Burnout: 24 October 2024 – Managing Madrid

Reflections Pt. III

Blue Shirt Guy: My wounds will heal — but what about yours? Look around you Juni. This is what’s left of your world. Everything you ever stood for. Every DT you first advocated for. Everything you believed in — a ruin.

Juninho: Maybe you’re right. Two people in a tragedy of our own making…but one lived too long.

Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a blog 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”).

Author’s Note: Juni — you’re only spending 30 mins on this. That’s all you got for them today. I’m sorry that’s all you can give.

A Simple Yet Convoluted Letter

Dear ManagingMadrid,

Lately I find myself burnt out. Today, I find myself tired from everything: work, relationships, family, and all the usual responsibilities of life. I find myself debating whether a small sanctity of peace can be found in a glass or simply a good HBO drama. I find myself wondering whether I can find solace from this or the adequate time to write a complex thematic Daily Thread (as I just don’t see the point of half-assed short quips). So I guess today I present you this off-the-cusp letter — but bear with me as I’m not entirely sure where this will go, but I feel a need to do it all the same.

I often find myself burnt out by DTs. What used to be a sanctuary, often feels like running on a hamster wheel — you know — relentless motion to simply stay in the same place. For example, with each day Luka Modric gets older, and yet I find myself told that time doesn’t exist for him. Time and decay exists for everyone else but not him. He is timeless. His on-field production is simply perfect. Which we all know can’t be true. I also find myself told that time has evaporated all of Luka’s sensibilities and abilities. He should’ve left years ago. He has nothing really to offer anymore — not even 20 mins of brilliance. Which again we all know can’t fully be true. Nevertheless, yet again with every day we march into the same grey. Toy soldiers sent to battle for a children’s game.

I often find myself burnt out by how Real Madrid play. I’ll admit that for the past 2-3 years, I’ve been pretty adamantly comfortable with Carlo Ancelotti leaving Real Madrid. Actually, let me start this way. I fully understand why Carlo Ancelotti is the manager of Real Madrid. The players love him. The board loves him. Most fans love him (even the one’s who want him gone). He is an icon and he will always be an icon. La Decima is all he needed for that status and he kept adding more and more and more. Carlo is a winner, period, and more often that not, a Carlo-led season will end with glory.

But for me, this constant struggle for consistency burns me out. Watching these games is lately more strenuous than enjoyable. I grow tired of watching Tbo desperately flail his arms to make saves against Celta Vigo of all teams. I grow tired of mediocrity from one of the most expensive teams of all-time. I grow tired of not dominating games or reaching what I perceive as these talented player’s ceilings. To quickly take a step back, I just like all of you love trophies, and I recognize that winning is really Carlo’s only priority. He’s doing his job. But as a consumer of football, which ultimately is just TV entertainment, I can’t help but ask for more to keep my attention. Maybe that’s unfair? Idk maybe I’m actually just being unfair?!

Sometimes I think of it kind of like how one would watch a TV show like The Bear or Peaky Blinders or The Sopranos. I don’t watch these shows to just rush towards the season finale and the final credits. It’s the journey that matters. It’s every moment between Episode 1 and the end. We judge these shows off every aching minute not just the end. It’s this mentality which I think makes me so passionate about Real Madrid’s process. Because in this instance I can’t just fast-forward to the end, where everything somehow ends up being ok. I’m forced to live with every second.

I’m burnt out by fan complaints. And I’m susceptible to this too. We as Real Madrid fans are such a privileged bunch that sometimes I think we lose sight of our privilege. We “suffer” but our suffering isn’t Rayo Vallecano’s. I think for this, I just find myself tired of our perceived personnel gaps. I recognize they exist. We absolutely need more CB depth. Losing Carvajal, is a massive loss. Toni Kroos departing isn’t great for our team’s build-up. We could probably use another LB. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel like we are fucking Real Madrid. Every team has gaps. No top team is perfectly constructed. No top team doesn’t have players facing a congested (and quite frankly stupid) schedule. But they make do. And I find myself as of October 24, demanding that we do too. Plenty of teams seem to win without Toni Kroos or a Carvajal caliber RB or an Mbappe ST, or a non-offensively marauding LB. Like for god’s sake, Gvardiol is a CB, Timber is CB, Calafiori is technically a CB, and Zinchenko is a CDM playacting as a LB, Guerrero is a RM who now plays RB, TAA is defensively LOL (quick aside: LV is a better defender than TAA so get ready), etc. etc. etc. Idk, I think only City fans wouldn’t want our roster and even then…like are there even City fans in the world? LOLOLOL

Time. This is already too long and past my 30 min deadline by like 5 mins so I’ll make this part very short. I think a lot of my DTs seem to thematically show that I struggle with this concept of time, and whether in the end all of this bickering or even discussion is worthwhile. I don’t know. I think I constantly evaluate my time and whether I’m just recklessly speeding towards the final credits.

So I guess what I want to finish is by saying: when you post that comment arguing with this unknown person behind some other screen or hit the ignore button or mock someone, ask yourself if it’s really worth your time? Trust me, I’m not perfect. I’m just burning out.

— Juni

..A Few Tweets

.Reflections Pt. IV

Juninho: “nvm we don’t have time.”

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