Mbappe had a very poor conversion rate for much of the season; when Ronaldo had slumps that looked like Mbappe's shot to goal ratio the fans wanted him going more too. Nobody complains when the attacking player is converting a good percentage of his shots and we're winning. When the attacking player is blowing hot then cold and we're conceding goals every game, everyone wants him to do more to help a team because we're struggling. Also having Benz post Ronaldo helping in practically every phase and us winning all those CL in part because of that workrate sort of changed expectations.
Maybe but your striker conserving energy to be more effective at counters is not uncommon. You also need somebody to keep the offside trap of the opponent honest. The stick to beat players for not pressing can be handed down to the midfield with even Bellingham ball watching. Right now it's Vini and Kylian getting it because its comfortable and obvious.
It’s everything though, we’re constantly under pressure, needing someone to hold the ball up and relieve the defense, but Mbappé and Jr treat it like a bomb. Opponents build easily from the back and exploit our weak links while our attackers watch. Mbappé might score 45 next season and we still win nothing because we’re unbalanced. Look at our league titles with Ronaldo vs. after—less flashy, more balanced, and arguably better. Mbappé either needs to hit Ronaldo/Messi-level efficiency or start contributing beyond scoring. And honestly, even if he does hit that level, we’ll win more if he improves the other parts of his game too.
Our league titles are mostly effected by our depth and the lack thereof. Blaming Mbappé for defensive output when it matches every other top CF in the game while the entire midfield is midtable tier in recovering balls is nonsensical to me. It's just a comfortable discussion to have to not blame guys that are more popular.
Listen, Mbappe has had a (very) good debut season. Maybe the expectations were too wild at times, but if this is what he can put out with such a bad, chaotic side, then I have high hopes that he'll be amazing when there is a bit more structure to our game. I hope to see a bit more from him in the closer games, and to see him tightning his finishing a bit towards his earlier years, but all in all, (very) good debut season! Very curious to see what Xabi does with him and Vini, as that partnership needs work. I've seen to many late passes, similar runs, operating the same channels etc. That has to go, as it looks amateuristic.
How much did Schick and Boniface press? I'll tell you, not that much. This however is not the kind of midfield behavior we need: Man lost the ball and responded as if he was being arrested.
This was also the season he has the least amount of non-penalty goals. I've made my views on him clear so I won't beat a dead horse. But the reality is, Xabi will have to work around Mbappe.
Oh, I agree. I think the way Mbappe played this season is how he always has played and will continue to play. He's just not that player. But I'm still curious to see what Xabi can extract from the Mbappe - Vini partnership, because I think there is a lot more in that partnership than what was shown this season.
Enrique tried Luis Enrique y la profesionalidad, en una charla con Kylian Mbappé hace un tiempo.pic.twitter.com/ohjQb2i6za— VSports Team (@VSportsTM) May 7, 2025
I've see Tuchel call a player a complete imbecile that plays football for the first time in open practice while at Dortmund. Straight up call a player a "fettsau" (fatass, loosely translated). Whoever posted that video/had it go past the cutting room floor knew what the intentions are. Video sessions aren't for exchanging compliments.
It was him that was added though, it wasn't someone else added to his presence. So if you're the addition and the new guy, don't come in acting like everyone has to work for you. It was already said before, if you offer zero aerial threat then you can't also walk around. Now you can't do anything about aerial threat because you're a midget, but you can actually force yourself to work harder especially if you know the team is unbalanced and the midfield and defense can't just deal with everything you let through. Its your obligation to try and spare them from as many attacks as you can. For big men like Haaland or Lewandowski it takes more energy to defend than a lightweight like Mbappe. So all that is left as a justification for not defending is him being a primadonna and scoring goals, which again he did to the extent that was expected, not beyond it.
The irony here is as soon as PSG lost the player they are in the CL final. He's not good enough to only play one way, we're not going to win very much with him being this lazy in defense and inefficient in front of goal. All the talk prior to his move was will he run and at the time, the conventional wisdom was of course, the club is too big, he's going there to win everything and a year later we're making excuses for him. This excusing his lack of effort is pathetic.
You know which coach won the CL with Chelsea after all those high profile hires they've had? Winning the CL is also a product of coincidence (draw, weak year in competition). This season in particular got pretty crazy with the new format.
Mbappe is not at the level of Ronaldo or Messi in terms of his shot conversion and even then we were much more consistent in champions League and La Liga after Ronaldo left. This laziness impairs the team, we have talked about it all season so characterizing this as timing and saying we're only mentioning it now because we lost is inaccurate. We've been saying it all season. We're not going to win much with this sort of attitude.
The problem is fans always look for a scapegoat and some players are easier to blame versus others. So Mbappe, Tchouameni and Vini Jr will always be judged more critically than the likes of Jude, Fede and Rudiger. That bias needs to stop. The whole team has been shite and it doesn't matter if you have 2 or 3 players playing to their potential if the other 8 are below par.
No one is scapegoating Mbappe. The reality is he came to this team and while not purposefully, is a part of the reason there is an imbalance. I didn't expect him to come here humble but its really disappointing that he seems to be unwilling to help out off the ball.
Not his game and it will never be. Try telling that to Cristiano when he was here lol. We have to find and navigate ways around that.
Mbappe and Cristiano in the same post is blasphamy LOL But in all honestly, I'm probably an idiot but I really thought he'd adapt just a bit and work to help the team more. He came into a double winning squad with players who've achieved more than him club-wise. You'd think he'd want to do everything he can to contribute to that.
Diffuse effects of a big personality presence in the team goes beyond the effect he has in every single game. Its not like you can take out Mbappe one weekend and the culture does a 180 degrees.
If one player can completely change the culture of an entire locker room, we're way worse off than we believed and our future is grim.
Put it how you want, makes no difference that the player who just broke a 33 year record in La Liga in their debut season isn't going to work off ball, much like Cristiano didn't.