The early days of the Hansi Flick era in Barcelona couldn't have gone better, with the team playing like one of the world's best for the first two months of the 2024-25 season. Suddenly, come Nov, 10. things took a turn and now, the honeymoon period is over.
After winning 11 of their first 12 league games, Barcelona have just one win in the last six, tallying just five points from a possible 18. After beating Espanyol on Nov. 3, a week following the 4–0 dismantling of Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, the Catalans had a nine point lead in La Liga. Now, that lead has been squandered and both Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid—their next league opponent—can overtake them in the standings if they win their game in hand.
Granted, Barcelona's "crisis" is one many European teams would gladly take. First in La Liga and second in the UEFA Champions League league phase at the halfway point of the campaign doesn't necessarily spell big trouble.
However, what's happened to Barcelona in the last month and a half could be an ominous warning tale of what could fully materialize in the decisive part of the season come 2025. If the Blaugrana want to seriously contend for silverware, there are concrete issues they must resolve.
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From the moment Flick arrived, he brought with him a defensive system that requires Barcelona to live on a knife's edge.
No matter if they're in or out of possession, Barcelona's defensive line plays the majority of the game high up the pitch, around the height of the center circle. This aids Flick's high-pressing system and allows Barcelona to recover the ball quickly; however, it also leaves them exposed, with nothing but over 50 yards of grass between the backline and goalkeeper Iñaki Peña.
Barcelona's last defensive measure is to play teams offside and this worked wonders earlier in the season, highlighted by the 12 offsides called against Real Madrid in El Clásico. However, teams in Spain have begun to figure out how to beat Flick's system.
Instead of targeting strikers or wingers that can be easily caught offside, the opposition's focus has shifted towards passing to midfielders making runs from the second level. This makes it harder for Barça defenders to play an offside trap and in consequence, the dangers of the high line get exposed, as the opposition is through on goal—see the second goal by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
After allowing 0.9 goals a game in the first 12 league matches, Barcelona have allowed eight in their last six, with Iñaki Peña being the hero in many occasions by saving other clear 1v1 situations.
In the four matches Barcelona have played this month, there's been only two changes in the starting lineup. Ten players have already played over 1,500 minutes in all competitions, after them, Dani Olmo is the only other player to eclipse the 700 minute mark.
Injuries have plagued Barcelona's backline for much of the season and that's led to Íñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí being overworked. Perhaps a reason for the drop in effectiveness of the high line is that the two center backs aren't able to play with the same level of energy and intensity than in the early part of the campaign.
On the wings, Raphinha trails only Martínez for the team lead in minutes played. He exited the game against Borussia Dortmund for what was described later as "exhaustion." Lamine Yamal has played whenever available, but between fatigue and being fouled constantly he's had two injuries in the past two months, with the latter now keeping him out of action until 2025.
Ferran Torres has been deployed as a striker to ease Robert Lewandowski's workload and Ansu Fati is the other remaining natural winger in the squad.
The toll of the season is resulting in a drop in efficiency and overall quality of play. If Flick doesn't find a way to ease the burden on some of his key players then the issue will only worsen come the back half of the campaign.
In their thunderous start to La Liga, Barcelona scored 40 goals in their first 12 matches. Since, they've only managed to score 10 in the last six, with five of them coming in their only win of that stretch against Mallorca.
Lewandowski still commands the golden boot race with 16 league goals, but he's only scored two since the start of November. Yamal hasn't scored since he became the youngest scorer in El Clásico's history back in October.
Despite Yamal's scoring drought, he's Barcelona's best playmaker and the key to unlocking low blocks. Now that he'll be sidelined in the coming weeks, it's worth remembering that Barcelona are yet to win a game in the league this season without him in the starting lineup.
Barça dominated games from start to finish early in the season, but lately that's changed exposing a significant issue: the inability to overcome low defensive blocks. Every time Barcelona have trailed in a game this season, they've ended up losing. After scoring first, UD Las Palmas beat Barcelona away from home for the first time in 53 years. CD Leganes beat them in Barcelona for the first time in club history.
Barcelona are a team that's designed to beat teams that are adventurous, not teams that prioritize defending. In the midst of their slump, they became the first team to beat Borussia Dortmund—a team that didn't sit back defensively—at Signal Iduna Park in the Champions League since 2021.
Domestic teams are beginning to figure out that having a compact defensive block significantly contains Barcelona's front line. League opponents have realized that playing deep and exploiting the high defensive line on the counter is the recipe for success against Flick's side. If the German manager doesn't adjust, it wont be long before teams in Europe replicate that strategy come the new year.
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