What a difference a week has made to the landscape of Spanish football
FC Barcelona had been swatting away sides with indifference this past month or so, while Real Madrid have scraped by with grit and tenacity. But Barca suffered arguably their darkest moment under Flick just last week, going down 4-0 to Atletico in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal. Simeone’s frustratingly mercurial side steamrolled Barca in that first half, scoring four goals when it could have been six. Barca lurched from that embarrassment to more disappointment on Monday night, going down 2-1 at Girona to surrender their La Liga lead to Los Blancos. What has happened to Flick’s side?
Haunted by injury
It has been a minor miracle that Barca have been as competitive as they have been this season. They faced the mother of all injury crises in the first portion of the season, with players went going down like they were auditioning for a live-action version of Fall Guys. And they look set to end the season in similarly disjointed fashion. Eric Garcia limped off against Girona last night, leaving Flick with a selection quagmire in the heart of defence (especially with Christensen still sidelined). Raphinha just returned to action but both Lewandowski and Rashford are currently unavailable. Pedri and Gavi- key components in Barca’s intricate playing style- look set to return to action soon. But who knows how long they are going to take to get up to match speed.
High-line hysteria
Hansi Flick’s fanatical devotion to an insanely high defensive line is starting to approach Amorim levels of self-delusion and stubbornness. That high line is all well and good when they have the entire squad at their disposal. For me, they almost need Pedri and Gavi to properly execute that strategy. The Spanish midfield duo are their most press-resistant players, able to navigate the congested midfield area with Xaviesta poise. Their engine room was overrun outthought and outworked against Atletico, leading to an endless avalanche of attacks. Barca players have reportedly confronted Flick about his insistence on using such a high line, calling for a more situational-based approach to pushing up from the back. Luckily for Flick, Pedri and Gavi should be back in action sooner rather than later. But the fact remains, this high-wire act will always be susceptible to well-executed counterattacks (just look at the Champions League match against Club Brugge).
The Kounde conundrum
It’s time to talk about the player whose entire reputation is being sacrificed on the altar of this high line: Jules Kounde. Small disclaimer: it was Xavi who initially pushed Jules Kounde into that right-back position back in 2024. And his overlapping runs have been useful for creating space for Yamal. But he is just not defensively up to the challenge of playing that position in a team playing such a high line. Injuries have affected his pace, and his recovery runs are pedestrian at best. Even the lower tier La Liga sides have been able to consistently get behind Kounde. Flick has been hesitant to play newly acquired Joao Cancelo but may need to reconsider his options (which are now very limited given Eric Garcia’s injury).
And out of the box solution?
Honestly, at this point, I would even be tempted to try Rashford as an emergency right-back option. I know there are United fans out there involuntarily gagging at the notion of Rashford in any position demanding defensive responsibility. But I honestly think that his pure pace would mitigate his lack of defensive nous. This obviously wouldn’t be a long-term fix, but something needs to be done. Quite apart from his pace, Kounde requires an eternity of time on the ball, breaking up the fluidity of Barca’s attacks. I wonder if they might target Newcastle fullback Livramento as a possible option in the summer.
Solutions need to come fast
As I have noted, the return of Pedri and Gavi should stabilize the engine room, giving that defensive line a bit more freedom to execute Flick’s plans. But regardless of personnel, Flick needs to uncouple himself from this high-line fixation and assess every match on its merits. He doesn’t want to be another Amorim (that name again), martyring himself when a little flexibility was all that was needed.
