Hansi Flick is better than Xavi Hernandez as a coach. This is not surprising. The German has won the Champions League and has a lot of experience. Meanwhile, the Spaniard only reached his peak at Al Sadd in the Qatar Stars League.
Of course, Xavi is not a bad coach, but he has not achieved a certain recognition. He also has his own tactical ideas but the application is not successful.
Flick has also been a divisive figure, with his tenure with the German national team and even his time at Bayern Munich at the end of it being questioned.
The aggression of Flick's teams has sometimes led to embarrassing defeats. Germany's defeat to Japan was undeniable evidence of Flick's shortcomings as a coach.
Germany created 10.1 expected goals and conceded 3.4 expected goals in the 2022 World Cup group stage. The problem is that they could only turn that dominance into 6 goals, while conceding 5.
Basically, in the modern football environment, most coaches are not aggressive enough. They are more afraid of losing than dedicated to winning. However, Flick goes against the majority.
The German tactician seems to want to blow opponents off the pitch. His teams always press hard, shoot a lot and allow opponents to counter-attack. In fact, this style of Flick is proving to be suitable for Barcelona.
The Blaugrana are pressing more aggressively this season, controlling more space and taking more shots.
In a dynamic sport like football, tactics are all about trade-offs. Enhancing one aspect of a team's play can make them better or worse. In Barca's last 10 La Liga games, it seems Flick's trade-off has been worth it.
There is still plenty of time left in the season and Real Madrid are still the favourites to win La Liga. However, there is no doubt about who has played better in the first 10 games of the campaign. Barcelona are playing at their best while Real Madrid are still struggling to get into the groove.
"Barcelona's philosophy has always been to press high and win the ball from the opponent. We will have to make sure the positions are connected and not leave too many gaps between the lines. Barcelona did that well against Bayern Munich" - Flick said before the match against Real Madrid.
The match between Real Madrid and Barcelona takes place at 2:00 a.m. on October 27 (Vietnam time).
