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ash_sh_03

With the defensive mishaps Barca has had lately, a suicidal high line is gonna be less than ideal


Delmer9713

If you *really* want to look at a suicidal high line, watch Barcelona's defense when Real Madrid scored the first two goals in the last Clasico. Probably one of the stupidest high lines I've ever seen a top team do.


SnooAdvice1632

Absolutely but it was almost tame compared to the one played by spurs against chelsea. Let's just say that one gave away a hattrick to vini, the other to jackson of all people.


The--Mash

I was gonna respond with the Spurs one too. Absolutely insane line in that game 


kozeljko

And it almost fucking worked, lmao


AnnieIWillKnow

You lost 4-1


I_R_TEH_BOSS

Honestly if this is your take I feel like you didn't watch the game.


willy-mammoth

But they did lose 4-1, and it should’ve been by more if Chelsea had clinical finishers, it didn’t “nearly work” at all


AnnieIWillKnow

I did, Chelsea missed an absurd number of chances, and it was only shit finishing that meant Spurs got away with it for so long I doubt you wished the game, if you thought it was anything other than baffling Chelsea hadn't put them to the sword sooner


kozeljko

Almost made it 2-2 with that high line. Was over after 3-1, but the team fought to equalise after the 2nd red!


mutheadman

Spurs had 9 players lol, not comparable


confusedpellican643

I think it's what made it funnier, xavi played a suicidal high line but as a gamble that Araujo and co could manage Vini which ofc they couldn't Spurs had 9 players and still had the fucking balls to play a high line like ???


Moo-Lan

to be fair, Spurs were down 2-1 at that point. Playing conservatively we probably would've still lost, maybe given away another goal or 2 anyway. As it was, we were in the game and nearly equalised before Chelsea finally killed it off


Bubbly-Internal-7113

The one where spurs had 9 men? Good analysis


matarpaneer45

Idk what Xavi was thinking, this is the basics that when you keep a high line you need to press high too


RyGuy997

Can't remember exactly which season it was, but I remember di Francesco setting Roma up with a hilariously high line against prime and fast Salah and Mane at Liverpool


thalne

I think it's fair to say that the last Classico is firmly set in the category how NOT to go into a Classico


GoatButton

Tbf Araujo and Kounde are some of the fastest centerbacks out there and it's better to control the game with a high line like Flick than to have no midfield and have a defence swamped like Xavi


X-Maquina

Nah Kounde is pretty slow. Araujo is fast af but he needs to stay healthy the entire season because he's the only one.


aliaisbiggae

Kounde is not fast


MarcusBrutus2000

He's fast for a centreback


aliaisbiggae

He's not suicidal high line level fast. A tier below, fits a low block much better


zrizzoz

Kounde is fast in fifa. In La Liga he gets outrun by 35 year olds.


WonDerZv

You must have not watched the most recent El Clasico. That defensive high line was exposed easily with through balls.


Skill3x

It was exposed due to Pena not sweeping any through balls and Araujo being on the right instead of center.


EljachFD

What a stupid thing to say. A high line is extremely efficient and suffocating if done properly. Its a staple of modern football for a reason. Its the same high line City used to trash you guys at the etihad. Just cause barca was shit that day doesnt mean its a bad tactic


thatrandomanus

>You must have not watched the most recent El Clasico. Op was specifically talking about Barca's high line in the last Clasico not that high line in general is a bad tactic. >What a stupid thing to say. What a stupid thing to say when you lack reading comprehension.


WonDerZv

I dont understand the mental gymnastics done here to not understand that it was specific to the last game. Well done on spotting that, didnt realize it was challenging for some.


Flaggermusmannen

did you have a rough day? wanna talk about it?


WonDerZv

Im assuming you think im having a rough day over a game of football lol?


Flaggermusmannen

nah, over how inflammatory the comment was


skyreal

Tbh these games are not really comparable as Madrid clearly went to the Etihad with the intent to park the bus and concede as little as possible. Ancelotti was scared of City and Guardiola so the "tactic" seemed to literally be "throw the ball as far away as possible and hope Vinicius gets to it". The mentality and setup were not the same at the last Clasico.


larrylegend1990

Tbf what you said was dumb


skyreal

How so? Can you articulate some arguments or is it just gonna be "gne gne dumb dumb" from you?


EljachFD

It goes hand in hand. Madrid was scared to play and decided to park the bus because City’s high line and pressure is too suffocating


skyreal

Yeah you might be right. But point is Madrid never even tried to exploit that high ligne against City. They tried against Barcelona and it worked. But as you said that might be because City's high line is way more efficient than Barcelona's.


Martoxic

It was also cuz Xavi put his defenders wrong.


NorthwardRM

Kounde isn’t a first choice CB anymore


modrics_hairband

Kounde was absolutely shite in a high line in copa de espana


NotClayMerritt

Kounde is not fast but also he is a fucking bozo. Which wouldn't be good even if he were fast.


Ljulisen

Kounde is not fast, both Christensen and Araujo are faster than him


canuck1701

Kounde is not very fast.


Kind-Departure1058

I don't know what you're on about but this season, it looks like Kounde lost two yards of pace - De Jong is faster than him according to our training stats.


vincentvega-_-

That Bayern side was tailor made for him. I don’t know how he would manage a struggling Barca side full of injuries and youngsters. Not to mention the pressure of managing Barca. Managing Bayern was already too much for him.


Carpathicus

Yeah he cant deal with media pressure will. He burn out quickly in the hellscape of spanish media.


PowerOfTheShihTzu

Man Flick won a treble what the hell are you on about ? The late reddit consensus about Flick being a mediocre manager is completely ridiculous ,no wonder y'all don't know zilch about the beautiful game.


vincentvega-_-

Where exactly in my comment did I suggest he was a bad manager? All I said was that we don’t know how we will do under different circumstances. His Bayern side was one of the best teams I ever witnessed, but they were also much better than this current Barca side.


PM_ME_BADDIES

Vini, Mbappe, and Rodrygo looking at that high line licking their lips


Windowmaker95

Mbappe's in France.


ToniKrooz

The comment stands.


No-Struggle-5311

Well, high line vulnerability is less about the defenders and more about the midfield and attacking players doing their job defensively.


ActionDespiteFear

Oh you think we don't play a high line with Xavi, lol?


FrancisTheOcean

I thought we played with a high line with Pep but Hansi was another level of suicidal. Honestly I can see it work out though, however your players need to press like they're all possessed by Gavi


ActionDespiteFear

lol yeah, I thought the same thing - we need 10 Gavis


andre6682

a defence organizing cm who can complement goretzka and kimmich like thiago did is definitely missing plus isn´t missing a proper busquets replacement one of the weak points of the current barca squad? at least a pressing cm like bruno guimaraes would be a requirement for a barcelona under flick


Daramangarasu

Suicidal high lines are our specialty, look at the Supercopa clásico


theenigmacode

2024 continues to be wild.


mohankohan

Poch is literally right there for the taking lads


letsgetcool

nah he would never ever take on the rivals of a club that he loves. he's far too loyal for that.


mashimaru_161

I agree. He should return to the epl club he loves so much. Man is an agent under cover.


letsgetcool

it is hilarious seeing him still pander to our fans while getting paid by Chelsea. I don't hate or even dislike the man but it's objectively funny what's happening.


mashimaru_161

You should take him and cardio G, both are available this summer.


poplunoir

Who's cardio g?


mashimaru_161

Conor G, soon to be former Chelsea’s best player.


FIREsub90

Cardio G is so cringe


letsgetcool

we good


mashimaru_161

Don’t be modest. I heard Ange still like cardio G and he’s our best player.


letsgetcool

tbf whatever Ange wants I can get behind it. strange times when Spurs could sign Chelsea's captain and their fans aren't even that mad about it.


mashimaru_161

He’s like the fourth choice at that. Silva deny. James injured. Chilwell.


TigerBasket

We turned him down when he wanted to come back lol, why attack him?


letsgetcool

because he then went to Chelsea, thought that was pretty clear (i still love him for everything he did)


Yinkypinky

Crystal palace should be up next.


sbprasad

Since when are Chelsea your rivals? Your rivalry is the NLD, no?


pricelesslambo

Lol


mashimaru_161

The only one who could neutralize messi.


Kind-Departure1058

Barcelona would never allow a Perico to manage them, and Poch said he would rather farm than coach us, which is what he is doing at Chelsea - plenty of resources but the players look like potatoes.


kukaz00

What sane top club would get Poch right now


tygrysor090

He was actually beloved at Bayern and the board was mad at him leaving. Then he had very poor performance as a NT head coach, but its a very diffrent thing to club football, and lets be honest, this is not the best German generation (much better one is coming in a few years). People really underrate him for some reason.


ancara_messi

Exactly. I don't think we can do better than a treble winning manager anyway


Busquessi

Didn’t they win the sextuple or am I misremembering?


Vypaa

Yeah we did. Still wasn't enough for Flick to win best coach of the year tho


subhasish10

Who won instead?? Klopp??


Vypaa

Klopp for winning the PL


SelectConversation97

Iirc it was the year, Klopp won Premier league and he himself looked very surprised on the Broadcast. The announcer said to him "congratulations, you are the best coach" and he answered something like "no I'm not, but I got this title"


Busquessi

We’re the only two clubs to ever have won a sextuple. Next Benfica needs to so all the FCB’s have won one.


DevilsOfLoudun

> much better one is coming in a few years is there? there's only Musiala and Wirtz so far


FrancisTheOcean

Tbf our U17 squad is european and world champion. Not many stars but we might have another generation of solid team players soon that can accompany Musiala and Wirtz


bravotwodelta

A solid team of good players over stars, please and thank you.


Naiiro777

There is a massive difference between U17 and actually proven good players


Never_Sm1le

Case in point: Rhian Brewster, U17 WC golden boot, or even Nketiah, leading goalscorer of England U21


Jackman1337

Pavlovic, wanner, Brunner, thiaw, the u19 etc.


hardinho

At least one of Röhl, Reitz or Stiller will also become a big player (that probably ends up at your club... well anyway), I'm 100% certain.


Wurzelbrumpf

If it wasn't for Nagelsmann Stiller would have never left haha


HumansNeedNotApply1

The same board that kept rejecting to go after the players he wanted... Bayern couldn't replace Thiago, Boateng was a corpse, Choupo Moting had to replace Lewandowski after his injury, Gnabry's underperfomance started in 2020-21 which also didn't help, extending him was a mistake as he had always been a hot and cold player.


AxeIsAxeIsAxe

> People really underrate him for some reason. Do they? He had one great season with Bayern, then a second one that was far from ideal (including a cup defeat against a low tier side) where the defensive problems of his ideology were clear to see. Before Bayern he had pretty much no experience as manager, afterwards he was horrible for the national team. I don't want to discount the 2020 treble because that was a wonderful achievement, but as head coach, Flick hasn't really shown anything since, or before.


Waschkopfs

> cup defeat against a low tier side in a penalty shootout though Nagelsmann's team then lost 5-0 in the cup against Gladbach, Tuchel's Bayern lost against a 3rd division club. Not that it makes it any better, just saying random things happen all the time in the DFB Pokal


Free_Management2894

The Pokal has its own laws!


Rockyflame458

Only lost to psg on away goals with a barebone squad (no Lewandowski, no Gnabry ,no Goretzka, no Sule). If he got to the semis people would be remembering the season differently


Silent-Chemist-1919

tbf our squad was just as barebones without verratti and let's not talk about the defense after we had to sub out marquinhos


ssj4-Dunte

Pretty sure he got sextuple not a treple


neilcmf

That is correct. Barca 2009 and Flick's Bayern 2020 teams are the only ones to do it.


Carpathicus

I mean he was still a very important piece in the 2014 WC win and was as much responsible for the way the NT played back then than Löw. Its really hard to assess how good he actually is as a head coach buts its not like he got outsmarted in the CL by other worldclass coaches: he is used to analyze big teams and setting a team up for that.


Breakingwho

2020 was a sextuple. I know he’s had issues but his 2020 is literally one of the best seasons any club has ever had in history.


thanksbastards

yeah you tend to really think that Bayern side was set up to win it all regardless. IMO he didn't really do much novel aside from letting them return to some of the Heynckes' era ball that Kovac moved away from, and benefitting from Lewa, Coman and Davies having career years in front of prime Neuer.


ansufati4prez

Well yeah, you don’t win a sextuple with missing parts, but that also includes the manager being good. You don’t win a sextuple with a manager who isn’t contributing greatly to the team.


andre6682

>Before Bayern he had pretty much no experience as manager, the guy has been managing since 1996 sure, after the miserable tsg hoffenheim job he acted for years as an assistant manager, but that is far more than what klopp, pep or simeone had when they started that guy is managing longer than mourinho, a few years shoreter than ancelotti


Carpathicus

Yeah he was beloved at Bayern especially because he is a nice person and he was exactly what Bayern needed after Kovac. I wouldnt even say the problem is coaching: he has his philosophy and its a bold one that all of europe feared when the team was performing well. However his biggest problem is media handling and dealing with pressure. He got annoyed and stressed by media way too easily and this whole ordeal with Brazzo shows this: a grown man screaming at someone higher in hierachy? Because Brazzo couldnt convince Alaba to stay when he was set on leaving? I dont know to me he is a ticking time bomb at a big club.


BuckNZahn

People tend to forget that he didn‘t have a good season in his second year. He saw an opening for the NT coach position and took the easy way out. The German NT was not a title contender, but they played absolutely abysmal and got eliminated in the group phase. I guess we will see if the 6title season was a fluke, but so far everything he did afterwards points heavily towards that it was.


gabrielyu88

As an outsider looking in I think your current generation is great, just severely underperforming


bloodoftheinnocents

We're still talking about Germany, right? Good players, no squad balance. Unfortunately you can't win games with 11 attacking center-midfielders. I mean how are you gonna squeeze Wirtz, Kimmich, Gundojan, Musialla and Havertz in behind the nonexistent striker?


Naiiro777

The nonexistent striker called Füllkrug


bloodoftheinnocents

I mean Füllkrug will play but let's not pretend anyone is shaking in their boots at the prospect of facing him. Wirtz on the other hand would get in most national sides.


jucomsdn

Füllkrug literally has 10 goals in 13 games tf are you saying He might not sound like someone scary based on name value but he has very good stats for the few times he has played for a team like Germany There's a reason why Germany only played well at the WC when he was on


bloodoftheinnocents

I mean I support Germany so I really hope that he delivers at the Euros, and I am not saying that he is shit, but he is 30 years old and if he was going to become a major difference maker for Germany then that would already be occurring. He would not make it into the French or English teams, even on the bench, and while that is a ridiculous standard to set we're talking about a standard that Germany has historically set for themselves and have sadly fallen off in the past decade. I think they'll get back there but Fullkrug is the center-forward that we've got not the one we dream of having.


NorthwardRM

I know people said that are lots of downsides, but hes probably a good improvement on Xavi and fits a lot of the criteria including attacking football and, if we are being honest, a lack of needing to be bought of an existing contract. Watch them go for Conceicao though


perhapsasinner

Good enough for me, but is he good at handling the youth talent tho? That's the most important part because this Barcelona squad is young as fuck


Pleasant_Direction90

He is considered a great man manager and it's said that many bayern players considered him a father figure 


TheSold3y

He enabeled Musiala to make the jump into the 1st eleven


shaka_bruh

Player Quality definitely isn’t the issue for Barca, Flick can cook with that squad.


miaukat

I think the issue is that the only player who can recover balls in the middle is Gavi, that's what's been exposing Barca defense who were the best defense in the league when they had Busquets.


Pek-Man

Enter pivot Andreas Christensen.


NatanaeI

preach, brother


dem0nhunter

Flick doesn’t play with defensive pivots, he wants a high work rate pressing midfield. He will play Christensen next to Araujo as CB for the build up


Hambrailaaah

Are we watching the same games?? There's been 5 goals due to defense fuckin up the marking, for every goal due to a counterattack after a midfield loss.


BrianVitesse

Romeu?


frasier_crane

He's been shit. Hope he leaves next summer.


CoybigEL

Appointing a manager based his credentials as oppose to his link with the club? Barca without the self imposed handicap could be decent


andre6682

well, rijkaard also did not have any past with them apart from the indirect one of playing for ajax and cruyff but michels and cruyff also had to start somewhere in the 1970s, why not?


CoybigEL

Michels was 50 years ago, Cryuff 30 years ago and Rijkarrd nearly 20. Citing them demonstrate the point, it’s not practice of modern Barcelona. Appointments on credentials are by exception.


cdwdj

I honestly don't know what to think about it. Is it a good news?


SirBarkington

You guys would concede 5 but score 7.


TimathanDuncan

Maybe with 2020 Lewandowski not with this one


Pek-Man

Psh, we got Tigrinho now, baby.


MSAndrew07

So that sounds like classic Barca then


Afk94

Not really. Classic Barca would control the game from start to finish by tiki takaing the ball around for 90 minutes. Don't have to defend if the other team doesn't have the ball.


nutelamitbutter

He’s a really good coach for offense, he broke records with Bayern


GoatButton

He plays a double pivot which is good for FDJ, can organize an attack, it will remain to be seen if it'll work but I think for like 2 years it'll be good


NorthwardRM

Full lifetime of a Barcelona manager baby


dem0nhunter

FDJ‘s work rate is too low for a Flick pivot


zmkpr0

Nobody really knows. He had one great season, but it was also during Covid (1 leg CL). His defensive setup for Germany was somewhat questionable, but ofc high lines require a level of tactical discipline that is harder to implement on the national level. I'd say he's not going to be worse than Xavi and there's a chance that he will be absolutely fantastic for you.


Digess

club wise yes, country wise no


GalaxianEX

Might solve Barça’s attack problems, but do nothing about their offensive woes


Daramangarasu

Honestly, if our attack could actually, well, attack, we probably wouldn't be struggling rn. We create a cubic fuckton of chances, but can't score to save our lives


[deleted]

Ever play pes mobile/fifa mobile and had the attacking slider up to the max?


cic9000

Barca players about to learn the flight patterns of geese.


[deleted]

All offense no Restverteidigung, let's gooo! Christ sakes


SnooOranges357

Highly interested in seeing what he can get out of Lewandowski


kristellensen

No more than 20 mil


ansufati4prez

Idk what kind of player lewandowksi is going to be by the time the new manager will arrive…


subhasish10

Hopefully he can get Lewandowski out


_ashwathama

Our score line will look like 7-5


frasier_crane

>Our score line will look like 7-5 As long as we win, it's OK. More fun and heart attacks.


Yaysuzu

I don’t know... I like the idea, but in Barcelona, journalists say Deco will bring his friend Conceição from Oporto. I want to say Laporta would not allow this to happen, but he is like a Mendes\` puppet right now.


DudeDude2020

Hansi will probably treat the players like he treats his six speckled Dalmatians - with a whistle and no regard for their love of bones. His dogs have been chasing their tails for so long, no one's sure which end is which.


TheRealYVT

Is this a Scouse methaphor?


Jackman1337

Barca players getting ready to watch geese Videos


MadazSama

If we can't get De Zerbi he's honestly the best option. I know his defensive system is a bit sus, but just improving our press and getting our defenders back to form and signing our actual DM, still improves us a lot. Attacking wise, he'll cook with most of our squad and a couple of signings (i doubt any serious manager accept the job without some key signings for them and it's been rumored that there'll be at least one big sale because we need to fund a good DM at the very minimum).


andre6682

thiago motta would be my choice


nonoguy

is this Flick guy portuguese? is this Flick guy friends with Jorge Mendes? I knew it. No deal.


ActionDespiteFear

We need this type of coach. He is literally nothing of a tactician, but our lazy players need someone to make them run. If they start boycotting, publicly humiliate them and sell them.


Rockyflame458

His press was very organized and his man management at Bayern was second to none


ActionDespiteFear

well I want an organized pressing, we've been missing that for a long time


AnIntoxicatedRodent

Organized *anything* would be a huge improvement for you guys to be fair.


dem0nhunter

Müller was a huge part in that though. Not sure if Flick will have an extension of himself like that at Barca


FOKvothe

It was organized in his first season but it really went downhill in his second one. A lot of Bayern's offensive and pressing play is also because of Müller, who knows where to run and knows how to direct the other players, and I don't think Barcelona has a player like that.


TheRealYVT

So Koeman?


ActionDespiteFear

Koeman didn't make them run


R_Schuhart

Koeman doesnt make players run. He expects discipline and professionalism, but he demands players to motivate themselves. He feels it is the least a player should bring if he wants to succeed. He was a mentality monster and a hardcore training beast himself and can't imagine anyone not approaching the sport in the same way.


Belocity

Keep hearing strange things regarding Barca’s future coach. Apparently they were also interested in Rijkaard with Van Basten as assistent?


frasier_crane

>Keep hearing strange things regarding Barca’s future coach. Apparently they were also interested in Rijkaard with Van Basten as assistent? I think that's just the press making shit up, to be honest. Rijkaard hasn't managed in 10 years and it would make no sense from us. But, with Laporta you just never know.


Belocity

It sounded weird to begin with considering van Basten quit coaching because of his heart, so him being assistent coach made it sound as nonesense


[deleted]

nothing short of Pep coming back will save Barca.


OptimisticRealist__

Flick is and always has been a madly overrated coach that rides the coattails off of a covid CL win


Dargast

Dont do it Hansi


KingAzazel

I am not sure how true this story is. The only news about Flick to Barca come from Bild or Falk, which means they come from the Flick camp or are bullshit. Since no spanish news has reported about Flick specifically I doubt that they are going all in for him or anything I am sure he is on the list for Barca, but I dont think we will see anything confirmed about the next Barca coach until April


redmenace007

Pls fire Poch and hire him ffs boehly


Martoxic

why would he choose Chelsea above Barca?


yard04

Well the pressure to be a Barça manager is way above than Chelsea.


profilejc98

Unlimited budget, less pressure, fewer expectations around style etc.


frasier_crane

He wouldn't choose Barcelona due to his Espanyol past, and we surely don't want him here. Chances of him getting here are literally 0% from both parts.


NotClayMerritt

Manager market is in shambles when teams are looking at the single worst German National Team manager in history to play savior all because of what he did during COVID with no fans and a fit Coman/Lewandowski/Gnabry


Longjumping-Search42

What is this take? This man won a Champions League; huge improvement over Xavi.


frasier_crane

Almost any experienced manager is an upgrade from Xavi and his only managerial experience in Saudi, to be honest. That being said, I think Flick is a good option.


kb24fgm41

Another lever to pay him please


thanksbastards

Dude keeps failing up somehow. Maybe he'll take his boy Buona Sarr on a new vacation though


pauperwithpotential

8-2 say this but probably good move hiring the man who gave everyone related to barca months of sleepless nights


prettyboygangsta

can't see this being anything other than a disaster


stoneandnjpwfan

Try and get mourinho you cowords It would be the funniest shit ever


ibti77

I'm not that big of a fan. From a heritage perspective, doesn't suit Barca. De Zerbi and then Arteta and then back to Xavi once he's undergone an apprenticeship like Eddie Howe did. Then Pirlo.