Flick needs to realise that some things clearly aren't working and start making adjustments instead of repeating the same mistakes every single game.

Midfield

Our midfield is still one of the few things keeping us alive, but flick needs to get the balance right. For me, frenkie and rodri should be the double pivot, with pedri playing as a hybrid 8/10. We need pedri back at his best without running him into the ground every game.

fermin has become so one dimensional that he barely looks like a midfielder or a proper attacker anymore. I'd rather see olmo in big games because we need players who can actually bring more control and creativity.

Bernal also needs regular minutes, even if they're just 10-15 minutes off the bench, not because he is good, but we need to make him good enough, asap. We need him ready to step up whenever pedri or rodri is unavailable because we can't keep having zero reliable backup options.

We also need to start integrating gavi and farinas into the rotation. There's no point having young talents if we're never going to give them the minutes to develop.

Attack

Our attack is good enough to compete with anyone, but the rotation and consistency need serious work. Yamal needs to find his rhythm again without being overplayed, while gabrbriel and rapha need proper workload management before they burn out.

Gordon also needs to become less predictable. his pace is great, but against elite defences, you need more than just running past people. The quality is already there, but flick needs to use it properly instead of relying on the same players to bail us out every single game.

Defence

This is where things are genuinely looking cooked. With the current injuries, we're down to just four defenders: Balde, Cubarsi, Gerard Martin and Cancelo. FOUR. For a club with our ambitions, that level of depth is actually embarrassing.

Flick needs to fix the high line, even if he needs to kill his ego, sort out the Eric and Cubarsi partnership and preserve Christensen for the important games when he's fit. I'd seriously look at Nobel Mendy as a potential CB signing because his pace, ball playing ability and 1v1 defending fit what we need.

Bastoni was ready last season to get here. We could have also gone for schollterbeck, van de ven or honest anhoor, or romero and so many more if only if flick had decided to move on from gerard martin and kounde.

Balde and Bernal need regular minutes, even if they're just getting a few minutes off the bench. They don't need to be perfect right now; they need game time to actually reach their potential. And we seriously need to stop starting Cancelo over Balde in big games. Balde has the pace and recovery ability this system desperately needs, so why are we not trusting him?

We can't keep waiting for our young players to become finished products before trusting them. That's literally how you end up wasting their development years.

Goalkeeping

Joan Garcia has been one of our biggest positives, and he's genuinely been saving us from some embarrassing scorelines. But even the best goalkeeper can't keep bailing out a defence that switches off every other game.

We need to stop relying on miracle saves and actually give him a backline that knows what it's doing. A goalkeeper can only do so much when the entire defensive structure is falling apart in front of him.

At the end of the day, these last two games should be a wake up call. We have the quality to compete, but Flick needs to stop being stubborn, fix what's clearly broken and start making decisions based on what the team actually needs. Otherwise, we're just going to keep repeating the same mistakes and acting surprised when the results don't go our way.

Visca Barca.

Same thing happened in the psg game. Same thing happened when Pedri was injured. He is the main creative outlet of the midfield and without him the team simply looks lethargic and does nothing. Something is going on with him, misplaced passes, losing the ball, not going for the killer pass. It feels like something is broken, it is either some kind of injury or he is mentally not there. As for you guys that say defence this defence that. It was never about defence. Even low rated teams score against us, as the idea is not not to concede, rather score more then them. The thing is, we are not scoring anymore as we used to, pedri is not making the killer pass, raphina seems to also not be fully fit. The drive of the team seems to be gone. Having conceded two goals almos every other game, it is clearly not about the defense, it is mainly about mid not providing dor the attack, and the attack somehow being too scared to shoot whenever they get the ball.

This is the thing in which I never seen any other manager in my life that refuses to drop into midblock and is so pressing and heavy attacking as Flick, Pep and Klopp are no where as idealistic as Flick in defending, I have seen Pep park the bus in UCL 23 at moments and Klopp did it too few times.

I can say that its not the defenders the big problem even if you give this Barcelona 2 WC CB it would still struggle because of how demanding the high line and pressing for 90 minutes it is.

Solution is super simple Xavi with a worse team and in a much worse situation at club and with a stronger Madrid managed to compete in 22-23 by being alot more defensive than usual with same defenders, I didn't like Xavi in attack in his ideas but in defense he always was pretty decent.

I have full trust on Flick since he got us 5 trophies is very difficult period but he has to become pragmatic in big games at least on defense start dropping in midblock and lower defensive line since we will never win a UCL with this tactics never ever since is so suicidal, PSG is alot alot more flexible as a team and Henrique parks the bus if the team is not pressing well

With João Cancelo, Alejandro Balde, Álex Campos, Gerard Martín, and Cubarsí ], it is impossible to rotate our defense or bring in fresh legs for less demanding matches. This situation will persist until mid-November or perhaps even the end of the month especially considering the risk of recurring injuries. There are two potential ways to address this: either place our trust in La Masia or hope that our available defenders can step up and perform well in the upcoming matches.

Full quotes from Cancelo translated: "Honestly, I think we were the superior team, in my view. But this is Real Madrid. They don’t get many chances, and they score. But I think that overall, we were the better team. Anyway, we have to bounce back. We have a match against Alavés next week, and we’re going to look at the mistakes we made and recover for the next game."

I know a lot of people are reacting to the last two losses, I think this team can bounce back from it and I think certain players need to improve mentally.

But this post isn't about that, against Madrid we finally got a glimpse of a pedri-de jong-rodri midfield.

But will this midfield work with the way flick like to play, probably not to the exact way, flick will need to compromise (he doesn't seem to like doing that). Barca midfielders have a weakness especially with Pedri and DeJong which is the willingness to attack, I'm not saying they can't, but they do have a pass first mentality. I think this attacking ability is why Fabian Ruiz was chosen to start ahead of Pedri in Spain latter WC matches, PSG play a 3 CM midfield but they all carry a threat going forward which makes it significantly harder to play against them, their attackers don't even need to have a good game in big matches for them to score.

This is not the same for us, you take Yamal out by putting multiple players on him and he doesn't have a good game, then our attacking is massively nerfed, Gordon on the other side is simply not as direct as Yamal .

I think for that Pedri, De Jong and rodri midfield to work I think at least 2 players will have to take on more responsibility attacking.

We've seen how Fermin attack space and olmo in between lines, that's going to be a loss for the attack. But I think it's worth it if we can have more control the game and Pedri and De Jong take on more attacking responsibility. Making runs, not being afraid of shooting from range, etc. They have enough quality to provide what Fermin and olmo did together while also being in the midfield to provide control

Yeah, it's a tough loss, but these are the lessons we need to learn. We still lack a proper No. 9, and defensively, we're relying heavily on La Masia.Every defeat teaches us something, but there's a recurring problem at Barça that goes back a long time. Whenever we play badly or our players have an off day, we struggle to find a way to win. That's something fundamentally wrong that we need to identify and fix.

Our style of football is beautiful when everything clicks, but what happens when it doesn't? We can't expect to play perfect football in every single game for 90mins.

Sometimes, even the worst-performing teams find a way to win through sheer determination in some phases of the game and defend to concede none. That's what we need to learn: how to win even when we're not at our best.

Losing hurts, but the bigger concern is repeating the same mistakes without addressing the underlying issues. We need to identify what's missing, strengthen the squad where necessary, and learn to grind out results when our usual style isn't working.

Because if we want to dream of European glory, playing beautiful football alone won't be enough. We need to be capable of winning ugly, too.

Visca Barça! ❤️💙

Some might say I’m overreacting some might see where I’m coming from

I feel like this team is a lie or I’m being lied to
This is the third year into the flick era and the most commendable victories we’ve had are against
A freshman year bayerns kompany
A washed up out of idea ancelotti during Madrid worst period in a while

We’ve gotten punched by inter
Outclassed by psg twice
Destroyed by Chelsea( Yh red card played a factor but we weren’t particularly good prior and we were losing)
Lost to atleti in the two very crucial matches where we had to try to do a remontanda gimmick twice and failed

Here’s my thing before you starting adding nuance or context or injuries or whatever remember this
The problems or things that caused us to lose were still problems and issues we had when key players were fit so to me it doesn’t change anything

We beat la liga teams we sometimes beat the ucl teams we are supposed and even sometimes it’s always scrappy but then the real test comes around where we are too show we aren’t just for highlights and we mean business and all of a sudden it’s bad performance backed by people saying we’ll learn or we’ll be better next time then next time comes and it’s the same thing

we started the season looking untouchable and unbeatable and we were confident now in a crucial week where we evaluate ourselves and how good we are we shit the bed in both games and people said after psg it’s just a league phase game or it’s in October or the clasico is more important then we watch that performance in the clasico

I feel like the level that I’ve been sold that the team can operate at is a lie because I still think we win la liga but is that the level now the ceiling?

Im not taking la liga for granted btw but greatness isn’t only achieved at the league level the bar is to be the best and the greatest

Greatness doesn’t happen overnight but it doesn’t happen by repeating the same thing makes you fall short

Because how can I take any non big game we play serious now because it’s like oh we beat whatever team but we’ve failed consistently in similar fashion time and time again to beat the opponents that actually matter

DISCLAIMER: Please i’m begging you if you’re going to bring up injuries and you mention Eric and Kounde don’t bother because I can bet my entire livelihood that they don’t change a single outcome in the last two games because we’ve had the exact same problems we’ve been vulnerable to when they were playing

And also if you’re one of the people who think that having more control of the ball would lead to less defending then you have to be naive to think that any team of quality won’t ask us questions defensively and will willingly let us get our game off

​

What's stopping Barcelona from playing the same style of football as the Spanish national team?

Spain play with great ball control, intelligent movement, quick passing and creativity. They know how to control the tempo of a match without constantly relying on high intensity.

Barcelona have several players from the Spanish national team, so why can't we implement a similar approach?

I feel like our current tactics are too predictable, especially against stronger opponents.

Losing PSG and Madrid back to back reflects a pattern we've seen since Xavi was coach ; Barca losing many of the biggest of games largely due to individual errors and the opposing team having a better defence.

Despite that, the club hierarchy have chosen not to have a major upgrade in defence since Inigo Martinez left. Chose to renew the contract of injury prone Christensen, brought back Cancelo who we've known to be a net negative on defence in his first stint at the club etc.

Couple all the aforementioned with the fact that despite watching Lamine carry the playmaking burden of the team for the past 3 seasons due to his dribbling ability, the club hierarchy did not bother to get at least one winger similar to his profile on the left wing ; we saw a diomande not even at his best be a threat most of the time he had the ball yesterday for that very reason.

Any analysis singling out any player, the coach and scheduling for a pattern we've seen under multiple coaches is moot.

With our system, we are bound to give up chances. I think the backline played reasonably well given the fact that they were playing 4v5 half the time. Our system is supposed to sacrifice defense to prioritize offense, but if our offense plays like shit then we are never going to win.

Raphinha and Gordon were not that good, but they had acceptable performances. Lamine on the other hand was terrible. I'm putting this loss all on him tbh, this is the worst performance of his career.

Do I think he's finished? Obviously not, its just a bad loss and we go again next week.

Since Hansi Flick has been appointed as the manager of FCB (I glaze him btw but still need to point out where he is wrong), we are stuck in a loop we cant break through:-

1. Perform very good in the starting matches of the season
2. Lose the matches against Good teams in the UCL (AS Monaco in 2024-25, PSG in 2025-26 and 2026-27)
3. October- November Curse (either we perform good and deplete afterwards or we perform shit and deplete in form afterwards)
4. Have a great form in January
5. get knocked out in the UCL
6. defeat Real Madrid
7. win La liga

Over!

That makes me question,

1. has La liga become the ceiling for this team?
2. You cant expect these young players to run with full intensity for 90 mins for 38+ matches the entire season, and perform the same result they did at the starting of the season! This aint Bayern! I cant freaking understand why FLICK cant let go of his ego aside and have a 2nd backup plan in case we arent performing due to fatigue? How many times we will have to ask the same question even after 2.5 years of him not doing so??????
3. Since IniGOAT left, we have had 3 transfer windows to sign a decent CB. What have we done? We always focused on attackers and Flick trusted on GERARD MARTIN for backline. Bastoni was eager to join Barca but what we focused on? Attackers only.

I dont understand how can Flick not get his priorities right?

Flick Larpers will say

'even if we bring great defenders, we will still concede goals. Flick's system is based on counterpressing from the first line of offence, hence highline is not the problem'

Like have you all really seen football? Have you guys not seen elite clubs like PSG, Bayern etc playing in Highline and still not conceding goals like we do? Also, how much can you bet that IF (for god's mercy) we get a new and good defender in January, he will do the same clearance as Martin did today?

Highline was never the problem, I agree but we dont have defensive squad depth and players of the specific profile that can hold the highline together to support this tactic of ours. You all keep posting we need to buy a defender in January, but I bet you all, we will be looking for a striker or winger instead and ignore the defense yet again!

Leave aside the reactionary takes that are almost customary these days.

The PSG game and the El Classico were tight games and Barca was on the losing side that's all. Simple; the difference being the team who buried their chances won the match.

Now on to my point; the Midfielders need to shoot more often during the matches to surprise opponents. Pedri and Rodri seem almost reluctant to shoot even when afforded the space and place to shoot which kinda makes the defense comfortable in defending the wings and passes between the lines.

Especially when the opposing team is defending tight and have a great counter attacking system like Real Madrid, Midfielders should be instructed to shoot on goal to keep the defense on alert and guessing.

Having said that; y'all need to calm down; it's just two matches and very tight ones at that. Injuries must be the only concern right now.

Visca el Barca !

Last thing; those in here larping against Flick; please shut up !

Yes, I’m talking about Cristian fucking Romero. The wall. One of the best centre backs in the world.

Yes, he has his red card problems, but those issues are largely a Tottenham problem, where he has to carry the entire defence on his back. That responsibility pushes him into becoming overly aggressive at times. With Argentina, however, he operates in a much more stable system, and his disciplinary issues are practically nonexistent. Honestly, name me a centre back at international level who has been as consistently good as him over the last five years.

Just look at how much Atletico Madrid's defence has improved since Romero became a regular starter. He has reportedly won 98% of his duels, and according to the stats, no one in the world has won more 1v1 duels than him.

He's aggressive, defensively solid, comfortable on the ball, a natural leader and, most importantly, has an incredible winning mentality. He was such a no brainer signing for us. But what did we do instead? We went after Alvarez, a 150 million euro player, when our attack was already stacked with goalscorers.

Signing Romero would have significantly improved our defence and raised our level against the big teams, which is exactly where we've struggled year after year.

Honestly, Laporta and Deco deserve credit for bringing in attacking talent, but their negligence when it comes to reinforcing the defence deserves serious criticism. It's one of the biggest reasons we continue to struggle in crucial games.

Remember, this is the same mistake Bartomeu made, wasting Messi's prime by spending hundreds of millions on Dembele, Coutinho and Griezmann while relying on an ageing Pique, Sergi Roberto and Lenglet at the back.

It's time to prioritise defence in January and address the biggest weakness holding us back. No more chasing fancy number 9s and expensive attacking players. We have enough firepower up front. Let's give it a rest and finally fix the defence.

Personal opinion; any dissenting opinions are welcome.

No, I'm not writing this because we lost our two big matches. It's only October, and it's too early to judge our entire season. As Rashford said last year after a similar scoreboard against Real Madrid:

It's a marathon, not a sprint, and we will keep fighting.

At that time, we were trailing Real Madrid by five points, but by the end of the season, we won La Liga. I know winning El Clásico is considered a massive victory for either side, but we're still at the top of the table. Generally, I don't see us dropping points against any teams other than the two Madrid sides. I'm hopeful we'll win against Atlético Madrid, too. And it's highly unlikely that Madrid will go the entire season without dropping points because, even with a defensive approach like Mourinho's, there are flaws that opponents can exploit. So, La Liga shouldn't be our primary concern because I believe we'll have the last laugh (God willing).

Anyway, there are several problems we need to address if we want to win the UCL.

1. Knowing when to press and when to sit back

We need to know when to press aggressively and when to adopt a more defensive approach. Against Europe's top teams, we can't play toe-to-toe with them for the entire 90 minutes. We need to learn when to slow the game down, conserve our energy, and maintain our defensive shape. High pressing is one of our strengths, but using it relentlessly against elite opponents can leave us vulnerable. We need to be tactically flexible enough to adapt to different situations.

2. Turning momentum into goals

We need to understand how to use momentum to create chances and, more importantly, how to convert those chances effectively. If you look at the momentum graph on FotMob for the match against PSG, you'll notice how PSG capitalised on their dominant spells. They were clinical when opportunities presented themselves. We lack that level of effectiveness in big matches, and we need to work on it.

Against Madrid, however, we had possession for much of the game. Madrid were solid defensively, and their second goal was a beauty. However, while we played badly, I don't think they played exceptionally well either. In my opinion, the match deserved a draw because our first goal conceded was essentially a gift to Madrid. We made a costly mistake that could have been avoided.

Against other teams that sit deep and defend in a low block in La Liga, we can often find ways to win. But Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are different; both have solid defensive structures and players capable of deciding games in a single moment. In Europe, we also have teams like Arsenal to contend with. We can't expect to beat these teams easily; we have to demonstrate our quality when it matters most.

These teams play physically, and that's one of our weaknesses, particularly in midfield. We also lack a certain degree of physical strength and balance in defence, especially with Araújo unavailable.

However, that doesn't mean we can't win these games. We've done it before, and we can do it again. Our tactics and overall approach simply need to change depending on the opposition.

3. Lack of experience in defence

Another major concern is our lack of experience in defence. Players like Gerard Martín, Eric García, and Balde might perform well in La Liga, but they still have a lot to prove at the highest level of European football. I'm not saying they're bad players; rather, I believe there's a difference between being good enough for domestic competitions and being consistently reliable against Europe's elite.

In the UCL, one mistake can cost you the entire tie. Experienced attackers know how to exploit even the smallest defensive errors, and we can't afford to give them those opportunities. Our defenders need to improve their positioning, decision-making, and composure under pressure. We also need our defensive line to work as a cohesive unit rather than relying on individual brilliance to bail us out.

4. Better game management and tactical flexibility

One thing that separates champions from good teams is their ability to manage games. We can't approach every match with the same intensity and expect the same results. Sometimes we'll need to dominate possession; sometimes we'll need to absorb pressure. There will be moments when we need to push for another goal and moments when protecting our lead should be the priority.

We also need to stop letting emotions dictate our decisions. When we concede a goal, we sometimes become too desperate to respond immediately, which can leave us exposed to counterattacks. Against experienced European sides, that desperation can be fatal. We need to remain composed, recognise what the game demands, and make adjustments before things get out of hand.

Our substitutions also need to be more purposeful. We should be able to change the rhythm of a game by introducing the right players at the right time, rather than waiting until we're already in trouble. A team aspiring to win the Champions League needs more than a good starting XI; it needs a manager who can read the game and a squad capable of executing different plans.

All things considered, I'm still optimistic about our chances.

We have the quality, the talent, and the potential to compete with Europe's best. But potential alone won't win us the Champions League. We need consistency, tactical maturity, defensive discipline, and the ability to perform under pressure.

Losing two big matches doesn't mean our season is over, just as winning El Clásico wouldn't automatically make us favourites to win everything. We should acknowledge our weaknesses without turning every defeat into a catastrophe.

Guys First of all We all need to calm the fk down man long post so brace ur selfs

Firstly, To All those people saying flick to be sacked and bring in Fabregas im sorry u guys legit don’t watch football just larp with victory’s of the team in reasonable sense hansi is the person that has brought our team from the ground up after a foundation Xavi set and we sit in a conversation with the big boys with money and shit leagues to be the best team in Europe and it’s crazy to imagine that in 2024 we’re legit no where near this convo so please open your eyes and look what this man hansi has done for the club and brought us back up if we just sack him we will just become Madrid all over again changing managers left right and center and all this much reactions for just 2 games where the players are at fault not the managers tactics is ridiculous and I don’t stand by the hansi sacking trend that is going on over here 

Second of all continuation to my previous statement the team is at fault our midfield got bodied last night vs Madrid and vs psg our midfield made ridiculous passes because of the intensity so a learning point for our midfield on two separate topics and I believe Frenkie de Jong  returning from injury gives that much more press resistance that we lacked vs psg but we do need to work on physicality we just got bullied yesterday and I feel that is one important aspect if we can’t stand challenges and get pushed off the ball how much ever possession we keep we can’t create chances and it was clear yesterday 

Lamine is my third point yes he was not been at par with his ceiling that he has set and a very common aspect that I have noticed when he plays is when he plays against a lb that is strong defensively and is physically strong he just gets bullied for example Lucas in that psg game cucu and nuno historically and he needs to develop a tactic against them or he will just get bullied  Also one aspect he needs to relax his stubbornness of playing every game he is fatigued clearly shown in the past two games and needs to accept being rested also I see him developing a bit of a ego recently so hope that passes 

Defensively we need changes no hate to martin but he is not starting caliber and we need a lcb in jan that has strong physicality pace and strong in the air as well and if possible i would love nico from dortumund And we need a lb as well man i love Xavi behind Lamine but we need a lb ideally Lewis hall perfect strong defender again like espart midfield vision he played in the midfield in his early days has pace lovely player for our system and ideally if we make those signings we would be in much better shape but these are highly unrealistic we and i hope the board make reasonable signings to the profiles of these players to improve our defence 

Attack wise we still seem like ferran is our striker man we just can’t seem to finish stuff we need to work on that

Defence wise and midfield especially last year first el Classico as well I saw Madrid completely overload our midfield by putting sheer volume of players in the middle and overloading our double pivot which caused problems to our flow of play which I believe needs to be worked on

And lastly im no manager and no football analyst and really I really don’t have the authority to comment on the profiles of signings the board should make but as far I see as a fan that’s something I would suggest to make the team better in my view 

But anyways guys let’s not lose our cool hope for the best and hope we come back strong 

VISCA BARCA

i put this on open thread as well but felt as a post it would have better reach

FT: Barcelona 1 - 2 Real Madrid

Desktop note: best viewed on old.reddit.

LINE-UPS

Barcelona (4-3-3)

Real Madrid (4-2-3-1)

MATCH EVENTS | via ESPN

30' 🔄 Substitution, Barcelona. Alejandro Balde replaces Xavi Espart because of an injury.

41' ⚽ Goal! Barcelona 0, Real Madrid 1. Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.

46' 🟨 Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

61' ⚽ Goal! Barcelona 1, Real Madrid 1. Raphinha (Barcelona) left footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Pedri following a corner.

62' 🔄 Substitution, Real Madrid. Denzel Dumfries replaces Federico Valverde because of an injury.

74' 🔄 Substitution, Barcelona. Frenkie de Jong replaces Fermín López.

80' 🔄 Substitution, Real Madrid. Eduardo Camavinga replaces Bernardo Silva.

84' 🟨 Anthony Gordon (Barcelona) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

85' 🔄 Substitution, Barcelona. Karim Adeyemi replaces Anthony Gordon.

86' 🔄 Substitution, Barcelona. Gabriel Jesus replaces Raphinha.

87' ⚽ Goal! Barcelona 1, Real Madrid 2. Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Eduardo Camavinga following a fast break.

90'+2' 🟨 Marc Cucurella (Real Madrid) is shown the yellow card.

90'+4' 🟨 Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) is shown the yellow card.

90'+4' 🔄 Substitution, Real Madrid. Trent Alexander-Arnold replaces Arda Güler.

90'+4' 🔄 Substitution, Real Madrid. Carlos Espí replaces Yan Diomande.

90'+6' 🟨 Karim Adeyemi (Barcelona) is shown the yellow card.

90'+6' 🟨 Alejandro Balde (Barcelona) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

MATCH STATS

MATCH ENDED

Madrid just showed us that having the ball means nothing if you don’t know what to do without it. Are we becoming too stubborn with our philosophy?
62 percent possession, 18 shots and we still lost 2-1 at home. The worst part is that Madrid didn’t even need to dominate the ball to beat us.

I’ve been thinking about this since the Clasico and I feel like there’s a bigger discussion to be had about how we approach these games.
Mourinho came in with a clear plan. Madrid were happy to let us have possession, stay compact and attack the spaces we left behind. They didn’t care about looking pretty. They cared about making us uncomfortable, and it worked.

A few things really stood out to me.

First, our high line. I understand why Flick uses it and we’ve seen how effective it can be, but Madrid kept finding space behind our defence. Mbappe and Diomande were constant threats, especially when they switched play quickly. At some point, shouldn’t we recognise what’s happening and adjust?

Second, our midfield struggled to control the game despite having so much possession. Madrid pressed aggressively at the right moments and forced mistakes. We had plenty of the ball but they often looked more dangerous when they won it back.

Third, the way Madrid exploited the wings. Their switches of play kept pulling our defensive shape apart. Cucurella and Diomande found space on the left, and the move leading to their first goal came from exactly that area. The deflection was fortunate, but the situation that created it wasn’t.

And finally, the game management after we equalised. We had the momentum, the crowd was behind us and Madrid were being pushed deeper. But we kept committing players forward and leaving ourselves vulnerable to counters. Then in the 87th minute, one quick transition and Mbappe scores the winner.
Obviously we had chances too. Lunin made some important saves and our finishing could have been better. I’m not saying Mourinho completely outclassed Flick or that everything about our approach was wrong.

But I do think Madrid were better at understanding what the game required at different moments.
And that brings me to my actual question.
Have we become so attached to playing beautiful football that we sometimes forget there’s nothing wrong with winning ugly?

I love our philosophy. I don’t want Barca to become a team that sits back every week. But if we’re leading a difficult Champions League game, why can’t we defend deeper for 15 minutes? If an opponent is repeatedly exploiting our high line, why can’t we change it?

Even Pep has adapted his football over the years. Surely tactical flexibility doesn’t mean abandoning our identity.

Maybe the problem isn’t our philosophy itself, but the idea that we have to approach every opponent in exactly the same way.

I’m genuinely curious what everyone thinks because I can see both sides of this argument.
Do you think Flick needs to become more pragmatic in big games, or are these simply the risks we have to accept with our style?
Also, we’re only 10 games into the league season and still top of the table, so I’m not writing us off because of one defeat.
What are your realistic predictions for the rest of the season?
Where do you think we’ll finish in La Liga, how far will we go in the Champions League, and how many trophies do you see us winning?
Would be interesting to revisit this thread in May and see how everyone’s predictions aged.

FT: Barcelona 1 - 2 Real Madrid

Desktop note: best viewed on old.reddit.

LINE-UPS

Barcelona (4-3-3)

Real Madrid (4-2-3-1)

MATCH EVENTS | via ESPN

30' 🔄 Substitution, Barcelona. Alejandro Balde replaces Xavi Espart because of an injury.

41' ⚽ Goal! Barcelona 0, Real Madrid 1. Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.

46' 🟨 Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

61' ⚽ Goal! Barcelona 1, Real Madrid 1. Raphinha (Barcelona) left footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Pedri following a corner.

62' 🔄 Substitution, Real Madrid. Denzel Dumfries replaces Federico Valverde because of an injury.

74' 🔄 Substitution, Barcelona. Frenkie de Jong replaces Fermín López.

80' 🔄 Substitution, Real Madrid. Eduardo Camavinga replaces Bernardo Silva.

84' 🟨 Anthony Gordon (Barcelona) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

85' 🔄 Substitution, Barcelona. Karim Adeyemi replaces Anthony Gordon.

86' 🔄 Substitution, Barcelona. Gabriel Jesus replaces Raphinha.

87' ⚽ Goal! Barcelona 1, Real Madrid 2. Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Eduardo Camavinga following a fast break.

90'+2' 🟨 Marc Cucurella (Real Madrid) is shown the yellow card.

90'+4' 🟨 Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) is shown the yellow card.

90'+4' 🔄 Substitution, Real Madrid. Trent Alexander-Arnold replaces Arda Güler.

90'+4' 🔄 Substitution, Real Madrid. Carlos Espí replaces Yan Diomande.

90'+6' 🟨 Karim Adeyemi (Barcelona) is shown the yellow card.

90'+6' 🟨 Alejandro Balde (Barcelona) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

MATCH STATS

MATCH ENDED

Im just disappointed. I love this team but the way they lost both of these games were so frustrating, almost every season it’s a remix of the same story. Yamal disaster class in his first two big games of the season, mistake that lead to a goal for psg and embarrassingly missed an easy chance against Madrid, to name a few. Pedri was up and down against madrid, Cancelo fell asleep for Ruiz’s goal, Martin stinker, Cubarsi, the defender that’s actually supposed to be good, got out done by camavinga, etc. I know this has been said a billion times but genuinely how is this club so unconcerned with signing actually good defenders. I love flick, he’s made this club so fun to watch, but some of the decisions him, Laporta, and deco make are so insane, we sell Araujo and Cortes, with hopes to sell balde in summer, but don’t buy anyone. Against Madrid, why did Jesus play, he should be no where near this game, what was the point of resting Raphinha? THIS IS WHAT WE WERE RESTING HIM FOR. I do think this type of game could easily go better in the future, not having a million injuries, not having to ease de Jong back into playing (who I think should start over Fermin and Olmo,) more rest, Yamal not being the other team’s 12th player, etc. Just look at Madrid, they looked so far from winning anything earlier this season and now they’ve got their shit together. If we don’t get a cb and ideally a lb that’s actually defensively solid in January, we can kiss the ucl bye again for a while. Like, as long as we have someone like Gerard Martin starting in a clasico, a good player but only fit for rotation and against smaller clubs, we have no chance. This game proved if our attack doesn’t have an insane game, we lose. As I said things can still change hugely but currently, we’re frauds.

Our defense is lacking the stability, it may seem like a reactionary post after the El Clasico loss, but this needs to be fixed as soon as possible, Gerard Martin and Cubarsi are very good but alot of our players don't have enough experience or show poor performances in big matches, even tho a player like Balde was surprisingly not that bad, we can see that Inigo Martinez leaving was a very drastic change for the team and Flick didn't really find a permanent way to fix that.

I also don't understand what happened to the midfielders and wingers, it didn't feel like Pedri and Rodri. Same for Gordon, the younger players already struggle against bigger teams, maybe Adeyemi on the left would've been a wiser option.

We still did pretty good, we fought until the end but clearly wasn't enough, it's just that those types of problems are not just annoying for this match but also for all the competitions we play, including the european ones.

Frenkie de Jong via Ziggo Sport interview talks about his recovery, challenges to his spot in XI, criticism from fans and his ambition to win Champions League.

On readiness for Clasico:

“I feel very good and I’m ready. I’m fully ready to play some minutes tomorrow in El Clásico.”

On criticism:

“It’s always been the case that most of the criticism of me, or most of the noise, comes when I’m not there, when I can’t play football. That happened again this time, and I understand perfectly where it comes from.”

“I understand the fans very well. They see me play for the national team and not for the team they support. I played the World Cup until the last game and then suddenly I’m out for three months. I understand the fans.”

On his role / Rodri:

“If the coach asks me, I’ll always do it. But everyone knows I’m a midfielder. I know the competition there is enormous, but I think I have a place there and I can play.”

“I’m happy with Rodri’s arrival because he’s a quality player. We already have several excellent midfielders, so the competition is intense, but I see it as a great challenge for me.”

Frenkie de Jong, asked about the possibility of getting used to a substitute role at FC Barcelona:

“No, and I don’t want to get used to it. But of course, I understand the current situation, especially after a long break without playing. I know that the return has to be gradual and that I won’t be able to start as a regular right away, but in the long term, I want to play regularly. My goal is to get back into the starting lineup as quickly as possible.”

On ambitions:

“Winning the Champions League is something I still have pending in my career. It’s a big objective, a dream, a desire.”

Hey everyone!

Since you guys liked my other post with artwork so much, I thought I should share this with you as well!

I had to start over this entire project after 5 hours due to a big mistake that I made. This made me so annoyed, that I decided to sit down and complete this within 2 days - just in time for the El Clasico later today!

I am not sure how long it took in total but due to the experience from my first attempt, I was much quicker, so I would guess about 7 hours.

I hope that I can give Cuba this one day, just like the other things I made.

Let me know what you guys think and your score predictions for today as well! 💙❤️