Passing Mastermind to Tactical Maestro – The Xabi Alonso Era Begins

Exactly, people are even counting the PSG loss in the CWC after like 2 weeks in charge as evidence to the fact that he sucks at big games lol... It's very silly. This team is already miles better than last season's after just 3 months in the season. Let the man work...

 

I agree. We don't have enough of a sample size to make that claim.

What happened at Anfield was unfortunate. The lads will learn from it, regroup and come back stronger.

 

I don't think it's a Xabi issue but a players issue. The same issues with certain players we saw last year we see them this year also.

The only difference from last year is the defense is improved as we spent a lot of money and somehow Militao came back as if nothing happened.

 

We also spent 361.3 mil in summer 19/20. 214 on Hazard, Jovic and Reinier.

 

We bought those players because the manager wanted them, good examples of why not to go overboard buying and selling players to fit a particular manager's "system" - managers don't last long but we were stuck with the players.


Imagine selling Vini and Camavinga, etc., becuase Xabi doesn't think he needs them or is not using them then a year later end up with a manager that wants a proper #9 instead of Mbappe, wants traditional wingers that put in crosses and track back and doesn't use a DM so he benches Tchoumeni and asks for deep lying playmaker that Fed is supposed to be transitioning into but can't because the RB. Oh yeah and maybe the manager doesn't like wingbacks so he asks for replacements for Trent and Carreras.

 

Feels like every game now is just another countdown till the next big team the club faces. Being top of the table is nice but watching the team lose convincingly in two of its big tests really puts things into perspective.

There's a sense that the club should easily run away with the league but then go out in the quarters of the UCL to some BS. It's not an unfamiliar feeling but Carlo being such a master of the dark arts really kept you believing no matter what.

 

In fairness, we're beating who we should be able to beat and losing to who we should be losing to.

 

If it results in a league trophy, so what?

Would you rather beat top team an lose more times to middle and bottom teams and lose La Liga that way?

 

I take things one game at a time, and the El Clasico we won was encouraging (although we could've been better). It's too early to draw conclusions.

The team has a long way to go before they'll be at the top in the CL again which is normal given all the experience we've lost. It's going to be a journey. I'm excited for it.

 

We'll get Atleti back for that loss on the road. We can beat them.

 

I heard Clasico was the big test pre match. Now sounds like Atleti was the big test since we lost and Barca game is treated as less so since we won. Some here feared we'd get battered by Barca again couple of weeks back.

 

But Atleti won't be a big test if we end up beating them at Bernabeu. Just like upcoming Man City game.

Also Barca are a much bigger team when it comes to La Liga than Atleti who are contenders maybe once in a decade.

 

Villarreal are doing well in La Liga yet struggling in CL. They used to do reall well in Europe under Emery. Then again, PL hasn't had a CL finalist in last two seasons despite all the riches. I think there's no CL superteam right now and 5-6 teams have legit shot of winning depending on the form in business end of the season.

 

There's a huge talent drain for 17 La Liga clubs. Villarreal end up selling to the likes of Everton even.

Dunno for how long it's sustainable but many of those clubs still compete against RM/Barca by reinvesting well.

Most of those clubs earn a billion less than RM every season yet La Liga has never been a walk in the park for us.

 

Yup. They were fear posting for weeks about how we'd get blown out lol

 

Not a test on paper but they have been our bogey team away from home. RM hasn't beaten Rayo in last 3 visits there. 1 defeat and 2 draws.

 

Since Rayo have been promoted in 2017/18, we have won 5, drawn 3 and lost 2 against them. None of our wins have been by more than one goal either, which is very different to our record prior to them being relegated in 2015/16 when we used to beat them by large margins often.

They’re over performing against us in the last 7 years overall.

We need a better performance than the bullshit we were treated to in Liverpool where we looked clueless when we had and didn’t have the ball.

 

To be honest, if we beat Liverpool we'd have people down play it and say they've been terrible domestically. Not a real test.