A Word From the Author
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”).
This Has Been A Start: Quick Observations
Injuries. A current hot topic for the start of this season has been the almost remarkable amount of injuries our team has faced to key midfield players. What once we assumed was our position with the most depth, looks remarkably bare with injuries to Tchouameni, Jude Bellingham, Camavinga, Ceballos, and now (if we want to extend this to 10s) Brahim Diaz. There is probably a convoluted answer for why our injury history looks dismal. It could be the strenuous schedule, Pintus training tactics, or just pure unluckiness from regular season in-game contact. Who knows? I’m not even fully sure that our injury history is particularly worse than our rivals. Nevertheless, it’s concerning and let’s hope the team finds a resolution.
Real Madrid players that have been injured this season:
❌ Eder Militão
❌ Jude Bellingham
❌ Eduardo Camavinga
❌ Aurélien Tchouaméni
❌ Ferland Mendy
❌ Dani Ceballos
❌ Joan Martínez
❌ David Alaba
❌ Jacobo Ramon
❌ Brahim— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) September 15, 2024
Slow Start. Although we are undefeated this season, it still feels like we are in first gear. This is particularly concerning as we have watched Hansi Flick’s Barcelona boss opposition with little to no ease. Personally, I don’t think Real Madrid is worse than Barcelona but something feels like we are worse and we surely seem to be performing worse. Now why is that? Is it simply the injuries? Is it the lack of structure surrounding our front line and press? Did we really add the best player in the world and somehow become incredibly worse? Does Vini + Mbappe not work? Is Vini’s form concerning? Who can tie our midfield and front line together? Why do we always seem to be half-awake for the first 15-20 mins of every game? IMO we’ve hit a section of the season, where I would hope we’d soon have more answers than questions…but alas we continue.
When you’re not pressing collectively, defensive breakdowns are inevitable. Real Sociedad have it easy here, twice. Vinicius goes narrow, expecting Güler to step. Ideally Güler steps up on the ball-carrier and cover-shadows, and Vinicius stays put.pic.twitter.com/KAEA41lBLm
— Kiyan Sobhani (@KiyanSo) September 15, 2024
Barca under Flick, very impressive. Lamine Yamal is flying. Flick’s gotten the best out of everyone.
— Kiyan Sobhani (@KiyanSo) September 15, 2024
Some Benefits. Not to have only doom and gloom in this Daily Thread, there have been some positives so far to this start. Fede looks to have taken my criticism personally and is likely our most consistent player. Fran has been pretty good in most of his cameos and provided attacking nuance from the left side. Mbappe (imo) looks to be in form and is beginning to demand the ball and take greater responsibility in our attack. The front three attacks are surprisingly relatively balanced with Rodrygo likely commanded to stay further right. Carva still seems to be Gluten Free. I guess this small section is a reminder to me and maybe all of you that there is still hope. It is still only September.
Yes, there is a limited amount of time and room for error in a La Liga competition, which currently looks like it will be disastrously close. However, maybe simply having Camavinga in a proper role fixes our entire scheme? Maybe Jude’s loss has been more insurmountable than we initially imagined? Maybe Kylian + Vini + Rodrygo, will suddenly perform like we know they can. Yea — it really is still only September.
Up Next — The Champions League
I personally am excited for the Champions League and think it may be a breath of fresh air for our team. Assuming we don’t face a low block in every single game, we hopefully should see a better connection in all phases of our play. Potentially, Carlo and co learn from these games and then implement a better plan for La Liga.
Advice for the Lil Homie(s)
“ Freedom, isn’t something earned through suffering or pushing yourself. You must accept yourself just as you are and live according to the flow of things; that is true freedom.”
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Mata au hi made….