Real Madrid

[Loki]

Something must really brew over there

Their problem is, the squad is put together like by a 12 year old on a playstation. They have no balance, neither in the midfield, not in the attack.

In the midfield, their only creative player is a kid (Guler). Tchouameni, Camavinga, Bellingham, Ceballos, Valverde are not creative build-up players ala Kroos and Modric. They are players who shine alongside creative players, box-to-box runners so to speak. They create space for them, fight for the ball, but they don't lead the game forward by finding solutions and building an attack. Guler is a creative #10, but Bellingham is blocking his position as well, so even he can't play properly.

Then in the attack, you have Vinicius, kinda creative LW, with Bellingham as a good partner for him. But with Mbappe, even this balance went to shit, because Mbappe is like a black hole, pulls in all attention and passes, which means Vinicius can't be as free and creative as he used to. Further is Mbappe a LW, same as Vinicius and even Rodrygo. They all block each other here as well, while a pure RW is still missing.

And last but not least, they have no striker but another kid.

So obviously many players in that squad feel bad having to play out of position, not harmonizing with each other and then if the results start to suck as well, then the shit starts to hit the fan. Especially if players like Vinicius need to sit on the bench, because Xabi tries to create an enjoyable dish with these ingredients. They are lucky, that the spanish league declined so much in the last decade, that they still win so many games despite all these problems simply because of individual skill of their players.
But good balanced teams, even if individually worse, can give them problems and individually good teams carve them currently open like a 5 star cook with a fresh fish. Let's see if Alonso manages to create something successful with this, so far I have my doubts.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Mbappe isn't a LW, it is a myth that people keep insisting on, he is and was always a player who prefers to play centrally and closer to the goal. At best a second striker, then as a no9 like he is atm.

Vinicius isn't going to get same freedom obviously, but this is usually the case with any 2 big names like that, one has to take a little bit of back seat. Overall it isn't the best for Vini but overall it is working for Madrid itself.

Their squad lacks a CM who is good in build up, that is their most glaring weakness but otherwise it is a very strong squad.

They have upgraded with 2 fullbacks that should help in the build up phase (especially TAA) and Hujsen is also helping in that area. They have many b2b for sure, but both Tchou and Cama were overrated purchases that are essentially good role players atm.

Every team out has issues im their squad building, in different sorts. All coaches has to work around that. Real in 23/24 had an awful LB, lacked any CDM or CB who can help in build up, they had no legit striker either. And yet they made it work. Let's not act like Alonso is working with handicapped squad or something