Hans-Dieter Flick

[Raketa10]

Among the critical voices about Barça's game plan, one of the loudest was that of Ruud Gullit. The legendary former Dutch footballer and current television commentator on 'Bein Sports' did not bite his tongue when analyzing the match: “Why persist with a plan doomed to failure?” And he insisted that playing like this is counterproductive and "Kamikaze." Some statements that opened the debate on the staging of Hansi Flick's project.


Gullit not only questioned the approach, but also the insistence on said model. Flick, faithful to his idea, already declared after the meeting in Belgium that he is not considering changing the defensive approach. "We are Barça and we want to play our football. We can talk about changing everything, but I am not that type of coach. We will play with our DNA. We will not defend in our field and we will play on the counterattack to win 1-0," he stressed. "We can defend the last third or continue with our philosophy. We will do things better," the German insisted.

He's really an idiot if he thinks there is no middle ground between the way we play and stiting back and play on the counters. Not to say when we were in the best form last season we scored most goals from counters anyway, lol.

This!

 

[Gaudi]

No one in the world can defend this amount of free space. I am not defending Araujo or Balde or Konude...they are all horrible this season. However, this amount of space is absolutely impossible to defend even if your name is Tah or Bastoni or prime Maldini. Our attackers don't press, we don't have a proper DM and above all that we don't know how to set up an offside trap without Inigo. Our entire squad is unable to play like this right now. Flick should be more clever. If something is broken than try something else or you'll die fixing it. Why the hell is unacceptable to win 1-0 against Celta or Brugge right now??? How is that smart?

Flick said yesterday that playing deep and safe is against our DNA. Well, maybe it is in the long run, but right now if there is no other option just do it until important players return and we bounce back. In comparison, this is like having a group of small players and forcing crossing as your only tactics during the game. It's just absurd and it won't work.

Ant that worries me, that stubbornness. Like there is no middle ground between this and parking a bus. Bayern plays high line in general but they also fall back and still operate as unit. We have suicide runs by our attackers (1% chance of getting the ball) then easily bypassed 3 midfielders who are basically in no man land and 4 defenders on half line who are not even guarding their players but watching each other for offside trap. BTW it sooooo hard to put offside trap 1 meter from half line, this itself is crazy, knowing there is no offside in your own half.

 

[gatsu]

We are Barça, this and that....

But what is Barça really? What defines our DNA? It seems that Flick doesn’t fully understand it. He’s confusing his own idea of attacking football with the true foundation of Barça.

Yes, we have always been an offensive team, but versatility and technical excellence are the real core of our identity. The ability to adapt quickly, to shift intelligently between a high line and a deeper defensive setup, has always characterized our best sides.

Right now, Flick seems to have grasped only half of that.

 

[Raketa10]

I simply can't understand what is he even trying to do? There is no middle ground for this tactics. So either the rest of us are clueless, and he’s a football visionary decades ahead of his time, or he’s lost his mind completely, a stubborn idealist marching straight toward self-destruction. Hansi Flick - genius or madman, the line has never been thinner.

 

[jamrock]

No one in the world can defend this amount of free space. I am not defending Araujo or Balde or Konude...they are all horrible this season. However, this amount of space is absolutely impossible to defend even if your name is Tah or Bastoni or prime Maldini. Our attackers don't press, we don't have a proper DM and above all that we don't know how to set up an offside trap without Inigo. Our entire squad is unable to play like this right now. Flick should be more clever. If something is broken than try something else or you'll die fixing it. Why the hell is unacceptable to win 1-0 against Celta or Brugge right now??? How is that smart?

Flick said yesterday that playing deep and safe is against our DNA. Well, maybe it is in the long run, but right now if there is no other option just do it until important players return and we bounce back. In comparison, this is like having a group of small players and forcing crossing as your only tactics during the game. It's just absurd and it won't work.

Exactly I've been telling them this from day one it doesn't matter who we sign the result will be the same.

He's had CBs tailor made for his system in Bayern & Germany and the result was the same comedy defending and only won the covid CL final due to arguably the best goal keeper ever.

But some act as if it's this huge achievement.

Mind you one of the CBs we are being told we should sign is Nico from durtmond who flick made look like a clown at the WC

No defender can consistently defend 50+ yards of space behind them & 6+ 1v1 every game. Smh

 

[Messi983]

He's taking the Cruyff mantra score one goal more than the opponents way too seriously.

As I've said last year Flick is a sprint manager (so no wonder he won a CL in that Covid season) but football is a marathon. Sometimes you have to learn how to get through tough times when not everything is working like a swiss clock and he looks to have no clue how to do that.

You can't play every game at full speed for 90 minutes. He's a perfectionist but football don't work like that. Just imagine being a defender who has to set a perfect offiside trap 8 or 10 times a game for your system to work. That's both physically and mentally exhausting knowing you can be just a split second or a few cms too late/too short and you will put your entire team in danger.

That's why I don't blame any single defensive player. Sure, they could do better on an individual level but we could play Lahm, Beckenbauer, Puyol and Maldini at the back and they would struggle too if they would get so exposed and with so little support in every game.

 

[Devils]

Barça have caught rivals offside just 6 times in 4 UCL games this season, compared to 24 at the same stage last year.

Crazy stat.

 

[jamrock]

That's because teams have sense & know how to adapt,it's hella easy to break the trap start your runs from deep, if you're fast enough you'll get a clear 1v1 at least 3 times in the game.

No one has ever even said he should change, what most who have seen the issue since last season have been asking is to simply be tactically flexible & situationally aware.

 

[serghei]

Offside trap is suicidal if abused. The initiative is always with the team in offense. You just react to what they do and sometimes you react with a delay, which is perfectly normal. Any sane person would not consider such natural delay an implementation failure, you expect it from the get go as it will 100% happen. The idea you can manipulate the opponent to do what you want them to do, if we actually think like that, it is stupid beyond belief.

Also, last season offside trap was beaten for fun. It never worked once the surprise element wore off.

 

[Messi983]

I don't expect or want Flick to turn into a prime Mourinho over night. No coach will ever change his philosophy so dramatically.

I think just setting the backline 5 or 10m deeper would help a lot but we'll probably never see that.

 

[jamrock]

Garcia will help us a lot once he's back, you need a class shot stopper for flick ball and he's that assuming he continues where he left off and raphinha will help the press massively.

But while they will help, it won't address the root cause

 

[-_- RandomUser -_-]

For this high line tactic to work you need immense pressing all the time when the team loses the ball, this has been mentioned thousands of times and it is what we did last season and it worked for the most part.
I don't think that teams have figured us out as some people mention, this is not some secret technology that needs to be decoded, the principles are very simple.
IMO the difference from last year is that the players don't have the same energy and attitude towards pressing. The reasons could be lack of rotation due to injuries, overconfidence due to last season or anything else that the coaching staff needs to figure out.
When it comes to defenders individually, our full backs are in terrible form and Martinez leadership is missing.
And again people should have a reality check, we have no money, no new players coming in, while other teams are spending like crazy. We only have our own La Masia products.
Our only true top level players are Pedri, FDJ, Yamal, 37yo Lewa and Rafinha if he can keeps last year's form.

 

[serghei]

Pressing last season worked great, attackers put in a massive season, and his system was still shite defensively, allowing defensive teams like Inter and Atlatico to score 7 in 2 games in Barcelona.

His system is not sustainable. What he wants is unrealistic and unpractical.

 

[Devils]

That's why I don't blame any single defensive player. Sure, they could do better on an individual level but we could play Lahm, Beckenbauer, Puyol and Maldini at the back and they would struggle too if they would get so exposed and with so little support in every game.

You are talking about Araujo, Kounde, Balde, Cubarsi, Christensen ..etc here

Same group of defenders under Xavi who conceded 8 goals against Girona over 2 matches. 5 vs Villareal in a single match.4 vs Athletic Club in CDR elimination. 4 vs Real Madrid in the Supercops final. 4 vs PSG in the CL. 3 vs Granada at home etc..

It's because of these matches that we went trophyless in 23/24.

And was Xavi literally was the polar opposite of Flick and played more Simone/Valverde defensivive football.

At what point do we admit that these defenders aren't good enough?

 

[Messi983]

You are talking about Araujo, Kounde, Balde, Cubarsi, Christensen ..etc here

Same group of defenders under Xavi who conceded 8 goals against Girona over 2 matches. 5 vs Villareal in a single match.4 vs Athletic Club in CDR elimination. 4 vs Real Madrid in the Supercops final. 4 vs PSG in the CL. 3 vs Granada at home etc..

It's because of these matches that we went trophyless in 23/24.

And was Xavi literally was the polar opposite of Flick and played more Simone/Valverde defensivive football.

At what point do we admit that these defenders aren't good enough?

Also same group of players that conceded like 13 goals in 35 goals a season before?

I think if MATS would stay fit we would win the 23/24 La Liga too. Pena being a starter for 3 months ruined us.