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 Author:
“Alright I have limited time so this will have to be ruthlessly efficient. Forgive me if there are typos / misplaced thoughts / something I haven’t fully elaborated. I will do that in the comments tomorrow. Sometimes life has
to take precedent over MM. ”
Back To Business: Review
A Cumbersome Victory. Queue a quote about suffering….lmao. Like always nothing ever comes easy to Real / Los Blancos as we somewhat struggled our way to two penalties that drove a somewhat deserved win against Marseille. I’ll dive into a few of my observations from the game later but overall Los Merengues played a somewhat tidy game. There was a bit less control than I would’ve liked but we created a significant amount of chances that any other day could have (and should have) been buried. We easily could have had a quick 2-3 goal lead in the first half if not for the goalkeeping titan Lev Yashin Rulli. Of course, we also could’ve easily conceded a few goals. But hey the growing pains continue.
Back To Business: Growing Pains
Quick Thoughts. Alright these are going to be very sharp and quick thoughts since I have about 15 mins max to write all of this. There will be zero backspaces used for this DT. Pure Chaos! Jurgen Klopp madness.
Observation #1 — Arda Guler. I’ve been quite skeptical about the Arda Guler in a CM position experiment as I’ve always been concerned about his general defensive duties. Up until this point, KFZ and co. have been able to keep my skepticism at bay because Arda has for the most part been performing. When the young Turk is at his best, he is simply scintillating and even his ability on set pieces has revolutionized our play. However, today was not the day for Arda Guler. Now as a caveat, Arda for the past 2-3 games has not been playing as a CM. He’s been pretty much a 10 with Tchou and Fede as a double pivot protecting his ventures. He has pretty much complete freedom and is somewhat Jude Bellingham last year without the emphasis on runs into the box. Now my issue or at least from what I saw today, Arda was a bit careless on the ball and casual which is just an issue as a young player who may be a bit unfocused. My actual larger concern is his positioning and his lack of athleticism as we attempt to press. Arda as a 10 left Tchouameni and Valverde often chasing ghosts with the gaping space between the front “4” and the rest of the squad allowing Marseille to pretty succinctly counter a fair share of our moments. This coupled with Carreras bombing down the left flank, leaves us with many of the similar issues that we faced last season.
Now what is the solution to this? I’m not entirely sure. Arda’s creativity is pretty useful for our squad particularly when Tchouameni and Fede play together in deeper roles. His ability to not only be a playmaker but someone who controls the tempo is a desperate profile that we lack on this squad (besides Dani Ceballos) so he has a significant amount of utility. However, it just must be noted that his ceiling is very high but his floor can be devastatingly low. It may behoove us to a) try a midfield 3 that consists of profiles like Jude, Tchouameni and Camavinga; b) play with 4 midfielders at all times, or c) actually use Dani Ceballos who fits what we majorly need from a DLP role more frequently. Honestly, a midfield 3 of Tchouameni, Jude and Dani Ceballos / Camavinga likely gives us just enough creativity, athleticism, and press resistance. It’s actually pretty balanced. But Arda is Xabi’s project so let’s see how he continues to develop.
Bring Back Nico Paz.
Observation #2 — Attacking Growing Pains. Today attacking felt a bit laborious in terms of finishing, but I think it’s worth just taking a step back and looking at the stats. According to Sofascore, Real Madrid had an xG of 3.65 (npxG would be around 2.2 — pens are normally .7xG), 20 shots inside the box, 15 shots on target, and created 5 big chances. Early in the first half, Mbappe almost scored a wonder bicycle kick, Rodrygo + Franco had decent shots, Rodrygo won a penalty, Franco legitimately later should have scored after a wonderful build up play by the trio, and if I recall correctly we had a few other counter chances ruined by simply an errant first touch or poor decision by Arda (distinctly one opportunity where Arda shot when he should’ve passed to Mbappe). As it seems Xabi has mainly focused on defensive structure thus far, I’ll take that performance. I liked overall what I saw from the starting lineup especially the passages of play between Carreras, Rodry, and Mbappe. Franco had some rough moments and other moments where he looked like a God amongst men. Mbappe keeps scoring. Rodry looking like the recent benching have kept him hungry to shine. They also all pressed remarkably well.
PERSONALLY, I think it’s worth having this RMM, MMR, MGM (that seems to sound better), or simply LOS PRIMOS + Franco, lineup continue to build form / momentum together. In the two instances we’ve seen them, they’ve performed diligently and the team overall seems to react in a cohesive manner. I kind of doubt that will happen as we will likely see Rodrygo (and maybe Franco) back on the bench against Espanyol but a young Juni can dream. Nevertheless, this doesn’t feel like typical rotations. This feels like Xabi trying to piece together a lineup so we’ll see the continued duels for the wing positions.
Observation #3 — Fullbacks. Carreras is the only fullback that makes me feel safe. I repeat Carreras is the only fullback at Real Madrid that makes me feel safe. TAA has always been an issue for me in terms of his defensive output and fitness. Carvajal facing this type of press just feels like he’s gonna run out of steam by December. Fran is actually doing better. Mendy is somewhere. Fede doesn’t want to play RB. So yea. I just want to shoutout Carreras real quick because I was skeptical of us signing him as he just didn’t look great in the CWC or in any game I really watched and he’s been absolutely remarkable. So kudos to him. Everyone else needs to massively step up their game. Carva gotta be smarter on that red. TAA I’m praying for — thats Ivatar’s guy! Fran is Fran. Mendy is Mendy.
..We’ll Be Back
“Reincarnation.”
– Rodrygo Goes #11
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“the revolution will be televised.“
