La Liga 24/25 thread

[Power Man]

Didn't really look like offside to me, ah well

Hé wasn’t offside tbh

 

[Brookbank]

Buyer's remorse so far on Mbappe. Dude looks mentally gone out there, as if he just wants the match to end.

According to this, he is being misused. And the team never thought through how they were going to play him

 

[maclean]

According to this, he is being misused. And the team never thought through how they were going to play him

Practically every single post on this board was asking how they were going to fit him in lol

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1855725846322950199

Missed most of the game but how was this offside

 

[Power Man]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1855725846322950199

Missed most of the game but how was this offside

Not offside at all

 

[Vasilevskiy]

There's not a single picture that clearly shows one way or the other

 

[gary69]

Rodrygo and Militao both seriously injured in the first half against Osasuna. Dunno how serious but both left the pitch crying...

Rodrygo reported to be out for 5-6 weeks.

 

[les Habs]

There's not a single picture that clearly shows one way or the other

What are you talking about? @Duchene2MacKinnon literally just posted with a picture from the actual VAR technology showing Lewandowski wasn’t offside.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

What are you talking about? @Duchene2MacKinnon literally just posted with a picture from the actual VAR technology showing Lewandowski wasn’t offside.

??? The picture he posted of VAR technology says it was offside showing lewa's tip of the boot.
The one below is not from VAR and even if it was you cannot conclude anything because it's so far out and such bad quality when the deciding factor of being offside or not was a couple cm.

I don't get what's all the fuss with this call (not talking about you, but here in the city people have gone crazy) when we had 3 similar calls go our away last weekend against Espanyol.

 

[luiginb]

I'm also not making a fuss of it as we deserved to lose the Sociedad game

 

[luiginb]

Fati out for a month with a hamstring injury, just when it looked like he was going to get more minutes. Kid is cursed.

Anyway he looked nowhere near Barca quality every time he did play, so probably he needs to go to the Valencias of the world to try and get his career back on track.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Fati out for a month with a hamstring injury, just when it looked like he was going to get more minutes. Kid is cursed.

Anyway he looked nowhere near Barca quality every time he did play, so probably he needs to go to the Valencias of the world to try and get his career back on track.

Agreed. Shame what could have been

 

[les Habs]

??? The picture he posted of VAR technology says it was offside showing lewa's tip of the boot.
The one below is not from VAR and even if it was you cannot conclude anything because it's so far out and such bad quality when the deciding factor of being offside or not was a couple cm.

I don't get what's all the fuss with this call (not talking about you, but here in the city people have gone crazy) when we had 3 similar calls go our away last weekend against Espanyol.

From what I heard, and I don’t think the VAR picture is conclusive, that’s not Lewandowski’s boot.

 

[Corto]

According to this, he is being misused. And the team never thought through how they were going to play him

I mean, people can blame everything on Mbappe, sure.

But also, I think Flo believed his own hype and unwillingly stumbed into Galacticos again.
Buying young players and developing them (star talent, yes, but still young players) worked, the veterans were seasoned winners and mostly all the new players made sense.

That said, while Dani Carvajal had an all-time season in 2023-24, he was up-and-down and struggling with injuries the last, oh, 5 years. If he's not healthy and in-form, Madrid are in trouble.
It's not a coincidence that he hit good form in the second half of 2022 and the entire 2023-24, when RM won their last 2 CLs.
All this time, Flo never got a backup/replacement for him.
In the same pattern, he didn't get a RB now, and he didn't get a CB for this season.

If you right/left back is inadequate, your entire eleven is going to bleed and eventually that hemorrhaging will start showing.
Something similar happened to Barca a few years ago when Dani Alves left - and the rest of the team was basically a top-5/10 player at every position, but the bleeding just never stops. Your midfielders have to cover, your forwards have to drop back, they are not in position to bomb forward after you win a ball, frustration mounts, etc.

Enterting the season with an injured Alaba and Eder Militao coming off an ACL was asking for trouble.
Now both are gone, Carvajal is gone (he can also cover as CB if needed), Tchouameni out for a while.
Kroos is gone and Modric is back to having to start games cause the new kids - as talented as they are - are lacking in creativity, passing and press-resistance.

Mbappe isn't playing great.
But he is far from Madrid's biggest problem at the moment.
They are now back into the "quality over fit" mode, and fitting square pegs into round holes.

Mbappe isn't a natural #9, he's not a target man in the mold of Haaland or Lewa, but there's no reason he can't be a generational striker with other qualities.
He will have to learn the habits though, have them become second nature - stuff like ALWAYS attack the first post when crosses come in. He's hanging back too much, waiting for rebounds and second balls (as you do if you're the 2nd forward coming into the box, or the #10, a midfielder coming late etc.).

I love Ancelotti, I have since his early coaching days. I think he's a quality human who's a very good coach and a god tier man manager.
But I don't think he has much choice with that RM squad, Mbappe HAS TO work as a #9.
It's either it works, and they win - or it doesn't, and they lose.

But Madrid's problems start at the back, continue with the midfield which now suddenly has too many "young, athletic, moblie" guys and not enough creativity.

Mbappe is the easy scapegoat atm.

 

[gary69]

I saw a story that Mbappe has been hanging around with Hazard. Now there's a good example to follow and get advice regarding your Real Madrid career