Hansi Flick pulled off extra soccer wizardry in Barcelona‘s 5-1 thrashing of Villarreal on Sunday. Like all good magicians, although, it is time for him to swirl his cape, twirl his moustache, look the viewers straight within the eye and announce, “And now for my subsequent trick!”
The German coach’s Sunday sorcery was a devastating efficiency through which his crew may simply have scored 5 or 6 extra, in opposition to a tough rival, utilizing three extra children within the Barça lineup who, between them, had a mere 5 LaLiga begins for the membership: Gerard Martín (2), Sergi Domínguez (1) and Pablo Torre (2). Barcelona shrugged off their harm disaster, their tiredness having performed — and been crushed — with ten males at AS Monaco within the Champions League on Thursday, plus the juvenile nature of their XI (by no means thoughts the truth that Villarreal attacked them with venom and will themselves have scored 5 or 6 instances) but gained in beautiful trend.
Within the quick time since becoming a member of, Flick has put large religion in a raft of junior and fully inexperienced gamers from his youth system and produced profitable, high-scoring, top-of-the-league soccer, which makes him, if you happen to pardon the comparability, Barcelona’s model of David Blaine or David Copperfield.
The rationale he urgently must high these feats and conjure up one thing much more particular is the horrible harm to his first-choice goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen.
The Germany worldwide had made three improbable saves to maintain rampant Villarreal at bay earlier than collapsing in agony when clutching a cross simply earlier than half-time. Barça introduced that the 32-year-old suffered a “full rupture” of the patellar tendon in his proper knee, and sources have informed ESPN that he might be sidelined for months and is unlikely to play once more this season.
The crux of the matter is that Ter Stegen’s deputy, Iñaki Peña, is solely not adequate to assist the Spanish Liga leaders keep their extraordinary progress, and positively not adequate to assist Barcelona obtain the top-eight standing required to be able to progress mechanically to the Champions League knockout rounds. No want to enter depth about Barcelona’s monetary honest play (FFP) issues, or their €1 billion international debt, the tough reality is that it is important Barcelona progress within the Champions League and grasp the income that may start to free them from their damaging monetary restrictions — or else the vicious cycle continues.
If I sound imply a couple of 25-year-old who managed to see out the victory in opposition to the Yellow Submarine on Sunday, then let me remind you of the horrors that Barcelona suffered when Peña deputised for Ter Stegen final season. Statistics do not inform all the story, however they’re a great starting.
Peña performed 17 instances throughout 4 competitions for Xavi Hernandez’s aspect and conceded 32 instances. Is a goalkeeper chargeable for each ball that flies previous him? No, however when you find yourself delivery in such excessive numbers, after which there is a stark comparability when Ter Stegen returns to the aspect, the proof builds. (The German solely conceded 27 in 28 LaLiga matches final season.)
Peña additionally performed his half in a number of the landmark humiliations that contributed to Xavi’s eventual dismissal: 3-2 in opposition to Royal Antwerp, 4-2 at dwelling to Girona, 4-1 in opposition to Actual Madrid within the Spanish Supercopa remaining, a 4-2 Copa del Rey elimination at Athletic Membership, 5-3 at dwelling to Villarreal. See the sample?
This isn’t, by any means, an assault on the keeper. It is the identical cold-eyed evaluation that Flick and his workers could have been finishing up from the start of their 162-mile journey dwelling on Sunday evening.
Is Peña the reply to Ter Stegen’s absence? That is the place Flick’s subsequent magic trick must be his most spectacular piece of conjuring but.
By the point Ter Stegen returned from again issues final season, it was apparent that his Spanish deputy was relieved to be out of the firing line.
Peña, by trendy requirements, is a comparatively small keeper whose value is predicated upon agility and old-school save-making. The place he isn’t wonderful is in both his distribution of the ball from his toes or when he’s requested to be the “free man” sweeper on the again, when Barcelona play out by beating their opponents’ press. Whereas Peña was within the crew, Barcelona’s rivals shortly understood that in the event that they harassed, hurried and pressed him, he would possible hand possession again or make an error.
Has Peña assimilated this expertise and benefited from it? Has he gone again and regarded on the tapes, realized from his errors and grow to be a stronger, higher useful resource for his membership?
Keep in mind, in Spanish soccer, the backup goalkeeper would not get to play for the B crew. His solely work is in coaching; there’s little or no alternative to use the teachings realized from that extraordinarily bruising and bumpy spell when he was in pole place.
Flick and his quite a few workers are nonetheless very new to the membership — do not forget that. They’ve been capable of see Peña in coaching since late July, that is true, however none of them have been first-hand witnesses to how he reacts below the highlight or shoulders the immense stress {that a} Barcelona aspect utilizing a really excessive defensive position locations on any goalkeeper.
Again to the requirement for Flick to supply some magic.
Can he, and his workers, mentor Peña and make sure that he competently sees them by means of to the following switch window no less than? I’ll declare my colors now: I do not suppose a call to stay with the No. 2 and continued trophy challenges are appropriate.
Have been it not for these pesky FFP laws that, keep in mind, meant that Dani Olmo could not be registered for the primary a part of the season as soon as he signed from RB Leipzig, then the membership would have introduced in a goalkeeper to make sure that this form of state of affairs would by no means happen within the first place. They had been just too financially restricted to even ponder that, although.
They set sail into the brand new Flick period with fingers, and all the things else, crossed that their German captain would not be injured. Now, lo and behold, catastrophe.
Flick has choices.
He has been extremely daring (and profitable) in how a lot religion to position place in a stream of younger gamers with no earlier influence on the primary crew. So, may he attain into the youth ranks and choose somebody who vaults over Peña but helps keep this run of video games through which Barcelona have gained six out of six and scored 22 instances within the course of?
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Barcelona wait on ‘large’ harm replace on Marc-André ter Stegen
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick is “unhappy” regardless of beating Villarreal 5-1 in LaLiga after Marc-André ter Stegen went off with a “large” harm.
The primary choice is 20-year-old Ander Astralaga, who, whereas he typically sits on the first-team bench, is, nonetheless, the Barcelona B goalkeeper. The Basque is patently proficient, assured and has racked up respectable expertise within the youth ranks, however he’s slightly impetuous and identified for nonetheless having a number of too many errors in his sport.
Budapest-born Áron Yaakobishvili is rated behind Astralaga so should not, in concept, be able to supplant Peña. The Miami-born golden gloves of the youth system, 18-year-old Diego Kochen, who’s the most effective of the lot, has a hamstring downside that’s scheduled to maintain him out for almost a month.
The principles on Barcelona buying a brand new goalkeeper, exterior the switch market, are crystal clear — and solely reasonably useful. If Ter Stegen is medically licensed to be out for greater than 4 months, then Barcelona might be permitted to hunt a substitute, however there are strict parameters.
Any goalkeeper they select wouldn’t solely need to be out of contract however not registered with any membership when the summer season switch market ended, which means that if a keeper who was sad at his current membership was all of the sudden launched from his contract, he wouldn’t be eligible to instantly play for Barcelona. Them’s the foundations.
However, there are candidates: Keylor Navas, Edgar Badia, Jordi Masip, Tomás Vaclík. This listing brings us proper again to the necessity for Flick and his assistants to not solely produce a magical resolution however to get issues proper, below stress, earlier than their exceptional momentum in LaLiga is upset.
The video games come thick and quick, in opposition to Getafe on Wednesday, away to Osasuna this weekend after which a vital Champions League fixture in opposition to Younger Boys of Switzerland subsequent Tuesday. They want time to suppose and breathe, however there is not any time — besides time for slightly little bit of Flick magic.
