No Retreat, No Surrender - El Espartano Alvaro Arbeloa Manager Thread

Yes but that was before he had the opportunity to witness Xabi's discursive style and way of carrying himself and even his way of thinking bassed off a few press conferences.




In @Hendrix22 defense these were all projections , it was clear after a few press conferences and scant evidence that Xabi was never going to last.

That man was still giving campaign stump speeches at the club world cup, the time for talk was over and time for action had arrived but it passed him by before he know what happened.

 

Yeah, I didnt think we are going to be that stupid to fire him midway through the season because the nursery children didn't want to watch videos and train tactics. I should factor in that stupidity in the radar retuning, but good for you that you got your prediction correct, thats what matters the most.

 

Yes I was wrong to believe that a new coach should be positive about the future prospects of the team. Should have assumed that would get him fired and then I would have been right and would have scored some cool points on the message board. My bad.

 

I'm not expecting much from this team, I watch because I support the club and the players but this is probably the least likeable group we have had in a very long time tbh

 

🚨 JUST IN: Alvaro Arbeloa has decided to send David Jimenez back down to Castilla.

The team's right-backs are Dani Carvajal and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

This was decided after the conversation between Carvajal and Arbeloa. @marca pic.twitter.com/nQ4LQO1RsC

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) February 12, 2026

 

Disappointing. I have nothing to say about Arbeloa.

This is pure selfishness from a player that puts his own interest (making the WC squad) ahead of the club's yet as "captain" chose to stay silent while sh!t was boiling over from Oct till January.

This would be somewhat ok if Carvajal wasn't on a sharp decline and wasn't becoming a real liability.

The club owes him nothing imo. His contract was renewed while he was injured knowing he'd miss 4-6 months of his new contract. Any other club would have thrown him to the streets.

 

Just another example of players thinking about themselves and not the team as a whole. We have a handful of them in the first team as it is.

Kick a kid from the academy back down to the academy because I'm too self important.

Trent should be first choice when fit anyway. We brought him to do this after Dani anyway

 

I actually believe the reports more than what the club says these days. They've been pretty spot on with how shit the club is being run lately and the stuff coming out.

I refuse to believe people just make this stuff up without substance.

 

So Mbappe didn't train yesterday and the day before but he's ready and available for tomorrow? Yeah ok.

 

🚨 Real Madrid in La Liga under Álvaro Arbeloa:

- 5/5 Wins
- 12 Goals scored
- 2 Goals conceded
- 3 Clean sheets

Perfect. pic.twitter.com/EurLHWDN8d

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) February 14, 2026

 

If he manages to win the double there is no reason why he shouldn't continue. Albacete is hardly on him. I'd rather call it the hangover effect from the previous coach's tenure. But mostly it's on the players. He fielded a team good enough to win. Maybe in hindsight he shouldn't have subbed on Dani who hasnt played many minutes since. Albacete were close to another scalp against a full strength Barca.

Embarrassing losses against minnows is our middle name، remember the home loss to Sheriff Tiraspol with Carlo as the coach or the 2-1 loss to Alcoyano under Zidane. Unfortunately, with the new format of the Copa we cant play a home game to correct a mistake instead we are booted out. We definitely need to do better in the Copa but in hidsight we were probably better off not playing in it given the season we've had. The more rest the more we can focus on the league and eventually the CL.

 

If treating the team like hormonal teenagers to get them locked in and win him trophies, then he's probably a good choice for the collection of players we have now. His methods probably wouldn't have work years ago the same way Mourinho's methods probably wouldn't have worked with this lot. Times have changed, we have far too many young players.

We did very well with an interim coach previously, who was also cuddly with our more mature cry babies.

Historically our recent success has not come down to the best tactician it's always the best motivator and man manager that have enjoyed the biggest success.

Right now the jury is still out on Arbeloa, but if he helps us win trophies after the season we've had he will have my respect and will resemble the season when Benitez left and Zidane swooping in to steady the ship. There was exactly the same problems then, unhappy dressing room and flopping against the big teams amongst other things.

 

Arbeloa winning CL is such a long shot. I am hoping we beat Benfica first because Mou's team thoroughly outplayed us in the previous game. Too far removed from previous coach to blame that performance on him compared to excuses made for Albacete debacle.

Even for La Liga title, we might need a positive result at Camp Nou.

 

The big test for Arbeloa is tomorrow against Mourinho. We need a big positive result. The previous match at Benfica was one of the worst of the season. I hope he goes with the 4 midfielders which seems to be working better. Hopefully he learnt his lesson from the previous match.

 

The big test is over two legs, not one.

 

I hope we can now finally stop even considering Mourinho as an option. Bro is washed up clown time to move on.