Hans-Dieter Flick

[iniestaGOAT]

We might end up winning 35 league games

Let's gooo

 

[Birdy]

How is this possible

It's possible because of this man:

 

[xXKonan]

Flick is a lot better at getting more out of players and creating a team out of what he has.

He has a strict philosophy and won't abandon it even if the injuries keep piling up. I'd say he's a fucking miracle worker really, yeah we have some excellent pieces but squad depth as a whole is just bad right now and we are relying a lot on kids to fill in the gaps.

Real shame Bernal got injured but Casado has taken his game to another level so far under flick, a guy that never got much of a look in last season.

 

[Loki]

Still can't believe we are 6/6 with so many injuries. And with some great football. Best in Europe statistically.

How is this possible

Many players profit from his style of play, Rapha first of all as it resembles way more the english football he was good at in the first place. Lewy, Lamine profit too from a more unorganized opponent's defense that is the result of fast attacks. Under Xavi the team was pressed into a tactical chess board. I think with Flick they're a lot more free on the pitch to play with their instinct in attack as long as it's fast. That's a lot more unpredictable and more difficult to defend for the opponent than Xavi's slow ass attacks.
Another thing is that Flick managed to get the team on point from the first minute. Under Xavi we often slept in the first 5-15 minutes of each half. He even told this in his press conferences often enough, but couldn't find a solution. Well, Flick found it.

It has obviously downsides too, especially with so many injured quality players. We're lucky our opponents didn't punish our downsides so far. The match yesterday could have gone into Villareal's direction easily. They also had enough chances for 5 goals and most of their offsides were pretty close.

So far Flick gets the maximum out of the team and he deserves every praise. But other teams see as well how easy it is to counter attack our high line and it could get very painful against Madrid and Bayern if we keep defending like this.

 

[FCBarca]

And that high line, live or die by it

 

[BJJ]

Many players profit from his style of play, Rapha first of all as it resembles way more the english football he was good at in the first place. Lewy, Lamine profit too from a more unorganized opponent's defense that is the result of fast attacks. Under Xavi the team was pressed into a tactical chess board. I think with Flick they're a lot more free on the pitch to play with their instinct in attack as long as it's fast. That's a lot more unpredictable and more difficult to defend for the opponent than Xavi's slow ass attacks.
Another thing is that Flick managed to get the team on point from the first minute. Under Xavi we often slept in the first 5-15 minutes of each half. He even told this in his press conferences often enough, but couldn't find a solution. Well, Flick found it.

It has obviously downsides too, especially with so many injured quality players. We're lucky our opponents didn't punish our downsides so far. The match yesterday could have gone into Villareal's direction easily. They also had enough chances for 5 goals and most of their offsides were pretty close.

So far Flick gets the maximum out of the team and he deserves every praise. But other teams see as well how easy it is to counter attack our high line and it could get very painful against Madrid and Bayern if we keep defending like this.

Yeah, I'm worried about that. On abad day Bayern or Real could run riot with that high line.
Anyway this is Flicks style and he will stand by it.

 

[Loki]

Yeah, I'm worried about that. On abad day Bayern or Real could run riot with that high line.
Anyway this is Flicks style and he will stand by it.

Yeah, if Flick's style turns out to continue smashing all LaLiga opponents and lose the clasico 2:8, honestly I would take it because it would mean winning LaLiga. CL is a different matter of course.

 

[serghei]

I don't give a shit personally if we lose some games badly vs teams having 3 times our funds and close to 800m-1bn assembled squads. It's all about titles in the end.

We'll take on these rich teams as soon as our finances get resolved and we manage to improve our squad to their level. Then we'll see if they do that again.

What difference does it make if Bayern beat us again? When we were strong and they were struggling back in 2009 we 4-0ed them in 30 mins.

Beating the shit out of teams as good or lower level than us is very satisfying, and ought to be enough for Flick's first season all things considered. The man is doing a truly superb work so far. But he can't perform miracles. There will be teams that we won't be able to dominate or beat with this squad, perfectly normal.

 

[Porque]

Clasico contrary to convential wisdom is not a 50/50 game. It is almost always won by the in form team and very really a surprise result.

The devil is the data.

 

[serghei]

Clasico contrary to convential wisdom is not a 50/50 game. It is almost always won by the in form team and very really a surprise result.

The devil is the data.

Yeah, quite confident we can give them a game even with current problems. They haven't beat us soundly in ages. When they won it was by finest of details, a ref decision here and there, some late lucky goal, and stuff like that.

Plus that a draw favors us a lot.

 

[serghei]

If they don't win vs Atletico, and we go to +6 before the Clasico, a potential loss for them is disastrous considering our performances vs lower level teams. That would make us huge favorites for the whole thing.

Would be as close to a decisive game for them as it can get relatively early into the season. For us, even a loss is not the end of the world.

 

[Porque]

Yeah, quite confident we can give them a game even with current problems. They haven't beat us soundly in ages. When they won it was by finest of details, a ref decision here and there, some late lucky goal, and stuff like that.

Plus that a draw favors us a lot.

We can see with Flick so far that he is ultra focus, literally blocking anything out of his control such as injuries and only seeing what he has and how to bring the best out of it.

I'm impressed. The only question mark is how he reacts when things don't go his way for a string of results.

And also, that this type of laser focus can lead to burn out.

He is just at a different career phase than Ancelotti right now. And it seems our players are motivated to prove themselves too, while Madrid's look very lax. Well mainly Mbappe, he is mentally not there yet.

 

[serghei]

We can see with Flick so far that he is ultra focus, literally blocking anything out of his control such as injuries and only seeing what he has and how to bring the best out of it.

I'm impressed. The only question mark is how he reacts when things don't go his way for a string of results.

And also, that this type of laser focus can lead to burn out.

He is just at a different career phase than Ancelotti right now. And it seems our players are motivated to prove themselves too, while Madrid's look very lax. Well mainly Mbappe, he is mentally not there yet.

Yeah, this is the main reason why it's hard to win back to back titles. The rival always comes up very motivated after a losing season, while the title holder is bound to produce a less intense, more complacent season.

Series of back-to-back La Liga titles are not possible unless you reach a very high base or median level, like Barca under Messi, or City with Pep. With Barcelona, this season, and even in 2022-23, a high component of our success is the weekly work put in on the field.

Leaving aside the tactics, the motivation part of the team is back to 2022-23 level. Working hard each game for the win. Once you get into that type of routine, with the talent we have on some key positions, league titles are certainly possible.

 

[ZenI]

With that high line, crappy LB and Pedri in the double pivot we WILL get punished by better teams. Its not if, its when...

 

[Andresito]

Clasico contrary to convential wisdom is not a 50/50 game. It is almost always won by the in form team and very really a surprise result.

The devil is the data.

Wait, no. Clasico IS 50/50 all the time.

It doesn't matter if one team rests for a week and the other plays Liverpool away 3 days before. It can go either way all the time.