6 hours Ago
The year has mercifully come to an end for Hansi Flick and Barcelona. In some ways, it looks like the team is regressing to the mean that we have seen from the Blaugrana over the years, under a variety of coaches. Playing pretty, dominating possession, and still finding a way to not get the result.
Atletico Madrid put in an ugly performance with very little technical quality, but with Diego Simeone, especially when Barcelona is the opponent, you suspect it’s by design. Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images Because at the end of the day, stats don’t matter in this game. Barcelona - 19 shots, 7 on target, 63% possession.
Atletico Madrid - 4 shots, 3 on target, 37% possession. Many of those chances for Barcelona were at point blank range. In the first 45 minutes, if they were truly a ruthless, championship minded team, they would have built at least a 3 goal lead.
To start the second half, they continued to cook, but in front of goal, when they had critical opportunities, they acted like they were already up by 5, with cheeky efforts, and a lack of concentration. Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images Barcelona has gone from being a goal scoring machine early in the season, to being absolutely ice cold. As is often the case, players look like they are thinking too much, and are desperate to see it go in, rather than having the confidence to calmly put away the easy looks.
Over the summer, that’s what Fermín López became so adept at. He couldn’t not score when he was within 20 yards of the goal. Now, game after game, he’s stumbling over himself.
Robert Lewandowski, the best goal scorer in Europe, is letting his team down routinely during Barca’s recent slump. The Ballon d’Or winner needs to step up and show he can lead the team to victory when their backs are against the rope. But there is some good news.
Barcelona has a potent attacking recipe. Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images Under Flick, they are at their best when they push the tempo, and play directly. That’s why Frenkie de Jong, I suspect, is finding it hard to earn minutes, while Eric Garcia, for example, was chosen to come in off the bench on Saturday.
They are very good at threading the needle with slick penetrating passes. But they need to take advantage of the initiative when they have it. They have to be clinical, and put away their opponents, because at the moment, there is no plan B.
When the momentum shifts, or if the opponent scores a goal against the run of play, like Atletico Madrid did late, or as Leganes did early, Barcelona doesn’t have a response. Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images They start to play with desperation, and their job gets much for challenging, because the opposing team can drop to a five man backline, and choose to stop playing football all together. Going into the new year, Flick has to come up with a contingency plan for these moments.
He also has to get his players’ mentality right again. Full throttle football is the way forward. Using this brave approach has served them this season.
It should have been enough to put away Atletico Madrid, but in the end, unfortunately, an errant touch from Marc Casado turned their fortunes around in the blink of an eye. But as the year comes to a close, I’m very excited to see what Barca will do in 2025. Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images Pedri looks like an absolute genius.
Raphinha doesn’t stop running and creating. We have Lamine Yamal who, hopefully, will return healthy and fired up to create more goals for his team. Most important, this team has a young foundation that is motivated to prove themselves.
And many more prospects waiting in the wings. Safe to say, there is a deep bench in the form of La Masia that Flick can turn to. We should also be grateful for the leadership Barca has on the touchline.
Flick was missed the last two games. He is a proven winner, including in the Champions League. There will surely be plenty of excitement to come.
Hopefully at the new Camp Nou stadium. Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images This season is just beginning. All that matters is how it ends.
And Barcelona is not going away in La Liga. They’ll be there all the way until the finish line, fighting Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the table from week to week. If they can learn and grow from their mistakes, the ceiling will be very high for this team.
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