Arda Guler vs Benfica 1 assist 6 chances created (same as rest of team) 51/57 passes completed 9 passes into final third 8.3 rating
Really curious to watch Guler in a more advanced role with Jude out. I think his quality has gone a bit under the radar, particularly with him playing a deeper role. Averaging 3.64 chances created per 90 is the highest of any La Liga player since Mesut Ozil in 2010/2011. He has 14 assists in all comps since the start of the Club World Cup. Despite not being an every game starter, that stat is only surpassed by Michael Olise who has 18 in all of Europe. I genuinely think if he is given the role behind Mbappe and Vinicius every week, he can be a 30 assist per season player. He's still just 20 years old, he has plenty of room for continued development and he is taking leaps year to year. There is also this notion because he's a bit slim and small, that he is poor defensively. According to Statsbomb data, Guler leads Real Madrid in total pressures in La Liga this season with 406 and in counterpressures (pressure immediately after losing possession) with 96. Many will be surprised to learn Güler is averaging 1.20 successful tackles per 90 minutes in league play, more than Tchouaméni (1.16 per 90) and Valverde (1.09 per 90) who are perceived as tacklers. Also interesting to note that his key passes and assists don't have a common pattern. Despite the fact that Madrid's attackers often lean left, Guler's key passes come from both the left and right and go in both directions, indicating he has fluidity and vision to his range of distribution.
No I'm not haha. But I do follow Don Amancio and I copied these graphs he shared. I was surprised to see he went on MM as he's mostly a Spanish speaking content creator. I typically follow Spanish language content. I don't think I agree with him though with regards to the coexistence of Guler and Bellingham. At least not currently.
Been saying it for ages...Arda is the midfielder we have with the highest offensive IQ by far. Let's put him in his 10 role, and let me him develop into a great. Right attitude, right football.
Arda makes for a great assist machine if he's put in an Ozil role. The problem is whats behind him. The team has the Khedira's (runners), but not a single Xabi to connect defense and attack.
I've been saying he's doing incredibly well this season without the stats to back it up. He has given the ball away in crucial spots such as the Barcelona game but the upside is too impactful to leave him out. He's a special player that does hustle back and defends. Maybe he's not going to outmuscle everyone and his positioning needs work but again, he's only 20. Aside form Mbappe and Carreras for me he's been the standout player of the season.
Guler is a 10. He's proved his worth there imo. He's improved vs last season in terms of defensive actions and press, his stamina is also miles ahead of what it was just 12 months ago. He's markedly better than say Ozil in those areas. But under physical pressure he will falter and lose the ball easily. The conundrum is that he cannot operate with Bellingham. That's quite clear. Jude cannot pass if the livelihood of his stupid app depended on it, he is infuriatingly slow at releasing the ball. IMO he wants to do his Zidane-esque "magic" with it first even though he has bags of sand tied to his legs, he twists and turna, runs forward and then fvck all. A common theme in the last 2 years. Bellingham constricts Güler's space in the process. That "but he runs" and "but he works hard" isn't quite enough for a "world-class" midfielder. We didn't spend €130m on him to do that, score a few 1v1s and do drunk celebrations; atm he is not good enough as an 8 or a 10. I think Bellingham's absence will be a blessing for Güler and our midfield. Also, the club needs to stop thinking it can wave a magic wand and turn Guler or Fede or even Paz into a "Kroos replacement". It won't happen. None of these players are built that way.
Really disappointed with arda. This was his time to shine. No bellingham, consistent playing time but the more he plays the more he just looks like a baseline player. He can pick out a pass when team plays in transition but nowhere near good enough to break down a low block or control a game.
He really needs years to develop but conveniently his thread isn't active like Mbappe's and Vinicius when he basically gives minimal for our result.
That's not why. We've seen what Arda can do (e.g. in the first 12-13 games of the season). He's been terrible in the last 3-4 games but the one thing I am willing to excuse him for is the sacrilege that our forwards call "positioning". Mbappe in particular. Idk wtf it is with him, reports suggesting he's still injured, but fvck nobody can pass to a guy with that level of amateur positioning and space finding. He's allergic to the box. I'm disappointed with Güler but I know he can do so much better atm he's not helping himself and the forwards are making it even worse for him.. Jude suffocates the entire team not because he's "bad" but because there is a huge discrepancy between where the team needs him to play and what to offer vs where he wants to play to maintain his "JB5" brand and set trends with his dumbass celebrations.
In other words, the team needs to be coached, positionally. But, they refuse to be coached and revolt when they are. It’s a funny situation to be in. It can go very well or very badly with one or two personnel changes.
Arda Güler hasn’t scored in his last 32 matches 😬❌49 shots since October with just 17 on target 😶 pic.twitter.com/bTXOMqocx3— OneFootball (@OneFootball) March 4, 2026 Dreadful.
A lot of this is just unlucky. I have seen him get very close a bunch of times. I know from his reactions hes so frustrated and even in disbelief that the ball isnt going in. Maybe he wasnt that good to begin with, but its impossible to make a good individual assessment for anyone on this team the way things are now.
Arda is talented. I think the current version of RM just isn’t designed for him to thrive. He started out the season so well when we had better movement and pattern of play. Now it’s just Sunday league let the boys cook tactics. I think he’s worth keeping if we can sort out the mess but I’m just not optimistic we will even with a new coach.
I can imagine every club in the world would welcome Arda with open arms. He has shown what he can do. If you play Pedri between the bunch of losers without any system and patterns we have now, he would look lost too. Arda shouldn’t be getting into positions where he fights psychical battles. He needs to play in a team which has 60/70% the ball.
The only people this club has put into a position to succeed for the past 8 months or so wear red and blue.
Real Madrid's bench reaction to Arda Güler's historic goal pic.twitter.com/HkImRkyIxt— Real Madrid Info ³⁶ (@RMadridInfo) March 14, 2026
He had a lot of assists setting up Mbappe playing closer to the final third. We are kinda setting him up for failure playing at CM where he struggles physically and seem to be lacking enough time to make decisions on the ball. But Jude also prefers to play AM so there's that.
I actually feel bad for Guler because of this. This ia liable of messing with his confidence and his longterm potential success at the club. I would rather have him mad, and with limited minutes but playing further up the pitch, than playing him out of position so many minutes which will just mess him up. If they want to play him once in a while in a deeper position against weaker opponents so he can learn the ropes, that is fine. But cementing him in a deep positon when he is not ready for that seems idiotic.