Huh? Rodrygo runs all day long and gets shat on in this forum because his offensive production went to shit but the same voices have no problem with Franco having negative production with constant turnovers as long as he runs? You guys are wild. Inconsistent. Yet so wild.
Rodrygo and Franco have the same amount of goals. They are both playing for us btw and i feel like there's a lot of weird bias against Franco.
You're not doing the math right. If it is Mbappe then the answer is he can do whatever he wants, he averages a goal per game scoring is his only job. Even if doesn't score and team loses everybody is happy because he averages a goal per game, nobody realistically expects him to score every game or play defense. If it is Franco, his job isn't to only score goals, forwards have to be able to contribute in other ways. If they are Brazilian, all Brazilians are lazy and unserious, and they all start to decline by age 25, Madrid needs to cash out on Vini and Rodrygo before it's too late, plus they don't score enough we need to see how many kilometers they ran playin defense.
Man stop using my posts to propel into this narrative about Mastantuono preference over others, I said every other attacker apart from Mbappe has been shit. And Rodrygo runs all day is wild, he’s arguably one of the most passive Real Madrid players I’ve ever seen when we’re on the ball. Runs all day like he’s Kipchoge or something
I don’t know if the guy will be a legitimate Madrid player and I’m not even sure he is a winger as he does need to provide an end product as @YOUNGSTARS87 pointed out but I do understand why Alonso plays him. There is absolutely zero reason for Alonso to hold any favoritism over this guy. He never knew him before, he didn’t come up from the academy, he didn’t play for him in Germany, he’s not from Spain. None, zero. The guy just does things that Alonso values in his system which is the ability to carry the ball and press nonstop Does that alone make him a good player? No. You are talking to me for God sakes, the guy who is nostalgic about the classic playmakers and whose favorite player is James. I hate this wave of preferring running vs talent. but given the team of “stars” that we have, I understand why he plays when healthy and why we honestly, like it or not, coincidence or not, played our best football and had our best stretch when he was playing. that is all
Maybe Xabi sees him as the player who follows his tactical instructions more than anyone else in that RW position. Maybe.
At the end of the day, I absolutely think we bought the wrong player, Mastantuono is never going to be a winger, he’s really slow for that position. I don’t understand why we do this. If we’re going to play a 4-3-3, then buy a left footed right winger. Buy players with a clear trajectory towards positions we need. We haven’t had a left footed right winger since Bale, but we’ve played a 4-3-3 every season apart from 23/24. Why do we do this?
Pace is overrated. We see how our fast players struggle against low blocks. Which is 80% of the time in La Liga.
CPU cheats tho. In higher difficulties, they make the AI superstrong like cyborgs and make your player teammates dumb as amateurs.
It reminds me of when they sold Makelele and then spent years buying 2nd rate players for the position instead of just solving the issue properly. This position should have been a priority. All the right wingers on the club are either bench level or not ready for prime time. I have nothing against Mastanuano but he is not the answer for the immediate hole on the right side.
But we don’t even have any right wingers, just players who are played there out of position. I feel sometimes sticking to the basics and buying players in positions we need should be valued more.
He just adds dynamism that the team needs so much. His movement and playmaking open up the pitch for us. You can see why he was so crucial during Xabi's early weeks. I said during that time its really a fun team to watch even if we are very flawed. Once he went down the fun stopped. Glad to see him recover. He will become such a great player if he avoids injuries.
I feel that much of this board is underrating him because he's not the most explosive nor is he the most entertaining dribbler.
His speed is insane, and off ball movement is elite. Once he can get his shot straightened out, he'll be a star.
I hope you're right. He does bring something we've been missing on that right flank for a long time. I'm happy for his goal, but I'm even happier about his overall impact on the game. There's a lot of polish needed, but the raw ability is certainly there. Glad he's getting the minutes again under Arbs.
Yesterday he showed what he could bring. Him and Fede we're electric on that right side. He links up with others so well, and had some pretty passes that created chances, and of course the beautiful goal set up by Vini. I hope he continues to shine.
People didn’t understand why he played, but it’s clear he adds a ton of pressure and runs off the ball. Energy, toughness, grit, effort much value added
His speed of mind is insane, speed of body not so much. But he is not yet in his physical prime, so Im sure he will become faster and stronger which together with the other abilities he has will make him a massive weapon for the team. When hes not playing, it seems like everybody is always running in the same direction and with the same tempo when we are on the attack (most of the time when we do slow buildup and not countering). When he is playing, he mixes up his movements a lot depending on the situations, which starts a cascade of movements by the others that create space. Maybe the only player on the squad who is capable of doing that. Oh and he doesnt move half assed like Bellingham or Camavinga do. His movement is always with determination and purpose. Love that about him. Its interesting that didnt send a goodbye message to Xabi, nor he showed any affection to him, and Xabi was supposedly key in bringing him over. Instead hes been quite chummy with Jude, which makes me wonder if he was also in the anti Xabi camp.
He strikes me as a non sentimental dude. I mean he came and said Messi was the goat or something. I don’t think he cares