The Shadows: 3 February 2025

Journal Entry #361

“Monday, February 3rd. The MM streets are crowded for the work day….even with the mundane Real Madrid performances and the constant rain. Hidden in the #CarloOut chaos is the element, waiting to strike like snakes. And I’m there too. Watching. 2.5 years of moderator nights have turned me into a nocturnal animal. I must choose my targets carefully. It’s a big forum. I can’t be everywhere. But they don’t know where I am. Val has a signal now, for when I’m needed. When that Mourinho gif or feature hits the comments, it’s not just a call — it’s a warning. To them. Fear is a tool. They think I’m hiding in the shadows.

But I Am The Shadows.”

— Juninho

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 “shadows”).

Disclaimer: If you want an X update on recent Real Madrid news, tune into Alonsofan or Hala Croatia (for Luka Modric positive news). Today, and maybe this entire week. I write. Let’s slowly evaluate this season.

The Shadows: The Board

Dear MM,

I’m confused. As we unravel the complexities of this season and try to analyze what has gone wrong and what little has gone right, I find myself confused when attempting to evaluate the board and the shadow’s hand in this bumpy ride. I’m constantly told whether by pundits, MM writers, Kiyan or frequent MMers that the board has set this team up for failure. I’ve been told that the board has become passive and complacent with recent success. I’ve read the expression that Florentino sits with his belly-filled with trophies and lacks the hunger to continue the ruthlessness that established his legacy. Even conquerors grow tired of war.

But something in me (and I’ll be honest, I’m not fully sure why) finds a means to partially reject this premise. CIES Football and the Transfermarkt tell me that 6 Real Madrid players (Mbappe, Vini, Jude, Rodrygo, Cama, Fede) feature in the Top 25 Most Valuable Players in world — only followed by Barcelona with 3. The Balon D’Or nominations featured 5 active Real Madrid players (if we remove Toni Kroos and Dani Carvajal). Some of our youngest players like Arda Guler were nominated for the Kopa (a trophy given to the best U21 player). Our backup GK was nominated for the Yachin Best GK Trophy. Our CDM (who many have soured on) was one of the best performers for WC finalist France and scored a crucial goal in their semifinal against England. He also was one of their better performers in the recent Euros. Brahim Diaz (who I personally consider a super sub) is Morocco’s top scorer from 24/25 with 7. At the very least, we can confidently say that there is world class talent if not some of the world’s actual best talent filling 8/9 of the 11 positions on the pitch.

Quite frankly, I’m not sure if I’m in a position to ask the board for more?

Yes, I do understand and know that many of you will clamor towards the issues with our backline. Many will first say that we needed to sign at least one CB this summer, and I do mostly agree. We lost Nacho and didn’t entirely replace him. However, I also think it’s appropriate to evaluate 1) the complexity of player contracts and 2) the coaches willingness to play new non-Galactico players.

Contracts. Quickly addressing point 1 — we must understand that we had 4 CBs on first team contracts (pretty much an industry standard) to start the season. They were Alaba, Rudiger, Militao, and Vallejo (yes — Jesus himself). I’m willing to agree that this is not an absolutely optimal position group but Militao had returned for over 3 months by season start. Alaba was originally predicted to be playing by October. And Vallejo is the biggest red flag of spending frivolously on a young talent because we actually can’t get rid of his contract. From simply a business standpoint (especially with the academy players), I’m not entirely convinced that we went into the season in actual dire straits and some of our critique is simply hindsight.

Rotations. Regarding point 2 — I’m unsure of whether a young CB would actually have been rotated by Carlo to protect the likes of Rudiger or even Militao. It would be simple to point towards the rotations of Arda / Endrick, but instead I’ll give a better example Rudiger in 22/23. Unlike a Leny Yoro or insert your favorite U23 CB, Rudiger came into the Madrid team with a CL trophy and oozing of class. I remember distinctly clamoring that he was the best CB on our team; however, Rudi spent his first year as a psuedo-LB and bench player. Yes, you all remember Rudiger the LB and City 2nd Leg Rudiger (aka Rudi who was benched for a recently returning Militao who then couldn’t stop Haaland and co). Today, we would call the decision absolutely baffling but at the time you all (not me) for some reason accepted Rudiger being our 3rd / 4th option. Yes, Yoro (or insert name) may be starting now over Tchouameni but if Asencio (who is 2 years older than Yoro) can’t grab the starting CB position. I doubt anyone younger would.

Apologies — this is quite long so we’ll be very swift to address the fullback situation. Again, I’m not entirely sure that this collection of players is completely on the board. Regarding the LB situation, the LB pairing was suboptimal to start the season. I am not a fan of Mendy and have advocated for him to be replaced for the better part of 1.5 years. Fran is ok but really only ok. From most sources, it didn’t appear that the board was interested in renewing Mendy until Ancelotti intervened (which at times has been actually a good thing i.e., Ceballos). Alphonso Davies was the talk of the summer. But an intervention occurred, and similar to point 2 why buy a potential 3rd LB player that the newly renewed manager may not play.

The RBs in my absolute honest opinion is simply an issue of hindsight. This isn’t the greatest duo but it has been a pretty resolute duo until Carvajal legitimately lost his knee. Dani Carvajal at year beginning was in contention for the Balon D’Or (and imo should’ve won if Jude Bellingham didn’t alas). Lucas Vazquez is actually a fine RB in small dosages and when used sparingly. He’s like your favorite hot sauce / spice. You should use it for some dishes but not every dish. “Spice is an enhancer not a flavor…” But now, we’re stuck with LV as a full-fledged flavor, which of course is an issue. With TAA all but the talk of the summer, the board contractually (remember this is ultimately a finance business) hamstrung. Do you buy a RB for six months? If so, who? Walker? Kyle Walker who honestly can’t run and is 30+? If not him, who is willing to jump ship for six months and realistically go back to wherever they came from? Do you promote an academy player? Will Carlo use said player over Fede or LV anyway? These are all complex questions muddled into their decision making.

Personally, imo the board does share some blame for its inactivity in the winter transfer window. But again, i’m not entirely sure it’s much. The above paragraphs (apologies again for length) address summer decisions but not really any winter decisions. Now I could again discuss the complexity of contracts and future Vallejos but instead I’m just going to point to the only contract that right now matters — Carlo. According to most reports, Carlo may not continue passed this season. The manager’s longevity with the team is uncertain. When the manager is uncertain, it’s hard to argue for a club to pay a premium to salvage poor situations. Quick examples of clubs who carelessly bought players when they know said manager may be soon let go are Chelsea / Utd. We absolutely don’t want to be them. Ask Ruben Amorim or Maresca or Poch. Ask Ruben how delighted he is with Zirkzee who hasn’t been at Utd for more than 7 months. He isn’t. 42.5M wasted.

But it is what it is. We’ll continue to march on with this board because Flo will be here til 2029. That’s really the only truth in the matter.

Anyway, I’ll assess the board with 15-20% responsibility for our inconsistent form.

– J

Quick Tweets

Unredeemable Mistakes

Valyrian Steel: We will rebuild but not just Daily Threads. We must rebuild MMers faith — in our institutions, in our moderators, in each other. Together, we must learn to believe in MM again. Together, we must save MM.

Juninho: But…maybe I’m beyond saving?

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“they scream and demand that you clean the streets. but they curse you for how you do it.”