These observations — where I look at Real Madrid’s history, its players on loan, Castilla, tactical tidbits, and other relevant thoughts — are now a regular thing. All previous editions can be found
here.Here is a new thing I’m committing to this season: Five semi-informal bullet points after each game.
Also, check out the post-game podcast where Mehedi and I break down the win (and more) for 51 minutes:
- Sevilla were not pressing aggressively, but, in the 58th minute…..
…. They started to press as they had no choice but to chase the game. In that moment, the composure,
patience, and on-ball ability of those on the field — led by Arda Güler and Dean Huijsen — laughed it off, played their way through, and exploited the space in behind.
If you remember, peak Real Madrid, featuring unicorns like Toni Kroos, Marcelo, Isco, Luka Modric, and Karim Benzema would lick their lips when teams pressed them. In fact, they’d beg for it, because they knew there was acres of space to profit from. A few passes and off-ball runs, and bam — a perfect delivery to Cristiano Ronaldo to run in behind.
That’s football. That’s what Real Madrid didn’t have against Roma in the first half, and that’s what Jose Mourinho needs to deeply consider when choosing his line-up for El Clasico.
- The Yan Diomande experience has been great. All the growing pains he went through, is going through, and will go through are well worth it. He reminds me of 2019 Vinicius — raw, scary, and fun to root for. Once he polishes his final execution, he’ll be a nightmare to deal with for wing-backs for years to come.
And that’s assuming he’s not a nightmare already (which he is). Ask Juan Iglesias if he enjoyed seeing Diomande run at him for 72 minutes before being subbed off. The answer is obviously ‘no’.
- Arda Güler’s first double-pivot cameo.
This was always the most obvious solution given that: A) Jose Mourinho won’t deviate from the 4-2-3-1; and B) doesn’t seem to trust Bernardo Silva.
That leaves Arda Güler and Jude Bellingham as the only ones left who don’t treat the ball like a ticking time bomb in those deep positions; and for me personally, it always had to be Güler, not Bellingham, to take on that role because Güler can still hit passes into the final third from deep and create plays from those zones, while Bellingham is better suited to turn in transition into space and get into goalscoring positions (which he can’t do from deep). Xabi Alonso’s vision was always to have Güler be the one deeper than Jude, and I think he had it right.
On Güler’s first double-pivot cameo: I loved how fluid he looked. He understood where to roam off the ball to help his team progress the ball. He never abandons his team and never hides in possession like Fede Valverde does. That’s what you need from your deep midfielders.
I do think he struggled a bit defensively, not tracking on three seperate sequences led to issues which a better team can punish. That’s something to look out for. But, ovearall, an absolute stud:
- It is somewhat hilarious that Real Madrid have both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Denzel Dumfries healthy and available, and yet, they both took a back seat (and may continue to do so if Mourinho deems it) to Fede Valverde, who, even with two pure right-backs in the squad, is still the best two-way right-back on the roster.
So, will it continue? I’m not sure. Should it? Maybe, and probably yes. If it takes him out of the double pivot, I sign up. I personally wouldn’t mind see him take the right wing with Trent behind him. But this is fine too. It make sense from multiple angles: He’s the best right back, he’s better on the right, he’s not good in the double pivot to Tchouameni or Camavinga, and it opens up a spot for an actual playmaker in deeper zones.
- Kylian Mbappe’s best game in some time.
(Ignore me ignoring his mistake that led to Sevilla’s goal.)
I bring this up because it’s probably not a coincidence that Mbappe looked better when Vinicius Jr wasn’t on the field.
My initial concern with Diomande taking Vinicius’s place in the starting XI on the left was that while I believe Vinicius needs to be benched, it may not necessarily solve the problem of Mbappe struggling to co-exist with a pure winger on the left.
But I think it works better because Diomande is less complicated and more direct. He tries to play a more simple game while retaining dribbling and line-breaking. On the opposite side, Endrick was making forward runs anytime Mbappe dropped deep, so the surrounding pieces just seemed to fit better.
- BONUS: What does this all mean? To be determined.
Was this simply a game of rotation — against Sevilla who haven’t won at the Bernabeu since 2008 — before games against Leipzig and Barcelona respectively? Will this all mean nothing because Mourinho will revert back to the Roma line-up?
Let’s wait.
