Necessity is quickly becoming the mother of invention for Hansi Flick.
He didn’t start the season expecting to manage a fire drill, but with injury after injury, even ones occurring during the game warmups,
he has had to rethink his lineups, while having his tactics questioned on a weekly basis.
Perhaps through all the drama, we have forgotten how valuable Frenkie de Jong is.
He has never been a player to steal the show. From the beginning of his Barcelona career, he has played with some of the biggest names in the game. He started as a sidekick to Lionel Messi, and now he plays in the shadows of Pedri and Lamine Yamal.
He doesn’t score fancy goals, or even record many assists. And yet, regardless of who the Barca manager has been, and by my count there have been five, his role in the starting eleven has never been questioned. Frenkie de Jong is a player for the football purists.
In the absence of Pedri, we are being reminded of why he is such a critical player on the Blaugrana roster. No matter what the coach asks him to do as circumstances change from game to game around the team, Frenkie has the intelligence to take on the mission and succeed.
Barcelona were looking for consistency with Frenkie getting a run of games alongside Marc Casadó. They were starting to play well together, and Flick probably thought he had a solution to get him through the storm of injuries.
With the introduction of Dani Olmo before the Celta Vigo match, the dynamic of the team changed significantly again with a 4-3-3 where Frenkie was the only true midfielder on the field. Olmo and Fermin Lopez are capable on the ball, but they are attacking players first and foremost.
Frenkie single-handedly controlled the midfield, and set the tempo for his team writ large, on the road at Balaidos.
It was unjust to see him sent off with a second yellow card in the dying minutes of the game. His influence and importance to Barcelona at the moment can’t be understated.
Luckily, Barcelona has an international break now. It will give time for the players who have been sidelined to recover, with many of the return dates penciled in for the end of November, or the beginning of December.
Flick will need to hold just a little bit longer. Unfortunately, with a critical game against Athletic Club coming up, he’ll have to creatively engineer, once again, a winning lineup. The Frenkie de Jong suspension is a big loss, and Barcelona will have to dig deep for the win regardless of which players are chosen in the midfield.
Hopefully for the second half of the season, we see Barcelona’s best starting eleven finally fit and ready to challenge for trophies.
All the attention will be on of Pedri and Lamine Yamal, but watch Frenkie de Jong too.
The Barcelona veteran will be at the heart of the lineup regardless of the opponent or the competition.
In the meantime, his teammates will have to rally and find a way to pick up an important victory without their reliable playmaker.
