Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!
Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.
Writer’s Prelude. We continue to cross the rubicon towards a point of no return.
Burning Bridges
Where The DT At?. I’ve been trying to find time to properly write this DT and today was truly supposed to be the day! But sadly, similar to most
things, life took control. However, we’ll try to make the best out of the little time we have…this will be a stream on conscious so please bear with the typos or poor reflection.
Where’s Jude At? Ok let’s just start with this Jude Bellingham is not a playmaking 10. I’d argue that he isn’t a 10 at all but the classic 10 position and what we ask from modern 10s has been so convoluted that I’m just going to avoid this topic to begin with because I just don’t feel like having a war of semantics. So again Jude is not a playmaking 10. I think we can all agree on this: Jude’s best strengths in the role (i.e., dribbling, goalscoring prowess, late runs into the box) are not that of a playmaker but as a second-striker. In his best season at Real Madrid (which imo was certainly Balon D’Or worthy) Jude was known for his goalscoring prowess, his ability to bring the aerial balls down in space and find an outlet (e.g., our match against Napoli — I believe whichever one with the Vini photographer celebration) and even his heading. This goal scoring talent combined with Jude’s willingness to defend at a higher rate than almost any forward-thinking midfielder is what makes him absolutely special, complete, and generational.
He again is not a playmaker that dictates play, consistently creates chances, or credibly links the midfield to the forward line. Again, I think we can all pretty much agree on that. What makes Jude special is primarily end product rather than the process. And for the folks in the back the stats generally back this up. According to StatsMuse, Arda Guler leads La Liga in chances created with 28. Meanwhile, Jude is currently in 12th with 14, which is behind players like Raphinha, Pedri, Unai Lopez, and Alex Baena. Looking at just Madrid (via madridstats), Jude currently trails Arda Guler in Big Chances (4 v 10) and xA (1.6 v 3.5). So clearly the playmaking creativity at least from our squad comes from Arda Guler.
But again….Jude Bellingham is not a playmaking 10, he is on the pitch because of his workrate and his scoring prowess. So let’s zoom in just a little bit there: Jude is currently our 2nd top scorer tied with Espi at 3 goals; he’s currently beating his xG which is 2.7, he is our second highest, he’s tied at 2nd with Arda Guler with G+A (which I’m not entirely sure is accurate given Arda had 2 assists in the Roma game…I’m pretty confident Arda is leading now but will have to verify later), and 2nd in shot conversion. Of course, he trails Kylian Mbappe in all of these stats but Kylian’s entire ethos is to score. Jude is pretty much doing his job but at times it leads me wondering if the team would be better served with him elsewhere?
The Conundrum. Jude’s specific role as a 10 is to score goals but is this necessary when our ST (who should be a LW) averages 30+ goals a season? Is this necessary when our potential backup 9 nicknamed Pepsi is likely the most clinical player that we’ve had in years and also 194cm? Is this necessary, when our squad desperately lacks creativity from central channels? And again I know I know, the argument going forward is generally that “If Jude doesn’t make runs into the box then who will?“ and that’s a reasonable question when Mbappe is admittedly scared to go for headers (note: he’s pretty much said that when he broke his nose). I think that’s a fair question…but Carlos Espi is a pretty good solution for that if necessary. I’m just saying — if the plan is to play with a 10…would it behoove us to actually play with a true playmaker? If Arda is putting up these numbers from RW and at times as a DLP, wouldn’t he completely explode when he’s actually positioned behind a real ST? I think these are real questions that we truly need to ask.
Defensively. Now, again Jude is a better defensive player than Arda and constantly puts in a shift. That is fair and true, but it may be a bit worthwhile for all of us to watch closely. This was actually a complaint that Xabi had and led to their deteriorating relationship. Jude often presses individually rather than with the group. This isn’t fully his fault because our pressing system is criminally inept but it partially is. Particularly as the 10 and a central player, when Jude hustles to press a fullback or goalkeeper in near the corner flag and the rest of the team isn’t on the same wavelength (which is more often than not), he leaves a massive amount of space. I know we all dislike the Tchouameni and Fede Valverde pivot at the moment but theoretically they are there simply because these are the only players on our squad that can even attempt to cover the gaps that Jude Vini and Mbappe leave. Bernardo Silva would have a heart attack trying to consistently play this role in big games. I love Arda to death at this point, but even he would struggle to actually cover this space. So let me ask MM this — could we defensively be better structured with a 10 that is positionally more rigid? I think the thought is normally that this rigidity would lead to us sacrificing creativity but for a player like Arda who primarily relies on his passing prowess, it may not be entirely the biggest issue.
Just Think. So this is all I’m saying at the moment. THere’s certainly more to be said but I’m tired and I’m hungry and I need to go live life. I just want MM and Real Madrid fans to start pressure testing this squad and things that we have just chosen to accept. Yes, Jude can play the 10 role and has shown that he can be a focal point in this role especially for England. This role has brought him ample success. However, I’m not entirely sure that the 4231 built for Jude to be a 10 will lead Real Madrid to success. I’m not sure if he needs to play deeper or if we simply need to play him as an 8 in a 433 with Arda but this is something to think about…Jude is a brilliant player and likely the most complete player on our team. He’s a jack of all trades and I know many of you instinctively say “we need to build around that.” But I’m not entirely sure that’s true. It may actually be more imperative to build around elite players who can’t actually be a binding glue. Jude can materially transform into any player that we need…and maybe that actually has to be the real ask. Do we need a #10 Jude?
Cheers,
J
