Passing Mastermind to Tactical Maestro – The Xabi Alonso Era Begins

Trying to fit in Rodrygo as starter in essentially a 4-2-4 with two CMs who can't create from midfield is same shitty situation as last season.

Mou's double pivot had Xabi who could create from midfield. Vini, Mbappe, Jude and Rodrygo is not gonna see much of the ball when Fede and Tcho are tasked to progress the ball from midfield against teams that press well.

 

Jude currently is playing at pre-season mode. He shouldn't have started against Atleti. Let's see how the midfield works once he's back to a good level.

 

Well yeah if you don't use any tactical approach and play things out like you're playing FIFA.

Playing a 433 with an actual balanced trident (Vini right of Mbappe, Rodrygo on the left) means an adaptation to playing a high line and keeping things compressed in an area. Very boom or bust similar to what barca is doing.

It's possible and it would work with the personnel we have.

However expecting Jude to embrace a deep midfield role or Arda to not get manhandled and drown in a deep role is foolishness.

The reality is we have been better with a defensive winger and three midfielders (one offensive) this year. What that means is you have to sacrifice either Arda or Jude because they perform the same role.

 

It is not his form it's his style

 

Now Arda and Jude can't play together after playing a whooping 1 game or whatever together. Noted. But Barcelona can play Olmo as part of a 3 man middlefield. Noted.

 

Agreed

though I do think our best line up includes Franco replacing one of he two

 

Does Olmo work harder than Jude and Arda on the pitch? Does Olmo do a better job in keeping his position?

Do these traits help in the structure of the team and allow for a semblance of balance?


Are you comparing names to names or roles to roles?

Friend this is not FIFA, it is real life.

 

The coach says, "No player has ever told me they don't want to play in a position, not him (Fede) and not Rodrygo.That hasn't happened. Everyone is willing, and then i decide based on what is best for the team.That's something i'll make clear", so..... straight from the coach's mouth, maybe he's lying?

 

Do you think he's lying when he says "I decide" [who starts and where] or do you think maybe just maybe there was pressure form above not to play Rodrygo in the summer then suddenly start playing Rodrygo in Vini's position and start benching Vini and now all of a sudden Fed is hitting the bench hard and he's having to answer questions about why the club's most decorated and succesful current players are getting dropped like bad habits.

 

We all know coaches usually say what needs to be said. 100% honesty may or may not be included.

 

Oh okay, so now that is acceptable when a couple months ago it wasn't.

 

Who said it was acceptable?

 

Part of my fears is manifesting: we are not pressing as a unit and this is leaving us super vulnerable on the counter. Managing the defensive line positioning and simultaneously setting up the offside trap is not easy and we are far behind from a proper implementation of that, so maybe we will need a more conservative approach in the upcoming big games after the break!!

 

Habits of Carlo ball and Vini + Mbappe upfront are hard to overcome. Arda tries but he just doesn't have it, and Tchouameni's anticipation needs to be perfect to compensate for all this and its not, even though its quite good. I think the sense of urgency and high effort helps a lot but it might result with a lot of tired legs later in the season.

 

Franco 18 y/o goal level confirmed as he has unlocked the @Hendrix22 Doku Man City avater.

 

Or it could be we are still early in the project and the players need time to understand the new ideas Xabi is trying to implement. They had been playing disjointed football for so long that its going to take time to weed all of that out.

 

Thats part of it. Arda should still be able to improve slightly, Tchouameni too, Camavinga even more, Fede back in midfield, Bellingham getting back in form. But Vini and Mbappe will be very difficult to change. We will just have to live with it and Xabi knows it by now.

 

🗣️ Steven Gerrard: “Xabi Alonso? I’m not surprised by his rise and where he’s at because as a player, he was a student of the game.

Very clever, spoke sense, understood the game, all facets of the game, in and out of possession. It was like playing with a coach when you played… pic.twitter.com/3JGEBl5LOb

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) October 7, 2025

 

Our pressing and counterpressing are generally better than what they were last season to say the least and the signings have helped to some degree of course. Question mark is whether Xabi has learned a lesson or two from Atleti game.

 

New James will probably arrive after next year's WC.

 

Tell me the last time Xabi Alonso was Madrid manager