A flare takes time, but the key is, will you complete the flare in that time, because without power to stretch it, there won't be any more time! When you begin your flare power off, you just began to turn your stored energy into the acceleration you must have to change from descent to smooth touchdown.
If you are really good at timing and executing a flare a short time with little stored reserve energy might be fine for you, but there will be no reserve if you get it wrong, which could be "thump", or undershoot crash.
Carrying that extra speed in the latter stages of a glide to a power off landing can be swiftly undone with (more) flap and/or a sideslip. And, yes, to save your life, a 172 will slip fine with flaps extended, just pay attention, and fly it!)
The theme of what I'm saying is that conventional training is falling short of explaining this, and it's importance, and fixed wing manufacturers are very quiet about describing that characteristic of their aircraft. Pilots need to understand this - for better or worse. On the other hand, helicopter manufacturers are required to test a present this information, so it's right there for the pilot. The fact that fixed wing does not put it in front of the pilot is, in my opinion, a regulatory oversight, because pilots need to know.....