The Daily Merengue is 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, Ezek, Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, Juninho, NeRObutBlanco and yours truly, Kung_Fu_Zizou
Xabi Alonso is having an interesting time so far. The very same media and fans who were excited about him joining and understood what the project meant are suddenly behaving as if he’s been on the bench for 3 seasons. This is Xabi’s 3rd full season as a top-flight manager. This is not to make excuses for Xabi but to put into context what’s going on.
Xabi either has a project which needs time or Real Madrid are basically just passing the time. I am certain nobody expects analogies or the litany of examples to show that pressing and positional play are high-risk and take time to instill.
I’ve been impressed with Xabi at times and disappointed at other times but we’ve not even reached February yet. The manager needs time. It will be up and down this season. We should still have enough to win the league but we will need changes next summer.
The danger for Xabi is that Real Madrid players are big players for the most part. The manager is easier to replace. However, the manager has to show that he is in charge because he pays the ultimate price with his job when things go wrong. You can massage egos to an extent but you need to get the best out of the squad. That’s what makes the Real Madrid job so difficult. The fans are spoiled, the players are spoiled and you have to find a balance to manage expectations of both and win. The coaching almost feels secondary at times.
I’ve got very little problems with the squad or the XIs Xabi has been putting out. As I see it we need the players to stick to the manager’s instructions even when the game is going against us. If they do not, we risk players being lazy to do what they need to do because they can simply say it’s not working.
A ggood manager must be stubborn until the team does what he expects. If the manager doesn’t do that, then let’s give the job to the kitman. Let the players simply do what they feel like doing.
We also need to accept that we either have good players or we don’t. It cannot be that our players are good when we win and average when we lose. Good players can lose games, average players are average players even when they win.
Our formations have to be a diamond or 433. Our players can do this. We have to exploit our fullbacks and our midfielders as much as possible. Currently they’re being underemployed.
Whether we play a diamond or a 433, we have to be brave. We have to trust thst teams will create chances against us but that we’ve got more than enough to win if we play the right way. If we win our duels and if we impose ourselves in attack.
We have some of the sharpest tools in attack but we’ve somehow managed to look blunt. That’s a worry.
Where’s the half space movement? Why are we expecting Vini and Kylian to simply be great when nobody else is occupying opposition defenders and dragging them out of position? Why is nobody running beyond Kylian into the box? Why is Huijsen not being given good passing options to progress the ball? Why are we frustrating ourselves by not doing what we need to do to bring the best out of each other?
Pep played Nico Gonzalez and Bernado Silva in midfield against Liverpool. Won comfortably. If you look at the profiles of those players the Real Madrid fan base would lose it’s mind if we started Ceballos and Arda as our 2 in midfield. So why did it work for City? Simple… Teamwork. Their teammates made them shine by constantly moving on and off the ball to bring the best out of them. They didn’t do it alone. Why are our players supposed to do everything alone? Why do we even have XI players out there instead of just 6 or 2?
