With the appointment of Hansi Flick as the head coach, FC Barcelona are going to go through a relatively new experience in the coming season as the new coach’s style and philosophy is quite distinct from what one understands to be the traditional Barcelona style of play.
Keeping in view his stint at Bayern Munich, there has been speculation in the mainstream and social media that the German will put a lot of emphasis on the physicality of the players at his new club.
There is some degree of truth in this, as Flick believes that changes of pace and intensity are vital components of the game today, and a good athletic ability is as important in his players as other technical aspects.
However, according to SPORT, this does not mean that Flick is obsessed with the physical preparation of his players.
The German will not prioritize brute power in his team at the expense of good football and would put a lot of emphasis on ball circulation and pressing, while never giving up on intensity and physical capacity.
This emphasis on footballing quality is clear from the fact that the German wants to deploy a double pivot in his midfield, instead of a destroyer single pivot. This was one of the reasons why the Guido Rodriguez transfer was frozen despite the Argentine getting quite near to a move to Barcelona.
But as things stand, Flick also believed that the team lacked energy in the last season, especially while facing some of the biggest teams in Europe. But the German is confident he can significantly improve this aspect with regular daily routines aimed at enhancing the intensity of the players.
In fact, Barça already identified this problem and wanted to mitigate it even before Flick was appointed as the team’s head coach. But since his arrival, Flick has already undertaken contacts with the individual in charge of this aspect of the team, Julio Tous, and both the trainers are working in complete harmony.
