Madridistas All Over Copa And Euros Collide While Colombians Dominate - The Other Teams Thread

Haven't had a chance yet to see as much of Chema and Stuttgart as I would've liked, but hopefully this goes more the way of Carvajal than Vallejo when it comes to German adventures. (I guess Hakimi would be a good outcome too but obviously f*ck-all that did for us on the field.)

 

Yeah, I even remember very well Vallejo had a very good half-season at Frankfurt before he got injured, the reviews were great, unfortunately those injury issues popped up and then just never went away.

 

The ones this will effect are our beloved tweeners.

 

The Jude discourse feels weird to me and I'm not excluding myself from that. I have to remind myself that he was a €100m+ transfer signing for a reason, and why it was the likes of us, Liverpool, Man City, let alone others who were in pursuit of him. And I saw plenty of him at Dortmund, he was really excellent there, before taking into account what all of us saw of him during the '23-'24 season. Frankly, his unexpected goal scoring explosion is what kept us afloat during the first half of that season, who knows about the CL but we don't win the league without his contributions. And maybe it's worth remembering as well that his shoulder has finally been operated on, hopefully he's "fixed" and we'll see something closer to the level of Jude's play from before his shoulder injury.

I guess where I'm going with this is that Jude is really good at a lot of things, it feels like on his name alone he should be a locked-in first XI guy, and maybe with health and fitness he'll get there. Maybe we need these upcoming difficult games to remind ourselves of why we need Jude Bellingham, that winning nine of our first ten mostly without Jude is fine and wonderful and whatever but it hasn't been a gauntlet (and the one defeat was against our toughest opponent by a country mile; I won't hold it against Jude that he was started in that game when very clearly he shouldn't have been) and playing against Barcelona and Liverpool will be a good, stern indicator that we need more steel in the midfield that Jude can provide.

I'm rambling here. I suppose my broad point was that our midfield right now has looked good and in a sense Jude's role there right now doesn't seem as obvious as it should. That we have an anchor, a playmaker, and a physical two-way presence even if Fede's looked less than himself so far. Even then, Fede is right-sided, and Jude can play right-sided but he's more comfortable centrally or on the left, so it's not the most obvious change. It's hard to switch out Arda for Jude, because Jude very simply is not on the creative level that Arda is, it becomes a matter then of what can Arda show us in games against tough, physical opposition. I'll always have some concerns there given Arda's physique, hopefully this is a concern that will abate in time.

In one sense, these are good problems to have, in another sense they are still problems needing some kind of solutions, and I'm not smart enough to have a great answer.

 

I believe we haven't been offensive enough and have relied very heavily on Mbappe brilliance. This has been a blessing though because it's help Xabi get a foothold early.

Why it hurt us is over reliance.

In the end how we have played best was having our RW basically be a RB which takes away from our offensive efficiency but gives us higher workrate and balance

 

I don't understand any of this Bellingham bullocks.

The man had a long season + CWC while playing in pain, got the operation and didn't train with the team in August and September. He was cleared to play days ago and understandably hasn't regained full match nor has he integrated with his teammates and Xabi's system.

This sh!t takes a bit of time, it's not an on and off switch.

If Tuchel doesn't want him in the English NT, it's their loss really, football isn't going "home" with the likes of Saka, Eze and Rice.

 

Nico will be back next year, Chema not so sure. He could maybe come back in 2027 if things work out.

Next summer you have Alaba and Rudiger contracts ending. So they will sign one CB. The other opening roster spot does not need to be a defender.

Franco is registered with Castilla this year so technically there is a roster spot open this year. But I assume they cannot do that next year. I am not familiar with these rules.

Mendy, Fran, Ceballos end in 2027.
They will have to keep a LB but thats another 2 spots in 2027. It is possible that 1 or 2 youngsters fill those spots. The current crop of youngsters look fairly good... Chema, Joan, Aguado, Cestero, Thiago etc.

 

Also keep an eye for Brahim and Rodrygo...
Depending on how the season goes, It would not surprise me if there is movement with those two.

Someone has to make way for Florentino's World Cup star lol..

 

He has missed 2 windows where they slapped up Latvia, Andorra, Serbia, and Wales. Media trying to conclude from those performances that they may not need Bellingham against the likes of Spain France Argentina and Brazil. It is absolutely a load of bullocks.

There is no doubt he will be on the plane to the United States next summer and by that time I'm sure he will have played his way into the starting lineup again. The English national team has good players, but Bellingham's quality is at or near the top of that list.

 

Do England have a better chance beating Spain with Morgan Rogers in the lineup or Jude Bellingham? I think the latter is pretty obvious

 

When was the last time Florentino went crazy to buy a "World Cup star"?

 

Yeah, it's not true.



https://bleacherreport.com/articles...madrid-still-blame-him-for-kylian-mbappe-miss