Barcelona chief surprises by declaring Hansi Flick is ‘not as tactically gifted’

Barcelona Chief Advisor Enric Masip has never been a stranger to speaking his mind, and has surprised many by openly declaring that he does not see manager Hansi Flick as at the cutting edge of the tactical game. Masip is one of the figures that has the ear of President Joan Laporta when decisions are made.

During an interview with El Chiringuito, Masip declared that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is ‘by a distance the best coach in the world’, as quoted by Relevo. Masip went on to compare Flick to Carlo Ancelotti rather than Guardiola.

“There are two types of coach. Pep who is pure technical essence, work, leadership ability… and then there is another style, who is more of a manager, who does not have as much tactical ability as Pep. That would be an Ancelotti, Flick or Del Bosque type.”

Masip also had kind words for Xavi Hernandez, who Flick replaced, despite having advised Laporta to sack the legendary midfielder last season.

“The signing of Olmo is a great signing, but the squad is the same. To praise what Flick is doing, there is no need to bury Xavi. He came in a very difficult stage… the team was ninth or eleventh and gave a dose of hope And the following year they win a Super Cup and a Liga. It deserved a  lot of merit. [It’s also clear that] the version of all the players is much better than last year. It was said that Lewandowski was ready to retire,” Masip noted.

Certainly Flick’s early success is a good basis to argue that his tactical setup has been as good as anyone else’s so far this season. While undoubtedly the atmosphere is perhaps the biggest change over the last six months, their offside trap has baffled both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. The coming games will be interesting to see, with Real Sociedad seemingly stifling Blaugrana.