🚨 Courtois: “Lunin? Everyone has to choose what they think is the best. I understand that he played a lot last year and he wants to continue playing. You have to choose your path to get the best out of your career. He is a great player and deserves the best.” pic.twitter.com/nMD3uOixdk— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) August 4, 2024 🗣️ Courtois: “Endrick? He isn’t very tall, but he has really strong legs, a bit like when I met Hazard at Chelsea who wasn’t tall and had strong legs. You can kick them and they’ll stand up. He has great power. He seems a bit nervous. But he will get better and better.” pic.twitter.com/oya58y29ey— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) August 4, 2024 🗣 Ancelotti: "Luka Modrić? He is doing very well. He has returned in good shape, he has this incredible physical condition that allows him to play. I spoke to him during the game and he felt good, that's why he played until the end." pic.twitter.com/kGKmYlfwrb— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) August 4, 2024 🗣 Ancelotti: "Vinicius has arrived in good shape and that means he trained during his vacation. He doesn't need much work." pic.twitter.com/RSWCbx3AMN— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) August 4, 2024
Next summer is the CWC which, if this club goes all the way, will last from mid-June until mid-July. It would end around the time pre-season training begins...just another reason I hope this club sends reserves and bench players and tells FIFA to go f*ck themselves (even though I know this won't happen). Jumping straight from the end of the season into a (useless) competition into pre-season training...criminal.
Rodrygo needs to step up. he won't hold on the right side position long if Arda continues to improve. We might sell R If we participate in the World Club Cup next summer, the entire team, not just the players engaged in international competitions, will require a break after the tournament. Who is going to be in training camp by late July or early August? I think we are not playing in the tournament, but let's see how this tournament develops.
Also with almost every team likely playing a low block, there's wont be a lot of space behind for Rodrygo to exploit. I think Arda will do better in tight spaces than Rodrygo. If Carlo plays them on merit alone, Arda would likely pull ahead through the season. But Rodrygo has been given chance after chance by Carlo. So i dont think it will be different this season and Carlo will bench him.
All the big clubs will play CWC as long as the money is good. Florentino has been careful to keep FIFA on his side while having legal battles against UEFA about ESL. RM wants Bernabéu to host 2030 WC final as well. That's why club quickly gave official denial when Carlo suggested we might skip CWC if money isn't good enough.
I enjoyed the game. We're still improving physically so this was just a workout. Nothing too deep. My takeaways: - Today...to start the season, I would go with a midfield 4 of Arda, Jude, Fede, Tchou/Cama. Arda is a diamond already....let's not waste time...give me a proper chance. Kroos is irreplaceable but Arda will inject some control and a ton of creativity when added to Tchou/Cama + Fede..... These 4 + Vini and Kylian could be a great balance - Are we sure we don't want to drop the 35m or so needed for Davies now..? Honestly I would do it.... Fran has potential but is very raw.... I would opt for Davies/Mendy combo - Not a fan of Ceballos' football.....and I think 10m Gross wages a season is a lot for what he brings....would rather we promote someone.... - I think Mario Marin has something.....that Real Madrid tenacity and fearlessness. I think he could develop into a fine DM. With the likelihood of having to use Tchou and CB at some points this season, Marin could take the Ceballos slot in my opinion. There is something there.... - Endrick is young. We let him grow in peace. - We need a CB on loan....urgent.
I like the idea of Arda in 4-4-2 as well. But I reckon Rodrygo will be given the opportunity to claim the starting spot first. If he is not consistent, probably 4-4-2 with Camavinga/Arda.
I suspect they will end up with the distorted formation they had a couple years back where they had Valverde on the right but he would tuck into midfield. It just will not be Valverde this time. Rodrygo will start on the right but unless he sets things on fire, they will end up using Guler and Brahim on that right in the end because they can tuck into the midfield and provide creativity as attacking mids / false wingers. Bellingham and Valverde are very direct cm's who do not have the creativity and versatility. So without a creative presence on the right, they could stagnate against good teams. If they start Tchouameni over Camavinga at dm, the lack of creativity will even more obvious.
Courtuis said Endrick seem a bit nervous, and he does look nervous. But that a good sign as he wants to prove himself quick. Carlo will have to be attentive to him
I am not worried about Endrick. He just turned 18 and there are so many attackers that there is no pressure for him to perform and put up numbers. He is the 6th option out of 6 attackers. He should take a page out of Guler's first season.
Right now, I'm not all that confident in the Militao Rudiger partnership. They obviously deserve the chance to prove themselves in the big games that count, Rudiger was the best cb in the world last season and Militao was elite before the injury. But it boggles the mind that we're not looking for another player to compete in there. And if one of them misses any time, the domino's Ancelotti will have to shuffle around is going to be a headache.
Difference being is that Guler looks to be more talented than Endrick. For the scraps of minutes he’s been given last season he looked good and is carrying the momentum from the euros into this year. I’m hoping he continues his progress as he’s really fun to watch. Endrick had a pretty poor Copa, and by all looks won’t get many if any minutes this season. He needs to play in Castilla and get minutes or a loan. This notion that he’s going to develop through osmosis isn’t realistic. But, his ego and his team won’t allow that. Had Hazard not been a total flop, Vinny wouldn’t have gotten nearly the minutes he was given when he was 18. Plus Vinny had flashes of electric pace and game changing ability. Enrick has yet to show that (from Copa and the / preseason matches) so he’s got to start to show more. Time will tell.
Great CBs will be compatible. Saw some hilarious blanket statement like two agressive CBs aren't compatible after this game from wannabe tacticos on Twitter. As if Ramos - Pepe didn't shine together in 2011-12, 2013-14, 2015-16. Another nonsense of tacticos is LCB - RCB shoehorning which wasn't there few years back. Not even Yoro was going to compete for a starting spot against Rudiger and Militao. There are no such CBs in the market nor did we want someone in that profile. We were looking at Yoro as Rudiger replacement in 2-3 years while being back up until then.
Jacobo Ramón vs Barcelona (04/08/2024).Real Madrid Debut. pic.twitter.com/ESZThkYUq1— Real Madrid Fabrica (@FabricaMadrid) August 4, 2024
📹 Endrick vs Barcelona! 🇧🇷🤍Showed moments where he was great. Much more to come!https://t.co/gyAA9mz5IF— Madrid Universe (@_MadridUniverse) August 4, 2024 📹 Vinicius Junior vs Barcelona - Substitute 🇧🇷🤍Incredible impact considering it was his game in pre-season. He looks READY!https://t.co/zmhCAPQIkt— Madrid Universe (@_MadridUniverse) August 4, 2024
Way too much imo opinion being made of pre-season on this thread. Personally I always look forward to seeing non starters get minutes to get a sense of the player. Also Carlo can experiment all he wants, this is the time. Problem is with the off season tournaments lots of our main guys won’t be starting the season in full form and less rested… need to scrape away some early wins and not drop points that haunt you later.
I think we're simply going to rely on Joan Martinez as the 4th choice CB, until Alaba returns. For me, Fran is more than a small concern.
Vini already got a decent chunk of playing time under Solari in the '18-'19 season before Hazard even arrived. He was a tacked-on starter until his almost-season-ending injury against Ajax. His debut season came at the right time for him personally, because that was our post-CR7 transition season when there was a lot of general uncertainty and expectations were fairly low relative to normal. He ended up getting 1,735 minutes across the three main competitions and, again, would've been more without his injury. You can see the log for yourself. https://fbref.com/en/players/7111d552/matchlogs/2018-2019/Vinicius-Junior-Match-Logs In any case, I don't see Endrick sniffing that many minutes this year. Vini got a bump because that was back in the two-legged CdR days, so he got three extra games' worth of minutes compared to what would be available to Endrick if we made it that far in the competition this year, and of course Endrick doesn't figure to get many CL minutes and likely lower-stress La Liga minutes. Mind you, I'm not exactly high on Endrick either, but "pretty poor Copa" consists of one game which was his first-ever start for the national team in a knockout stage game against Uruguay. Bit of a baptism by fire. It was a poor display, I watched it too, but that's probably not a game to stake future assessments of his career on. Personally I'm not feeling it with him but I'm open to being wrong.
Vini, Rodrygo, Asensio all got enough minutes to develop their game. Vini had the dynamism and work ethic so reached an elite level from 2021 onwards. Endrick is more in 2016-17 Asensio position where he doesn't have that much pressure because attack is filled with superstars. For Vini and Rodrygo, there was only Benzema to rely on as consistent attacking threat.
I think we’re both agreed. We haven’t seen much form Endrick thus far, and yes the Copa is definitely a baptism by fire, however he hasn’t shown much at all this preseason. I don’t see a super talent, but I could be wrong. Players like Vinny, Guler and to a lesser extent Camavinga take advantage of their moments to show that they deserve paying time. We haven’t seen that yet from him. It might be there once he’s playing with a better MF to give him better service in attacking positions. I do think he needs minutes, and Castilla would be a logical place. I think his ego wouldn’t allow that unfortunately.
As well as Joan has shown in preseason, the kid hasn’t played a season for Castilla yet. I can’t imagine us deploying him against top level opposition. I think there is more media hype precisely because of our lack of depth rather than actually expecting Carlo to use him.
There are more experienced options like Jacobo Ramon who's also a well rated talent. Club will have an idea when Alaba will return. They will roll with Rudiger, Militao, Tcho, Vallejo/Jacobo as CB options till then. Carlo already said Jacobo, Joan and Raul Asencio will train with senior squad until Alaba is back.
Ancelotti just said that Real Madrid will not be playing in the CWC last month. I actualluy think that they will play, but that was how it was reported.
From that interview we can tell Carlo has no intentions to do so. As Carlo said; he is a kid and needs time. What I don't get is this panic about our 4th or 5th choice CB. I mean even if we bought Yoro and he didn't get injured he ain't playing over Militao, Rudigier and Alaba when he comes back. Carlo would never. He'd be fighting for minutes with Tchouameni who Carlo would rely on in the big situatuons.