A New Frontier To Conquer - The 2025 Club World Cup Thread

Gonzalo starting! Love it!

 

Gonzalo has the chance to take that Joselu spot in the team,hopefully he will take it ,the team desprately need a n9 ,Trent crossing need a player like him

 

Gonzalo is another Alvaro Rodriguez to me. Lots of hype after a good few games and one or two goals. Then disappeared to Getafe. But glad he got the start.

 

I’m looking forward to see how Xabi has the Fede/Tchoumeni partnership set up. Hopefully he can improve it.

 

I am not very optimistic. Xabi has to basically has to get to the rest of eleven to compensate for the limitations of this combo.

In a game like this it would not be noticeable, but against better competition the limitations of this pair is more obvious.

 

I know Mbappe is out, but seems crazy that we are starting Gonzalo yet having Bellingham delay shoulder surgery even longer for this tournament.

 

May have to loan Arda at this rate.

 

🚨 Out of tonight's game:

❌️ Mbappé
❌️ Alaba
❌️ Rüdiger
❌️ Militão
❌️ Carvajal
❌️ Camavinga
❌️ Endrick (stayed in Madrid)
❌️ Mendy (stayed in Madrid)

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) June 18, 2025

 

He needs signifcant minutes to develop and showcase his talent.

I think I've seen enough of Rodrygo to make an assessment. I'd be surprised if he somehow turns it around this season.

 

Quite strategic moves by Xabi.

He is prioritizing ramping up the system more than the individuals.

Opportunistic to test out Gonzalo, a new lad who can add another dimension to our attack.

Maybe Im reading too much into it, but everything here feels very different than Ancelotti’s approach.

Welcome to the new era!

 

Also why does Brahim not start instead of Rodrygo for this game? Chosen based on merit, or no?

 

Hala Madrid! Let’s get this win!

 

Preach

 

Who and who. Not important anyway, Vini and Rodrygo are good enough to make a traffic cone into a goal scorer. Might even say the team doesn't really need a player like Mbappe it just needs anyone willing to play as a no. 9.

Interesting decision. I thought with Mbappe out he might go back to the 4-4-2 with Vini and Rodrygo as the forwards, espcially with Brahim, Guler and Modric on the bench.

May indicate this is going to be his system and he wants to hammer out the details before he starts experimenting with other formations.

And to think this is the type of injury list the last manager was dealing with and the administration didn't think signing new, younger healthy players would help in any way but low and behold a couple of weeks after last season ended and the new manager arrives we've got exactly that.

On the other hand the club is here to win not use the tournament as a pre-season warm up to tinker with the lineup and formations.


I have no problems with a manager who has enough tactical know how and ideas and is flexible enough with his use of lineups and formations that when he has an injury to maybe the clubs most important and best player (Mbappe) he doesn't just continue with the status quo as if nothing has changed when he could mix it up a little bit and get the best 11 players on the field and give the team it's best chance to win.


I don't know. Maybe this kid absolutely knocks it out of the park and suddenly Mbappe's got healthy competition for minutes and can only see the field as a super sub.

 

Yes.

Even with Mbappe and Endrick out, I dont think Ancelotti would start Gonzalo. He gonna field those he trust, adapt them out of their default positions, and then improvise.

It seems like Xabi is prioritizing stability for each player to truly understands their roles within a system he has envisioned. Definitely the right move at an early stage of team building. Quite refreshing to see given what we saw last year.