We have ourselves a Barca killer who's gonna give them fits for years. His goals won't always go to waste.
Pretty awful first half of the season for Mbappe...But then a complete turnaround for the 2nd half. At times he has even exceeded expectations. Hopefully he can keep producing good results ALL next season and we actually win some trophies.
The defense should at least be significantly better. I can't recall a season where the backline was this bad even with a Roberto Carlos- Raul Bravo-Pavon-Salgado backline. The CB's today alone are head and shoulders above a natural LB in Bravo and an underwhelming Pavon. Roberto Carlos too was always late coming back on defense. Only Salgado was a good defender there. Yet even with Mendy and Carvajal a while back, the defense was sus.
Unfortunately the Mbappe as a savior experiment failed, big time. The team played for him all season and propped him up but the trade off was not mutually beneficial and it clearly leaves the lineup and team chemistry very out of balance. It might be an unavoidable fact that in order to get the "old" Jude, Vini, Camavinga, Rodrygo, etc., back and back to their best form is incompatible with the overcompensation required by the team to make up for the blatant flaws and weaknesses that come with playing Mbappe as a CF/#9.
I still think his introduction ruined the fragile stability we had left from last summer but I also think he is a good asset to have. Got unlucky that he came the season Carlo capitulated. Next season, one of Vini or Mbappe will have to embrace the Benzema role for the attack to work. And it won't be Mbappe doing that..... I have no doubt another manager will be better for him and Vini.
Vini already plays the part of "Vinicius Jr." It's either Mbappe or bust with the "Benzema" role. Mbappe is not skilled enough on the ball to perform the famous "link up" play and nor big enough to bully defenders, ironically enough Mbappe does have the same tendency to fluff easy chances and get caught offside.
We have been in shambles at the back but people want to blame this guy. It’s pretty clear the issue has been the lack of depth on defense and we can blame Vini or Mbappe or Carlo or go down the list but it won’t change the fact that we fielded a back 4 that was downright terrible
I mean, Vinicius is getting blasted by the newspapers and the pundits today calling him a "total embarrassment". I personally feel the club contributed A LOT to both Mbappé's and Vini's issues.
From historic flop to pichichi leader and recordholder for most goals in debut Madrid season. He has even brought his xG up to positive, and his teammates are the ones who have let him down with an awful xA number. Nonsense that we have been playing purely for him. He has absolutely created many of his own goals, including winning and scoring the penalty yesterday. Vini's willingness to track back and assist from the wing is underrated. I am optimistic for our offense under Xabi next season. Our backline was utterly decimated with injuries, it shouldn't come as a shock that we finished 2nd in league and didn't make the CL semis.
This guy is the definition of empty stats. Smh Luis Enrique told him exactly what hes supposed to do, he was proven right by every metric, and turtlesnake here still thinks he's everything is fine. Yeah Ancelotti failed to adapt the tactics to his presence but to be fair to him Mbappe is a nightmare to adapt your team to. Don't give me that BS that hes done his job; scoring is only one part of the job and we learned this perfectly with Benzema.
I kind of agree with Hendrix here. I’ve played with players who don’t work hard in all aspects of the game, they score 3 goals but their team has lost 10-4. They walk off the pitch thinking “at least I scored three”, not understanding that their team wouldn’t have conceded 10 if they weren’t walking around goal hanging all game. Mbappe has done good as far as scoring is concerned but the players all need to work for the team if they want to be successful as a team. I’m not sure I’ve seen that from him yet. Great player to have, let’s hope he gets better in all aspects of the game.
We added the "best player on the planet" but we'll still score less goals than last year in the league alone.
I agree. Somebody is gonna have to drill into his brain to press and track back consistently. He does those things and he'll be able to impact games he doesn't score in.
Funny how much that describes Ronaldo, who, according to multiple accounts (Dudek for one) went into the locker room screaming and kicking after 4-1 wins because he didn't score any of the goals.
Different era, you could get away more with not pressing, especially if you have a Benzema as support. Mbappe doesn't so he has to do the work. And once Cristiano was supposed to press at United he was completely exposed. 20 goals does not make up for it, in his prime he could score 50 goals in 38 matches, Mbappe doesn't get close to it. Bottomline its a bogus comparison.
I'm extremely pleased with Mbappe. His legs don't shake in front of the goal. Now we need him and Mbappe to better understand each other and rebuild our defense. Some new ideas and tactics may make him even more lethal. Hopefully, Xabi is the man for that.
Yeah he could get away with his laziness if he was as clinical as he thinks he is. He isn't a messi or Cristiano level (yet hopefully) so it's a significant harm. Think current Luka Doncic
Doesn't make the guy any less of a weirdo. I think he's being targeted like most other foreign players currently in a campaign to make sure the right message is being relayed ("those lazy millionaires!") but the whole thing is much more complex.
I don't think Kiki is our problem, our problem is being down like 5 defenders and having a makeshift defense. Losing Toni as well was also a massive hit. I cant believe Im saying it cause I was anti Mbappe before he signed but whenever he was out we were wank as usual. We were better when Vini was a out lol.
Its much more complex but then your argument boils down to 'he scores so hes excused from running'. Doesnt work like that. 'I do my job, you do yours ' is a misguided mentality in football, toxic even. And I feel like Mbappe subscribes to it.