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Graham Hunter
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick didn’t come out for his post-match news conference at Celta Vigo on Sunday sword in hand, dressed in the gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius’ leather tunic, roaring, «Are you not entertained?!» But he should have.
Chin jutted out, hostile stare, arms akimbo, challenging everyone present with Russell Crowe’s «Gladiator» follow-up line» Is this not why you are here?»
Flick’s LaLiga champions had just completed their fourth of match the season that yielded six or more goals. The 4-2 win in Vigo marked 66 goals scored and conceded in 14 games — that’s more than four per outing.
Barcelona are not the best team in Europe, but they are the best ticket. The greatest guarantee of topsy-turvy football, non-stop action, nets bulging, hero stories, epic fails and great dollops of genius.
The vast majority of those who love football out there are enamored with the sport, the addiction of high drama and elite skill — not shackled to a club or their badge. Huge tranches of those who watch Spanish football simply crave entertainment. And boy, do Flick’s Barcelona serve that up with a big ladle.
It’s the Ziegfeld Follies meets the Harlem Globetrotters, with a drop of Keystone Kops plus Barnum & Bailey thrown in, too. There’s non-stop entertainment, jaw-dropping audacity, invention, lack of attention, lapses in concentration, surprises, fun, pugnaciousness and Jake LaMotta-style «I’ll throw a flurry of punches and then you throw yours.»
When did the rest of the world become such football Grinches? When did it become so fashionable and so attractive to the sheep in the media herd to trot along the same old path of «Baah, baah; bleat, bleat, bleat,» instead of mixing in the admission that a flawed implementation of high-risk tactics, when mixed in with attacking brilliance, is just appointment viewing?
It’s must-see TV!
Flick and his leaky (but lovely) team mix madness with magic, facing almost as many attacks and growling criticism off the pitch as they do shots on it — and that’s saying something! UEFA Champions League winners Ruud Gullit, Thierry Henry and Didier Deschamps all have taken aim at Barça and let loose these past few days.
The France coach said that «Barcelona plays with a very high line, regardless of the moment in the match, and that leaves defenders in impossible situations.» Impossible? Really, Didier?
Gullit, typically, was much more brutal. «Why insist on a plan which is doomed to fail,» he demanded to know, while calling Barcelona’s defensive ideas «kamikaze.» The plan wasn’t «doomed» to fail last season, Ruud.
Henry, who still loves the club with which he won the 2009 Champions League, couldn’t contain his irritation and frustration after Barcelona’s 3-3 draw at Club Brugge on Wednesday. He argued, «I don’t want to talk about my old club like this, but … you can’t carry on defending like this. I can’t bypass the fact that you keep on letting people go and run at your goal.»
Ian Paul Joy ranted, «Mark my words, if they continue to play this high line, Barcelona might win absolutely nothing this season.» Might. Indeed. A powerful word.
Joy was in line with Gullit (again), whose point of view is, «Every turnover is an open invitation to a counterattack. You can’t win titles playing like that.»
What both of these gentlemen seem to have failed to understand is that, a) you can win titles playing like that — Barcelona won three of them last season — and b) the high line was equally derided last season, especially by those who talk without studying. While it’s high-risk, zero-error-tolerance tactic, it’s highly effective if it’s executed well.
«We can talk about the idea of changing everything … but I’m not the kind of coach to do that,» Flick said last week. «We want to play true to Barça DNA. I do not want to sit deep and win 1-0 on a counterattack.»
In summing up his trophy-laden first season at the club, the 60-year-old former Bayern Munich and Germany manager said, «The fact is that this team enjoys the respect of all of Europe. We look at ourselves in the mirror and are proud of our commitment and our style of play.»
Then, on Sunday, Flick was asked whether he has «a point to prove» and started laughing to himself, responding, «You know, I always think about saying something about the ‘experts.’ The ‘experts’ meaning former players or former coaches, but I will not do it. I would give you all too many things to speak about and there’s too much noise around us already.»
What baffles is the fact that this exact brand of football — better applied, admittedly — produced several matches last season that firmly edged into the all-time-classic genre. Stuff we should all be deeply grateful to have enjoyed.
Think about that pulsating 3-2 win at Borussia Dortmund, the 5-4 victory in Lisbon against Benfica (mad, mad defending; worse than anything Flick’s team has shown this season, but capped by a brilliant, jaw-dropping added-time winner), the pair of 3-3 draws against Inter Milan — 210 minutes of relentless thrills, twists, heroism, fun and tension.
The Copa del Rey final Clásico? Seven goals, a barnstorming finish, large chunks of the match when it was clear that either side could win — ditto the second LaLiga Clásico.
If Flick could have played up Maximus Decimus Meridius’ «Are you not entertained?» demand on Sunday, then his squad could adopt the Robbie Williams anthem «Let Me Entertain You.»
The win in Vigo was Flick’s 50th LaLiga match in charge of the Blaugrana. His record: won 37, drawn five, lost eight. That doesn’t seem to reprehensible to me and, getting back to the entertainment theme, those 50 contests have brought 188 goals: very nearly four per match. Bumper-sized entertainment.
Who talks about that, though? Who praises the fact that Barcelona never know when they’re beaten?
Sometimes they’ll boss a game (Getafe, Valencia and Olympiacos this season; aggregate 15-1), but on other occasions they’ll need the jolt of falling behind or being under the cosh before they unleash a barrage of brilliant passes, goal chances and Lamine Yamal dribbling magic. Win, lose or draw, they’ll cut loose on the opponent; we just have to sit back and appreciate.
I’d wager that the pundits, although not wholly inaccurate about the flaws and inconsistencies in how Flick’s team is practicing its philosophy or about how vulnerable they’ve looked in recent weeks, are out of tune with the ordinary fan.
2:44
Flick: Defending is not in Barcelona’s DNA
Hansi Flick has defended his style of play following Barcelona’s 3-3 draw with Club Brugge in the Champions League.
Most of us these days are burdened by overwork, lack of work, lack of sleep, lack of money, over-stress, ennui, frustration or concerns about various global issues. Right? If soccer is your bag, then love them, loathe them or find them mildly amusing, Barcelona will pay you back with entertainment.
There’s zero doubt about that, but neither is there very much credit given. All the while, Flick continues not only to cope with a problematic injury list, but the continuation of reducing the average age of an already-Bambi squad.
This season he’s already given four more teenage debutants their chances: left back Jofre Torrents (18), Dro Fernández (17), Toni Fernández (17) and Roony Bardghji (19). Daring? Given how young Yamal, Alejandro Balde, Pau Cubarsí, Fermín López, Pedri and Marc Casadó already are, this is quite a feat, high risk and another indicator that the Barcelona DNA that the German constantly refers to is something he takes very seriously.
At Flick’s Barcelona, if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
So, give a Bronx cheer the next time you read or hear a critic ranting vaguely that Barcelona’s high line is a recipe for disaster. It’s the modern equivalent of Alan Hansen watching David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary Neville blossom at Manchester United and claim «you can’t win anything with kids.»
Meantime, sit back and enjoy. There’ll be a goal or a mix-up or a red card or a wonder pass or a broken offside line in a minute. That’s just how they play.
Are you not entertained?
