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.
Word From MMers:
El Blankano: I still don’t get it. I still don’t see what you see in Juni.
Los Vikings Chapel: The sin of the insignificant is the ignorance of strength. No one seems to understand Juninho except possibly — Oscnar.
Dear MM,
Rapid Reactions.
Ok — we have limited time today so here are some rapid reactions from our 4-1 victory over Elche. I’m timing myself right now to finish this DT in 45 mins instead of the usual like hours, so if there are typos or a somewhat unchecked fact feel free to correct me in the comments. Otherwise, enjoy.
Signal of Intent: Although many viewers had hoped for more expansive rotations to begin this game, I was actually surprised but also somewhat pleased to see a rather strong starting lineup. This is possibly just a test to see if this lineup can be suitable for City, but also I was just happy to see a relatively strong lineup as it signals (imo) that this team hasn’t yet given up on La Liga. Yes, many of you are going to say “omg how could this team give up on La Liga when we are simply 1-4 points behind Barcelona?” Well…most massive rotation reports and rumors made it very much sound like the CL was being prioritized also past evidence indicates that we have done this before. Anyway, this game rotation wise was handled pretty much perfectly. The team was able to amass a quick lead through man of the week Fede Valverde and sleek strikes by Rudiger. Thus, enabling most of our starters to be swiftly rested by the 60th min. Truly a masterclass in, getting the job done and getting out without further injury or harm.
The Academy. We as a Real Madrid community should applaud Arbeloa (former Castilla coach) for his usage of La Fabrica and Castilla in our recent matches. Likely because he has the unique Real Madrid coaching expertise of actually working with many of these players prior to taking the 1st team position, Arbeloa has been able to situationally implement a multitude of Castilla players into the Real Madrid lineup and have them (for the most part) seamlessly provide a jolt to our system. Particularly, Thiago Pitarch (a player who in many ways provides the playmaking ability of Ceballos without the injury or lack of athletic nuance) has been a welcomed breath of fresh air that has supported players like Tchouameni in his defensive and build up roles, enabled players like Fede to have a bit more freedom going forward, and combined to keep our backline press resistant. I know many of you are about to question why I’m mentioning Ceballos alongside Thiago — well that is because similar to some of our best stints last year the inclusion of a player similar to this profile has greatly benefited our midfield cohesion. I’m also not yet at a level to say Thiago is the next Luka Modric or some hyperbolic ceiling that likely never gets met. Ceballos is actually a pretty imo attainable reference point for a player like Thiago so early in his career. I’d also like to briefly shoutout Diego Aguado (who we’ve actually heard about the past 1-2 years) for having a relatively sturdy performance today at the Bernabeu.
Now, although we are all excited about La Fabrica, I just want to quickly ask for a bit of caution with these players. Real Madrid fans more than any other fans imo love to build up young players before tearing them down in a much quicker fashion. Many of you might remember Antonio Blanco who was introduced during the Zidane 1.0 stint to much acclaim — who now many fans likely don’t even recognize in the Deportivo Alaves kit. Much more recently, at this time last year Raul Asencio was the second coming of Sergio Ramos. By the summer at the CWC, he wasn’t Real Madrid CF level. He then returned to Real Madrid great starter level during the poor form of other youngster Dean Huijsen (who has actually had great recent games) and then yet again dropped in everyone’s opinion after a poor game against Osasuna…Sadly, this happens to be the life cycle of a Real Madrid youngster.
Additionally, I’d also ask that we hold our horses a bit when criticizing the past managers Carlo and Xabi regarding their usage of the academy as well. Unlike Carlo & Xabi, Arbeloa is somewhat blessed with particular contextual circumstances that allows him to more justly use academy players. 1) He has worked with all of them prior to being the 1st team coach so he better understands their promise. 2) He’s coaching mid-season so he’s likely allowed a bit more leeway than his predecessor. By this I mean, by most reports, Arbeloa may not continue as manager regardless of if he wins a La Liga trophy, and no one really expects him to completely turn around what has been a chaotic season. This implicitly provides a certain level of freedom as far as it comes to his decision making. 3) Arbeloa has faced extensive injuries to his top stars at the exact same time. Thiago specifically benefits from the fact that Arbeloa doesn’t need to fit Mbappe / Rodrygo / Jude into a lineup so it is easier to rationalize a 4-midfield team. It also helps that Camavinga has had tooth issues. 4) Fans and media’s relative perception and enthusiasm towards this team feels as an all-time low. More than ever there is likely an eagerness to see the Castilla players play with passion for the badge. Simply put, if Thiago started at this point of the season for Carlo or earlier year for Xabi and we lost to Getafe like last week — they’re likely getting fired or at least the next front page is a classic Real Madrid “win vs City or pack your bags.”
It also isn’t lost on me that another manager who utilized the youth was Santiago Solari…
A New Policy? I’m just throwing this into the mix although I know this likely won’t happen. Nevertheless, with the potential emergence of this Castilla class — is there a world where we tweak our transfer policy to include more Fabrica players in the first team and decrease the amount of youth players such as Franco purchased for 60M+? I doubt this would occur for quite frankly marketing reasons, but there is a world where it was a cheaper option to keep Nico Paz and bet on his development than buy Arda Guler or maybe we bank on Thiago rather than buy Kees Smit etc. Of course, this would be a risky approach for a club that isn’t known for developing young stars but MAYBE it’s worth a consideration given the current transfer market.
Final Thoughts. And now just some quick final thoughts. 1) I was a bit disappointed in Camavinga’s performance today but I’ll still try to bet on his talent. With recent reports alleging that he may be sold to the Premier League this summer, I’m hoping this is an impetus for him to really take to his role and dominate the field in a manner similar to Fede and Tchouameni. However, if he doesn’t, it may be best if we cash-in now and search towards another solution. 2) The cohesiveness of these performances atm is great but I’m still wary on whether this can exist once the old stars are introduced. Although I have faith in Kylian Mbappe to finish chances (particularly some of the chances today missed by sloppy play from Vini and Brahim) and score goals, I’m not sure if defensively this team can hold up this counter structure with KM and Vini. I can only imagine how much this framework gets altered with the inclusion of Jude too who again is a great at defending but isn’t always a player you can count on positionally. Jude loves to roam which is generally fine, but can be an issue in transition for every other player. Also when these two join the ranks, does Thiago then get dropped to the bench? Who else’s roles seem to change? MM used to discuss how tenable the VMR was and then transitioned to simply the VM but at least from a defensive output it likely is better to frame as the VMB…can we continue this momentum with this trio? Shoot — is this the last time we witness this trio at Real Madrid?
Cheers,
J
A Lil’ Anecdote Pt. V
OutofEyeDiaz: Juni — I have a question.
Juninho: Yes?
OutofEyeDiaz: Are you Juninho because you’re the strongest mod….or are you the strongest mod because you’re Juninho?
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“i’ll leave the rest to you”
