Just four matches into the 2024/25 season, Barcelona are already four points clear at the top of the La Liga standings. Naturally, then, they also are the only team to have preserved a perfect record, so Hansi Flick and his coaching staff must be happy with how they have started off.
By Neel Shelat
The first half of 2024 was anything but smooth sailing for Barcelona. A 4-1 loss to Real Madrid just two weeks after the turn of the year was a significant dent to their LaLiga title hopes from which they could not recover, they were knocked out of the Copa del Rey soon thereafter and finally had their Champions League dreams dashed by Paris Saint-Germain in April.
At the same time, there was a lot of flip-flopping going on in the background as far as head coach Xavi’s future was concerned. He first announced that he would leave at the end of the season following the Copa del Rey defeat, but an upturn in form and improved performances contributed to him backtracking on that decision despite the Champions League elimination. That was not all, though, as reported disagreements with club president Juan Laporta ultimately sealed his fate in May when he was effectively sacked at the end of the season.
Hansi Flick was consistently touted as a potential successor amid all this drama, so he was quickly hired as the next man for the job and given a two-year contract. However, Barcelona’s continued financial and management issues led many to believe that changing coaches wouldn’t change the club’s fortunes all that much.
Of course, it is still very early days so that could well prove to be true in the long run, but the initial indicators in Flick’s tenure have been positive for the Blaugrana.
Intense attacking football
As is their tradition, Barcelona aimed to keep lots of the ball under Xavi. They sought to control matches this way, but this often led to their possession becoming quite stale and devoid of any significant attacking threat. That has not at all been an issue for Flick’s side so far as they have shown consistent attacking intent in all four matches and been rewarded with heaps of chances and goals.
The big 7-0 win over a subpar Real Valladolid side last weekend naturally bumped their numbers up, but their performances against some of the league’s better defensive units, such as Athletic Club and Valencia, suggest that they should be able to maintain a high level of attacking output in the long run. With a clinical goalscorer like Robert Lewandowski and already elite ball-to-feet creator like Lamine Yamal in the side, they will always be very hard to stop when they click.
Flick’s job is to provide a platform for that, and he has clearly done well with his attacking setups so far. Lewandowski has unsurprisingly led the line but has received handy support from a narrow left winger (like Raphinha) who can attack the box alongside him or pose a threat in behind, diverting a bit of the opposition defence’s attention. The left back has freely overlapped to provide width on that flank, whereas Lamine Yamal has been allowed to stay wide on the right and been supported by underlaps to make the most of his dribbling threat. The final piece of the puzzle is someone like Dani Olmo – the perfect sort of midfielder to deploy in the central pockets of space opened up by these attackers’ movements.
Defensive question marks
The flip side to Barcelona’s relentless attacking approach is that their defensive weakness from Xavi’s tenure has persisted. Their lack of strong defensive midfielders does not help in this regard either, so opponents have continued to find some joy on the counter.
Barça have kept just one clean sheet so far and conceded first in two matches, so there already is cause for concern in this respect. Although they have been able to power past their opponents in each case so far, things could well go wrong on a bad day or against a particularly staunch defence. The trouble with Barcelona’s approach is that it has the potential to spiral into a vicious cycle – more intense attacking further weakens their at rest defence, potentially leading to goals conceded and an unfavourable game state which in turn necessitates yet more intense attacking, and so on and so forth.
Flick’s side are also yet to be tested by some of the best possession-based teams in the league, so we cannot say much about the effectiveness of their press or the solidity of their defensive block yet. Sides like Girona and Villarreal as well as Champions League opponents should give us a better indication in the next month or so.
Won’t somebody please think of the children?
The biggest concern for Barcelona remains their poor squad building. While it has not cost them anything in terms of results yet, its effects have already been felt.
From the very first day of his tenure as Barcelona head coach, Flick has had to rely on youngsters to an unreasonably high degree. Case in point: his starting XI for the season-opener at Valencia, which included as many as three 17-year-olds!
Lots can be said about how impressive it is that La Masia dependably continues to produce top-class talents who can seamlessly slot into one of the world’s best teams, but that does not change the fact that it is a terrible idea to rely on such youngsters for the entire duration of a 50+ game season. Barcelona have a terrible recent track record in managing young talents which the likes of Ansu Fati, Pedri, Gavi and Alejandro Balde can attest to, but lessons have not been learned.
Marc Bernal has already suffered a long-term injury, and the lack of depth across various positions unfortunately makes it quite likely that he will be joined on the sidelines by someone or the other sooner rather than later. With such a potentially fragile squad, the wheels could well come off Barcelona’s campaign when they begin to compete on multiple fronts.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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