Hans-Dieter Flick

BJJ said:

This guy actually knows football. No Lamine, no problem.
Adjusts his personnel and tactics accordingly.
I wonder how Xavi would have fared here.
Another thing is how hamstrung we are financially plus the stadium debacle.
Still delivers despite all the external noise and pressure.

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Barcaman said:

Bruno Guimarães:

— “Barcelona are an annoying team — they always want to keep possession and never get tired of controlling the ball.”

— “They make you lose your nerves—you don’t touch the ball, so you get physically drained and exhausted, and when you finally get it, you don’t use it well because you’re tired.”

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Barcaman said:

Bruno Guimarães:

— “Barcelona are an annoying team — they always want to keep possession and never get tired of controlling the ball.”

— “They make you lose your nerves—you don’t touch the ball, so you get physically drained and exhausted, and when you finally get it, you don’t use it well because you’re tired.”

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FCBarca said:

Obviously most of us were first introduced to his approach to football with Bayern but I don't recall an emotional coach rather a stoic & reserved one. You do have the sense of someone very committed to the club

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Porque said:

Seems he wants this to be his legacy club.

Just as Pep at City ( *sad face emoji being masked by dollar signs* ), Klopp at Liverpool and it seems LE at PSG ( *sad face emoji being masked by dollar signs* ).

But with Flick it kind of makes sense. He won the treble with Bayern, but they never really truly saw him as the one despite that. Initially got the job as Kovacs interim, and then after a slightly less spectacular second season, exited rather than re-build or improve.

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Jozh said:

Considering we had no Balde or Lamine, a win vs Newcastle any way how is good, but we still are having problems with switches of play and deep runners. If it weren't for Joan, a more clinical team would have had us down about 2 after the first 20 minutes. The same issues are still here from last year and I'm losing hope that they'll ever go away. Our pressing while better against Newcastle, still not up to the level it was at last season. I'm happy we won but I can't leave that game satisfied.

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serghei said:

I was impressed but I knew we can do it. Because Flick values physicality and effort also, we are not a technical side with fitness issues that can be bullied by physical teams anymore.

Only time we looked physically poor last season in Europe was at 4-0 in the tie vs Dortmund away.

If we can hold our own in terms of matching the physicality and speed of EPL sides, which I admit set the benchmark on these areas together with PSG and Bayern, then our superior technique can mark the difference, and vs Newcastle it did just that. We absorbed their heat well, and outclassed them with our technique in the end.

And we don't have to see the keeper making big game changing saves as some sort of a defensive problem. Almost all the teams that won CLs lately had keeper standout performances. Keeper is a key part of defense. Only Barca at City saw it as an aftertought, very glad we woke up. As did City.

Stegen and Ederson were the worst big club keepers and both of them have been cut, you can not afford mediocrity in goal anymore. Neither team is comfortably the best these days to carry an average goalie. If you want or have an ambition to win CL you need a keeper capable of making top saves when needed.

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Jozh said:

I agree and understand that a keeper making saves should be seen as a given, especially in a Champions League game but the quality of shots we allow to any team we play indicates that it is a defensive issue. Football is really simple, you want to maximize your shots to score goals and minimize the opponents. Big game saves should be and are a lot rarer for really good teams until they play other really good teams. Big game saves happen for us every game, 1v1s and such. Further more, considering the individual performances of Kounde and Araujo being their best in months and we still conceded such chances tells me that this structure isn't sustainable or appropriate for big games. We won many times by outscoring people but if our pressing isn't there then we are automatically worse off.

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serghei said:

We did play a good team in Newcastle. Rayo are a good team also. We haven't faced much vs Valencia for example.

There are games and games. We have enough experience as fans to know which are the tricky games beforehand. Rayo and Newcastle, hardest matches on paper in the first 5. And they were. Especially Rayo who played a great game vs us.

We anticipate Getafe will be a low score game even at home. And it will probably be one.

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