And So It Begins: 14 Aug 2024

A Word From the Author

“Even if my words had form…they wouldn’t reach you standing in the dark.”

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”).

Match Day: UEFA Super Cup Final

And So We Begin. It’s finally time. The first official game of the Real Madrid CF 24/25 season. I honestly have no clue what to expect being that this will be our first game with the majority of our starters (since everyone ditched preseason) but I’m hoping for some quick counters and potentially our future starting lineup.

Things Juni Wants To See

1) Vini – Mbappe – Rodrygo. I guess I could’ve easily just said Mbappe but I’m hoping to see this front three in some capacity tomorrow whether its a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 (diamond). I’m an unhealthy amount of excited to see whether Vini / Mbappe / Rodrygo can actually work or if we do need to start 4 midfielders (more on that later). I suspect Atalanta will continue their frantic high press so VMR (RMV sounds better) in transition could be absolutely entertaining.

2) A Free kick. This is small and a bit silly but I just want to see who is taking our free kicks and corners. I suspect Rodrygo will take some of our corners if Modric / Alaba aren’t on the pitch but free kicks could be an open book.

3) Attacking performance. This is likely too much to ask but I’d love for this game to be a thrilling 4-0 or even 4-2. I think we’ll start slow (per usual), considering the lack of preseason. However, I’m hoping that the players pick up the pace rather quickly. Of course, I’d love us to win the Super Cup but tbh I’m perfectly fine with a cup loss as long as the players put in a performance and progress from the previous year can be shown.

And So It Begins: Injuries

Camavinga. I hope Camavinga is ok. I am a bit concerned of the time off, but Cama will of course come back stronger than ever and we’re going to need him to. IMO Cama would be in my starting lineup and I think his qualities will prove integral to our midfield for years to come. He is one of our better players poised to control tempo as well as play creative passes even from a deeper position.This year will present various challenges but I’m confident the team is prepared to overcome them. Prayers for Camavinga. Get Well Soon!

And So It Begins: Kylian Destabilizing the Locker Room

Kylian Mbappe Lottin has destabilized our locker room and now we are in peril

Example #1: Vini. Updates on the Saudi / Vini rumor is that this may be a leak from Vini’s camp in order to improve his salary. I was going to take a long approach with this news to express my thoughts but it’s pretty simple. Yes, the gap between Mbappe and Vini of 10M is a lot. Yes, Vini deserves to probably make more money and move above Alaba. However….the club absolutely should not renew Vini until the summer 2025. Vini just renewed his contract and it is poor precedent to have a renewal again of this nature at this speed. This opens up a financial can of worms. Also summer 2025 is the natural time period to renew a contract expiring in 2027.

Example #2: Practice. Because of Mbappe, Madrid practice has become less serious. There are too many posts of people laughing or having fun. This isn’t PSG, we actually need to win things here.

Example #3: Press Conferences. Every question is Kylian this. Kylian that. I’m tired of it. He’s ruining our club!

The Advice For the Lil Homie(s)

“A world of dew, and within every dewdrop, a world of struggle”

.

.

.

.

.

.

あなたに別れを告げる練習を続けています