Another international break has arrived, and with it, a chance to take a breather and assess how well Barcelona has performed relative to goals and expectations.
This breakdown is meant to assign the Blaugrana a letter grade across a few categories: coaching, offense, and defense.
To begin with, Barcelona had a very active summer, especially for Hansi Flick who has never really received backing in the market during his tenure.
Coming into the season, the biggest area to improve in seemed to be defensively.
In the end, it was the forward line and the midfield that received the most significant makeover.
Success or failure will ultimately track back to the investment decisions made over the summer. So far, we have seen enough to assess the team’s strengths and weakness, and give a reasonable prediction about where things are headed.
Here’s my progress report. Would love to hear yours as well.
Coaching: B
Hansi Flick signaled very early on that he was doubling down on his vision for how Barcelona should play when he brought in Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi.
These were the big moves of the summer, and it showed that Barcelona were more focused on building a forward line in Flick’s image than prioritizing defensive reinforcements.
So far, I think Flick got exactly what he asked for.
Gordon and Adeyemi have split time, gotten their fair share collectively of goals and assists, while primarily giving the team energy and intensity that, in the team’s best moments, have allowed them to overwhelm opponents with a suffocating high press.
The vast majority of games, Flick’s Barcelona has been an unstoppable machine. They even started the season on an 11 game win streak.
When PSG and Real Madrid showed up, however, Flick’s system was challenged quickly.
Flick rotated against PSG, and overall Barcelona were not great, but not bad either. It was hard to judge anything by this game.
Real Madrid, however, got smart and taught Flick a lesson that when push comes to shove against great teams, it may very well be pragmatism that wins the day. Atletico Madrid employed a different, and more brave strategy in my opinion, and again held up a mirror of reality to the risks and rewards of Barcelona’s current system.
Attacking: A-
Barcelona score goals for fun. And this season, somehow, they are even better than they’ve been in years past under Flick.
Raphiha leads La Liga with 15 goals, while Lamine Yamal is in third place with 10. Barcelona is a mile ahead of any other team in Spain with 48 goals scored compared to 31 for Real Madrid.
Against every team, except for Real Madrid, PSG, and to some extent Athletic Club (even though Barca came out on top), the Flick strategy of simply scoring a lot more goals than your opponent has worked well and made for an exciting watch.
The truth is, most teams can’t keep up with Barcelona at the moment. This strategy could very well carry them to victory in La Liga.
Real Madrid, however, is looking dangerous because they aren’t interested in playing pretty under Jose Mourinho. Winning any old way will do.
They aren’t alone. Arsenal are another team who aren’t afraid to win ugly.
PSG and Bayern Munich will go toe to toe with Barcelona if a goalfest is on the menu.
In the Champions League, Flick’s strategy is a gamble that will require a bit of luck to pay off.
Defending: B-
This is where the Barcelona ship could capsize in a hurry if nothing is done in the winter transfer window.
Pau Cubarsí and Gerard Martín look exhausted. Luckily, Andreas Christensen and Eric García are back with Jules Kounde on the way.
Barcelona are very light on depth, and this is a problem of their own making.
Even if all their defenders return to full health by January, when Xavi Espart makes it back, Flick will have big decisions to make.
The biggest is around João Cancelo, his preferred full-back.
I speak of him more as a representative of Barcelona’s defensive vulnerabilities, and not so much personally. He’s a great rotation piece, and can tear apart smaller teams with his incredible on the ball talent, but in the biggest games, against teams who can do damage and win on the counter attack, is he more of an asset or a liability?
The same could be asked of Flick’s high defensive line overall.
One thing I learned from the Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid games in particular, the Barcelona defense continues to look as vulnerable as it’s always been during the Flick era.
The current path their on suggests that Barcelona will be wagering that offense alone can win championships.
Let’s hope they course correct and get the defense to shine too.
