The jumps of joy in Hansi Flick’s side after consummating the victory in Dortmund revealed a state of satisfaction. A feeling that an hour after the game, in the bowels of Signal Iduna Park, remained. The smile on the face of the German Barça coach looked everlasting. He seemed happy and by being able to express himself in his native language he had been able to convey all the pride he had inside. He received congratulations and pats on the back in the hallways of the Westfallen Stadion, even from the Borussia Dortmund staff. Although he is the bete noire of the yellow team, with six wins in six games, here he is valued as a legal and jovial guy.
A coach who believes in his team, who is managing his team firmly and with affection and who has won over the locker room with decisions that give him a lot of credibility. Not only with the radical offside bet with which he surprised his pupils already in preseason but with his management of the minutes.
After advocating for a memory eleven, he has intervened in a vital way with key provocations
Due to the injuries and the need to consolidate the project from the start, the coach strongly advocated for a group of players as starters, placing them again and again in the eleven. The Raphinha, Lewandowski, Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez and Pedri were accumulating wear and tear. Until after the high against Madrid and Bayern came a drop in strength and concentration, with irregular results.
Flick has reacted to the situation with determination. That Lewandowski doesn’t do anything against Las Palmas because he is a substitute in Mallorca, where he didn’t even warm up. That he considers that more energy is needed and that efforts must be saved for the Champions League, since the Pole, Olmo or Pedri, substituted in Seville with the match to be decided. That in Dortmund another twist is required, since once again the nine and Olmo are relieved by Fermín and Ferran Torres, who has unexpectedly revived.
He has recovered Raphinha, he is achieving it with Ferran Torres, he played with Iñaki Peña and he has consolidated Casadó
Because that is another, the ability to recover footballers for the cause that Flick has. Under his leadership Raphinha has become one of the fittest strikers in Europe, essential day in and day out and with 17 goals already in his personal account. Almost no one believed in the Brazilian’s chances, just as few expected that Ferran Torres would suddenly become the team’s driving force at the point of attack. For the first time, the Valencian has scored in three consecutive games with Barcelona. His double in Dortmund is a great boost of confidence for him and a warning for Lewandowski not to overdo it on the pitch.
Read also
Flick’s interventions are not small or official and they work. Of the team’s last ten goals, five have come from substitutes (one from Pau Víctor, another from De Jong and three from Ferran).
In this sense, Flick has been making bets since the beginning of the course that have helped the team to follow him faithfully. When any analyst would have signed a pivot for Barcelona, he said that he made do with what he could find in the house and gave command to Marc Bernal. When the teenager was injured in Vallecas, Casadó took the position, who has made his international debut.
In the same way when the signing of Szczesny was confirmed due to the long-term absence of Ter Stegen, everyone thought that the Polish goalkeeper would take over the goal, but Flick maintained his confidence in Iñaki Peña. To the point that Szczesny hasn’t even debuted yet. Flick handles the psychological component as something fundamental. It was also seen, for example, in the case of Gerard Martín. After being singled out in Vigo, where he almost got sent off, he was also given the start in the following game, no less than in the Champions League against Brest. That day the winger completed his best minutes.
The coach wants all his boys to feel involved in the project and mixes them with the experience of players like Iñigo Martínez, also a very different footballer from last season. “It’s phenomenal how the players experience the games all together, how they help each other. In this sense, the Masia school has done a great job,” says the coach. It is now in the hands of Professor Flick. He believes in his footballers and his footballers believe in him.
#Flicks #brave #decisions #drive #Barça