If last season all of the talk about the risk of a high offside line was proven emphatically wrong by Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, all the criticism from talking heads has been vindicated this year. The Blaugrana have struggled all year defensively, with neither their offside line nor their pressing looking like that of last season.

It is true that Barcelona have been suffering significant injuries, and Flick has said that ‘things will look different’ once he has his first-choice players back. Nevertheless, he has doubled down on the system itself, and rejected any idea of altering the approach.

How Flick is working on Barcelona’s defensive system

According to MD, Flick and coach Heiko Westermann, a former defender himself, are the two coaches chiefly in charge of coordinating the defensive system in training. The pair use a giant screen on the training ground in order to convey to the players in real-time what they want from them. There they show clips of situations in which they want to adjust things, and primarily the focus has been on when the defensive line should push up, and when it should drop, and how the defenders should have their bodies positioned.

Insufficient pressure on the ball

As has been pointed out in many places, by many people, including Flick, Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia, one of the key issues they have identified is the lack of pressure on the ball. This was seen for Kylian Mbappe’s goal during El Clasico, where Jude Bellingham escaped the pressure and could slide a pass in behind. Against Celta Vigo in their last game, Flick assigned Frenkie de Jong to drop onto Borja Iglesias, but ended up playing Ferran Jutgla onside before the latter assisted the Spain international.

Pedri is not training with the group. Although the sensations are good, they don't want to force his return and want to take it step by step. Raphinha has done part of the training with the group. Casadó is training on the sidelines. He has good sensations. @monfortcarlos

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 18, 2025

While it is difficult to pull off and coordinate, Flick’s system is rather simple in concept. The issues that the Blaugrana have been dealing with have been evident, but most worrying from a Barcelona perspective is that for two months, Flick has struggled to effect changes or more precision. The return of Joan Garcia and Raphinha should help, but Flick will come under pressure if there is no improvement.