Barcelona’s players and manager Hansi Flick held some “tactical talks” on the training ground on Friday as the fallout of the Copa del Rey defeat to Atletico continued.
According to a new report from The Athletic, the players decided to share their “concerns over the team’s tactics” in the game to Flick afterwards.
The report adds that the players felt that following their usual approach against Atletico “was not the best idea, as conditions were not right for that in their eyes.”
Barcelona’s players
also decided to speak to Flick about this as this is not the first time they have struggled in a similar way in games so far this season.
Flick was told by his players “just how hard it is to successfully apply [his] desired style without Pedri and Raphinha” – with both players missing the game through injury.
The players don’t want Flick to change tactics altogether but are said to have “asked for more pragmatism around key games and against certain opponents, as well as greater adaptation to the players available.”
Flick spoke afterwards about the need to learn from the game, telling reporters: “In the first 45 minutes or more, we got a lesson. Sometimes it’s good in the right moment. Maybe today was the right moment.”
We’ll now have to wait and see if Flick does implement changes going forward in a bid to improve in the wake of Thursday night’s thrashing by Diego Simeone’s side.
