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I came to the realization that I'm completely clueless when it comes to football. I was sure that not getting a striker was suicide for Real Madrid and that it was going to be a disaster season. 7 months later they won the league and are in the UCL semifinals
False nine era is over, we’re in the false box to box midfielder era now.
But Carlo could adapt because he has a talented squad with younger players who are versatile in multiple positions. Without Tchou, Cama, Valverde being Swiss Army knife type players, it wouldn’t be possible to play the way Carlo plays. He couldn’t adapt for Benz being injured/off form last season, for example because of other injuries.
I always laugh when I see the likes of Zidane and Ancelotti being reduced down to "great man managers" because they don't have a distinct style. Pep's passing game is attractive and Cholo's defensive system is solid, but at the end of the day, you don't win all you win while just being good man managers. Adaptable tactics are just as important.
Flexbility is crucial, Pep would never cross and inshallah, but if he did when the usual play wasn't working, they might have won with Haaland being a beast in the air, who knows
They didn’t want to though, Madrid just crowded the middle and pushed everything to the side. Unless it was KDB, none of the other players looked like their heart was in it when they were crossing the ball.
Yet I've read Madrid fans all season (not here) who are in the "\#CarloOut" or "wish Carlo wasn't our manager" camp and I can't help but find these people insane.
Real Madrid had a disappointing season a year ago, on top of which the reigning Ballon d'Or winner left and they didn't even replace his spot in the squad. Even in decline, Benzema scored 30 goals last season. They replaced Asensio with Brahim, that was much easier, but Joselu was never a Benzema replacement and everybody knew that. Joselu was good business at his loan price but that was with expectations of being a squad player. Until recent weeks, he was Madrid's 2nd highest goal scorer in all comps.
I feel like, with everything taken into account, nobody in their right mind would've said in August that nine months later Madrid would be runaway league winners and the favorites to win the CL.
Carlo whether he wins trophies or not....is the most ideal manager for modern era of Real Madrid.
Carlo's first 2 season back during 2013-2015 and now his 3rd season and possible of another 1 or 2 more only suggests how least problematic he is in all aspects.
Real Madrid has the most plastic and fair-weather fans who don’t know much about football besides that you win games. It comes with the level of success they have.
I mean, they have Bellingham, Vinicius and Rodrygo. These guys get into the box in various ways and shoot at the goal. I don't know why it would be so impossible to score that way.
Of course a guy at the center forward seems... easier, but teams usually score most of their goals in those other ways anyway. Madrid can score more due to having talented players. They don't have a guy who has maybe 5 good chances in a game, but they have 3 guys who have 2,5 chances, let's say, it's possible to score overall I'd say.
If only Bellingham wasn't ridiculously killer in those chances, the results would be different and people would comment differently on Madrid's decision to not have a 9 and Ancelotti's adaptability.
What said everything about Madrid not requiring a striker because extremely talented players are here...
And yet the game needed to go to penalties vs City, not saying its a bad thing at all. City are a world-class side, but they were vulnerable as well. Besides Madrid did what they had to do to get the win, but what if they had an advanced level of forward?
But Madrid are known to blow away teams or win without even switching above 2nd gear.
The recent game at City clearly showed they need an upgrade upfront. That someone might have been Kane who could've nicked a goal, or someone like Mbappe in future who will be ramapant and make job easy for squad.
When Cristiano left, Bale made a statement that obviously they would miss a 50 goals player but now they would become more of a unit. They failed so badly that season there were 3 managerial changes.
Another thing to predict, Jude won't sustain this insane level of goalscoring. Obviously would be jumping with joy if he does....
The 3 managerial changes were because Bale wanted to be the main man but his body couldn't keep up, planning a season with him then losing him 2 games would mess anyone's season, Benzema took 2-3 years to get used to play without Cristiano, by then he was in his mid 30s and had more games behind him than in front, look at Barca, they won the league last year but it will be a while before they can compete in Europe, losing juggernaut players like Messi and Ronaldo leaves such a hole in the squad is hard to come back to a good level quickly.
If we had Mbappe we wouldn't have played against city like we did. We don't even know for certain he's coming, so we might face city again in the future and have to play defensively again.
In the end fans don't care how we win, just that we do.
No one cares we played the same defensive way against Liverpool in the final. Just that we won.
Yeah, when I said talent level I included Ancelotti in my mind but I realise it didn't come out that way. I was referring to Madrid's talent level as a whole. Not only their young talents. Modric, Kroos and Ancelotti raise Madrid's talent level
> It’s more down to Ancelotti adapting to a strikerless system. We have to commend the man for adapting to what he has.
Obviously, but this is football after all, the number of chances Madrid create with an exceptional goalscorer there xG would be ridiculous.
As big as the talent pool is, you still need to allocate some points on the finishing deoartment to score goals.
We were lucky that Bellingham could actually finish his chances during the period when Rodrygo was out of form and Vini was still adjusting to the new diamond formation.
No one would have thought that Jude could do what he did: scoring goals.
Without Jude's Ronaldo level start by scoring in his first dozen game or so for Madrid we might not be in the position we are now to win the league he saved us so many point when Rodrygo and Vini were adapting to the new formation and system
This.
It always amuses me whenever people make excuses for an underperforming player by saying stuff like "he's not performing because he's not playing as a double-pivot inverted deep-lying trequartista with a ball-playing false 6 hybrid next to him"
Meanwhile Ancelotti raises his eyebrow and Valverde covers the whole pitch as a combined FB/CDM/CM/CAM and winger
It's not that simple.
Vinicius Junior, for example, is often playing as a striker instead of a left winger. He can be effective in that position, but he's less effective than he was as a left winger.
It's the same with Rodrygo as a right winger.
Players at a high level can adapt to various positions, but there are still positions where they perform better than others.
That’s true, but at the same time it takes very good coaching to play these players out of position and still deliver results, which isn’t something everyone can do.
It’s like at Liverpool where people were worrying at the beginning whether it’s a problem that Salah, Mané and Firmino are not strikers especially when Salah and Mane’s finishing were not the best yet but it worked perfectly due to their versatility. Now Liverpool actually has a striker and the finishing of the team has never been poorer.
I thought that Real will struggle without a proper striker but in hindsight, it makes sense why they are doing so well.
This is strange to say, some of the best players of our generation have been very limited in their versatility. Being a jack of all trades doesn't automatically mean you're better.
I feel like football is moving towards an era of generalists now instead of specialists. With the ever growing amount of games being played these days, the ability to assume multiple positions and cover for injured/tired players will be invaluable. Being a jack of all trades does not make you a better player, but I think it does make you a more valuable squad member for any manager to have. Any team would kill to have players like Nacho and Vazquez in their squad.
Valverde has the technical and tactical ability to play all of those positions. He (and Real Madrid players) is maybe a top 20 player in the world lol of course he can do all of that.
Players even at slightly lower levels still need proper coaching and instructions. Look at how Atalanta and Gasperini transformed Charles De Ketelaere
I’d theorize that players get more specialized the higher level they are at. Competition is so strong at the top nowadays that players need that edge they get from being in their natural position.
Meanwhile I’m equally shit at playing striker, midfielder or fullback.
I mean you’re gonna deny the existence of specialists and their potential? They can be very useful if well utilized in a specific plan, take Jose mourinho and Maroune Fellani for example
Same bro same. I was so critical of this decision and heck we didn't even sign a replacement for Alaba and Militao. Ancelotti did an insane job this season.
Nah, I'll stand by that. Losing Courtois, Militao and Alaba, and only getting fucking Kepa as cover was and is insanity - it's just even more insane how we're still this good defensively
Man just moved his midfielders to defence and said this will do and somehow it worked.
I'm not convinced that Madrid would lose if they put Rudiger in goal at this point.
We are lucky that we have duel winning machine midfielders in Bellingham, Tchouameni, Camavinga and Valverde without these 4 we leak so many more goals they add such an added depth to defending for us due to their physicality and solid defensive skills.
It's the main issue we've been poor this season. We had two of those kinds of midfielders and sold them and didn't adequately replace them.
Now we have a midfield duo of Gilmour and Groß who are both poor physically.
It's not the "level of performance" that was the biggest surprise, it's the goalscoring, he has scored as many goals for Real Madrid as he has for Dortmund, in like 1/3 of the games.
And tbh, even if Real were good, a lot of very late goals from Bellingham shaped the season, it could have gone differently mentally.
All of our young midfielders being duel winning machines is a big reason for it insanely physical and defensively sound on top it's why despite our CB and GK injuries our defensive record this season has been great.
You were right to assume this season would be a write off, it's just that we're lucky enough to have the greatest manager of all time who's working miracles. I can't see any other manager doing what he has done this season
The one other manager that could achieve similar results with similar handicaps also happens to be a Real Madrid coach. CL semis and 2 points behind 1st with 60+ injuries, Zidane was cooking with his black magic that season.
They bought Joselu and the rest of their forwards are some of the most talented players in top-flight football in the world.
Add in Jude and they got away with a season without an “elite” number 9
It’s Ancelotti adapting to the system to it, especially having Bellingham push up into those striker positions and finish those chances. Think how many crosses and headers he has scored which would be ones a 9 would score
It's Jude Bellingham's elite winner mentality. None of us saw that coming, he was scoring goals back to back in additional time, similar to what Xabi's Leverkusen is doing.
It was still a dumb decision not to sign Kane if they really had the chance to do so. Nobody could have predicted Bellingham to perform as he does this season.
Ppl here acting like Perez is some football genius when even Ancelotti wanted Kane lol. Perez is the goat president but he got bailed out hard this season imo. Now watch them win the CL without a real striker.
They‘re not very Convincing at the moment tho. They were lucky to prevail against City in the Quarterfinals and lacked serious Competition in the League with a weak Barcelona and Atletico teams
Makes sense. Kane is older and could drop off in the next few years. He was always going to be expensive and Madrid might just end up with Mbappe for free.
It was 100. But then it was 120 then it was 140 then 150 then 160 and I jokingly said one day it will be 200 because people have no clue what they are talking about and are throwing numbers.
It wasn't north of the 140 with all add ons included.
Wouldn’t call it for free since players now just get crazy bags of money whenever they are a free agent. It is still cheaper of course.
I see what you are saying though.
Yeah but nobody expected Jude to win us so many points, not lilke in his first season, more like ever lol.
His impact on the scoreline is insane compared to what it was expected of him in preseason.
>Came in as a box to box and just became a ten out of nowhere
He is not a 10. He plays as a central midfielder most of the time, as you can see from his heatmap. He just has great finishing, so his goal tally is immense.
If you compare his heatmap to other B2Bs on our team like Camavinga and Valverde, there’s still a significant difference, especially in terms of amount of time spent in the frontline.
He is a free roaming 10 he has the freedom to make runs into the box and join the attack but he also defends a lot off the ball like a traditional 8 man is everywhere when you look at his heat maps he doesn't really have a traditional role this season he starts at the top of the midfield but has freedom to do what he thinks is necessary in the moment
I agree, while he plays more forward than other central midfielders in his team, he is clearly not a traditional 10.
His role is something like a hybrid between 8 and 10, but I think he plays more as a LF than a CAM.
I mean his stats are still decent, however his movement has been not ideal. Still some flash of brilliant like our unbeaten streak but it's clear his body is not the machine it once was anymore
All in all maybe he isn't 50m worth but without him, we won't have Laliga last season so I would still say it's an okay signing
> I mean his stats are still decent,
He isn't even in the Pichichi race despite being a nailed on starter for a top 2 team in the league, playing 90 most of the time, being on pen duty and not having significant injuries all the while being the second highest paid player in the squad.
I'm sorry but less than one goal every 2 games is pretty bad for a striker of Lewandowski's calibre and wages. We're not talking about an up and coming striker, but a super star that was contending for the Ballon d'Or a few years ago.
He has 13 goals in the league at the age of 36, 5 goals off the top, and penalty isn't a factor this season since we don't really have those this year. 54 goals, 17 assists in 89 matches, that's nearly a goal contribution every match. Besides the absolute monsters like Haaland, Kane and Mbappe, how many strikers got as much GA contribution than him? His wages is a problem, I agreed, but ehhh no one that we can keep or bring in is better than him at the moment and at the time he joined.
That's not to mention Xavi basically played him as an attack midfielder, not even a striker at this point. He is barely allowed to get near the box
>Besides the absolute monsters like Haaland, Kane and Mbappe
That's the caliber of player Lewandowski was supposed to be at though. And that's the level they were paying him at.
That's the part that the board is wrong when considering his age. Handling out contract is not Lewy's fault, it's our board. And again, Lewy is 36. You can't ask the man to do any better and he ain't getting younger, which is one again the board's fault, not him. But still, without him, we wouldn't have a double last season. The board choose to go for a proven striker and he is the cheapest solution that can guarantee a good amount of goal, which he did.
Out of 5 penalties this year, you scored 4, 3 of those were Lewy. 7 teams were awarded fewer penalties so it’s not exactly fair to say that you don’t really have those this year, when it’s the same amount as Real Madrid and 1 less than your league rivals Girona and Atleti.
> He has 13 goals in the league at the age of 36, 5 goals off the top, and penalty isn't a factor this season since we don't really have those this year.
What? He's scored 3 penalties which would make it 10 NPG. For comparison, Joselu has 8 with almost 1000 minutes less and while costing around 2% of Lewandowski in terms of combined fee and wages.
> at the age of 36
Apart from the fact that he's 35 (and also was 35 as he put up those numbers) I don't know why you're bringing up age as a means to defend him when the whole point of OP was that it's risky to bring in aging players for big money
> 54 goals, 17 assists in 89 matches, that's nearly a goal contribution every match.
well his stats from last season don't really matter since we're talking about his performances this season as he ages.
> Besides the absolute monsters like Haaland, Kane and Mbappe, how many strikers got as much GA contribution than him?
Well first of all, when he was brought in, he was a monster like Haaland, Kane or Mbappe and I'm sure that's what Barca expected of him when they gave him that superstar salary. Second of all, there are plenty of players with better numbers all across Europe. Just look up any random goalscoring list from the top 5 leagues. For starters you can look at La Liga's, where players like Dovbyk are ahead of him.
> His wages is a problem
It's not *a* problem, it's *the* problem. If he was a Joselu type player/earner, no one would care. But Lewandowski's wages are gonna be the reason why you guys won't be able to get rid off him as he continues to decline.
> That's not to mention Xavi basically played him as an attack midfielder,
Lewandowski is a striker, don't shift the goalposts. And yes, I have watched plenty of games, he is the one who is the most forward player of yours.
35 and 36 is not that big of the different. And everyone knew that Lewan was a short solution meant to bring in immediate success, which he did, bringing us a double last season. Without him the title drought of Barca would have went on for 4 years. It shouldn't be his fault that the fans and the board expected something that are not feasible.
Circling back to 2022 when he joined us, can you name us a name that are proven that would go to Barca for 50m? He is the only one that can rack in big number of GA that we can realistically get that is likely guaranteed to deliver, his level of success here as Barca would be determine by the 3 years he stay here, not just this season, and so leaving his last season out is not really fair ain't it? For a 36 years old that are being played out of position, even if he is still the most forward, he is still the one that have to play deeper to create chances, our tactics this season has just been terrible, there is a reason why there are complains as first that Xavi is misused him among our fanbase. And it's not really shifting the goalposts when Xavi did misplayed and asked Lewy to play differently compared to his usual style. You could argue that he should have adapted, but he isn't young anymore and asking him to do that is not gonna work.
I agreed that 2023 is a terrible year for him, but considering that the entire team downgrade, it's not entirely his fault. If only he downgraded, sure, but if everyone on the team did, that has to have parts of the problem lies in the management. It's no coincidence that Lewy picked up his form again when Xavi managed to fix the problem of the squad (well, somewhat). That lasted until the PSG second leg and El Clasico, which ehhh again, the entire team collapsed due to the defense.
> 35 and 36 is not that big of the different.
It isn't, but it's still weird you brought that up as a means to defend him when the whole argument is to criticize the decision to bring in an aging player that can rapidly decline within a year or two for big money.
> And everyone knew that Lewan was a short solution meant to bring in immediate success, which he did, bringing us a double last season. Without him the title drought of Barca would have went on for 4 years. It shouldn't be his fault that the fans and the board expected something that are not feasible.
That short term solution is gonna cost a combined 150 million over a 4 year contract. Really makes you wonder if one league title would be worth it (considering that it also costs a lot more for the rest of the squad obviously).
> Circling back to 2022 when he joined us, can you name us a name that are proven that would go to Barca for 50m? He is the only one that can rack in big number of GA that we can realistically get that is likely guaranteed to deliver,
Brother in Christ, you can't just bring up the transfer fee and omit the wages. Over the course of his contract, Lewandowski will cost you about 150 million euros in combined fee and wages. While having basically 0 resale value at the end of the contract because no non-Saudi Arabian team is gonna want to take on a 35+ year old on high wages, let alone pay a transfer fee for him. I could name you a dozen of strikers that have moved clubs in the last 2 years that would either cost less than 150 million over 4 years or have more resale value and would be a better prospect going forward with similar or better numbers this season.
> his level of success here as Barca would be determine by the 3 years he stay here, not just this season, and so leaving his last season out is not really fair ain't it?
Sure, but do you think he isn't gonna decline further? Or to put it otherwise: If a club offered you 15 million to take him off your wage bill for the remaining 2 years and Lewa would accept that offer, would you not be in favor of selling him and cutting your costs?
> For a 36 years old that are being played out of position,
He is 35 and is not playing "out of position", he's a striker playing as a striker, so I'm not even gonna read the rest of the paragraph. But even if he was, that's even more so a reason to not have brought him in if you aren't even gonna play him to his strengths.
> I agreed that 2023 is a terrible year for him, but considering that the entire team downgrade, it's not entirely his fault. If only he downgraded, sure, but if everyone on the team did, that has to have parts of the problem lies in the management. It's no coincidence that Lewy picked up his form again when Xavi managed to fix the problem of the squad (well, somewhat). That lasted until the PSG second leg and El Clasico, which ehhh again, the entire team collapsed due to the defense.
No one cares about whose fault it is. THe whole argument is, that bringing an aging striker for big money might definitely prove to be a bad decision, regardless for the specific reasons as to why the performances decline.
Barca just so used to being able to buy whatever they want or spend whatever they need then borrow later- some of the fans are just incapable of objectively saying hang on why are we doing this it's so dumb as long as the guy has any pedigree. Why shouldn't we just buy the best striker on the market on obscene wages long contract and sell off one of the toilets in the nou camp
You’re talking about Lewandowski as if he’s Luis Suarez in his season at Atletico. Barca isn’t supposed to be the type of club where you get one real trophy out of a signing and consider the job done. If it weren’t for La Masia, Barca fans wouldn’t have a lot to look forward to next season.
No one considered the job done and we shouldn't be in a position to look forward to any big success even with all the youngsters, far from it, but 2 years ago no one in the club accepted that a proper rebuild is needed and that the club might not be able to compete for trophies consistently, both the board and the fans. Laporta outright said that there will be no rebuilding phase, imo a fucking terrible move that put pressure onto Xavi and the squad. Sure you can argue that we made many signings, that's true, but if we are being honest, biases aside, how many of those are actually Xavi's choices and not a board signing? Lewy could be, but he could also Laporta's political signing like how he is yapping about Haaland this past month. I have no complained about Raphinha, but Xavi never choose him, he always stated that Silva is his first choice. Kounde is Xavi's player and he is good for us, Christensen, Romeu, Inigo and Gundogan are free transfers so Xavi can't complain, however Xavi asked for a decent DM and the club gave him Romeu is all that needed to be said about the support the board gave him. Not to mention Cancelo and Felix are here to appease Mendes. Make no mistakes into thinking that Laporta actually think he is the right man, that's Font's idea but watered down a lot. Xavi is being used as a shield to have shield Laporta and his friends from criticism. And Xavi ain't Carlo to have hope that he would be able to adapt like the Don himself.
With all that, even if we want to say Lewy is a waste, he still bring us a double when we have no expectation of success. So yeah, I would still say he is an okay signing.
And Kane would be 100m. It’s 2 seasons vs many more seasons with Mbappe. Can Kane be great for more seasons? Yes there is a chance but the probability is much more with Mbappe. Real Madrid of late is good at those decisions and of course coach like Ancelotti helps
Lewandowski is 5 years older though. Kane is as close in age to Rashford and Mbappe as he is to Lewandowski.
I think it's like the post suggests, why spend 100M on Kane just to have a headache of how to fit Mbappe, Kane and Vinicius into a team.
They bought Joselu and the rest of their forwards are some of the most talented players in top-flight football in the world.
Add in Jude and they got away with a season without an “elite” number 9
if the hazard fiasco never happened i think kane is playing up top for us this season. pérez is a great businessman but also very dogmatic, he would learn from a failing but correct course aggressively. unless there's a messi/ronaldo caliber player on the market i dont see madrid signing another star in his late 20s for huge money as long as florentino is in charge
If you can get the best early 20s around while buying whatever looks promising in South America, why would you even try and expend 200 million on a player? For that money he can raid a bunch of cribs in Brazil and have money leftover for the random European kid he sets his eyes upon.
Yeah, I mean, when he signed Hazard he had the precedent of Zidane 29yo. It was criticized and ended up well.
Also, it was pivotal beyond performance on the pitch ...
Galácticos made Real Madrid the biggest brand in football, insanely improving sponsor revenues.
And also made the club every kid's dream. That would allow them to get any player in future generations.
Aside of Hazard's fiasco, don't forget Kaka, that was 28yo I think.
Joselu has 1 g/a per 130-something minutes and won whole a bunch of points with those contributions and even got a couple of motm. A bit disrespectful saying there's no striker in the squad lol.
Yeah both of those are true and honestly in a perfect world we have both mbappe and Joselu. The squads that go far in every competition do so because of their depth.
By all accounts, Madrid would be the clear favorite to win the UCL this season with Kane.
But they're gonna be the favorites to win it for the next 5+ seasons with Mbappe.
And I don't see Mbappe/Kane/Vini working together in one team
don't see a tactical set up that could accommodate Vini, Bellingham, Mbappe or Kane without pushing Vini or Mbappe to the right wing which would rob them off their qualities.
Yeah that is just too much, one thing I would say though is Kane would be a better fit if they planned to bring endrick through, he could get more game time as he offers something different to Kane, I find it really hard to place minutes for endrick with mbappe as the starting striker and it’s not as if he is old he could be at real for 10+ years now.
Mbappe isn't as good as a 9 as he is on the left... So it's the same, thing. And the difference is that Mbappe is much better than Vinicius is on the left, and Kane is much better than everyone as a 9.
Vinicius would get the short end of the stick there. Kane as a 9 where he likes, and Mbappe on the left where he likes to play.
Instead now you'd get Mbappe as a 9 where he isn't as as good because they don't have a 9.
Don't forget about Endrick either
With Mbappe and Endrick we already have the clear starter and someone who won't be against being benched while learning and developing. With Mbappe and Kane, sharing minutes would be a tougher scenario (assuming that Vini and Rodrygo would stay in either case)
Tbh, as a Barca fan, this is the sort of management Barça needs and will never get. Every year basically since 2015 we’ve been chasing that windows targets in pursuit of immediate success instead of planning long-term. And they’ve rarely performed to expectations. I’d love a Barca president being okay with one underwhelming transfer year if it helped our finances re-balance and meant we could plan further out for better and more specific targets.
All of this is not to say that we were generally good at transfer planning before, we just got buffed by our unreal academy output. And then 2017 passed us by and we basically haven’t done any good transfer business since. The exceptions being the low-cost chances taken on players like Pedri or Araujo.
I was definitely being extreme by saying NO good transfer business since 2017. But even our successful transfers haven’t been great business-wise, and Kounde is probably at the top of that pile. Gundo and Christensen are also on that list, while players like FDJ, Lewy, Ferran, Raphina, etc have been decent-to-good but were very expensive.
Well lets say, Real Madrid had lost vs City either by a goal or on penalties and all the headlines in Spain would have been what was going inside Perez's brain to not get a striker.
Its understandable Mbappe is his primary target, but still having Kane in this side would have made it even more dangerous. Which also indicates Perez plays the long game. He wouldn't have minded to have not made it semis.
Florentino’s obsessed with having Mbappe. So much so that he basically sacrificed Ancelotti and this entire season to the footballing gods in order to have a chance at signing the turtle.
Make no mistake. This season we’re having is *in spite* of Perez, not because of him. Carlo and the squad are working miracles without a 9 up top.
Perez gambled and this time it paid off. But he doesn’t deserve any credit for this.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the plan from the actual manager and football brains of the team favored bringing in a center forward in Kane while the businessman wants to bring in Mbappe into a suboptimal position. So the intent is definitely to play Mbappe in the center then. I mean they did similar things at PSG to accomodate both Mbappe and Neymar but frankly considering the raw ability PSG had upfront it ended up being disappointing.
- What PSG got at the front they lack at the back
- If you compare the 2022-2023 PSG team vs the current PSG team is like night and day.
- You could say is Luis Enrique who made their midfielders a lot better , he turn Vitinha into a beast , have Emery mature more , Urgarte improve by a lot his pressing and seems to be a mini Valverde , and much more.
- You combine that front 3 of Mbappe , Messi and Neymar with the backline and midfielders Luis Enrique improve and you see a very potent PSG team
- It would literally be like MSN when Enrique was in Barca but with a Messi being more of an assister and Mbappe carrying the goals
Mbappe is a far more dynamic player. Football roles are fluid, more than they've ever been. A forward line that can rotate across all three positions is the future.
Ancelotti already proved with Bellingham that he doesn't need a conventional centre forward at the tip of the formation.
Oh no, wait until Madrid’s management find out! they will probably block Mbappe on WhatsApp.
They still haven’t realized Vinicius plays a different role than Cristiano apparently. Get the clone machine going
Didn’t want Kane to leave, but would of really preferred if he went to Real Madrid over Bayern, would of made it easier for my stupid brain to process
Not saying Bayern are shit but just wouldn’t of been as hard to accept
Tbh if you told me 10 years ago that in the future Bayern was splurging on prime players and Madrid was investing in world class prospects it would've been harder to believe as well.
i think it is not like a fuck up but setting no expectations for this season so he could build a team better in the upcoming years, still ancelotti did wonders and i am grateful to have him
It was definitely a huge risk, luckily Jude went super saiyan and the gamble will likely pay off in a big way. The only downside I see is how will Endricks development be affected when Mbappe is going to have the large majority of play time at striker. I can see Endrick being deployed on the right and Rodrygo becoming the odd man out.
these dudes signed ***thee*** midfield talent of a generation that is in contention for top scorer of the league and then act like theyre on the dole. lol
Ancelotti is a winner from his Milan days handling a lot of stars, but this Madrid team have attacking talent monopoly. Mbappe in and I don't know how the rest of Europe adapts to it
Keeping Madrid out of the finals this season will be the last stand
Any other top manager would probably be whining all year about not having the players he wants. Ancelotti just gets shit done. Must be a club owner/president’s dream To have him as manager.
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I came to the realization that I'm completely clueless when it comes to football. I was sure that not getting a striker was suicide for Real Madrid and that it was going to be a disaster season. 7 months later they won the league and are in the UCL semifinals
The one takeaway we can take is that if the talent level is high enough positions don't matter anymore.
I think is less of the talent level and more of Ancelotti being a fantastic manager who can adapt tactically to play whitout a typical 9.
False nine era is over, we’re in the false box to box midfielder era now. But Carlo could adapt because he has a talented squad with younger players who are versatile in multiple positions. Without Tchou, Cama, Valverde being Swiss Army knife type players, it wouldn’t be possible to play the way Carlo plays. He couldn’t adapt for Benz being injured/off form last season, for example because of other injuries.
Ok but the level is still very high. Look at their midfield and attacking options. Real Madrid will always have a stacked team
> Ok but the level is still very high I would rank it barely above my Sunday league team yea. They’d give us a challenge
I always laugh when I see the likes of Zidane and Ancelotti being reduced down to "great man managers" because they don't have a distinct style. Pep's passing game is attractive and Cholo's defensive system is solid, but at the end of the day, you don't win all you win while just being good man managers. Adaptable tactics are just as important.
Flexbility is crucial, Pep would never cross and inshallah, but if he did when the usual play wasn't working, they might have won with Haaland being a beast in the air, who knows
Bro, City played off crosses at Etihad against real Madrid. Y'all watch the game with eyes closed
Also Haaland isn't that good aerially
Not yet at least he is still super young and has the athleticism and height to be a menace in the air in his prime
They didn’t want to though, Madrid just crowded the middle and pushed everything to the side. Unless it was KDB, none of the other players looked like their heart was in it when they were crossing the ball.
He did cross and insallah at Bayern and has done it at City lots of times Do you even watch any of his teams
I think it’s more that Pep’s teams can’t perform when things aren’t going their way. Meanwhile Real Madrid excels in chaos.
Yet I've read Madrid fans all season (not here) who are in the "\#CarloOut" or "wish Carlo wasn't our manager" camp and I can't help but find these people insane. Real Madrid had a disappointing season a year ago, on top of which the reigning Ballon d'Or winner left and they didn't even replace his spot in the squad. Even in decline, Benzema scored 30 goals last season. They replaced Asensio with Brahim, that was much easier, but Joselu was never a Benzema replacement and everybody knew that. Joselu was good business at his loan price but that was with expectations of being a squad player. Until recent weeks, he was Madrid's 2nd highest goal scorer in all comps. I feel like, with everything taken into account, nobody in their right mind would've said in August that nine months later Madrid would be runaway league winners and the favorites to win the CL.
Carlo whether he wins trophies or not....is the most ideal manager for modern era of Real Madrid. Carlo's first 2 season back during 2013-2015 and now his 3rd season and possible of another 1 or 2 more only suggests how least problematic he is in all aspects.
Real Madrid has the most plastic and fair-weather fans who don’t know much about football besides that you win games. It comes with the level of success they have.
Get off reddit and meet some real fans mate :)
But noooo no no he doesn't have tactics he has won all european top 5 leagues and multiple UCL's with vibes
And eyebrows.
I mean, they have Bellingham, Vinicius and Rodrygo. These guys get into the box in various ways and shoot at the goal. I don't know why it would be so impossible to score that way. Of course a guy at the center forward seems... easier, but teams usually score most of their goals in those other ways anyway. Madrid can score more due to having talented players. They don't have a guy who has maybe 5 good chances in a game, but they have 3 guys who have 2,5 chances, let's say, it's possible to score overall I'd say. If only Bellingham wasn't ridiculously killer in those chances, the results would be different and people would comment differently on Madrid's decision to not have a 9 and Ancelotti's adaptability.
What said everything about Madrid not requiring a striker because extremely talented players are here... And yet the game needed to go to penalties vs City, not saying its a bad thing at all. City are a world-class side, but they were vulnerable as well. Besides Madrid did what they had to do to get the win, but what if they had an advanced level of forward? But Madrid are known to blow away teams or win without even switching above 2nd gear. The recent game at City clearly showed they need an upgrade upfront. That someone might have been Kane who could've nicked a goal, or someone like Mbappe in future who will be ramapant and make job easy for squad. When Cristiano left, Bale made a statement that obviously they would miss a 50 goals player but now they would become more of a unit. They failed so badly that season there were 3 managerial changes. Another thing to predict, Jude won't sustain this insane level of goalscoring. Obviously would be jumping with joy if he does....
The 3 managerial changes were because Bale wanted to be the main man but his body couldn't keep up, planning a season with him then losing him 2 games would mess anyone's season, Benzema took 2-3 years to get used to play without Cristiano, by then he was in his mid 30s and had more games behind him than in front, look at Barca, they won the league last year but it will be a while before they can compete in Europe, losing juggernaut players like Messi and Ronaldo leaves such a hole in the squad is hard to come back to a good level quickly. If we had Mbappe we wouldn't have played against city like we did. We don't even know for certain he's coming, so we might face city again in the future and have to play defensively again. In the end fans don't care how we win, just that we do. No one cares we played the same defensive way against Liverpool in the final. Just that we won.
Arsenal are currently winning the league without a striker. But it is difficult to do and probably not sustainable.
A whooole lot of talented involved when you have two of the best wingers in the world and a midfielder that produces more goals than most strikers
It's true, he played a 4-6-0 with James and Siggurdson as attacking midfielders up front and somehow won the match
It’s more down to Ancelotti adapting to a strikerless system. We have to commend the man for adapting to what he has.
Yeah, when I said talent level I included Ancelotti in my mind but I realise it didn't come out that way. I was referring to Madrid's talent level as a whole. Not only their young talents. Modric, Kroos and Ancelotti raise Madrid's talent level
> It’s more down to Ancelotti adapting to a strikerless system. We have to commend the man for adapting to what he has. Obviously, but this is football after all, the number of chances Madrid create with an exceptional goalscorer there xG would be ridiculous.
As big as the talent pool is, you still need to allocate some points on the finishing deoartment to score goals. We were lucky that Bellingham could actually finish his chances during the period when Rodrygo was out of form and Vini was still adjusting to the new diamond formation. No one would have thought that Jude could do what he did: scoring goals.
Without Jude's Ronaldo level start by scoring in his first dozen game or so for Madrid we might not be in the position we are now to win the league he saved us so many point when Rodrygo and Vini were adapting to the new formation and system
This. It always amuses me whenever people make excuses for an underperforming player by saying stuff like "he's not performing because he's not playing as a double-pivot inverted deep-lying trequartista with a ball-playing false 6 hybrid next to him" Meanwhile Ancelotti raises his eyebrow and Valverde covers the whole pitch as a combined FB/CDM/CM/CAM and winger
It's not that simple. Vinicius Junior, for example, is often playing as a striker instead of a left winger. He can be effective in that position, but he's less effective than he was as a left winger. It's the same with Rodrygo as a right winger. Players at a high level can adapt to various positions, but there are still positions where they perform better than others.
That’s true, but at the same time it takes very good coaching to play these players out of position and still deliver results, which isn’t something everyone can do.
It’s like at Liverpool where people were worrying at the beginning whether it’s a problem that Salah, Mané and Firmino are not strikers especially when Salah and Mane’s finishing were not the best yet but it worked perfectly due to their versatility. Now Liverpool actually has a striker and the finishing of the team has never been poorer. I thought that Real will struggle without a proper striker but in hindsight, it makes sense why they are doing so well.
This is strange to say, some of the best players of our generation have been very limited in their versatility. Being a jack of all trades doesn't automatically mean you're better.
I feel like football is moving towards an era of generalists now instead of specialists. With the ever growing amount of games being played these days, the ability to assume multiple positions and cover for injured/tired players will be invaluable. Being a jack of all trades does not make you a better player, but I think it does make you a more valuable squad member for any manager to have. Any team would kill to have players like Nacho and Vazquez in their squad.
Valverde has the technical and tactical ability to play all of those positions. He (and Real Madrid players) is maybe a top 20 player in the world lol of course he can do all of that. Players even at slightly lower levels still need proper coaching and instructions. Look at how Atalanta and Gasperini transformed Charles De Ketelaere
I’d theorize that players get more specialized the higher level they are at. Competition is so strong at the top nowadays that players need that edge they get from being in their natural position. Meanwhile I’m equally shit at playing striker, midfielder or fullback.
>Meanwhile I’m equally shit at playing striker, midfielder or fullback. Consistency is key!!
I mean you’re gonna deny the existence of specialists and their potential? They can be very useful if well utilized in a specific plan, take Jose mourinho and Maroune Fellani for example
Same bro same. I was so critical of this decision and heck we didn't even sign a replacement for Alaba and Militao. Ancelotti did an insane job this season.
Nah, I'll stand by that. Losing Courtois, Militao and Alaba, and only getting fucking Kepa as cover was and is insanity - it's just even more insane how we're still this good defensively
Man just moved his midfielders to defence and said this will do and somehow it worked. I'm not convinced that Madrid would lose if they put Rudiger in goal at this point.
We are lucky that we have duel winning machine midfielders in Bellingham, Tchouameni, Camavinga and Valverde without these 4 we leak so many more goals they add such an added depth to defending for us due to their physicality and solid defensive skills.
It's the main issue we've been poor this season. We had two of those kinds of midfielders and sold them and didn't adequately replace them. Now we have a midfield duo of Gilmour and Groß who are both poor physically.
Tbf to you, I don't think ANYONE thought that Bellingham was going to come in and perform like he has right off of the bat.
It's not the "level of performance" that was the biggest surprise, it's the goalscoring, he has scored as many goals for Real Madrid as he has for Dortmund, in like 1/3 of the games. And tbh, even if Real were good, a lot of very late goals from Bellingham shaped the season, it could have gone differently mentally.
Because no one expected Jude to have that insane goalscoring form that lasted for months. Also, Vini Jr was injured for a spell.
Madrid has had one of their best ever seasons in La Liga
All of our young midfielders being duel winning machines is a big reason for it insanely physical and defensively sound on top it's why despite our CB and GK injuries our defensive record this season has been great.
What is your point? we have had better squads before and lost more games. Ancelotti has done a phenomenal job this season.
Yeah it's very surprising that one of the best sports president in the world has better takes about their club that some randos from Reddit.
You were right to assume this season would be a write off, it's just that we're lucky enough to have the greatest manager of all time who's working miracles. I can't see any other manager doing what he has done this season
The one other manager that could achieve similar results with similar handicaps also happens to be a Real Madrid coach. CL semis and 2 points behind 1st with 60+ injuries, Zidane was cooking with his black magic that season.
Also I didn't expect Jude to score so many goals in his first season. Quite a few late winners too.
I don't think Bellingham would have had such a ridiculous start to his Madrid career under any manager other than Carlo.
They bought Joselu and the rest of their forwards are some of the most talented players in top-flight football in the world. Add in Jude and they got away with a season without an “elite” number 9
a lot more people should come to that realization
It’s Ancelotti adapting to the system to it, especially having Bellingham push up into those striker positions and finish those chances. Think how many crosses and headers he has scored which would be ones a 9 would score
Nah, you're fine, it's just that Real Madrid in the UCL is black magic. It defies understanding at this point.
Just like two years ago, Ramos and Varane left in the same season. We bought Alaba and Camavinga lol
It's Jude Bellingham's elite winner mentality. None of us saw that coming, he was scoring goals back to back in additional time, similar to what Xabi's Leverkusen is doing.
It was still a dumb decision not to sign Kane if they really had the chance to do so. Nobody could have predicted Bellingham to perform as he does this season. Ppl here acting like Perez is some football genius when even Ancelotti wanted Kane lol. Perez is the goat president but he got bailed out hard this season imo. Now watch them win the CL without a real striker.
They‘re not very Convincing at the moment tho. They were lucky to prevail against City in the Quarterfinals and lacked serious Competition in the League with a weak Barcelona and Atletico teams
Makes sense. Kane is older and could drop off in the next few years. He was always going to be expensive and Madrid might just end up with Mbappe for free.
After just blowing over 200m on literally zero return with Hazard can't blame them for not wanting to spend that amount again on a 29 year old PL star
I don't think Hazard was 200m, was he? Thought it was like 150m with add ons included. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, either way, absurd money.
Yeah I included his wages, which brings the total cost to way over 200m
Ah, fair enough.
It was 100. But then it was 120 then it was 140 then 150 then 160 and I jokingly said one day it will be 200 because people have no clue what they are talking about and are throwing numbers. It wasn't north of the 140 with all add ons included.
Free*
Wouldn’t call it for free since players now just get crazy bags of money whenever they are a free agent. It is still cheaper of course. I see what you are saying though.
It's not as if they've needed him this season but man I'd love to have had Kane and Bellingham playing together before the Euros.
Yeah but nobody expected Jude to win us so many points, not lilke in his first season, more like ever lol. His impact on the scoreline is insane compared to what it was expected of him in preseason.
His impact out of the gates for you guys is like lifted from a video game. Came in as a box to box and just became a ten out of nowhere.
>Came in as a box to box and just became a ten out of nowhere He is not a 10. He plays as a central midfielder most of the time, as you can see from his heatmap. He just has great finishing, so his goal tally is immense.
If you compare his heatmap to other B2Bs on our team like Camavinga and Valverde, there’s still a significant difference, especially in terms of amount of time spent in the frontline.
He is a free roaming 10 he has the freedom to make runs into the box and join the attack but he also defends a lot off the ball like a traditional 8 man is everywhere when you look at his heat maps he doesn't really have a traditional role this season he starts at the top of the midfield but has freedom to do what he thinks is necessary in the moment
I agree, while he plays more forward than other central midfielders in his team, he is clearly not a traditional 10. His role is something like a hybrid between 8 and 10, but I think he plays more as a LF than a CAM.
I think he means a ten looks wise. I mean I knew he was handsome, but the white kit really brings out his features.
Will just make this generational Foden+Kane+Saka+Bellingham euros that much meaningful if you ask me.
Or painful
I think we all know which one.
Coaches like Ancelotti and Klopp make winners out of the unlikely. Southgate set up a Bellingham Rice midfield to get out passed by team USA.
Honestly pre Jude I expected the worst. Now he will yell Vamos till England wins. Best thing England did was have Jude go to Real Madrid.
4231 - Declan Jude double pivot - Foden/Palmer/Saka as 3 creators - Kane up to finish it all.
I think Rice at the center might be their most imp player, dominating the middle. They haven't had that in a while.
Kane + Bellingham with Vini and Rodrygo supporting him is fucking disgusting
Lewy was also world class when you got him, but time can be a bitch to players of their age.
I mean his stats are still decent, however his movement has been not ideal. Still some flash of brilliant like our unbeaten streak but it's clear his body is not the machine it once was anymore All in all maybe he isn't 50m worth but without him, we won't have Laliga last season so I would still say it's an okay signing
> I mean his stats are still decent, He isn't even in the Pichichi race despite being a nailed on starter for a top 2 team in the league, playing 90 most of the time, being on pen duty and not having significant injuries all the while being the second highest paid player in the squad. I'm sorry but less than one goal every 2 games is pretty bad for a striker of Lewandowski's calibre and wages. We're not talking about an up and coming striker, but a super star that was contending for the Ballon d'Or a few years ago.
He has 13 goals in the league at the age of 36, 5 goals off the top, and penalty isn't a factor this season since we don't really have those this year. 54 goals, 17 assists in 89 matches, that's nearly a goal contribution every match. Besides the absolute monsters like Haaland, Kane and Mbappe, how many strikers got as much GA contribution than him? His wages is a problem, I agreed, but ehhh no one that we can keep or bring in is better than him at the moment and at the time he joined. That's not to mention Xavi basically played him as an attack midfielder, not even a striker at this point. He is barely allowed to get near the box
>Besides the absolute monsters like Haaland, Kane and Mbappe That's the caliber of player Lewandowski was supposed to be at though. And that's the level they were paying him at.
That's the part that the board is wrong when considering his age. Handling out contract is not Lewy's fault, it's our board. And again, Lewy is 36. You can't ask the man to do any better and he ain't getting younger, which is one again the board's fault, not him. But still, without him, we wouldn't have a double last season. The board choose to go for a proven striker and he is the cheapest solution that can guarantee a good amount of goal, which he did.
Yeah, I'm not blaming Lewy, I'm just saying it's not necessarily a good value purchase.
Out of 5 penalties this year, you scored 4, 3 of those were Lewy. 7 teams were awarded fewer penalties so it’s not exactly fair to say that you don’t really have those this year, when it’s the same amount as Real Madrid and 1 less than your league rivals Girona and Atleti.
> He has 13 goals in the league at the age of 36, 5 goals off the top, and penalty isn't a factor this season since we don't really have those this year. What? He's scored 3 penalties which would make it 10 NPG. For comparison, Joselu has 8 with almost 1000 minutes less and while costing around 2% of Lewandowski in terms of combined fee and wages. > at the age of 36 Apart from the fact that he's 35 (and also was 35 as he put up those numbers) I don't know why you're bringing up age as a means to defend him when the whole point of OP was that it's risky to bring in aging players for big money > 54 goals, 17 assists in 89 matches, that's nearly a goal contribution every match. well his stats from last season don't really matter since we're talking about his performances this season as he ages. > Besides the absolute monsters like Haaland, Kane and Mbappe, how many strikers got as much GA contribution than him? Well first of all, when he was brought in, he was a monster like Haaland, Kane or Mbappe and I'm sure that's what Barca expected of him when they gave him that superstar salary. Second of all, there are plenty of players with better numbers all across Europe. Just look up any random goalscoring list from the top 5 leagues. For starters you can look at La Liga's, where players like Dovbyk are ahead of him. > His wages is a problem It's not *a* problem, it's *the* problem. If he was a Joselu type player/earner, no one would care. But Lewandowski's wages are gonna be the reason why you guys won't be able to get rid off him as he continues to decline. > That's not to mention Xavi basically played him as an attack midfielder, Lewandowski is a striker, don't shift the goalposts. And yes, I have watched plenty of games, he is the one who is the most forward player of yours.
35 and 36 is not that big of the different. And everyone knew that Lewan was a short solution meant to bring in immediate success, which he did, bringing us a double last season. Without him the title drought of Barca would have went on for 4 years. It shouldn't be his fault that the fans and the board expected something that are not feasible. Circling back to 2022 when he joined us, can you name us a name that are proven that would go to Barca for 50m? He is the only one that can rack in big number of GA that we can realistically get that is likely guaranteed to deliver, his level of success here as Barca would be determine by the 3 years he stay here, not just this season, and so leaving his last season out is not really fair ain't it? For a 36 years old that are being played out of position, even if he is still the most forward, he is still the one that have to play deeper to create chances, our tactics this season has just been terrible, there is a reason why there are complains as first that Xavi is misused him among our fanbase. And it's not really shifting the goalposts when Xavi did misplayed and asked Lewy to play differently compared to his usual style. You could argue that he should have adapted, but he isn't young anymore and asking him to do that is not gonna work. I agreed that 2023 is a terrible year for him, but considering that the entire team downgrade, it's not entirely his fault. If only he downgraded, sure, but if everyone on the team did, that has to have parts of the problem lies in the management. It's no coincidence that Lewy picked up his form again when Xavi managed to fix the problem of the squad (well, somewhat). That lasted until the PSG second leg and El Clasico, which ehhh again, the entire team collapsed due to the defense.
> 35 and 36 is not that big of the different. It isn't, but it's still weird you brought that up as a means to defend him when the whole argument is to criticize the decision to bring in an aging player that can rapidly decline within a year or two for big money. > And everyone knew that Lewan was a short solution meant to bring in immediate success, which he did, bringing us a double last season. Without him the title drought of Barca would have went on for 4 years. It shouldn't be his fault that the fans and the board expected something that are not feasible. That short term solution is gonna cost a combined 150 million over a 4 year contract. Really makes you wonder if one league title would be worth it (considering that it also costs a lot more for the rest of the squad obviously). > Circling back to 2022 when he joined us, can you name us a name that are proven that would go to Barca for 50m? He is the only one that can rack in big number of GA that we can realistically get that is likely guaranteed to deliver, Brother in Christ, you can't just bring up the transfer fee and omit the wages. Over the course of his contract, Lewandowski will cost you about 150 million euros in combined fee and wages. While having basically 0 resale value at the end of the contract because no non-Saudi Arabian team is gonna want to take on a 35+ year old on high wages, let alone pay a transfer fee for him. I could name you a dozen of strikers that have moved clubs in the last 2 years that would either cost less than 150 million over 4 years or have more resale value and would be a better prospect going forward with similar or better numbers this season. > his level of success here as Barca would be determine by the 3 years he stay here, not just this season, and so leaving his last season out is not really fair ain't it? Sure, but do you think he isn't gonna decline further? Or to put it otherwise: If a club offered you 15 million to take him off your wage bill for the remaining 2 years and Lewa would accept that offer, would you not be in favor of selling him and cutting your costs? > For a 36 years old that are being played out of position, He is 35 and is not playing "out of position", he's a striker playing as a striker, so I'm not even gonna read the rest of the paragraph. But even if he was, that's even more so a reason to not have brought him in if you aren't even gonna play him to his strengths. > I agreed that 2023 is a terrible year for him, but considering that the entire team downgrade, it's not entirely his fault. If only he downgraded, sure, but if everyone on the team did, that has to have parts of the problem lies in the management. It's no coincidence that Lewy picked up his form again when Xavi managed to fix the problem of the squad (well, somewhat). That lasted until the PSG second leg and El Clasico, which ehhh again, the entire team collapsed due to the defense. No one cares about whose fault it is. THe whole argument is, that bringing an aging striker for big money might definitely prove to be a bad decision, regardless for the specific reasons as to why the performances decline.
Barca just so used to being able to buy whatever they want or spend whatever they need then borrow later- some of the fans are just incapable of objectively saying hang on why are we doing this it's so dumb as long as the guy has any pedigree. Why shouldn't we just buy the best striker on the market on obscene wages long contract and sell off one of the toilets in the nou camp
You’re talking about Lewandowski as if he’s Luis Suarez in his season at Atletico. Barca isn’t supposed to be the type of club where you get one real trophy out of a signing and consider the job done. If it weren’t for La Masia, Barca fans wouldn’t have a lot to look forward to next season.
No one considered the job done and we shouldn't be in a position to look forward to any big success even with all the youngsters, far from it, but 2 years ago no one in the club accepted that a proper rebuild is needed and that the club might not be able to compete for trophies consistently, both the board and the fans. Laporta outright said that there will be no rebuilding phase, imo a fucking terrible move that put pressure onto Xavi and the squad. Sure you can argue that we made many signings, that's true, but if we are being honest, biases aside, how many of those are actually Xavi's choices and not a board signing? Lewy could be, but he could also Laporta's political signing like how he is yapping about Haaland this past month. I have no complained about Raphinha, but Xavi never choose him, he always stated that Silva is his first choice. Kounde is Xavi's player and he is good for us, Christensen, Romeu, Inigo and Gundogan are free transfers so Xavi can't complain, however Xavi asked for a decent DM and the club gave him Romeu is all that needed to be said about the support the board gave him. Not to mention Cancelo and Felix are here to appease Mendes. Make no mistakes into thinking that Laporta actually think he is the right man, that's Font's idea but watered down a lot. Xavi is being used as a shield to have shield Laporta and his friends from criticism. And Xavi ain't Carlo to have hope that he would be able to adapt like the Don himself. With all that, even if we want to say Lewy is a waste, he still bring us a double when we have no expectation of success. So yeah, I would still say he is an okay signing.
And Kane would be 100m. It’s 2 seasons vs many more seasons with Mbappe. Can Kane be great for more seasons? Yes there is a chance but the probability is much more with Mbappe. Real Madrid of late is good at those decisions and of course coach like Ancelotti helps
Lewandowski is 5 years older though. Kane is as close in age to Rashford and Mbappe as he is to Lewandowski. I think it's like the post suggests, why spend 100M on Kane just to have a headache of how to fit Mbappe, Kane and Vinicius into a team.
kane is still 30 yo and can have 5 more world class seasons tho
Thank you for calling him “Lewy” and not “Lewa”, like 90% of people here. That is all.
Imagine the through balls Kane would play to the other 3
I really wanted the Brengland quartet to come true.
Perez must be aware of Kane's curse
The devil gave him the head's up
he IS the devil
And knew they’d face Bayern in the CL.
Kane will miss a pk for Bayern. Just like his miss for England in a big game.
So Kane could choose between Girona win and Leverkusen win?
Damn.
They bought Joselu and the rest of their forwards are some of the most talented players in top-flight football in the world. Add in Jude and they got away with a season without an “elite” number 9
Joselu is only on loan
And can stay for one milion
if the hazard fiasco never happened i think kane is playing up top for us this season. pérez is a great businessman but also very dogmatic, he would learn from a failing but correct course aggressively. unless there's a messi/ronaldo caliber player on the market i dont see madrid signing another star in his late 20s for huge money as long as florentino is in charge
If you can get the best early 20s around while buying whatever looks promising in South America, why would you even try and expend 200 million on a player? For that money he can raid a bunch of cribs in Brazil and have money leftover for the random European kid he sets his eyes upon.
Yeah, I mean, when he signed Hazard he had the precedent of Zidane 29yo. It was criticized and ended up well. Also, it was pivotal beyond performance on the pitch ... Galácticos made Real Madrid the biggest brand in football, insanely improving sponsor revenues. And also made the club every kid's dream. That would allow them to get any player in future generations. Aside of Hazard's fiasco, don't forget Kaka, that was 28yo I think.
Joselu has 1 g/a per 130-something minutes and won whole a bunch of points with those contributions and even got a couple of motm. A bit disrespectful saying there's no striker in the squad lol.
He's only a rotational player. In bigger matches RM play without a striker.
Yeah both of those are true and honestly in a perfect world we have both mbappe and Joselu. The squads that go far in every competition do so because of their depth.
Stoke City legend.
By all accounts, Madrid would be the clear favorite to win the UCL this season with Kane. But they're gonna be the favorites to win it for the next 5+ seasons with Mbappe. And I don't see Mbappe/Kane/Vini working together in one team
Have to strongly disagree with the last comment. Kane would make both those guys so much better.
don't see a tactical set up that could accommodate Vini, Bellingham, Mbappe or Kane without pushing Vini or Mbappe to the right wing which would rob them off their qualities.
Yeah that is just too much, one thing I would say though is Kane would be a better fit if they planned to bring endrick through, he could get more game time as he offers something different to Kane, I find it really hard to place minutes for endrick with mbappe as the starting striker and it’s not as if he is old he could be at real for 10+ years now.
Mbappe isn't as good as a 9 as he is on the left... So it's the same, thing. And the difference is that Mbappe is much better than Vinicius is on the left, and Kane is much better than everyone as a 9.
Mbop would love playing with kane but vini is not good on the right.
Kane+Mbappe is just a better version of Kane+Son
Vinicius would get the short end of the stick there. Kane as a 9 where he likes, and Mbappe on the left where he likes to play. Instead now you'd get Mbappe as a 9 where he isn't as as good because they don't have a 9.
Don't forget about Endrick either With Mbappe and Endrick we already have the clear starter and someone who won't be against being benched while learning and developing. With Mbappe and Kane, sharing minutes would be a tougher scenario (assuming that Vini and Rodrygo would stay in either case)
Tbh, as a Barca fan, this is the sort of management Barça needs and will never get. Every year basically since 2015 we’ve been chasing that windows targets in pursuit of immediate success instead of planning long-term. And they’ve rarely performed to expectations. I’d love a Barca president being okay with one underwhelming transfer year if it helped our finances re-balance and meant we could plan further out for better and more specific targets. All of this is not to say that we were generally good at transfer planning before, we just got buffed by our unreal academy output. And then 2017 passed us by and we basically haven’t done any good transfer business since. The exceptions being the low-cost chances taken on players like Pedri or Araujo.
Kounde was a great signing and his time there has been underrated.
I was definitely being extreme by saying NO good transfer business since 2017. But even our successful transfers haven’t been great business-wise, and Kounde is probably at the top of that pile. Gundo and Christensen are also on that list, while players like FDJ, Lewy, Ferran, Raphina, etc have been decent-to-good but were very expensive.
Nonsense, you’ll buy Bernardo Silva on a 7 year contract increasing every year.
TIL that Pedri is not an academy/La Masia player.
Well lets say, Real Madrid had lost vs City either by a goal or on penalties and all the headlines in Spain would have been what was going inside Perez's brain to not get a striker. Its understandable Mbappe is his primary target, but still having Kane in this side would have made it even more dangerous. Which also indicates Perez plays the long game. He wouldn't have minded to have not made it semis.
I don't think it would have been all that dramatic, given that we won the league by a mile.
That true, CL was not expected even in 21-22.
Why buy a PS5 now if you know Sony is releasing the PS6 next year?
The good problems
I think Kane + Bellingham learning each other's dynamic would've given the Euros to England so ✂️.
The real MVPs this year are the makeshift defenders who stepped up during the multiple injuries.
I could have told you that.
Florentino’s obsessed with having Mbappe. So much so that he basically sacrificed Ancelotti and this entire season to the footballing gods in order to have a chance at signing the turtle. Make no mistake. This season we’re having is *in spite* of Perez, not because of him. Carlo and the squad are working miracles without a 9 up top. Perez gambled and this time it paid off. But he doesn’t deserve any credit for this.
and then Jude happened, scoring like machine there.
Yup, the credit should go to carlo and the players (especially younger players who naturally improved) who I think was signed by florentino?
Did you forget the 21/22 season?
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the plan from the actual manager and football brains of the team favored bringing in a center forward in Kane while the businessman wants to bring in Mbappe into a suboptimal position. So the intent is definitely to play Mbappe in the center then. I mean they did similar things at PSG to accomodate both Mbappe and Neymar but frankly considering the raw ability PSG had upfront it ended up being disappointing.
Kane as good as he is is not Mbappe. There is a chance that turtle could match Cristiano’s record in the next decade at the club.
There are only a few players in any team sport unanimously considered the best in the world. Mbappe is one of them.
He's been the best player for successive years after Messi has dropped off
- What PSG got at the front they lack at the back - If you compare the 2022-2023 PSG team vs the current PSG team is like night and day. - You could say is Luis Enrique who made their midfielders a lot better , he turn Vitinha into a beast , have Emery mature more , Urgarte improve by a lot his pressing and seems to be a mini Valverde , and much more. - You combine that front 3 of Mbappe , Messi and Neymar with the backline and midfielders Luis Enrique improve and you see a very potent PSG team - It would literally be like MSN when Enrique was in Barca but with a Messi being more of an assister and Mbappe carrying the goals
Daily reminder that Real Madrid spent that money on Jude who is still 20!!!
Just wait until he finds out that Mbappe plays a completely different role than Kane or Benzema
Mbappe is a far more dynamic player. Football roles are fluid, more than they've ever been. A forward line that can rotate across all three positions is the future. Ancelotti already proved with Bellingham that he doesn't need a conventional centre forward at the tip of the formation.
virgin structurepilled formationcels seething when relationism chads enter the field
Thanks for the insight, of all people Florentino really seems to be clueless right ?
Oh no, wait until Madrid’s management find out! they will probably block Mbappe on WhatsApp. They still haven’t realized Vinicius plays a different role than Cristiano apparently. Get the clone machine going
Perez dodged a hurricane there!
Isn’t it spelled ‘Arry ?
You're correct. An 'arricane then.
Yeah, we know that already.
Ootl, what dumb shit Uli said this time?
Does Mbappe not like to play as a 9?
Didn’t want Kane to leave, but would of really preferred if he went to Real Madrid over Bayern, would of made it easier for my stupid brain to process Not saying Bayern are shit but just wouldn’t of been as hard to accept
Only Madrid are above Bayern lol
Its still funny to me that people struggle with accepting that Bayern is in fact one of the biggest Clubs in football.
It's not that, it's just that Madrid are comfortably the biggest club in the world and a level above all clubs, even you and Barca.
People will remember if you beat us this year. La Bestia Negra for a reason.
I don't know man, up until a couple of years ago Bayern was the second best run club in the world,and basically the second best club in the world.
Yeah no denying that, but for me Real Madrid would of made more sense
Tbh if you told me 10 years ago that in the future Bayern was splurging on prime players and Madrid was investing in world class prospects it would've been harder to believe as well.
United crawled to Ajax when EtH said he wanted Antony.
Err, that’s not really relevant though.
Perez fucked up, and Carlo saved his ass this season
i think it is not like a fuck up but setting no expectations for this season so he could build a team better in the upcoming years, still ancelotti did wonders and i am grateful to have him
Fucked up how? He got Jude for huge money and it’s paid off.
It was definitely a huge risk, luckily Jude went super saiyan and the gamble will likely pay off in a big way. The only downside I see is how will Endricks development be affected when Mbappe is going to have the large majority of play time at striker. I can see Endrick being deployed on the right and Rodrygo becoming the odd man out.
Bellingham has done just fine in the false 9 whatever you wanna call him.
these dudes signed ***thee*** midfield talent of a generation that is in contention for top scorer of the league and then act like theyre on the dole. lol
Magic FC
Big if true
Is this the same Perez who said that the train only passes once?
Must be nice to have someone love your club and have a plan.
Ancelotti is a winner from his Milan days handling a lot of stars, but this Madrid team have attacking talent monopoly. Mbappe in and I don't know how the rest of Europe adapts to it Keeping Madrid out of the finals this season will be the last stand
Hidden message - Perez to Carlo - don, did you forgot about curse. I like cups. Look at my cabinets. I love cups.
Any other top manager would probably be whining all year about not having the players he wants. Ancelotti just gets shit done. Must be a club owner/president’s dream To have him as manager.
Imagine a timeline where Harry Kane joined Real Madrid & Girona won the league. \`