[Music] [Applause] hello and welcome here to talk FCB and welcome back to the channel here today guys for another podcast episode coming your way today because quite frankly we've got to just try and talk about everything that is going on right now with Bara of course the game against Atletico Madrid a 2-1 loss last night the final game that we will play this year and just what is really happening what's going on you know looking at the game last night for example how bad actually was it you know are there actually some things in there
that we can take that are really positive from that in my opinion there are some things but there are also underlying problems with this team that we've seen now not just about this game but going back several several weeks it's really been seeping into our game and today it's time for another really honest chat and we are going to be talking especially about individuals today they're very good you know there are some very very good individual performances right now at Bara but we will also be talking about the downright Dreadful because it is a real
mixed bag right now at Barca guys so all of that is coming up today let's sit down let's chat and let's try to get to the bottom of what is happening because indeed guys first of all all I think it's really important here to look at Hy Flick's words after the game here to understand what his feeling was after the match and I've got to say flick was incredibly positive you know the one sense that I got from him was real frustration yes you know obviously he was angry at the fact that we really blew
the game at the end that we ended up losing this match that we seemed in control of for much of it but he did ultimately say we played a great game he was very very happy with the overall performance he said this is the kind of style that I want to see from my team and he actually said that the players out there made him proud even though it's really disappointed to come away from the game empty-handed in the end so in general flick was pleased encouraged by the style of course he still wasn't on
the touch line I don't think that's really helped us either I've got to say guys in the past two games their flick not being anywhere near the team not being able to pass on those in-game instructions that is far far from ideal so at least in 2025 now we're going to have back on the touch line where he belongs but in terms of the performance then was it not that bad you know were there actually some good signs in there from barcel was it an overall good display because you're looking at the XG from this
game the expected goals Atletico Madrid had 0.63 expected goals there so they weren't even expected to get one they got two in the end they're massively overperforming their XG barer on the other hand you will not be surprised to know we had an XG of 2.54 there so over two goals there more towards three and yet we ended the game with one now that is the story of our season so far because of course XG what it does there it measures the quality of your chances based there on the percentages based on the probability of
you scoring that is said to basically measure where you are in front of goal the opportunities you have but that is only half of the game that's only half of the story there because once you get those chances as we've said you must score you must put them away you must take it upon yourself to make sure that you capitalize on those moments and we don't do that it is as simple as that guys if there was one problem with this Barcelona team this season it is finishing now that is also not just exclusive to
this season by the way you could go back several seasons in this Barcelona team we are not clinical because yes as we said before the game we create loads of Chan we are by far and way the best creators in the league but we miss so many that now takes us to 50 50 big chances missed in La Liga this season and that is a huge number there you think about the golden opportunities that we've had in front of goal massive moments in our season and we've simply seen them slip between our fingers but can
I just say guys the other problem that I have right now with Barca and looking at the way that we' really performed over the last few weeks you know not looking exclusively at this game right here this is the big problem and the big risk that you take as a team when you really focus and you really psych yourself up for only the biggest games because let's be honest here this performance against Atletico Madrid it's the best game that we've seen from barca in weeks it was a really improved performance there the energy went up
the intensity went up and it was much more like what we come to expect from a Hy flick team but again that's the problem when haven't been doing this for the past few weeks that puts massive pressure on these big games now so far this season in the biggest of moments we've actually come out on top we managed to really silence any doubts there with big game performances raising our level when it matters but this is the problem because you have a game like yesterday where you put everything on it where you're really getting yourself
up for that and then a game like that happens whereby we are unlucky whereby we lose it and we shouldn't have we really really shouldn't have but we did and we have nothing to fall back on now it's not as though we can say okay we've lost that big game but look at all the wins that we've been stringing together look at all the performances in the past few weeks that really give us encouragement we now have nothing to fall back on because of the poor form that we've had right up until this game if
you save your best level for the biggest matches you must deliver you cannot afford to fall down and that is why right now we have one win in Seven League games yes this particular game here against atleti it may have been unlucky but the table does not lie we have not been good enough we have not been consistent enough and we have not ultimately brought our game in every match we have only been able to apply ourselves in certain games in certain situations and in a league season when you're looking for consistency that is simply
not going to be enough because that then brings me on to another problem again has really started to seep into our game over the past few weeks indeed and let's just start by talking about the goal that we conceded in the 96th minute of the game I mean when that happened guys I could have broken the TV genuinely I could have absolutely taken the TV to Pieces but I've got Christmas films that I want to watch in the next few days so I didn't do that but I could have because what were we doing because
look I understand that in the final moments of the game there we wanted a win we desperate wanted to go and win find that late winning goal it would have been incredible the stadium would have absolutely erupted and it would have been the perfect way to sign off the year but at the same time you've got to have some intelligence out there you've got to have some understanding of the situation you're in because look at the team that we were playing Atletico Madrid surely the players out there know some of them are experienced some of
them in this league a long time they have to understand atlea waiting they are just looking for us to overcommit to ultimately say we're going for this and you can't afford to do that against a team that are this clever they are so good in transition they were absolutely waiting there for that space in behind to appear and they maintain their energy they have got energy right up until the final moments of the game for times like this and like I said in the match review there what a finish it was in front of goal
there ball comes in it's bouncing it's quite high up there s lot what an absolutely incredible and in atic finish that was to win the game for atleti but again I just don't want to talk about only this game this is a problem because looking at late goals that bar conceded 96th minute there against atleti against Bettis we conceded in the 94th minute again we completely blew that game we were on to win it ended up dropping two massive massive points in the end and then the game against Sela don't forget guys we had a
2-n lead we conceded in the 84th and then again in the 8 sixth minute of that game so these late goals they're a problem and it's no good saying oh well that can happen to anybody the players are tired you know late goal here late goal there we don't want to read too much into that this is a problem and it's about mentality it's about standing firm in the biggest of moments and again it's an issue that is not exclusive to this season we have seen barca in many many seasons gone by throw games away
have it in our hands do all the right things and then literally collapse as a team we cannot see that in 2025 if we continue to just hand out points like this you can forget silverware you can forget there being there in the biggest of moments it cannot happen guys and flick has to do something here to niit this in the bud he has to make sure that his players are not only playing for the first minutes not only playing for the first half the second half they're up until 60 minutes we said when he
came in the idea is to be there from the first minute right up until the 96th and 97 the 98th and 99th minute however long the game goes on you've got to stay present you have to be switched on no matter what flick has to bring that back because this is an issue but okay guys before we come on to some concerning individual performances right now in this Barcelona team what I would like to do is actually bring you a positive because let's talk about something that was not only good from yesterday's game but was
absolutely spec spacular we have to talk about pedri because his performance last night that was the one thing that made me smile in this game it was the one thing that made me think okay this is special we have got something here in pedri that really is next level right now and that's the way that I describe his season so far he has gone to another level and you look at the way here that again not only in this game but we've seen it now his influence growing in recent matches he is running games he
is AB absolutely controlling them there by picking up the ball by being able to run directly at teams run through them carrying the ball into very very dangerous positions and ultimately dictating the pace there he can make something happen he can start a move on his own I mean you saw for the goal for his goal the way that he picks up the ball instead of a wide position there's nobody around him he's miles from goal but once he's got the ball at his feet once he starts driving at the heart of Atletico Madrid they
didn't know how to handle him they didn't know how approach in there how to get the ball from him and he releases the ball at the absolute perfect moment to Gaby it's a great little combination between the two of them pedri then continuing that run wanting to get onto the end of it and finishing it off absolutely perfectly hate if he could finish like that in front of goal on a regular basis he would be hitting big big numbers he has it in his locker he has the ability and his overall game I heard the
comparisons guys I saw lots of people there on social media saying it was inest likee now usually I hate comparisons and I'm still not a really big fan of them you know you don't want to burden players with absolute icons of the game Legends but let's be fair here that was magical and inesta again was one of my favorite players ever to watch pedri is doing things right now that make you think of him now I'm not saying that he's in eester I'm not saying here that obviously stepping into those shoes it is unbelievably difficult
but Barca needs that kind of player Barca has lacked a player like that since inesta who's able to make things happen who was able basically to not only control the game in terms of tempo in terms of passing there in terms of being a very neat and tidy technical player in Midfield but the way that he could move with the ball the dribbling was absolutely off the scale the way that he could really create space and create time all on his own pedri has got characteristics in his game he has a quality about him right
now that he's starting to show and he's starting to really grow into it he can achieve great things there is absolutely no mistake about that and he has absolutely everything available to him and now we are starting to see it guys so if there was one positive if there was one player out there where you thought yeah you've made us proud tonight you have really stood up and did everything in your power it's pedri however guys there are certain players in this Barcelona team who things did not go as well for and I want to
talk here about the squad as a whole about several individual players who really they're just question marks in some way or another right now questions are being asked of these Barcelona players because let me just start by saying there are so many different players throughout this squad and looking there especially at maybe bench players players who've been made to try and make an impact in games who you just don't know what you're going to get from them you just don't actually know if they're even good you know you don't know what to expect because somebody
like faran Tores for example right now okay against Dortmund he came on really changed the game you know shown a lot of good signs a lot promising moments but at the end of the day you never know what you're going to get from him and he has not lived up to the price tag to the potential from when we signed him we are still waiting to know what kind of player we even have then there's a player for instance for me like ferine Lopez who last season was extraordinary in terms of his breakout campaign he
was coming on he was scoring goals and his finishing was absolutely ftic there he was getting chance in front of the goal and he was consistently putting them away and again we've said that's what we kind of need from Midfield we need players there to chip in to help out to really help ease the burden on our attacking players now this season what's happened to ferine in front of goal I think his confidence right now it's taken a bit of a hit he has sort of failed to nail down a proper sort of role a
proper real position in this flick team he hasn't always played centrally at times he's been played sort of off to the wings it's not really seemed to suit him that well and in front of goal he has been absolutely nowhere near as sharp but then first of all you got a player like grick Garcia who comes on for the last 10 minutes of the game in Midfield and I just keep wondering with players like Eric Garcia how are they even here you know how are you still managing to play at Barca why are we keeping
players year after year after year who are not contributing anything who have not shown any element of growth in their game of improvement why are we continuing to persist with them but you know the extraordinary thing Eric Garcia came on instead of Frankie D young now that's the fact of it right now Eric Garcia against Atletico Madrid in the final 10 minutes replacing gado when we needed a goal was preferred to Frankie D young now something for me has gone massively wrong and I just don't mean here a small issue there is a catastrophic problem
right now with Franky dong there must be he has been an unused sub in our last two games both of them we've ended up losing both of them we've been in situations during the game where we needed something flick is not even looking at him right now he is not even giving him the time of day what is happening with Frankie D young there a player don't forget that he on extraordinarily High wages one of the biggest earners in our entire Squad so much expected of him so much they hoped for from him especially underhand
he FL too we thought he'd really suit his style of play now it may be a physical issue but he's still on the bench you know if you on the bench then you must be in the kind of condition to play otherwise why would you be there why would flick even include him in the squad if he wasn't ready to play a match and yet we're not even looking at him he's not playing one minute he's not playing two minutes he's not playing three minutes an unused sub against Atletico Madrid Eric Garcia preferred and against
legon S2 not coming on in that game the alarm Bells Are Ringing something is going on something is happening with dong or just nothing is happening but again guys that is the thing about barcel right now and again looking this time at the starting 11 maybe forgetting about those players on the bench forgetting about the injured players of course because earlier on in the season do not forget how good our starting 11 was it was absolutely unbeatable you know when we lined up with the best team that we had the strongest team that we've seen
throughout the season we thought okay we've got this these players they are immense now the problem that we have right now and mainly the questions that have right now are there are several players in this lineup who earlier on this season were playing arguably the best football they ever have not only at Barca but in terms of their whole careers they were absolutely unbelievable Jules kundai was one of those he was Untouchable he was hansy Flick's favorite player he was so key in that backline and he was really contributing going forward you look on the
other side Alejandro Bal he made a really good return from injury and he was putting up some excellent consistency then you've got somebody like Mar Cado too of course who came into this team broke through we didn't really expect it but he exploded he was absolutely essential to our Midfield all of that energy all of that intensity is he still at that same level and it's exactly the same there for somebody like Danny Elmo who was absolutely magnificent after signing there was lots of people who criticized him lots of people there who doubted him in
a Barcelona shirt but he started his career here absolutely flawlessly but that has tailed off he's been interrupted there by injuries and even in yesterday's game he was benched by Hy flick so we got lots of players here like kundai like Bal like Cado like ELO who we've seen their peak level we've seen what they can do we've seen how good they can be and how effective they can be and maybe it is all of those games maybe it is the sheer demands that have been on their shoulders right throughout their season you know that
can really chip away at you but can they recapture that form you know that level is that their natural level you know are those players actually that good or were they in an incredible run were they on a real hot streak and now they reverted to their normal level that is the big question here you know what are players capable of what can they sustain what sort of consistent levels can we see now in my personal opinion we can get back to where we were you know there's several players here who have still got so
much more to give and because then I look at somebody like Rafa now this is a really really tricky one I've got to say guys because I personally find it this season very difficult to be critical of Rafia because of everything that he's done but even him yesterday he came out after the game he was incredibly critical of himself of his own performance he said the defeat it's my fault he said before The Equalizer I missed a huge opportunity and on their last goal I missed an unforgivable ball I take full responsibility for this loss
now the one thing you got to say about rafino is he really does take ownership he really does take responsibility he's done it all season long there when something goes wrong and if it's him at fault he will definitely hold his hands out but I got to say it's hard to blame him and it really is definitely hard to blame him solely for a game like this for a result like this here Rafia obviously he did have massive moments in this game really really big chances to score and that of course was where pedri was
coming in he was really providing some absolutely incredible passes and Rafia should have scored there's no two ways about that he had opportunities there where he should have had at least one goal minimum but he didn't but let me just say about Rafia too like we said there about the other players and they're exceedingly high levels from earlier on in the season let me give you an example here against Bayern when rafino of course really took flight he scored a hat-trick in that game but to score those three goals he had three shots on target
so every single time he shot at the goal against Bayern he scored now do you really and can you really expect him to do that in every single game I mean of course you can't you're not going to have always a 100% conversion rate if you did that you break every football record there ever was in terms of goal scoring so obviously Rafia it's not always going to be like that there's a peak level there's an absolutely insane level that he's shown several times this season but he won't always be able to be at that
level he is not the player who can score with every shot and maybe he's not even the player who's going to score a massive amount of goals I think at times he's overachieved really in front of goal this season but the beauty of him is and this is important here the reason why I wouldn't oh put it all on him blame everything on Rafia for this game is he contributes more than just goals because let's be honest here he's Lively he makes things happen he is somebody there making runs putting in the hard yard opening
up teams creating space and of course he's also the one pressing he's also the one giving maximum effort he's got leadership there he takes responsibility so it's not just about with him goals I can forgive him for missing a few chances I can forgive him for not being as clinical as maybe we'd like him to be because of everything else that he does but this is then the problem when you talk about Robert levandowski because with him it's not about much else in terms of levandowski game he is limited he is the number nine it
is his sole responsibility to score goals that's all you're there for you do not see leand I charging around the field you do not see him pressing you do not see him there really contributing in any other aspect of the game and that is fair enough that is understandable you know he's 36 years old he is our number nine his job is to be in the Box to be in the right place and to score but he isn't right now because let me just say and I want to be fair on this I know that
all season long for most of it he has been scoring he is the League's top goal scorer right now with 16 goals from 18 games which is a very very impressive return now what I would also say about that is he is underperforming his XG so in other words we' provided levandowski with more than enough chances to be the top goal scorer yes he's finished them off but we have really really helped him there with that chance creation but the problem now is like I say he is not scoring in the last seven League games
of course where we've had such a terrible run he's got two just two goals to his name now his form has fallen off a cliff now a lot of people maybe from outside of Barca they will say oh Barcelona fans you know they're very ungrateful look at what leowski done this season look at the goals that he scored why are you really getting on his back now after just a difficult run of form you know you've got to stay by him he will come good my issue and my massive concern with levandowski is we've seen
all this before you know we have seen him at Barca pretty much every year that he's been here he starts the season well he looks really fresh after preseason he looks sharp on the ball he's finishing chances scoring goals for fun and then once the New Year strikes the second half of the season comes the man absolutely disappears I mean we see a completely different player entirely now that's my concern because we need the levandowski that started the season much in the same boat as several of the other players that we've talked about but like
I say that history of levandowski really tailing off his form really evapor operating that is a massive massive issue that is a massive massive concern because leowski has not been delivering you look at the chances yesterday in front of goal there the cut back of course from fan levandowski is right in front of goal he's got the entire goal there get any sort of contact on it and he's going to score but somehow in some way he doesn't he is not scoring from these kinds of positions and guys I just can't believe the misses and
I'm not talking about my significant other I'm talking about leowski I'm talking about him in front of goal yards out time and time again this is not one miss this is not just one game this is a catalog of Misses at massive moments in our season in the league these are points evaporating before our eyes and that's his job not to sound like Roy Keane here but come on as the center forward the big number nine at Bara you got to score that's your job but indeed guys again take a deep breath take a moment
here take a moment to just think about what barer have been doing you know where is that light at the end of the tunnel and for me it's still there you know our season it's not done a lot of people now will say the season's over cancel the season we got no hope we got no chance I think there's still enough in this team you know there's quality there there's potential there if we can get back to what we were doing and maybe after the Christmas break here it's a good extended period to try and
regain some of those previous levels but guys do you have belief do you actually believe here that Barca can sort of launch a comeback in the second half of the season in La Liga looking at the Champions League do you still believe that we could be competitive in that competition but guys my big question today is how do you handle this levandowski problem what would you do right now what should Hy flick be doing in your opinion please do let me know guys in the comments down below all of your thoughts all of your opinions
because we have discussed a lot in today's episode and if you do have more questions here to come and more to be answered here in these episodes please leave your questions on my community section there where we are going to be going through a lot more in these days to come guys so thank you indeed for tuning in if you've made it all the way here to the end I congratulate you and I really appreciate that here let's keep going and let's keep fighting for this club no matter what thank you indeed guys for that
great support but until next time as always vishka H BAS [Music] [Applause]
