Hansi Flick’s tenure at FC Barcelona couldn’t have began any better. In the first few months, Flick’s Barcelona won almost every game in La Liga and delivered decisive victories against some of their toughest rivals like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
What has since happened is hard to explain. One win in six in La Liga, including three losses and two draws. It was one thing to lose to Real Sociedad (7th) with a wrongly disallowed goal, but it’s quite another to lose to UD Las Palmas (14th) and CD Leganés (15th.)
There have been good wins in that period, notably away against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League. But overall, the results are quite bad. A recent form table over this period showed Barcelona last in La Liga - truly baffling after such a great start.
Barcelona dominated the chances against Leganés but couldn’t convert any, with particularly, Robert Lewandowski - who was scoring like a machine previously - missing what should’ve been easy chances.
It was a similar story against Las Palmas, Barcelona created more than enough to win but could not convert.
Another key weakness has been conceding late goals. Against Real Betis, Barcelona allowed Assane Diao to score an equalizer in the 94th when they looked to have won the match. And against Celta de Vigo, it was even worse: allowing two goals after the 84th minute to let the home team avoid defeat.
The only reason Barcelona are even still in the title race has been the faltering form of Real Madrid, who have not capitalized fully on Barça’s slips. But unless Barcelona’s form changes, they will probably see themselves leapfrogged by either Real or Atlético de Madrid soon.
Speaking of Atlético, Barcelona’s next match is against them in what could be a pivotal clash in the title race. The Catalans will be without Lamine Yamal, and forced to come up against a very good team to try to get a result.
Thankfully, Flick has the winter break to try to reset his team and get them back to winning ways. The worry is that the damage may have been already done by the time we get there.