I think Mbappe can be exempt from pressing (Zidane said the same thing about R9, noting that he was there to terrorize defenders and score goals, not run up and down). However, Mbappe cannot be exempt from tactical positioning. He still prefers to cut inside from the left, rather than acting as the back-to-goal centre forward that Real Madrid needs. He often drops into midfield to pick up the ball. While this may look industrious, it seems to damage Real Madrid's attacking depth. Based on precedent, Vini should be the one pressing more as the left winger. However, if Vini (or Jude) presses high from the left while Mbappe stays stationary, opponents can simply bypass the press through the centre. Therefore, Mbappe must adjust his game to occupy the opposition's central defenders, pinning them back while making runs into the box to finish chances; in doing so, he would be allowing the creative burden to be carried by Vini, Jude, and others. However, the core issue is that Mbappe is too talented a player to accept just that rigid role; he wants to win the Ballon d'Or after all. Cruyff once said that putting 2 players (leaders) who want the exact same space on the pitch doesn't make you twice as good; it makes you half as good. Cruyff also predicted that Neymar and Messi would never work together. It ultimately did work (like Benz and CR7 did) because Neymar sacrificed his ego and deferred to Messi, right up until he couldn’t take it anymore and moved to PSG.
Saw a new stat today where Mbappe is not just the worst in La Liga on defensive actions, but he is the bottom player from all the top 20 leagues in the world Including a 39 year old Messi and geriatric Neymar. Insane stat.
Under Xabi, he was also amongst the attackers with the highest closing down runs per minute in Europe. I’ve seen this mentioned a lot at the time. There’s so many stats thrown around nowadays it’s hard to believe a lot of it.
You can believe that you didn't see him doing defensive actions last season, this is not a secret, the absurdity of course being that this a guy who's in his prime and supposedly wants to earn recogntition for his performance by winning the Balon d'Or. Obviuosly he's running game because of he was as motivated to walk the walk as he is to talk the talk then there would be no walking and he would be running. See Dembele.
He moves like a dictator bro. It’s not even funny anymore pic.twitter.com/OD13dUO6Pj— 🥷🏼 (@killeures) June 3, 2026 I am fully enjoying the dictator meme. It's just silly enough for me.
If you hate this club so much, why do you even support it or spend time on it? Serious question, you want to sell all the players, get rid of all the people running it, you have no interest outside of the football team, seriously, you can relieve yourself of years of misery by making a single choice about yourself. You don't even share any nostalgia. It's like being a non smoker in the smoking section every day complaining about it. Just go home. Getting rid of fans that are only happy with trophies is the only net positive if the club keeps losing.
Mbappe is deadass getting outpaced by randoms on counter attacks now, it’s over bro pic.twitter.com/5xh2SMHspJ https://t.co/AORbLDTSSm— ✰ (@DarrylRMFC) June 4, 2026 Except its not a rando, its Singo who is one of the fastest players in the world, plays CB half the time and is a much better defender than Dumfries for example.
Perez might promise to offer PSG €100m for him in 2028, that's how we roll Dumfries is a dumb defender which is why I don't think Mourinho asked for him. He's cheap and Perez probably thought the dude was French of Cameroonian decent. Konaté and Dumfries are exactly the kind of names ChatGPT spits out when you ask "Hola, tengo 7 shampions and elections are around the corner. Give me two free or dirt cheap defenders I can present as 'market opportunities' and pretend I have a plan"
It's the complete opposite. Dumfries was at inter when Mourinho was at Roma. Every coach i've had the chance to speak to asks for players they either coached prior, or faced as an opponent. Klopp did this all the time too, every player he requested from Liverpool was a player either from Dortmund that he coached, or a player that he played against. That's why i'm against giving the coach total control of transfers. You're basically buying from a very narrow window of players.
There were a lot of guys playing for other clubs when Mourinho was at Roma. Dumbries is also is an attacking wingback that plays in a 3 or 5 defender formation, that's not how Mourinho usually sets up. He doesn't do very well when the team cedes possession and looks to strike on the counter. He's a much weaker defender than say Maicon..
He'll most likely use him as a utility RB/CB in a substitute role. He's perfectly fine in that capacity. I don't know what people expect the player that plays that role to be. On one hand it's complaining about ignoring the mid tier of the football market focusing only on stars and talents, and when the club makes that approach there's complaints its not a star or talent.
I think Dumfries might even get more minutes than TAA given the latter's injury record. What worries me is Konate. He was relatively healthy this season. But given his history, the law of averages might come knocking in.
I'd say Konate was healthy in 2024-25 too as he played 31 PL games. I will take it if he's available for that many games at RM.
Surprised by this, he’s played 3.4k and 3.5k minutes in the last two seasons for Liverpool. That’s availability.
Seems you haven't watched a lot of Inter games. He is basically an inside winger forward for them on the right side in a very asymmetric 5-3-2. Its a very specific role he plays, its Bisseck who is more the RB in a traditional sense. Im sure he can play as a conventional RB but thats not the best he can be used. I wouldnt say hes average, but we should be able to do better. Trent and Dumfries are not really interchangeable, in fact they are as different as fullbacks can be. Dumfries age also means he's nothing more than a stop gap solution, and this is in conflict with how you design your tactics. I have nothing against him as a player, I actually like him a lot but its just a bit of a weird addition. Feels like buying for the sake of buying.
It's irrelevant how is best used because he's going to take the spot that Lucas freaking Vazquez filled for years. The amount of lack of perspective people have is incredible to me. Teams need bodies nowadays more than ever, this is also a position where the difference in quality is very incremental and higher investment doesn't always bring high reward. It's a type of signing the club should be making almost every season across all field positions. Including where there is a clear number 1 or even number 2 option.
this is my thinking. Konate + Dumfries vs Alaba/ Tchouameni as a CB/ Asencio Broken Carvajal / Lucas Vasquez I'm not mad at these moves AT ALL
The problem is hes not Lucas Vazquez in terms of stature, salary and minutes demand. He is not a club servant like Lucas. I agree this particular position is one where tactical profile matters less than others, but it still matters when it comes to high reputation international players like Dumfries. The difference between inverted and byline fullbacks is big, you cant just flip them on a game by game basis. Trent and Dumfries are literally the opposite extremes on the fullback spectrum. Anyway, this is off topic, just wanted to state for the record Im against signing him and why. There are better options.