Hans-Dieter Flick

[JohnN]

We can keep circling around all day long but Flick won't charge his defensive approach.
We are NOT good enough to not adjust our game depending on the oponnent. Few teams are. We should be dropping back like a normal team for this game. we are missing 2 key players and have no left winger. You have to be really thick to play so naively under all these circumstances.
It is what it is... let's hope he changes something for CL or our mediocre defenders will be exposed badly.

 

[MonteCuler]

You are heavily distorting reality.

- The only game we were truly outplayed was against PSG. You could also add this one against Atleti, but usually 'outplayed' means being dominated and unable to respond, rather than being caught by surprise
- We were open at the back against Chelsea, but we were causing them real problems as well before the red card with Ferran missing sitters. 11vs11 this is a different game, possibly a draw
- The loss against RM in the league was also balanced. They were slightly better, but nothing close to the hyperbole you insinuate
- 'Mickey mouse cup' is a silly excuse. Both teams want this, carried much more weight than the league game.
And we outplayed them
- Newcastle is evidently a big game. Orelse you should also exclude Chelsea and Atletico.
Double standards are not allowed here

All in all, 7 games, 3 of which we were clearly better than our opponents, 2 we were clearly worse, and 2 that were balanced 11v11

PS: you casually ignored the most important point, that the bad displays and defeats were during our bad early spell (except Atletico).

We will have at least 5-7 (depending on CL) more big games to judge. Beware you might end up biting your tongue

Facts.

 

[MonteCuler]

Only problem we caused Chelsea before red card was that one sitter missed by Ferran Torres.
Thats thanks to Yamals brilliance, not this bozos tactics

Yet another spanking delivered to us by a mid team

Ferran missed sitter is down to Yamal brilliance?

Damn nice ball knowledge

Ball won high up with good team pressing. Yamal gives a simple pass when ball is stolen. That is definitely all his work

 

[vinni]

Stay positive guys. We are playing our funnest football since 2015.

 

[RedxMAK]

Stay positive guys. We are playing our funnest football since 2015.

Since May 2016. 2015-16 we were the best team in Europe playing the best football even better football than 2014-15 but April nearly destroyed our season.

 

[serghei]

We can keep circling around all day long but Flick won't charge his defensive approach.
We are NOT good enough to not adjust our game depending on the oponnent. Few teams are. We should be dropping back like a normal team for this game. we are missing 2 key players and have no left winger. You have to be really thick to play so naively under all these circumstances.
It is what it is... let's hope he changes something for CL or our mediocre defenders will be exposed badly.

We are, we can play on front foot and make almost every team adapt to us, bar 3-4 sides who would probably take us on and play their normal game and beat us.

But for this to happen, we need everyone in their A physical shape, able to press with very high intensity for the bigger portion of a 90 mins game. If this happens, we can get away with how risky we play because we can inflict more damage on the other team. In a bad day with half-assed pressing, slowness, key injuries, we can get absolutely embarrassed even by Atletico, or Chelsea types.

Flick just plays the same thing thinking there is no physical difference between having a fit Raphinha on LW vs someone like Olmo. This is very delusional and simply stupid.

 

[JamDav1982]

Dont even think there was much issue with the pressing.

The players were pressing but just out of position and scrambling far too often when Ateltico were dealing with offside trap well.

The best Barca played last season v Atletico in the 1-0 win in 2nd leg last season was largely to do with how much Pedri and Frenkie dominated middle of park.

 

[Temptation]

🚨 𝗡𝗘𝗪: Hansi Flick has hired a new specialist sleep science doctor at Barcelona, Anna West.


She will focus on designing plans for rest and sleep schedules for the players.


— @sport

 

[serghei]

Dont even think there was much issue with the pressing.

The players were pressing but just out of position and scrambling far too often when Ateltico were dealing with offside trap well.

I watched the first half again, there absolutely was slowness and lack of intensity. Players gave up instead of tracking their opponents, and so on. What is the reason why Balde sees Giuliano, his man, running from behind him, and he stops instead of going with him? Or what is the reason why Garcia takes ages to transition back to defense after a corner is made?

If you watch the 2-0 goal, Garcia, Kounde and Cubarsi are very close to each other at the corner. Ball is mishit by Olmo straight at the keeper, than in the defensive transition, everyone tracks back reasonably fast, except for Garcia who instead of sprinting back moans at the quality of the cross and then jogs back at a slow pace.

There was absolutely a lack of intensity, many players failed to compete physically, let their opponents run open, and the remaining players who were ok physically at the game were left with multiple targets to block and various unusual positions to occupy.

 

[JamDav1982]

I watched the first half again, there absolutely was slowness and lack of intensity. Players gave up instead of tracking their opponents, and so on. What is the reason why Balde sees Giuliano, his man, running from behind him, and he stops instead of going with him? Or what is the reason why Garcia takes ages to transition back to defense after a corner is made?

Dont agree. The issue was more about Atleti destroying the shape and Barca players being a step off as not really knowing how to cover it.

This is more about 'Raphinha goes so does intensity' but the reality is they scored 4 last season when he was in team as did Inter and many others scored 3 without the GK scoring one for them.

 

[serghei]

Dont agree. The issue was more about Atleti destroying the shape and Barca players being a step off as not really knowing how to cover it.

This is more about 'Raphinha goes so does intensity' but the reality is they scored 4 last season when he was in team as did Inter and many others scored 3 without the GK scoring one for them.

No. Not about Raphinha this one. Players were poor physically even compared to their previous versions. I put it down to a busy schedule and injuries, with physical and mental tiredness setting in.

Tactics are bad, I said that already, I'm just looking at other factors beyond that, and fitness was an issue in this game. We got dominated by AM in all 3 areas, tactically, physically, and in terms of motivation.

 

[JamDav1982]

If get back the better players and dont lose other ones.

Also players like Rashford as drop is bigger to who has to play if not there.

Barca have had a result like this coming.

They were lucky not to be 3-0 down in league last year really before subs came on and game changed.

Same with Benfica away last season.

Celta at home.

But that fails eventually.

There was nothing to come off bench midweek really.

Starters being fit are important for that also. The depth off bench.

 

[gasgas]

If get back the better players and dont lose other ones.

Also players like Rashford as drop is bigger to who has to play if not there.

Barca have had a result like this coming.

They were lucky not to be 3-0 down in league last year really before subs came on and game changed.

Same with Benfica away last season.

Celta at home.

But that fails eventually.

There was nothing to come off bench midweek really.

Starters being fit are important for that also. The depth off bench.

You are forgetting our UCL match away to dortmund, the guirassy hattrick.

That was a shocker

 

[Birdy]

How kind of you to let me add this game vs Atletico to the list of games where we were outplayed. Demolished might be the word in this case, but you'll find some excuse.
Stop lying about our chances vs Chelsea. There was only one Ferran sitter, then Chelsea outplayed us all night. You're latching to that red card as if we weren't outplayed before that with them having two goals rulled out by VAR.
Madrid in the league was another sound beating. Shots, big chances, missed pen, even xG being on their side.
Mickey Mouse Cup was open for both sides and they were in bad form with Xabi all but out. A game that could have ended badly for us.
Newcastle is not a team accustomed to big CL nights, like Chelsea or Atletico. They have their moments, but how the fuck do you put them level with those two?
PS: Just like you casually ignore that Newcastle is not a big team, Atletico was also shit at the time we played them in the league and Madrid was at a low point with their manager being a puppet when we faced them.

Stop distorting reality, and remove your myopic glasses

- We weren't outplayed against Chelsea 11v11. They were punishing us at the back, but we were also doing the same, they were open themselves. 'Ruled out by VAR' sounds just about right. We play offside trap if you remember and that makes many 'goals' by opponents ruled out because they were not legal

- 'Mickey mouse' cup was not open at all. We outplayed them all game bar the last 3 minutes where we camped inside our box.

- Relative strength currently is what matters, not history. Newcastle the last 3 years under Howie is part of the top6-7 EPL teams, and evidently better than teams like Spurs for instance, or UTD, and many times than Chelsea as well. They demolised PSG 4-1 two years ago, and their football is specifically suited to teams that wanna have the ball. The only teams in England that are consistently better than Newcastle the last 3 years are City, Arsenal, and Liverpool
Of course it counts as a big game

- When we faced Madrid for SuperCopa they were on a winning streak. Look that up again, you are messing facts in your head.

PS: Bottom line is clear:
Since the Chelsea 3-0 and up until before the Atletico Copa game, Barca have improved dramatically,
17 wins in 18 games, and should have won that 1 game (against Sociedad) as well.

Inflate it as much as you like, but Atleti Copa game was the first bad game in 3 months.

 

[malvolio]

Stop distorting reality, and remove your myopic glasses

- We weren't outplayed against Chelsea 11v11. They were punishing us at the back, but we were also doing the same, they were open themselves. 'Ruled out by VAR' sounds just about right. We play offside trap if you remember and that makes many 'goals' by opponents ruled out because they were not legal

- 'Mickey mouse' cup was not open at all. We outplayed them all game bar the last 3 minutes where we camped inside our box.

- Relative strength currently is what matters, not history. Newcastle the last 3 years under Howie is part of the top6-7 EPL teams, and evidently better than teams like Spurs for instance, or UTD, and many times than Chelsea as well. They demolised PSG 4-1 two years ago, and their football is specifically suited to teams that wanna have the ball. The only teams in England that are consistently better than Newcastle the last 3 years are City, Arsenal, and Liverpool
Of course it counts as a big game

- When we faced Madrid for SuperCopa they were on a winning streak. Look that up again, you are messing facts in your head.

PS: Bottom line is clear:
Since the Chelsea 3-0 and up until before the Atletico Copa game, Barca have improved dramatically,
17 wins in 18 games, and should have won that 1 game (against Sociedad) as well.

Inflate it as much as you like, but Atleti Copa game was the first bad game in 3 months.

Not even the extended highlights of the Chelsea game do you justice. Bar the Ferran miss we didn't do shit all game. You are pressing hard for a stupid argument.

Mickey Mouse cup was definitely an open game, maybe we had the edge with 1-2 chances(not that big but OK). Otherwise we still won trough a deflected shot and could have lost the plot in the end if not for Madrid missing chances.

Newcastle is middle of the table in England. Them having ups and downs don't make them a consistently better team than Chelsea or Atletico, even more so in Europe where pedigree does matter.

Madrid was wobbly as fuck, they were grinding some wins but nothing concrete. Spanish press was having Xabi sacked before every game. That's why he was one foot out the door before final and it blew wide open at the end when everyone saw how much the dressing room respected him.

Fact of the matter is we haven't played good football all season long. We're conceding against every team out there and are relying on attack bailing us out. When that doesn't work we are fucked. Sure, just like for Madrid, you can count the wins for stats, but it's hard to have an idea on the quality when you meet big teams and get outplayed.