I don't think it is as simple as that. Mbappe also affects player movement, spacing and overall defensive workrate. He shouldn't be blamed for Vini's poor decision making, Rodrygo's inconsistency, the backline's injuries and the midfield's lack of creativity. But as with the usual, the truth is in the middle.
A boat that has two captains sinks, it's that easy. Re: Mbappé – I don't like Mbappé's somewhat fake persona, but I have made peace with the fact that I don't need to like him, as long as he is performing at the expected level. And man, the guy has turned it around completely and is performing out of his mind. He is a unique player in today's game, and as far as I'm concerned he's probably the last player in his prime that I consider a proper great. We need to fix some glaring holes in the team (additions and exits!), but Mbappé is not one of them.
Even with the context of all those goals he's scoring, you can't defend these numbers. He needs to be involved more, and press more. Just m I'm in the same boat... But those numbers were still shocking. Dude's walking out there.
It's reminding me of Messi in the champions league, the last few years he was just walking out there. They had the best player in the world but consistently got demolished in Europe.
He can't be blamed for others' poor finishing. But for a dunce like Vinicius, Mbappes erratic movement and space hogging both with and without ball is enough to tip over his already questionable decision making to total shit.
Mbappe's goal records suggest he's in the right spots and doing things efficiently. Others are just not.
He screws up 99 percent of our attacking actions with his random out of sync roaming (and poor touches/decisions on the ball). I guess you can call that efficient. His goal record is penalties, route one breaks from our own half and tap ins. His movement is subpar, and when you add the defensive movement its atrocious.
Hopefully Mbappe is “rested” again today. Team needs to carry over that great form and confidence from the weekend, this is not the time to play favorites and chase individual awards -Arbeloa needs to be firm. Benfica is gonna park the bus anyway so it’s not like Mbappe will be of much use or have any chances for stat padding.
this is exactly how he played for PSG in the CL for years with few exceptions TRASH and then he left and you know what happened
I admit Im harsh here. Its either tap ins or golazos in fact. The fact that hes capable of crackers really bails him out. But in the end it doesnt matter how good it looks on his season video resume if we dont win.
Maybe Kiki and Vini are getting closer, no wonder they look better on the pitch. I think Vini spoke a couple of days ago how he always was asking MBappe when are you coming etc. Mbappé was even ready to defend Vinicius Jr against Jose Mourinho.Proper team-mate. pic.twitter.com/N3k3ASIcXS— TC (@totalcristiano) February 17, 2026 At one point it did seem like they had beef though.
That's what people thought of Vini and Jude too until they had to admit there was no beef. Vini called Mbappe the best player in the world a couple of weeks ago. Vini hating anyone is just a media made up narrative as usual to paint him as an evil guy. The same way they say he deserves being called a monkey for celebrating near the opposition fans.
I've criticised him lately for his off-the-ball work rate and positional play but his speech after the match left me floored. It was incredible. He showed great leadership qualities on and off the pitch during that racist incident. Love how he defended Vinicius and how seriously he spoke about this incident. The team is united.
Yeah, I'm not his biggest fan, but after yesterday I've some newfound respect. Fair play to him, came out and acted like a captain.
Absolutely on brand for Mbappe to jump on the bandwagon in order to share the antiracism spotlight. Its a win-win situation with a topic like that. Maximum PR points scored, brand reinforced, leadership criticisms silenced. Westbrook type of player, Lebron type of leader. No wonder hes his idol.
Hendrix, I think you're quite an analytical football viewer, and I hope you know that reading your insights about the game are interesting and I appreciate your contribution to RMBS. But sincerely, I think YOU are being racist here. That doesn't mean that it's part of who you are or your essence, but what you're saying is riddled with prejudice. Framing Mbappe's support as PR or opportunism plays into a long pattern where Black athletes’ experiences with racism are minimized or treated as strategic rather than legitimate. When marginalized people speak about injustice, their testimony is met with suspicion rather than received as moral witness. It becomes easier to imagine strategic self-interest than to confront the uncomfortable reality that racism exists openly, even at the highest levels of global sport. At some point, a society has to decide whether it is more interested in interrogating why someone speaks against racism, or in interrogating why racism continues to appear in the first place. Dismissing Mbappe and laughing about it only reinforces the environment that allows racist behavior to appear and go unchallenged.
Did you see his reaction on the pitch? Did you think that was performative really? He heard the racist insults and then called him "un putoo racista" "you fuking racist" continually with absolute venom in his eyes. Why? Because he is black himself! All of a sudden being angry and frustrated at Racism is virtue signalling and performative?! Especially if you are a black person yourself. Honestly stop posting. You are an embarrassment.
Dude. Get a grip. Your hate for Mbappe is beyond annoying now where you are literally making up stuff to justify it.
While I understand your beef with Mbappe on a football level to an extent, this however is nonsense. He was also arguing with Benfica players and with Mou for the cameras ?
Good post but I wanted to highlight this because I think its so close to getting there, both for regular people and for people like Mbappe and Vinicius in positions of power to do something about it. I think the question is a false dichotomy. The actual answer is that that *someone* should interrogate why racism continues to appear in the first place, if that someone truly wants to make a difference. And thats what decisively proves that hes not an opportunist but someone who actually cares and thinks about this. Because just "speaking against racism" from the position of power that people like Mbappe or Vinicius have means nothing. No single normal person is "pro racism". But when youre in that kind of position of power, speaking against racism is as low hanging fruit as it gets. And Im sorry, but having a bit of insight into how Mbappe functions over the years, makes me suspicious about his motives. When youre a person in Mbappe's position, you just need to look angry and people like this undertow dumbass will praise you. Meanwhile you actually havent done shit apart from virtue signalling. And you could have done so much more, if you only dedicated yourself more to helping people understand about exactly what you stated - why does racism continue to appear in the first place. But when they dont understand, doing what Mbappe does trivializes the issue and causes backfire because it is understood only performative virtue signalling and adds to simple tribalism, my team vs your team. And you can only understand if you actually try to get informed about it instead of your life being luxury, fashion, cars and nightclubs. At least a little bit! Because racism is literally the externality of all these things - wealth accumulation and everything that comes with it. If you think someone is automatically racist because he considers the individual motives of a person who is actually very privileged and who has a history of being self interested, manipulative and shallow, simply because hes a member of a race that is historically opressed, fine, thats youre right. I don't agree with it. I simply expect more from people with a platform on such an important and complex issue, and that has been my position from the beginning of the story of Vinicius antiracism campaign. If youre unable to recognize its complexity, then you also unable to recognize its importance. Bottomline is, who is that *someone* matters. And thats also why I don't trust Mbappe.
Thats probably his understanding of leadership, the same way Vinicius understanding of racism is what it is. I have seen Mbappe's entire life ordered by what he can gain. Money, legacy, everything. Its always about him.
So because they're wealthy, speaking out against racism when they experience it is only "virtue signaling" and you expect more from them. Fine. I personally don't expect them to divulge all their assets or pull out a book of Adorno or Gramsci whenever they hear the word monkey. And no, I don't think your post was racist simply because Mbappe is black, but because you will scrupulously interrogate and express with such certainty to the point of using laughter emojis to trash Mbappe's motives, while you do nothing of the sort whatsoever for Prestianni's motives. That's quite convenient don't you think? And yes, no normal person is openly pro racism because they can't recognize within themselves the prejudices that have been inculcated in them through cultural and social means throughout their lives. But tons of people indeed hold racist points of view, without self-awareness. Again, this isn't to say that you ARE racist or it is descriptive of you as a person, but I believe how you're viewing and talking about these players at this moment is.
Im pretty sure I have unconscious racist bias. So do you, everyone does. Its exactly as you say, you need to turn the unconscious to conscious, deconstruct it, and defeat it. It takes an insane mental effort for that, but that should indicate how complex the topic is and therefore how lightly these players are taking it. I think these people have more social responsibility than you do, simply more proportionate to the amount of attention they receive. And thats why Im saying, yes they should divulge their assets. Far from all of them, but walk the talk at least a little bit. Show you actually understand this shit. Credibility matters. Yes damnit pull out that Adorno book. You dont have to pull out the entire Frankfurt school, but at least do not come and talk about racism when your life is just nightclubs, tattoos and sports cars outside of football. Its hypocritical. Its a valid point about Prestianni, as said yesterday, I don't know him that well because I followed him about a thousand times less in my life than Mbappe or Vinicius. Maybe he really is a racist piece of shit. Its quite possible. When we say normal people, we vastly underestimate how many of us are there. Racism is just flourishing right now. But unfortunately I can't say Vinicius is helping with this situation. Or Mbappe right now. In fact its probably the opposite because of the haphazard way they try to help. But for Mbappe personally, I honestly see the same playbook as Lebron during the BLM days. All posturing and big talk, but the moment his wealth is threatened, the plug is pulled and its back to shut up and dribble.
I don't think Hendrix is racist, he is just completely captured by his hate for Vinicius and Mbappe that he is incapable of analysing situations without this bias. Even when a situation calls for humanity he is incapable of it. He has become inhuman. He has become what he despises. All those wordy sentences about biases and he was basically just incriminating himself. Whether it's Xabi or Vini or Mbappe or Balotelli, he is not capable of rational thought because he is dogmatic and fundmentalist in his beliefs.
Let's be clear, Vini forces Mbappe to play out of position, not the other way around. He does not prefer to play as a #9, he prefers LW. He even put on bulk/muscle initially before arriving in preparation for the new role he knew he would have to play before ultimately shedding that weight as he was playing worse. Tap-ins, golazos, penalties and miscellaneous goals in between (happy to pull clips of those goals, but I doubt you genuinely believe he only scores the types of goals you mentioned) -- sounds like a pretty fantastic striker if you ask me.