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. The second part of the 3 DT series of Jose Juninho’s Too Early Thoughts
Jose Juninho — Forward Edition
“I couldn’t teach Sergio Ramos how to head a ball. I couldn’t teach Cristiano Ronaldo how to score goal. You’re not going to teach Ronaldo how to take
a free kick. The profile was: make them play as a team.” — Jose Mourinho
Disclaimer. Similar to yesterday and the day before, I have one disclaimer: none of what I say / or you say / or even Kiyan says [let’s see if this leads to any comments!!] about this team matters as it’s Sept 2nd 2026. The real time to judge this team will be months from now so let’s all try to remain as patient as possible for this moment.
The Forwards — What I Like. The forwards section is actually going to be pretty short now that I think about it because we’ve all written enough soliloquies on whether we think Vini and Kylian Mbappe work or whether we need Joselu 2.0 or whether the RW should be occupied by a creator like Arda or a true winger like Diomande. As the years of gone on, I’ve been less obsessed with positions. I think it’s a young thing to be honest or maybe people who play EA FC 27. But I think we often obsess with positions when we should be focusing on responsibilities. For example, PSG’s forward line functions pretty seamlessly without a traditional 9 and arguably 3 primary LW players. Why? Because Luis Enrique has instituted a system where each play has fluid responsibilities or at least responsibilities that are dictated via movement. I say this because often in prior years the real issue with Kylian Mbappe and Vini was that Kylian prided himself on fluidity whereas Vini prides himself on rigidity (i.e., being. a touchline winger). This often led to both players occupying the exact same space.
I’m proud to say that Jose Mourinho seems to have gotten a lot of buy-in towards both’s movement. Kylian appears to occupy the right wing on a more normal basis while shifting at times to the LW channel. His space is then occupied by Jude and more frequently than not Vini. This has enabled the team to be less predictable going forward as well as more complex in chance creation. I’ve seen Kylian isolated on the wing with a 1v1 opposing fullback likely more frequently this year than at least most of prior. Vini seems to actually float occasionally even to the right wing and make runs through the central channel (his goal is a product of this). Jude with his own freedom now just fills in gaps. It likely helps that Arda is on the pitch to conduct play and we’re playing at a heightened pace before movement is truly restricted by a low block in the final third but I’m starting to like a lot of what I’m seeing from the front line.
I’m also pretty pleased with the defensive work rate from all the forwards. It certainly needs to be better at times especially down the flanks (from Vini / Arda / Kylian) but otherwise its improvement. Our press still needs a bit of work in terms of players not pressing during inopportune moments but again to some extent the thought is appreciated lol.
What Concerns Me…The biggest concern going forward is for better or worse Vini. I actually don’t think he’s been bad as much as he’s just simply been average which isn’t good enough for the highest or second highest paid player on our team. More shockingly, I’m concerned about how he seems to have lost a burst in his step (either from injuries, age, or weight) and can’t seem to beat the most average fullbacks in a 1v1. He seems to perform better against tired legs or at least after we take a lead, which is a good sign that the mechanics are somewhat still there / he’s still more fit than most, but I just haven’t loved the performances that I’ve seen. He’ll absolutely need to pick it up and pick it up quickly as the competitions get harder. It also hasn’t been lost on me that the Bernabeu has been quite quick to whistle him compared to other players. I only focus on this because I can only imagine how that affects performance as well as mental state for a player. There’s a longer conversation about the fans tolerance to forgive what happened last year (especially since there was no scapegoat or major change) but just focusing on Vini’s relationship with the public…this will certainly be a recurring theme this year if these performances continue. And sadly I can only see it getting more toxic until Mourinho / Flo intervene (if they even care to at that point).
Although he has been absolutely brilliant the past two games, Kylian Mbappe’s shooting efficiency is something that I’ve been slightly concerned about. I’ll admit, I’m not really that concerned being that imo (as long as a ST still seems to have confidence) its better to see that he’s creating and available for opportunities because the goals will eventually come. However, it must be said that Kylian at times hasn’t been as clinical as he otherwise should be. I think this will get cleaned up as the season continues and the entire team gets into better shape as well as learns to function together but at the moment this is certainly something we need to keep in mind.
Finally, I’m a bit concerned about Endrick’s prospects at Real Madrid. I just don’t see how he gets time at our club unless he’s playing RW (and even then he’s pretty low on the depth chart). Realistically, he’s our 3rd choice ST after Kylian and Espi (who is physically and functionally a more traditional 9). I’ve always been a bit worried that Endrick is too small for the 9 position in Europe unless he developed an absolutely depth touch and passing arsenal — and sadly up until this point he hasn’t. As a RW, Endrick will likely be behind Diomande, Arda, Brahim, and Rodrygo (when healthy)….so I’m not sure what he’s going to do there. I don’t know — reports state that Mourinho backs him (tho reports state that Mourinho backs EVERYONE LOL) but I would have advocated for a sale this summer with a buyback clause. Trust me, I understand that you leave Real Madrid and you don’t come back but at this point Endrick’s development is being stalled and as a club we are hurting his career. At some point, he needs to do what’s best for him even if that means leaving Real Madrid.
Anyway, give me more Espi. Love the kid. Kyky – Espi – Diomande could be exciting to see even just once.
Cheers,
J
