VALENCIA vs REAL MADRID | La Liga Jornada #23 | 08.02.26 | 21:00 CET

Very important win. Played well at times but more improvement needed.

 

Happy for the 3 pts and the clean sheet. The defenders held strong. Especially Carreras and Asensio, so kudos to them. Happy to see Trent back in the lineup.

 

Dude just scores

Regardless of how Mbappe plays overall, you just know he’ll score.

 

Carreras is such a baller. Well worth every penny. Easily the best signing this summer.

 

Thanks for the win team!

HALA MADRID!

See you guys next game!

 

Thanks Allah for the 3 points.

Carreras should be a cornerstone and the undisputed LB, period.

Jimenez had a weird start but impressed overall and I'm glad he started ahead of Trent who isn't match sharp..

Mbappe had a trash game again but KO-ed Valencia.

Huijsen..dis guy
I'm still in favor of trying him at CM. But a CB? Oh boy.

Non-existent midfield. Going with Cama-Tchouameni-Fede is redundant and futile. This midfields needs to be butchered.

Against 90% of LaLiga sides we should be going with a 4-3-3; Brahim or Franco should have started.

Playing GG but not as CF when both Rodrygo and Vini are out is mad..

I think the club is sending Carvajal a message.

In the end, it was not a good performance but I didn't expect anything more.

 

Because he's so good at pretty much everything he seems like an insane player. He's allowed to have a stinker a couple of times a season but otherwise he's been everything I'd have hoped for and more.

 

I didn't think so.

I thought he did a piss poor job at covering the space behind Carreras when he was making runs, a couple of times it could have cost us. On the ball, he was pretty bland and provided near nothing. In fact, I think he's become worse on the ball than his 21/22 version which showed so much promise..

 

Its hard for me to comprehend that 18 goals conceded whenever I remember 5 of them were in one game.

 

I wasn't watching very closely but I wouldn't say at all. I remember 1 or 2 good forward passes and if I am not wrong first one led to our first and only chance in the first half when he put a through ball for Mbappe and Mbappe played it in the end to the right for Jimenez.

 

Got to keep grabbing these wins, and see where we are after the next Classico, we might hit some sort of form by then to close the season strongly.

 

Yeah, considering the players we were missing, this was a very good win at the Mestalla. I liked how the team showed we can change our usual approach, keep posession, and still find solutions. We need to work on moving the ball faster. Fast passes, overwhelm the opponent into making mistakes, only then the openings for through balls happen. You can tire them out both physicaly by making them chase the ball, and mentally. That's when mistakes happen.

Still a lot of room for improvement, but positive signs. Especially how we completely shut them down defensively. Bar that one post they hit, it was pretty solid.

 

Like regular fans maybe AS is confused about "a team with overwhelming individual quality" ,although some certainly are overall perhaps some of the individuals just aren't as good as they think they are

 

Overwhelming in comparison to Valencia definitely

 

We have played their 13 games since.

 

I don't think Carvajal has been good enough since coming back from injury, he's been a liability in several games. Then vs Albacete his slow/poor covering gave the home team the winner at the death (and Lunin's bad keeping).

Should he get minutes? I am indifferent. I'd be surprised if Trent says healthy for long and while I was impressed with Jimenez, it's simply too early to judge or inflate him, if he's the 2nd-choice RB I'm willing to bet he'll play more than the Englishman.

Carvajal was lucky to get an extension days after his ACL. For me, his story with RM is done.

 

Marseille and Sociedad to name two.

He's 34 with 2 ACLs. He shouldn't be blackballed but this is Perez. Carvajal's time is up with RM and I think he realizes this too as he was flirting with Qatar a few days ago..

 

I agree, it's all a bit strange and I don't like how this is developing. If he is match fit, I reckon this particular team would benefit having a hard working club legend getting some minutes and leading by example. Unless I am mistaken, I was also under the impression that the discourse was that Trent would find it difficult to start over him this season.

Anyway, we all know this is his last season, but it would be a damn shame if Dani of all people (for obvious reasons) would, in a World Cup year, be the victim of board interference.

 

Yeah, it seems like El Chiringuito is also reporting that there has been no contact between Arbeloa and Carvajal. Some commenters are saying that Dani forced Arbeloa into retirement so Arbeloa is doing the same to him

Either way, I sense trouble brewing on the horizon. This is the kind of thing Carlo (and maybe even Zidane) were good at managing well. Both Trent and Carvajal are good enough to go to the WC. I hope they get managed in a way that allows them both to go.

Hard to believe but we have won 7 in a row in the league now. That’s a great streak and hope it continues.

 

I don't think Carvajal is much of a leader or a captain on the field either way.
I'd much rather see Trent on the pitch or even give Jimenez a go, Dani's body is finished.

I have nothing against him and he's a legend but we invested in Trent and the club really isn't in a position to sacrifice results for Dani to go to world cup.

 

Cortegana/Rai reported that Carvajal complained that Arbeloa hasn't explained to him why he isn't getting playing time.

Wasn't that one of Xabi's "red flags" from his time at Leverkusen?

Again, a coach doesn't have to explain his tactical/personnel choices to the players. Hierarchy doesn't work that way.