In this exclusive clip from Amazon Prime’s ‘Inside Barca’, Head coach & Barcelona legend Xavi illustrates his football tactical theory. For Xavi, Barcelona’s style of play is best explained as the Four P play model.
While tiki taka will remain the most common way to describe Barcelona’s possession game, perhaps the Four P model of Xavi will gain more popularity as they continue to win.
Will Xavi exceed Pep Guardiola’s reign at Barcelona? And could he do it without Messi on his team? As a manager, Xavi appears so passionate about his team winning and playing in the four P model it seems possible. Moreover, Xavi’s success is coming from a lot of young players who grew up in the Barcelona system. Players like Gavi and Ansu Fati.
Additionally, as far as Xavi’s ‘Four P’ model goes, the signing of midfielder İlkay Gündoğan should certainly help lock down the possession part of it!
Plus, Xavi is young, he could be managing Barcelona for a number of years, if he can withstand the pressure. He has time to really build his own version of Barcelona’s style of play.
Xavi’s four P play model: “We play to understand the game”.
1) Positioning: It’s very important that everyone knows where their teammates are. If my teammate is there, I can’t be in the same position. Positioning for us is basic, that’s why we do positioning games. The famous accordion, when you don’t have the ball.
2) Possession: It’s very important to own the ball. “There’s nothing faster than the ball.” When I ask what percentage of possession we think we can manage…I always say I’d like to have 100%.
3) Pressure: We talk about recovering the ball, not stealing it, because the ball is ours.
4) Perception: We talk about strength in numbers in the game. A midfielder divides if he’s alone, he divides until he’s faced, so he can free a mark. And the perception is to see who’s the free mark and find it constantly.
