Family Divided: 18 Sept 2024

A Word From the Author

If I told you I was about to break, would you look at me different?.

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, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho (the “King of Mods”).

Champions League Rd 1: Brief Recap

A Win. Today’s win was a win and that’s really it. A scintillating performance early on from Courtois, Jude and Rodrygo inspired an improved 2nd half performance from the team. I’ll discuss more details in my observations below. Happy we won!

Observation #1: More Of the Same

Coaching Matters. Today you’ll likely hear that Real Madrid CF has not lost a game since the Copa Del Rey against Atletico Madrid. Today, you’ll be reminded that last year we won a double. Today, you’ll be scolded about how Toni Kroos has left. Today, you’ll be remiss to forget that there are various injuries and Real Madrid players are the only players to participate in International Tournaments. Today, you’ll again hear that Mbappe kills locker rooms, that Rodrygo can’t remain on the RW, that we need to play a diamond with more midfielders, that Mendy can’t dribble / pass forward or various other gripes that seem to evade a pervasive issue with this Real Madrid team: Coaching + Preparation Matters.

This Real Madrid team may be one of the worst Top 5 League teams I’ve ever seen employ a high press, and this is not a today issue. This was an issue last season. It was an issue the season before. It has been an issue for the majority of this Carlo stint and likely can even be traced back towards Zidane’s tenure. And yet on September 17, 2024, we still attempt to deploy a failed high press. Why? What is the justification for habitually repeating the same missteps?

This Real Madrid team is also notoriously slow at starting games. In the first 20 mins, Stuttgart were alarmingly the better team on the pitch and likely should have scored 2-3 goals. Again, this is not a today issue. This was an issue during the Champions League Final against Dortmund. This was often an issue against City. This was an issue against Girona. This was often an issue against Xavi’s Barcelona. Even stretching back to our stupendous 5-2 win against Liverpool at Anfield…we dropped 2 early goals.

At some point, we need to start asking why? Yes, it’s September and its early in the 24/25 season but every player besides Mbappe was pretty much here last year and yet simple preparatory mistakes are consistent. Maybe it’s just player laziness? Maybe its an inability to motivate the team until things go sideways? Idk, But I’m tired of it.

Also — at some point the Kroos excuse needs to end. There are 1000s of football teams with significantly less talented players that all do not have Toni Kroos who are able to put together a pattern of play where they can be threatening going forward or at least string passes together. Stuttgart didn’t have Toni Kroos and were relatively fine in build up play. If this Real Madrid structure can only play with Toni Kroos, then this isn’t a structure worth progressing. For God’s sake, our goalkeeper was MOTM.

Observation #2: The R

Rodrygo. Courtois was man of the match (deservingly so) but let’s take a quick opportunity to rewatch Rodrygo’s performance. First, and this is an extension of again coaching matters, early this season the narrative was that Vini – Mbappe – Rodrygo could not play together because all three players want to and will occupy the left flank. Obviously, Carlo Ancelotti rectified this issue and told Rodrygo to only occupy the right flank. Instructing Rodrygo to be a purer RW has seemed to be a relative success and it must also surprise everyone that this player actually listened!! Again coaching matters. This may be the most malleable Real Madrid team. These kids will follow leadership.

Secondly, and this comment is likely more explosive: we need Vini to play more like Rodrygo (or at least today’s version of Rodrygo). Vini is an explosive player in both skill, speed, and personality. However, at times he may just need to slightly dial it down. There is a sequence today which imo has been quite prevalent throughout early this season: Vini receives the ball on the left flank, attempts to beat three defenders rather than pass, loses possession, and sits on the pitch while Stuttgart players do a rondo around him + Fede who is trying to press. This version of Vini kills our momentum and attacks. It just feels lately that he’s often trying to do too much. Oh, also please don’t get me started on Vini’s recent fascination with trivelas…I would personally love Vini to look to play more 1-2s. He has blistering speed and doesn’t always need to carry the ball past an ongoing defender. Allow Jude / Mbappe / Fede / Rodrygo to play the easier pass.

(Note: this is a dialed down version to my Rodrygo + Mbappe would actually be a better partnership and fit than Vini + Mbappe).

Observation #3: Bobby

Endrick. Man, I’m happy you scored…but boy was your decision to shoot pretty silly lol. It wasn’t even a good shoot tbh but hey you may really be the next GOAT. Well done Bobby.

Advice for the Lil Homie(s)

I woke this morning undecided. My demons taking over my life (yuh). Sooner or later its MM family divided. These patterns getting hard to hide (yuh). They say mods should be satisfied. Tell me that I got the world, but that’s a lie. I wish the way I feel could be pacified…

Sometimes…I wish I was somebody…anybody but myself.

(Sometimes) You’ll wish you were somebody…anybody but yourself.

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but keep going.