Hans-Dieter Flick

[Loki]

crazy how such a decline can be reversed by one man in 8 months.

I agree with your post but for that timeframe. The reverse of the decline started with Xavi promoting Lamine, Cubarsi and Fermin into the first squad. That was the foundation. Today's success with Flick wouldn't have been possible on this level without it, because especially Lamine and Cubarsi had already a season professional football experience, which is a big reason for their performances today.

 

[Barcaman]

I agree with your post but for that timeframe. The reverse of the decline started with Xavi promoting Lamine, Cubarsi and Fermin into the first squad. That was the foundation. Today's success with Flick wouldn't have been possible on this level without it, because especially Lamine and Cubarsi had already a season professional football experience, which is a big reason for their performances today.

Flick gave Casado a go. Xavi had him and used Romeu and Christensen instead.
Well done Xavi for giving kids a go but let's not pretend Flick is standing on shoulders of some giant. Think Fermin was used as there was noone else there. Good on Xavi for Cuba.

Van Gaal build helped Frank Rijkaard way more while playing vastly better football

 

[Loki]

Flick gave Casado a go. Xavi had him and used Romeu and Christensen instead.
Well done Xavi for giving kids a go but let's not pretend Flick is standing on shoulders of some giant. Think Fermin was used as there was noone else there. Good on Xavi for Cuba.

Van Gaal build helped Frank Rijkaard way more while playing vastly better football

I agree here, but that doesn't contradict my statement. I don't say Flick stands on giant Xavi shoulders, but that Xavi initiated the reversal process of our new generation. Of course Xavi had many mistakes and he could never have achieved the same football we have with Flick today, that's a different topic.

 

[serghei]

From Xavi to Flick the progression has been great. The signings made and the youngsters being promoted during 2021 and 2024 made the team we see today improving even more under Flick.

All have been done with low budget for 2020s standards when most big teams are assembled for 800m+. We have many reasons to be proud of. We've built a team that can compete at the elite level vs the best and did it with modest spending. Speaks volumes about how big Barca is. Doubt any other club could do that.

It surely helped bringing people in charge that love the club and knew how to do their job well. And if Flick will continue for years here and be the manager that really brings us back at the top against all odds, he's gonna be a club legend also.

 

[jamrock]

Fermin was used because there was none else there.

While giving flick big credit for using Casado, because we had so many options
at DM when he decided to play Casado, but still choose casado. Oh wait 😂.

Sums of the total fuckery constantly talked by some here, because its so hard to give a great where its due.

But this is coming from someone who was salty when flick was appointed, voting him as a Bum/Fraud.

Captain Hindsight

 

[serghei]

Both Xavi and Flick trust youth, a big part of this was the financial state of the club. The reason Xavi promoted more players from the Academy than Flick is because the team was way worse when he came on board. Quite simple. Since Xavi promoted most of the players that were ready to make the step, Flick doesn't have as many left who are good enough to transition to the 1st team.

It's a matter of timing. If we assume there are 3 stages to become an elite club again, Xavi got at stage 0 almost, Flick got at stage 2. He has less work to do, but harder, as the step from stage 2 to 3 is the most difficult to pull off imo.

 

[jamrock]

Xavi is barely passable
Laporta is a shit president.

Flick is playing great football and challenging on all fronts.

How the hell did that happen, every club needs to hire flick, he's a miracle worker.

Smh

 

[serghei]

I agree that's bullshit. Everyone did their job well. Flick got a team that already won a league title in 2023 and got close to CL semis in 2024. And he's doing a tremendous job taking that promising team and pushing it to the next level. Xavi made a mistake not believing in the squad, and it's for the best he got replaced with a manager that believes in these players more. Laporta made all the right moves. He's the real architect of the club's direction forward since he took over.

 

[Grande]

With Flick current Barcelona is able to beat the shit out of any club in the world right now. Champions League is possible

 

[Don Juan Laporta Estruch]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that this team is scoring a record breaking amount of goals and arguably looking like the best team in the world, and all this without any fans really.

I think that could be the most impressive thing of all. If I was a footballer and I was walking out to some of the UCL home games with empty seats and away fans dominating the acoustics, I would definitely switch down my intensity levels.

And don't think it doesn't effect the players too, otherwise they wouldn't themselves be crying out for a solution or offering to pay the 21K fee themselves.

The scary thing is to think how this team is going to perform in a full 105K Camp Nou. Some big big teams are going to be on the wrong end of some huge huge scorelines.

There is still a lot more to come from this group.

 

[MonteCuler]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that this team is scoring a record breaking amount of goals and arguably looking like the best team in the world, and all this without any fans really.

I think that could be the most impressive thing of all. If I was a footballer and I was walking out to some of the UCL home games with empty seats and away fans dominating the acoustics, I would definitely switch down my intensity levels.

And don't think it doesn't effect the players too, otherwise they wouldn't themselves be crying out for a solution or offering to pay the 21K fee themselves.

The scary thing is to think how this team is going to perform in a full 105K Camp Nou. Some big big teams are going to be on the wrong end of some huge huge scorelines.

There is still a lot more to come from this group.

Yep if you look back at November-Decenber we were hitting bad form for sure but no chance any of that Leganes, Las Palmas, Atletico nonsense that almost cost us the title is happening on the Camp Nou.

 

[jamrock]

Yea agree, when we go back to the Camp Nou, if we have a good team, it will be so intimidating i don't see us losing many games.

 

[TheStig]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that this team is scoring a record breaking amount of goals and arguably looking like the best team in the world, and all this without any fans really.

I think that could be the most impressive thing of all. If I was a footballer and I was walking out to some of the UCL home games with empty seats and away fans dominating the acoustics, I would definitely switch down my intensity levels.

And don't think it doesn't effect the players too, otherwise they wouldn't themselves be crying out for a solution or offering to pay the 21K fee themselves.

The scary thing is to think how this team is going to perform in a full 105K Camp Nou. Some big big teams are going to be on the wrong end of some huge huge scorelines.

There is still a lot more to come from this group.

Why do you think it will get that much better at CN? OK the sheer size of the stadium and the close stands will mean a more intimidating venue but without fans leading the chants the atmosphere will continue being bad.

It wasn't good even when Grada D'animacio was in CN, without them it'll be even worse.

 

[Don Juan Laporta Estruch]

Why do you think it will get that much better at CN? OK the sheer size of the stadium and the close stands will mean a more intimidating venue but without fans leading the chants the atmosphere will continue being bad.

It wasn't good even when Grada D'animacio was in CN, without them it'll be even worse.

They will definitely try to do something about the atmosphere, that is clear. It depends how successful they are really. There is an opportunity to make it far better than it previously was if they can get a group together that will fill out the Gol Nord lower stand.

Preferably a younger, more passionate, intimidating group, which has been the tactic of other clubs in the league, specifically the Basque clubs.

In the games that they were needed ( the big games ) the atmosphere was very good for a big club, which nowadays are full of tourists, across all the leagues. Even for the smaller games, the atmosphere, when compared to other big tourist laden clubs in Europe, was also fairly good.

However, the Grada, as fans groups go, were really not that great. They were tiny in number, most of them didn't even bother turning up to a lot of the games, and they could barely fill the Gol Nord lower stand, even for the biggest games. And they were not nearly intimidating enough for me.

They can make it a lot better, but the big question is , do we have supporters passionate enough for the job ? Or, should we let in a dedicated group for free if they will sing all game, which almost certainly seems to be the case around other clubs in La Liga and potentially abroad as well ( PSG etc ) ?

 

[jamrock]

105k fans just singing a random song, with a roof will be intimidating.

The lack of a roof really impacted the atmosphere at the old CN