Hans-Dieter Flick

[FCBfan22]

The biggest positive for me yesterday coaching-wise was the fact that he changed the system when he needed to. It's been years since we have done that. He recognised that we needed more bodies in the box. I said that at half time in the chat... Go 4-4-2 or something because we need to make space on the wings, with Fermin on the left. Up to that point Rapha and Yamal did nothing due to limited space and Tractor wasn't occupying the CB's enough to force help from fullbacks in the box. He did go a different way with 3-5-2, but still recognised the problem and solved it. Great subs too.

Players let him down massively, but he adapted and overcame the issues. Good coaching performance. Also seems to have installed the never give up mentality into the team.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

4-0 vs Real away
4-1 vs Bayern
3-2 vs Dortmund away
5-2 vs Real
5-4 vs Benfica away


Lets be honest, in last years we would have lost at least all 3 away matches + vs Bayern, Hansi has not only improved massively our offense but also our mentality in big games.

 

[draconifire]

Finally, we have a team that shows Chutzpah and attacks relentlessly. It's been 8 fucking years since we have shown something like this at UCL.
But people want Valverde/Xavi/Setien/ Koeman GIMPBALL 1-0 style boring ass football. And even then we get humiliated in CL.

Give this man some time. We are playing a 17-year-old and a 0IQ player who signals offside while scoring an own goal.
Yes we know the defence is lacking, but we have no re-enforcements. I guarantee you, if this was Inigo-Cuarsi of Oct we would have only conceded 2.

The squad is lacking. We need depth and better players. It will happen eventually. But look at how we are playing even with this many injuries and the same squad as a year before.

You can go and look at the post when he was appointed. Many posters and I rightly said we are looking at these types of matches. We will outscore the opponent, but we will get scored on aswell. Flick doesn't do defensive football. This is his style.
Our team for a decade has lacked balls, and got humiliated in CL, but that is finally coming to an end.

These 4 months of FLICKBALL have been far far far entertaining and rewarding than the last 6 years or so.

 

[Alik]

Eh, it was an exciting match, but out of the 5 goals we scored, 2 were penalties and 1 was a keeper brain fart (Raphinha header).

The team showed good mentality to keep going (after a poor defensive performance) though.

 

[FCBarca]

There’s a good clip on YT with Hansi immediately post-match & his words are exactly how I viewed the result

Mentality was impressive, errors galore and each player had poor moments yet did not leave them with their heads down. They know they can score at any time, but the errors are nothing new in a young team - why Xavi was more pragmatic defensively and only started to become dangerous going forward late last season

It’s clear depth is an issue and why you need an elite squad - Ansu for a Rashford temporarily before a LW like Nico or similar will provide not only depth but varied solutions to opponents

If we were to get the Frenkie we have seen in last few matches, different conversation but even in the middle of the pitch a protagonist to pair with Pedri is needed in front of the pivot

Lewy had his role & is in the twilight of his career, clear a #9 has to rotate with him too

Fortification of this squad with quality depth and experience

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

4-0 vs Real away
4-1 vs Bayern
3-2 vs Dortmund away
5-2 vs Real
5-4 vs Benfica away


Lets be honest, in last years we would have lost at least all 3 away matches + vs Bayern, Hansi has not only improved massively our offense but also our mentality in big games.

True, but Benfica game was bad. Yes we showed mentality, but we could have played much better. Lack of focus from the start and absolutely terrible mistakes.

 

[serghei]

Game is more like a 2-2, 2-3 type of game. The 4-5 was strictly due to each team scoring 2 goals from opponent's gifts. And as we complain often about ref blunders in La Liga, has to be said this time the ref favored us. Benfica had a penalty in the last seconds, and if the ref would have given it, we lose the match instead of winning it.

Take it as a proof that the team shows a positive attitude and has a great ability of creating chances, improve the defense, and move on.

 

[Porque]

I can see us reaching the CL Semi and going out despite playing very well.

Still, I am enjoying this Barcelona ride. We are entertaining, and winning big games. This is a bigger announcement to Europe that we are back than our past 5 years in Europe.

Roll on, get our asses back into Camp Nou and trust the process.

 

[serghei]

I can see us beating sides that are weaker in defense, but we could have trouble against teams that defend well. They can exploit our problems in defense and then it can be hard to unlock them once they cramp up in defense.

Best match-ups for us are German and English teams except for Liverpool. Atletico and Inter I'm not so confident about.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

I can see us beating sides that are weaker in defense, but we could have trouble against teams that defend well. They can exploit our problems in defense and then it can be hard to unlock them once they cramp up in defense.

Best match-ups for us are German and English teams except for Liverpool. Atletico and Inter I'm not so confident about.

I don't know, Atletico we kinda trashed home but got unlucky. Inter is a voodoo team for us right now, so I would agree. We need Ernesto "the sleeping master" back to slay Inter in his sleep.

I'd say physically dominating sides who can counter fast will hurt us the most. Like Monaco bullied us in the Joan Gamper.

 

[draconifire]

I can see us beating sides that are weaker in defense, but we could have trouble against teams that defend well. They can exploit our problems in defense and then it can be hard to unlock them once they cramp up in defense.

Best match-ups for us are German and English teams except for Liverpool. Atletico and Inter I'm not so confident about.

That's the thing though. We have an Achilles heal. Maybe a team like Inter is a bad matchup.

But you have got to understand. In league matches, a team can play for a draw - 0-0. Hence why they park the bus and play low block.

But in Knockout matches, your opponent has to come out. When that happens, we will exploit it.
This is one of the reasons, Flick is not doing well against smaller teams and in the league.

 

[serghei]

That's the thing though. We have an Achilles heal. Maybe a team like Inter is a bad matchup.

But you have got to understand. In league matches, a team can play for a draw - 0-0. Hence why they park the bus and play low block.

But in Knockout matches, your opponent has to come out. When that happens, we will exploit it.
This is one of the reasons, Flick is not doing well against smaller teams and in the league.

They have to come out, but let's say you gift Inter 2-3 easy goals like we handed Benfica. To come back from that vs a superior defensive side is 3 times more difficult than it was vs Benfica.

The stronger the team you play against in defense, the harder it is to score, the more important it becomes to not concede silly goals and reduce the errors to a minimum. This is gonna be key for us in CL. If we don't learn and we still defend poorly, the attack will have to produce unseen before attacking numbers to compensate for that.

 

[draconifire]

They have to come out, but let's say you gift Inter 2-3 easy goals like we handed Benfica. To come back from that vs a superior defensive side is 3 times more difficult than it was vs Benfica.

The stronger the team you play against in defense, the harder it is to score, the more important it becomes to not concede silly goals.

Ya we lose that game for sure. You can't hand Inter a gift like that.

And anyway, I haven't watched Inter's matches. But from what the other posters on this forum said, they seems to be a team that defends very well. Might be our Achilles heal. I actually don't fancy us against them.
But I need to watch them a bit to make a thorough judgment.

 

[serghei]

On the other hand, we did create many chances vs a top defensive side like Atletico. I like our chances vs most big teams.

 

[Horatio]

On the other hand, we did create many chances vs a top defensive side like Atletico. I like our chances vs most big teams.

Yes. Another game where attack was wasteful. Told you.