Hansi Flick wants to stop a hemorrhage

BarcelonaBarça rediscovered their winning form against Elche (3-1) and redeemed themselves after the setback at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid. Without Pedri González, Hansi Flick's men remain in the title race, but they need to regain their form to have a chance of retaining the title and also to compete with the top European teams vying for the Champions League trophy. Their next test will be this Wednesday in Bruges (9 pm, Movistar), a particularly difficult opponent at home. Aside from the setback of losing their best playmaker and ball-winner (Pedri), Flick is currently focusing on the team's defensive vulnerabilities, which have been particularly evident at the start of this season for the last five years. Barça are struggling to manage pressure effectively and are giving their opponents opportunities to create chances. Consequently, they have conceded a significant number of goals. There have already been 17 goals conceded in the 2025-26 season in just 14 matches played. The average is 1.21 goals conceded per game, and only in La Liga, as analyst Albert Blaya pointed out, has this figure reached its lowest point this October, with 1.99 expected goals per game. No other team in the competition concedes more goals.

According to analyst Àlex Delmàs, this decline isn't a matter of attitude, but rather a combination of tactical factors and individual player profiles. "Last season, Barça surprised everyone with their high defensive line. This year, however, there's no longer that element of surprise, and opponents have learned to exploit these spaces," he argues in ARA. Furthermore, the instability in central defense, with Iñigo Martínez's departure and the changes in center-back pairings, "has caused the team to lose precision in setting up their defensive line and coordinating their pressing."

The worst run since Koeman

Defensive fragility has become more pronounced in recent weeks: Barça has conceded in its last eight consecutive matches, a streak not seen since the 2020-21 season under Ronald Koeman. Back then, the team also displayed a similar pattern: inconsistent dominance, defensive lapses, and a half-hearted pressing system that left the team too exposed. The parallels between that Barça and the current one are unavoidable: two projects under reconstruction, but lacking the necessary solidity to consistently compete at the highest level.

However, Delmàs clarifies that the situations are very different. "With Koeman, there was an issue of level and stability. The team couldn't press high and ended up dropping back; now Barça is much braver and plays much higher up the pitch. The current problem is one of vulnerability and small lapses in concentration, not of the overall approach."

However, the situation back then was very different from today, especially if we look at the average age. During the 2020-21 season, Ronald Koeman's Barça was undergoing a profound renewal process, with a squad that combined veterans with youngsters who were just beginning to make their mark. Players like Pedri (17 years old), Araujo (21), and Mingueza (21) were accumulating minutes at the top level for the first time, while heavyweights like Busquets, Alba, and Piqué tried to hold together a team without a clear direction. The average age was around 26.8 years, and the physical wear and tear on some of the veterans affected the high-pressing style that Koeman wanted to implement.

In contrast, Flick's Barça has a much younger and physically fitter squad, with an average age of around 24.5 years, but paradoxically, they press with less conviction and less synchronization. Intensity is no longer the problem, but rather the lack of... timing and tactical cohesion: the midfielders hesitate, the forwards are slow to react, and the defensive line, despite being faster than under Koeman, is exposed too often. Delmàs points out that this stems from an "interpretation problem: you have to know when to maintain a high line and when to drop back, depending on whether the opposing passer is under pressure or not." Despite the risks, the analyst defends Flick's system. "You have to maintain a high line. Pushing it up doesn't mean being more vulnerable. It has far more benefits than drawbacks: it allows you to play more compactly, recover possession more in the opponent's half, and attack with more players close to the ball. What's needed is to execute it well, with well-coordinated pressing." Delmàs also notes that Barça "is playing 2% more in their own third of the pitch than last season," a detail he considers key to understanding the loss of control and effectiveness. Furthermore, the absence of Joan Garcia has been a determining factor. The goalkeeper from Sallent, who had recorded three clean sheets and several crucial performances, has left a void that Wojciech Szczęsny has been unable to fill. The former Juventus player has failed to keep a clean sheet in any of his matches for Barça this season, and his interventions, while solid at times, haven't inspired the same confidence.