavi likes to start with a four-person defence.

He uses the back four of two ball-playing defenders and two inverted wingbacks sitting deep. One will form a double pivot with the defensive mid, usually Busquets and the other alba staying back, sometimes pushing higher.

He has been highly effective against other teams, allowing for more defensive cover.

Barca’s focus was on playing out from the back and using the wings with two Box to box mids in Pedri and De Jong running into the Box as a third man option in a five-person attack while others stay back.

The wingers have a high pace to stretch the play and defeat defences with speed in the event of a deep cross.

It is done for a more passing-style tactic on offence, making a more direct approach.

And up, the forward drop deeper to pick up the ball and make space for the wings and the Box to box mids to run in the channels to confuse defences.

To keep tight, they play a high defensive line with a much higher line of engagement to maintain constant pressure on opponents and defend wider, forcing teams in the field to win the ball quicker.

Player Profiles

In terms of playing personalities to deploy his style of play, Xavi favours the following: –

Keeper: A sweeper behind a defence helps with the build-up from the back and sometimes starts counterattacks with a direct ball.

There must be a player comfortable with the ball at his feet.

Central Defence: Ball-Playing Defenders will stop dangerous attacks and clear the ball. Also, try and supply through balls to start counters.

Full-Back: Inverted Wingbacks that support and stay back in midfield, cutting inside for a central overload and gaining more control. This is because they can still do their defensive duties in midfield and defence.

Central Midfield: Defensive midfielder, usually Busquets, controls the middle and picks up any lost balls.

Busquets is more of a defender that will hold his position and organise from the back.

Box-to-Box and more creative players work off the ball with the runs, pushing up the park with the ball and into the Box as third and fourth men.

Wide Players: With Xavi’s system, both wingers are essential and must have pace and excellent dribbling.

The winger will beat his man to get crosses in, stretch defences, and get shoots or open up space for the Box-to-box mids.

With a cross or cutback low and hard into the goal side, the runners from the attacking or supporting lines score with fewer touches of the ball as possible.

Then this gives loads of space for an attack on the left and right flank, which allows the box to be exposed.

Forwards: Up top is the False Nine that leads the line and also drops deeper to aid in the build-up play

Support the attack and get the Box-to-box into the tight half-spaces and score when the chances arise.

Also, to pick out a pass that will be dangerous, unlock the opposing defence and drop deep to win back possession.

Results

The season campaign was a successful and interesting one that predicted and finished first.

As you can see below, we had a strong campaign with some big wins and notable ones in the league.

In the Super Cup, we lost 3-2 against Real Madrid in a one-sided affair.

The Champions League was poor, with three wins and losses due to Bayern being too strong a team.

After being knocked out of the Champions League and then placed in the Euro Cup, we started strong with a 9-4 victory over PSV and went on to the Final against Napoli, sadly to lose 5-2 in a match we dominated with possession on the ball.