Barcelona manager Hansi Flick spoke to the press on Monday ahead of his team’s Champions League clash with Olympiacos and took the time to explain the reasons behind his team’s recent defensive struggles.
The Blaugrana suffered a ton at the back against Girona and conceded four clear-cut chances in the first half after the opponent’s equalizer, in actions very similar to those seen in the losses to PSG and Sevilla before the international break.
Flick explained the tactical reasons behind those struggles,
and made it clear his team isn’t executing the press quite as well as we’ve seen in the past.
“At the moment, it’s a tough situation we have, and I’m very happy that we won the three points against Girona. It was very important, and you could see it in the atmosphere in training; it’s good to see this the mood; it’s what we need. We have a young team, young players and they need it.
“When we analyzed the game against Girona, I always speak about about positioning, the right distance between the players and the opponent. It’s very important, and if you’re far from that, you lose you have to run too much, give the opponents a little bit more time to play out and this is also what kills us in the defense. It’s about that. We have to find the right positions and from there we have to challenge, we have to press.”
It’s pretty obvious at this point that Flick won’t make any major changes to his defensive philosophy, and it’s also true that the players must take responsibility in their role in the system. They were pressing monster last season and haven’t brought the same intensity in this campaign, and we saw signs of that even before all the injuries when the Catalans were fully fit and only playing once a week at the start of the season.
It’s up to the coach to keep finding solutions, yes, but it’s also up to the players to execute at the highest level when those solutions are presented. Let’s see if the lessons will be learned and applied.
