Oooh! Petro Dollars Buys EPL, UEFA & FIFA.. But Can't Buy Youuu! Hey Jude! Bellingham Thread

He was surprised by the gift, a split sec and it's gone.

 

We never were supposed to judge this guy off of goals and assists. Those are good things, but we never should have been as reliant on his contribution in that manner.

First half of the season, he came out guns blazing with goals and now he's getting judged by the media whenever he doesn't score. That's not fair because he still does an incredible amount of work both ways.

That being said, I do also think he's not in his best form. Even without the goals and assists, I don't quite see the dribbling and line breaking he was providing earlier in the season. Of course, he needs to be on the pitch for every important minute and we can hope he will turn it up a level.

However, long term, I'm curious if his role will move further and further back if someone like Mbappe comes. Perhaps we should consider going back to a 433 with him being the most advanced midfielder.

 

Not to mention in baseball that, unless you've played against that type of velocity (most people haven't), you can't even comprehend how quickly a 96mph fastball gets on you standing from 60'6" away.

 

Graham Hunter writes how Jude Bellingham turned down City for Real Madrid because he always wanted to play for this club. Despite City's best efforts to lure him. What I found interesting is how Graham goes into what influenced Jude as a kid. He used to watch this show called Revista De La Liga in the UK. He also gave Sid Lowe flowers (mistaken for Graham i think) for being on a la liga show in the UK. So Jude clearly followed a decent amount of La Liga as a child. He was captivated by Real Madrid's ability for impossible comebacks. La Remontada.

Needless to say, Jude himself has already been part of a few of these. The first Clasico comes in mind. He was undoubtedly the primary instigator of that win. His belief in the "it's not over until the final whistle" has been the driving force for where Real Madrid is in La Liga. He even almost got that win from a Brahim Diaz cross, and couldn't believe when the referee stole that play (and points from Madrid). Good read.

Let's hope a remontada isn't needed against City and Real Madrid can win outright. But it's refreshing to see a player become so ingrained in the club philosphies and culture before even completing a full season at Real Madrid.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...manchester-city-champions-league-quarterfinal

 

Winning matters. If we were not so successful in the previous decade we wouldn't be able to attract players like we have.

The school I teach at have Madrid and Barcelona fans but I'm starting to see a lot of City and PSG.

 

Good points.
I thinks Benz leaving, Vini's early injury and Rodrygo's poor form in the first part of the season made it absolutely necessary for Jude to carry the load offensively. As our attack slowly picked up steam as the season progressed, our "need" for him to perform offensive heroics decreased...

I believe the leadership load he carried early in the season had the effect of tiring him out a bit and this was felt early in the second half of the season, hence the dip in overall form (not just goalscoring). I think he's picking up form again now.... hopefully enough to do serious damage to City in the second leg.

Jude's goalscoring was definitely a "bonus" and not expected to last at that rate. If we sign Mbappe, I would actually prefer for him to be more involved in the midfield work and become more of Zidane than a Kaka. With Kroos/Modric all leaving soon....we need extra magic in the midfield to balance with the steel and energy that are Tchouameni and Camavinga.

 

If Real Madrid could boil down to one individual, it would be Jude Bellingham. I see he is a bit fatigued lately, but he is still the best player in the world and will continue banging in goals, starting from tonight!

 

Jude needs to see more of the ball imho.

He wasn't influential enough in the 1st leg for me. He needs to be able to dictate the game somewhat.

 

Vini looked like he's about to fix a wedgie.

 

Karamoke Dembele on that team sheet, currently tearing it up in league one for Blackpool. Bit of class about him

 

"I won't have dreams about Musiala"

"I won't have dreams about Musiala"

"I won't have dreams about Musiala"

"I won't..."

lol

 

I miss a nice Bellingham goal. Against Barcelona, maybe?

 

Bellingham, Musiala and Dembele were playing up an age group here as they are 2003, the rest are 2002. Shame they never took part in the U17 euros because of Covid.

 

We managed to sign a supremely talented player who also has no problem doing the dirty work.

What a performance. Ran 15km and left it ALL out there.

Carlo should manage his minutes until Bayern....we want the 15th above all else.

 

I get the feeling that, if we win on Sunday, we might see some real rotation for the away trip to Anoeta. La Liga will pretty much be in the bag in that case, and while Real Sociedad away is obviously never an easy time, in that scenario we'll have one title locked up and be able to narrow our search on the other. Our next three games after Sociedad are also very, very manageable-looking, so if we're looking for points, we should be able to get them in those games.

So much of being able to narrow our focus on Bayern will depend on Sunday. Even a draw at least eliminates the head-to-head from the schedule, and would clinch the tiebreaker for us as well. Above all else, don't want to lose that game and give Barcelona a renewed sense of hope...+5 with six games to go is better than many alternatives but it's not beyond doubt.

 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zyNUYPsq0tQ

 

The rise of Jude Bellingham. 💫
pic.twitter.com/av7ufeOJdJ

— H (@HH_comps) April 18, 2024

 

The future is bright