Re: The Official Real Madrid Matchday Thread 24 - 25

[The Demon of Carthage]

Liverpool is arguably the most inform team so it's not too bad but losing to milan 3-1 is malpractice at this point

Not really. Liverpool aren’t as formidable as they're made out to be. I watched them against Madrid, and they didn't exactly strike me as an unstoppable force. Madrid was simply so off-form that it handed them the win. The same thing happened against AC Milan and Barcelona. The reality is that both City and Madrid have regressed so much, even before the injuries.

To find ourselves sitting 24th in the Champions League is nothing short of unacceptable. The same goes for La Liga - losing 4-0 to a team like Barça is a result that defies reason. No disrespect to Barça, but realistically, Madrid should have dominated and won that match given the players we have

I’m not expecting them to win the Champions League every year - we just claimed it last season, after all. But a minimum expectation is to at least make it past this round, secure some prize money, and move on to the knockout rounds. La Liga, however, should be within our grasp, with no valid excuse for falling short. They better win the two games in-hand, move to the top and stay there.

The reality is that too many players are underperforming or are simply out of form, while injuries seem to be at an all-time high. This is no mere coincidence, and it’s high time for a change. The club’s standards must be restored - anything less is a failure.

[Myesyats]

You've been spoiled tbh. A season or two in europa league would not harm you

[Turok_TTZ]

Ceballos needs more game time and we need more rotations though rotations is far too late looking at the injury list.

With the amount of games we're playing we need a team a and b to keep everyone fresh and not overworked.

[halamadrid2]

How in the world are we supposed to beat Atalanta.

Might have to pray for a miracle

[Turok_TTZ]

Atalanta is plenty beatable as is Bilbao.

It's our team who has been on a underperforming streak as of late is the concern.

Also, forget mbappe, wtf is going on with tchouameni? I understand he has only returned from injury but the man has fallen off mahamadou diarra style except he's far too young to fall off now.

[halamadrid2]

Was Tchouaméni ever that good?

I saw through him all the way back to that preseason game against Barcelona where he was hiding from the ball

Atalanta are in great form. Not the time to play against them with our best player missing and us in danger of not making the top 24

[The Demon of Carthage]

This Madrid side is becoming dangerously reminiscent of Benitez's.

Losing has become almost a weekly thing with these guys. I even have a hard time believing that it's Ancelotti who's managing them.

Never have I seen a CL-winning side slump so hard since 2007 Milan (coincidentally also managed by Ancelotti back then).

Also, Mbappe

[Myesyats]

I remember posting once that this team reminds me of Mourinho's RM and that Tchouameni is the French Khedira.

Not far off

[The Madrid One]

I never liked the Tchouameni signing and my opinions with him have stayed pretty consistent since I first saw footage of him.

The biggest issue with him for me is that he's too stiff, and so he's not very press resistant or nimble, that obviously limits his possibilities when in possession, especially when in tight spaces or when under pressure. His passing as well is only just somewhat functional relative to the highest elite levels, when sharp he can somewhat consistently play midrange line breaking vertical balls and some good long balls but not in a deep-lying playmaker sort of way, his abilities with the ball are more workman like and worse if he's not particularly sharp. He also doesn't have particularly noteworthy acceleration or running speed, although he's not quite a liability in that respect if he is well positioned. His ball control and dribbling is also more functional within a defensive midfielder/CB context than anything else.

His positive attributes are more related to winning ground and aerial duels and positional types of defensive duties, as well being efficient with ball possession stats, but even then it seems like its easy for him to fall to sub adequate levels if he's not particularly sharp.

He gives the impression of needing to be pretty sharp and on point for his baseline and ceiling to be functional at the highest level and even then his type of functionality is narrow in scope and blown away by the overall potential of Camavinga and Valverde in midfield imo.

This is why people keep mentioning that his future should be at CB, because his strengths and weaknesses are recontextualized at CB and the tradeoffs work more in his and the team's favor. The two games he's most impressed me with while at RM have been at CB actually, against RB Leipzig away in the CL last season and against Barcelona at home in the league last season. I thought he was very very good in that game against Barcelona.

I've gone back and looked at some of the games he had at the beginning of 22/23 with us and some of his Monaco games and it's exactly the same type of performance at midfield. Somewhat functional relative to the team he's playing in and his trade offs. At Euro 2024 he had some very good stats in progressive possession and defense and I remember being somewhat impressed with the eye test in the France vs Belgium/Portugal/Netherlands games, but it was all relative and he hasn't shown consistency. He sort of reminds me of Illarramendi, he also had these little cute attempts at progressive line breaking and his positives were narrow in scope, he eventually got sold and rightfully so. Tchouameni has a higher ceiling than Illarramendi but not by a very large amount imo, especially, again, if he's not sharp and in a good playing context.

I'd be all in for selling Tchouameni and using those funds to get a different, actually elite midfield prospect or even an elite CB prospect but I understand that the club needs to be conservative still with its finances because of the stadium costs and debt and I also think Tchouameni can still be relevant if he manages to be consistently functional at the elite level as the first sub/12th man at CB/CDM.

Ancelotti has to milk Tchouameni and his potential at CB this season and play Camavinga as an inverted CDM to finally end the threat of Tchouameni being a starting midfielder in this team. A better coach may have already been able to activate Valverde or Camavinga as deep-lying organizers but he has not been playing them inverted more often than not nor do I think he's trained them or cultivated them to become that, nor has he cultivated how the team builds up through them. Camavinga's injury brought upon by Tchouameni himself and team needs at RB/RM along with dubious tactical decisions from Ancelotti have also kept Valverde relegated in his elite workman/Swiss-Uruguay army knife RB/RM role. Camavinga and Valverde have to play INVERTED if they are to be optimized at CDM in a double pivot imo. An example of this is that Alonso, Kroos, and Redondo always had to play inverted from deeper in midfield to have more angles and space to quarterback from and to maneuver and come into. Another example is that according to the heat maps and passing maps Valverde and Camavinga both tend to go more towards central/inverted zones to distribute, rather than being jammed on the non inverted side of the pitch.

[futbol_bill]

Two different teams today. First half throughly out played. Second half domination.

[halamadrid2]

Think that goal helped too and Modric starting to dictate things in the second half. The first half was difficult

We are playing our most important game of the season next Tuesday and Jude just got injured.

We are probably rushing Vini back because we know it's a must win

[titosantill]

ah i've been off for a while. work and family completely taking over. I should be back catching games and posting regularly. Can i get a quick briefing on how the team's playing? I know the results, but how is our football and potential? especially mbappe, i feel like he's having a stressful season. are we having problems on the right flank? or is it both the right and central?

[futbol_bill]

Playing badly overall. There has been a few times were they were looking to come out of the funk, but last game was a prime example. Lousy first falf then a completely different team dominating in the second half. You could blame on Injuries and Mbappe, but truth is entire team has mostly been off. Mbappe is showing signs now of maybe returning to the form we expect. Midfield has been an issue and lately defense particularly with Lucas. Carlo seems really confident they will come thru in the 2nd half of season when it matters most.

[halamadrid2]

Injuries galore

Fml

[Turok_TTZ]

Another overload so Carlo says...

One overloads too many. What is pintus doing with regards to our teams fitness training?

[Turok_TTZ]

Ngl, a bit nervous since it's rayo vallecano. They could deliver a surprising performance. Stubborn bunch. I blame bill.

[halamadrid2]

OFFICIAL REAL MADRID XI pic.twitter.com/3loJrdMPSS

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) December 14, 2024

[futbol_bill]

Ngl, a bit nervous since it's rayo vallecano. They could deliver a surprising performance. Stubborn bunch. I blame bill.

You dishing Ronaldo’s team?

[The Demon of Carthage]

Unbelievable how Barça has been dropping points like candy the past few weeks and Madrid is doing its utmost best not to take advantage of that.

[Turok_TTZ]

The story was similar last year except we had a better handle on injuries and fatigue. Time will tell if our team can push through the physical strain.

[futbol_bill]

Today’s lineup is out. Camavinga at LB, Ceballos in at CM with Valverde. Vinicius has been allowed to go to Brasil until Dec 30, and Brahim in his place.

And Alaba, Mendy reported to be ready in January return. Mbappe seems to be ready to be the player we expected.

So once again Carlo is using and has confidence in the entire squad in adjusting to serious injuries. Only players who have complaints are Güler and Endick. Güler is starting to get more playing time, and I think that will continue. Endick is getting the same amount of playing time as Vinicius and Rodrygo got in their first year. Media is making a big deal about his lack of playing time, but the reality is it is a big adjustment for a 18 year old Brasilian. Not just in on field playing time, but adjusting to Europe. Once we start dominating and with Copa games coming up, we’ll see him getting more playing time.

I feel we are going to see the team we expected from here on in, starting with Sevilla today.

[futbol_bill]

This is the team, we expected this season. Hopefully they keep this up going forward !

[Turok_TTZ]

Unable to watch today's match. How did ceballos do?

[futbol_bill]

The whole team played very well except for Tchouameni who was MIA on both Sevilla’s goals.

Ceballos is a very good alternative as is Modric. Güler as well, so all three are good alternatives to Valverde, Bellingham and Camavinga. We should see Tchouameni gone this summer. We don’t need him at CM and he only plays at CM until Alaba comes back.

Forwards were excellent. Lucas had a very good game.

[Pedram]

Tchouameni frauded his way into RM, dude is a poor man's Mahamadou Diarra.

[Thimmy]

That was easily Mbappe's best goal for us. I hope it gives him some confidence. Good performance from us, overall.

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