# Benfica 4-2 Real Madrid Postgame Reaction: Mourinho Beats Arbeloa, Real Madrid In Crisis

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 28 Jan 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/114708441/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-0-28%2F417039523-44100-2-ef711d5946431.mp3

Sid reacts to Real Madrid's Champions League loss against Jose Mourinho's Benfica. How we saw this coming, etc.

## Transcript

[0:00] Well, well, well. It brings me no pleasure to take
[0:04] a victory lap today, but we are here after one of Real Madrid's
[0:08] worst performances in the last 18 months.
[0:11] Tactically, one of our worst performances I've ever seen,
[0:14] considering the caliber of opposition and wow, we are here
[0:18] to talk about Benfica 42 Real Madrid.
[0:23] Again, it brings me no pleasure to take a victory lap, but if
[0:26] you've been listening to the show, when he shots conceded
[0:28] against Monaco, a feed Vinny strategy that lost us the game
[0:32] against Albacete, all these signs were very mixed with
[0:35] Arboloa coming into this game and then coming into this game,
[0:39] he essentially continues the strategy of force feeding
[0:43] Vinicius. He's there's this all this talk
[0:46] about Mourinho and visiting Mourinho's home and he got
[0:49] humbled by Mourinho. Mourinho just put up a master
[0:52] class and destroyed us. I will get the stats displayed
[0:55] but that statistically was horrible.
[0:57] The first half alone they were up 2.4 XG to .3 on us.
[1:02] We had no control of the ball throughout the game.
[1:05] We were honestly just struggling.
[1:07] How many times have we said this is the worst performance of the
[1:09] season? Way too many times.
[1:11] A good point, Namu Jay, and thank you for joining as a
[1:13] member. We have definitely said that
[1:16] it's the worst performance too many times.
[1:18] But I will say between this and Albacete, I believe these two
[1:22] performances that have happened under the new coach who were
[1:24] supposed to get a new swing from are two of our worst
[1:27] performances even under Carlo Jabi Alonso and all that
[1:31] Alonso's bad games were Celta, Atletico Madrid.
[1:34] We're looking at Albacete and Benfica, who are worst teams are
[1:38] having some of the these are the teams that we're struggling
[1:40] against. And you know, I'm really
[1:42] skeptical about this whole Arbaloa thing working.
[1:46] I've been saying that from day one.
[1:47] It's because we don't have the ability to turn and control the
[1:50] ball. So even if you let the players
[1:52] do what they want to do like Carlo did the last four years,
[1:54] there is no Cruise or Modresh to rescue you.
[1:57] So this bullshit idea that you can change the coach mid season
[2:00] and that he's going to be able to praise the players, tell them
[2:03] to not run too hard and suddenly we're going to win.
[2:06] That was bullshit from day one. It's not just that, it's that
[2:09] the fact that even games against Monaco that we win 61, we're
[2:13] giving up twenty shots. We haven't really had a clean
[2:16] performance outside. You could argue Villarreal,
[2:18] especially the second-half. Chabi wouldn't have lost this
[2:22] game. He says there was no tactical
[2:24] discipline. Think the thing the big
[2:26] difference between Arbolo and Chabi.
[2:27] I was tweeting this before the game, posted it on YouTube for
[2:30] those of you who tuned in, is that Arbolo?
[2:33] I decided to say fuck passing the ball side to side and
[2:36] controlling the game. You guys get to do whatever you
[2:38] want on offense. Play fast, play to your
[2:40] strength, just make sure you run hard on defense.
[2:43] So the idea is that by allowing the players to play free, you
[2:47] get higher defensive commitment, You get Mbappe tracking back at
[2:50] 5, one against Monaco and all that.
[2:52] The problem is that that would work in like the Mourinho era.
[2:56] Honestly, it's like our below is ultimately thinking that you can
[3:00] win these games without controlling the ball.
[3:01] You can play fast one touch football, you can track back
[3:04] hard as a unit and you can win without controlling the game.
[3:07] That's what 2012 Real Madrid did.
[3:09] But we've just gone 12 years forward, guys.
[3:11] We signed Cruz and Modrich so we wouldn't lose Champions League
[3:14] ties like 2012 Real Madrid did. So at the end of the day, you
[3:19] know, Isa says here he that Arbolo ignored rest defense and
[3:22] is punished partly. But the reality is we can't rest
[3:25] with the ball. If we can't control the ball,
[3:27] the game will be end to end. That's just the reality.
[3:29] And some games like Villa real, you see it work out where the
[3:33] counter press might get us a couple chances.
[3:35] But even then, those games work out because we're able to avoid
[3:39] the trade-offs of a settled game is the longer you play a settled
[3:42] game, the longer the other team essentially hits US in
[3:46] transition and asks us to do something with the ball at our
[3:48] feet but presses up on us. We do nothing.
[3:51] So never seen a more immature group of players, says Abhinav.
[3:55] Yeah, man. I mean, listen, the strategy is
[3:58] pretty clearly dictated around Vinny.
[4:00] I just want to start and say that the tactics, like Arboloa
[4:03] is catering to Vinny. He is basically asking.
[4:08] He's basically having the ball force fed to Vinny on the wing
[4:12] every game. If you go back to the very first
[4:13] one, Albicete, we are living and dying with Vinny.
[4:16] It's just, I'm just so weird. I guess I'm weirded out seeing a
[4:20] team play to get a player back into form.
[4:21] Like what's the point of being Real Madrid if that's what we
[4:24] do? We should be having players
[4:25] compete for the same spot. And I think the feeding Vinny's
[4:29] strategy has games where it can work, moments like Monaco, but
[4:33] the reality is that this guy is not playing on the level he was
[4:35] in 2024. So you get Alba Sette or a game
[4:38] like today. The first half, we literally
[4:40] just kept switching play and feeding him and Masantuano and
[4:43] trying these wide triangles that weren't working.
[4:46] So at the end of the day, I think the immaturity comes from
[4:49] the way they've dictated tactics since October, the way certain
[4:52] players don't get benched. So Honor Bound has a super chat
[4:56] here. They didn't play fast, our
[4:59] midfield refuses to play the difficult pass and our attack
[5:01] doesn't run into space. Mid midfield needs to pass.
[5:03] But they just aren't that good. I agree they're not that good.
[5:07] I just I'm still mad that they fired the coach because the
[5:10] midfield is not that good to be frank.
[5:11] And I get that there were a lot of issues with the players and
[5:15] personnel, but I think this game proves that.
[5:18] Telling these players what they want to hear, making them feel
[5:21] like humans, making them feel appreciated and this human
[5:25] managerial aspect, it works when that's the equation.
[5:29] But I've, I've been saying all season that I've been saying
[5:31] since Celta Vigo, there is no ability to actually create on
[5:35] the ball in midfield. So the I think Alonzo trying to
[5:39] get the team comfortable playing at a sober tempo was necessary
[5:41] to rest on the ball necessary so you don't give up two expected
[5:45] goals playing ping pong ball with Benfica.
[5:47] I don't think we had one game like this under Alonso.
[5:50] You know, like there's there was so much talk about how we had
[5:52] our best offensive game last week in Monaco.
[5:55] Listen, we had that Dartmouth fight 2 under Carlo too.
[5:58] We need to go through a process where we learn to control games
[6:00] and play defensively like any half decent team completely
[6:04] shuts us down. I agree fully and The thing is
[6:07] honor bound with our below a style of play.
[6:09] The only time things work is when we play fast and or in this
[6:13] case when Benfica got complacent in a couple of cases honestly
[6:16] because it felt like they weren't expecting that Ascencio
[6:18] balls to Mbappe who doesn't head it.
[6:20] They were not. They kind of slowed down at 31
[6:22] which is how we made it 3-2. But at the end of the day like
[6:26] either the other team gets complacent and stops freshening
[6:29] the ball or we play ultra fast but as soon as we have to string
[6:33] 1015 passes together our attacks fall apart.
[6:36] Taking out Arda who was actually trying to create things was
[6:38] shocking. I agree.
[6:39] And on the Arda note, Arda was really mad when he came off.
[6:43] If you guys saw there was a clip that was going around where he
[6:47] says always me. Hey guys, I know Arda didn't
[6:50] lead us to 2 champions leagues but it would be really weird if
[6:53] they let him decide when he gets subbed off for the next three
[6:56] months. If they let him burn bridges in
[6:59] the locker room over this, If they suddenly let if.
[7:02] Imagine if Arta just didn't get subbed off for the next few
[7:04] months because he's mad. Because that's effectively what
[7:07] happened the last few months as people are pointing out.
[7:10] You know how does Vinny manage zero passes to full back on his
[7:13] side over always overlapping? He needs to be dropped or sold.
[7:16] It's annoying at this point. I agree the Arta Guler sub was
[7:21] not ideal because we were growing into the game down 32.
[7:25] I know I'm all over the place here guys but at this point the
[7:27] game was a disaster. But at 32 down, I believe Arta
[7:31] Guler got subbed off and he was starting to really figure out
[7:34] the combination play. And as Namucci says, Vinnie
[7:37] should have been taken out instead of Arta.
[7:38] What a clueless change. And also not bringing in Gonzalo
[7:40] Garcia. Yeah, man, listen, Vinnie pretty
[7:45] clearly decides when he wants to get subbed off.
[7:47] OK? This is what I don't like about
[7:48] the situation with Arboloa. It doesn't feel like Arboloa
[7:52] just trying to get the best out of the players, but it feels
[7:54] like Florentino Perez telling Arboloa, hey, I don't give a
[7:57] fuck about your contract. I don't give a fuck about
[7:59] Chubby's contract. Get Vinny to resign, get him to
[8:01] play well. Florentino is going at things
[8:04] from an outcome standpoint, not a process standpoint.
[8:06] And that's how you get these situations where, you know,
[8:09] Vinny doesn't play well and there's no possibility of him
[8:13] being subbed off. And This is why I have, like, a
[8:16] little bit of trouble figuring out what Alonzo could have gone
[8:19] differently. It's like the same thing I asked
[8:20] last week. What happens when the attackers
[8:23] aren't pressing well? We're struggling in a game.
[8:25] Who do you take off? Is appeasing the players
[8:27] suddenly going to make them play better?
[8:30] Like, are you going to praise them when they're not running
[8:32] defensively? Like I don't see how it works
[8:34] when things go wrong like it did under the Carlo and Chabi.
[8:37] And that's why Chubbies last two months the Celta game.
[8:39] I'm like dude, the the players are picking the like who the
[8:42] team sheet for him, Vinny's picking the team sheet for him.
[8:45] And also Fede is playing right back all the time.
[8:47] It's funny how you know, I saw some funny tweets, but it's
[8:50] funny how Mina Bonino is not putting out stuff about Fede
[8:53] every week anymore. Hey man, we get that you didn't
[8:56] like Javi but I wish you just didn't make it so much about
[8:58] him. And at the end of the day, I
[9:00] don't know if Fetty cared. I wonder if Fetty was just
[9:02] sticking up for his buddy Vinny, who again seems to call the
[9:04] shots in terms of when he gets subbed off the midfield has
[9:09] issue the attack outside of it Boppe is nothing.
[9:12] Correct Keiki there. There is no creation, no duel
[9:14] willing, no tracking back, no press, nothing.
[9:17] I agree. So it is what it is.
[9:21] Guys. It's been horrible.
[9:22] I wonder what the criteria and profile of player was when
[9:25] Mastantuano was scouted. I don't know what he does or
[9:26] brings apart from hustling. Yeah, I mean, honestly, we would
[9:29] have been better off with Hendrick.
[9:30] It's just Mastantuano recycles the ball and does the wide
[9:33] rotations. But again, yeah, it is a sign of
[9:35] how far the team has fallen that because our attackers want ball
[9:38] defeat so often that someone who just offers that verticality,
[9:42] even if he can't beat a man, like let's be honest, the guy is
[9:45] basically like kind of like a cone at winger.
[9:47] Like he's not, he's not a Dynamo whatsoever.
[9:51] He's more of a like a receiver who recycles it like a Bernardo
[9:55] Silva. Listen, I I think part of the
[9:59] motivation with him was PSG circling in on him.
[10:03] But at the same time, yeah, like, it's a great, like the
[10:07] fact I'm Andrick honestly doesn't have the associative
[10:09] play, but we haven't solved that right hand side.
[10:12] The fact that Franco adds so much but also struggles in so
[10:15] many games kind of indicates where we are.
[10:17] Like Franco's a bit like Lucas Vasquez is all I'll say.
[10:20] He he he's a bit more of Lucas Vasquez.
[10:22] But yes, Vasquez was producing more as a winger even when he
[10:25] was a role player 10 years ago. Regarding Guler, Honorbound says
[10:29] Guler's sub was appropriate. He wasn't effective at that
[10:31] point. Yeah, I think it's a mix.
[10:34] I think he was holding on to the ball a lot and getting tired.
[10:37] I also thought that he's one of the only ones who plays the ball
[10:40] through the middle and kind of gets Rodrigo and Bape some of
[10:43] those chances. So it is what it is.
[10:45] What is did you see what Arda said?
[10:49] Yeah, that it was always him not just not pressing.
[10:53] Well, see, outside of Bape a bit, they barely create
[10:55] anything. Yeah, I I just think there's not
[10:57] enough talent on the team to justify coddling the players.
[11:01] So Issa says I disagree. It's a price boosting so we
[11:05] enough in summer, no chance Paris tolerating this if not for
[11:08] money regarding Vinicius, yeah, I agree.
[11:13] I agree it's all about money and ARP says any.
[11:17] When did we start to care about a single player this much?
[11:19] What is this obsession? I'm just saying the system seems
[11:22] like it's designed around getting him the ball even more
[11:25] than a BAPE. Like going back to the first
[11:27] game at Albacete, it was just feed him 4 speed, 4 speed.
[11:31] If you go to the Alonzo system against Alavera, it still had
[11:35] other elements of the game present.
[11:38] The extent to which we're taking one touch, switching play to the
[11:41] wings and trying wide rotations. But Vinny's not taking advantage
[11:45] of those wide rotations. That's the thing, Carreras is
[11:47] constantly open and not getting the ball.
[11:49] And so I guess the reason I care about that one player is I just
[11:53] wonder, can the coach sub him off when we're down?
[11:56] Like that was the issue today. And B, is that a best system,
[12:00] one that brings him back to confidence?
[12:02] Is that what's best for our institution over the next six
[12:05] months? Or should we be focusing on,
[12:07] like, we have so many guys, Cama, Vinga, Bellingham and
[12:09] Bape, the Vinnie system, It might be that he has the locker
[12:13] room power where guys like Fede and others want to play more
[12:15] free. That doesn't mean playing the
[12:17] way he wants is best for us as a club, honestly.
[12:19] And like, I don't think playing hit the way he wants is going to
[12:23] turn us into a Champions League contender.
[12:24] And I, you know, giving up twenty shots to Monaco kind of
[12:28] confirmed that for me. And today we see that even
[12:30] further. So Franco is too poor
[12:35] technically. Just working hard is not enough.
[12:38] Yeah, the bigger problem is the easy issues in squad planning
[12:43] are not going to go away in a single window.
[12:44] Like we need to season our two to regroup now and for no
[12:46] reason. This was completely honest.
[12:48] Yes, that's exactly what it feels like.
[12:50] It's like, OK, we're we're stuck in the mold of trying to get
[12:53] players confidence tactically. Like honestly, that's my main
[12:57] upset from this game. Like it doesn't feel like our
[13:00] Biloa is coming and taking the first principles approach to
[13:04] putting together the best possible team.
[13:06] Feels like he's coming in and following the president's
[13:09] orders. So it is what it is.
[13:13] It's not going to go away anytime soon.
[13:15] I will say this, on some level, the best bet for us as an
[13:19] institution is to be humbled. Because when you're humbled, you
[13:22] actually take the measures you need to succeed.
[13:25] We were humbled when Carlo got fired in 2015.
[13:29] We signed Lucas Vasquez, we signed Casamaro.
[13:32] I think we brought Covach in. It was just excessive.
[13:34] Danilio Morata, we, we had a pretty deep team going into we
[13:40] had a deep team for two years and the first under Benitez and
[13:44] then the first under Zidane. And then he goes and signs
[13:47] Sibios because he had enough success to start taking bets on
[13:51] young players again. And then when Zidane leaves, he
[13:53] goes and signs Brahim Diaz. He gives Zidane players
[13:57] reluctantly because Zidane says, hey, this is what we need to
[14:00] win. And Florentino's like, OK,
[14:02] people want to win, I'll give. Zidane says this will give us
[14:05] victory, I'll give it to him. And then the Hazard thing
[14:07] doesn't go too well. And on top of that, they start
[14:13] putting pressure on him his second season.
[14:15] And then they bring in Carlo. Carlo comes in and is like the
[14:18] club man who who essentially never goes against the club in
[14:21] press conferences. Carlo also pulls off two of the
[14:24] most improbable seasons in football history out of four.
[14:27] And I think we're at a point now where if they could get Arbello
[14:31] to win the Champions League this season, honestly, it would
[14:35] probably set us back because I think it would require a very
[14:38] easy path to the final. Good news guys, that path is
[14:42] gone. We lost our buys because we lost
[14:44] the Marinos Benfica. That fourth goal that Benfica
[14:47] scored got us to got them to the round of 16 or sorry, they it
[14:52] got them qualified and we are going to be playing the round of
[14:56] 32. So whatever Pintas effect we
[14:58] were hoping for, which again is temporary because Pintas takes
[15:01] away from modern training strategies to implement his
[15:04] style, which is why our coaches don't want him anymore.
[15:07] But by bringing him in, we're glossing over the injury
[15:09] prevention department. And again, like there was a
[15:12] tweet going around about how much fitter we look today and
[15:15] look how quickly that fell apart once we went down.
[15:17] Look how quickly that fell apart in the second-half.
[15:20] As soon as we start facing adversity, that added new
[15:24] manager effect is gone. Someone had a comment here
[15:26] somewhere that Oh yeah, you were someone had a comment
[15:31] essentially saying that the new manager effect is over with
[15:34] Arbelloa. And I agree the the new manager
[15:36] effect is done, guys. He has a poured away record.
[15:40] But I think, you know, today he showed us you wouldn't sit in
[15:43] Boppy or Vinny playing in the three center back line with
[15:46] Ultimandi without a striker is wild.
[15:47] Yes, it is wild. And you know, at the end of the
[15:51] day, with all these constraints, if Arbolo was able to come in,
[15:55] if he's the players, just throw out all the tactic stuff and
[15:59] make the players think tactics are meaningless and that film
[16:01] reviews meaningless and that you need a connection together.
[16:04] Fine if that's true. But then it it kind of glosses
[16:07] over the tactical issues on the team, the injury prevention
[16:10] issues as at the club. So if we got an easy draw where
[16:14] we face like 3 bad teams, one tough round out of four, and if
[16:19] we had somehow scraped over the line and it wouldn't have been
[16:21] pretty, it would have been like 2422, but arguably worse than
[16:27] you know. And if we, if we pull that off,
[16:29] it would have just convinced Perez that he could keep
[16:31] drinking his own kool-aid. Vinny would extend for 30
[16:34] million a year and our wage, our wage bill would totally fall
[16:37] apart. It would be bad.
[16:39] And hey, at least the players are free to express themselves
[16:42] now that Javi's gone. Look how stupid that shit sounds
[16:45] now. Like that shit sounds so cute
[16:47] and sexy when you assume that results are guaranteed.
[16:52] Then you look at the like again, Albacete Monaco honestly wasn't
[16:56] great for me. Like you can't if that if your
[16:58] greatest performance that you could never do under Chabi
[17:00] required conceding 20 shots, it's biased.
[17:02] And you know, that's why this is the podcast for real Real Madrid
[17:05] fans. You know, like there's a type of
[17:07] results oriented bias you can get when you look purely at the
[17:10] score line. And at the end of the day, are
[17:12] we doing that when we say Chabi 113 out of 14?
[17:15] Sure, but I'm just saying that's a 15 game sample size, which is
[17:18] like our best sample size since the start of when Mbapi joined.
[17:22] Now we're looking at we're we're just going backwards.
[17:27] I feel sorry for Jude. He looked lost.
[17:29] Yeah, he did look lost. Just trying to find that comment
[17:32] about Arboloa. But yeah, I mean, as long as
[17:36] Vinny is happy, Perez is happy, Arboloa will definitely say
[17:38] Vinny is the best player ever again in the press conference.
[17:40] You know what, let me pull up the press press conference.
[17:43] Let's see what the Madrid zone has to say.
[17:46] I think Benfica had a 7% chance of making it so Arbola said.
[17:49] We lacked intensity. We lacked a lot of things.
[17:50] We liked football. Yeah, buddy, we do.
[17:53] Whenever we lose, it's always my fault.
[17:55] I was unable to manage the game properly and prepare the boys to
[17:57] win. I will say this, I don't think
[18:00] there's much Arbola could do differently considering how he
[18:03] positioned himself to enter the institution.
[18:06] But I I if he's under the mandate of Florentino and has to
[18:09] push up Vinny's confidence, he's trapped.
[18:11] But then his coaching career is just taking a hit.
[18:13] So dude, if you're such a club servant that you'll coddle the
[18:16] players and play nice and ultimately we're going to go
[18:19] sideways like Solari, Hey, good for you man.
[18:22] But then you saw how Solari's coaching careers went since
[18:24] then. It's not a guarantee that you
[18:26] can get out of a situation like this when you martyr yourself
[18:29] for the club, Arbola says. We are not out of the UCL.
[18:32] We have two games we need to win, yes, but now our path is
[18:34] considerably harder. I don't think we can beat 2 of
[18:37] Bayern Munich and Arsenal through the Champions League.
[18:40] So then he says it's 100% my fault.
[18:44] It was my fault we lost to Albacete, it's my fault we lost
[18:46] tonight. Yes.
[18:47] I just think you should also not go around saying that our that
[18:52] we are suddenly, you know, figuring it out.
[18:56] I don't think you should go around claiming that Real Madrid
[18:58] is all about emotion. Real Madrid is all about love
[19:02] and managing people. Real Madrid has nothing to do
[19:05] with tactics. That's all bullshit dude.
[19:07] We won the three peat with Zidane getting us defensive
[19:09] possession. We won that extra La Liga with
[19:13] Zidane when he figured out defensive possession.
[19:15] The foundations of defence and build up play that that team had
[19:19] were then built on by Carlo to win US the Champions League.
[19:23] So it is what it is. Can we get Vinny out of the
[19:25] team? That guy is rubbish with the
[19:26] smelly ego I'm getting. He's honestly gone way too far
[19:29] and Florentino's gone way too far though.
[19:30] You can't criticize Vinny without criticizing the guy who
[19:33] was ruthless, who sold Cristiano Ronaldo, who was ruthless to
[19:36] Redondo, but now he's coddling people.
[19:38] It's just when you have Business Standard you got to have them
[19:41] across all levels of the club. When you it's the same reason
[19:44] you'd criticize Chubby, right? Chubby didn't impose himself on
[19:46] Vinny or some people say too much, but others say he played
[19:49] coach did not get fired. What is Arboloa doing
[19:52] differently? Honestly, like it feels like
[19:54] he's coaching to not get fired right now, Arboloa says.
[19:57] Before the game we knew we had a lot of things to improve on and
[19:58] I still think that now we really need to improve.
[20:00] Listen, we saw that improvement to a degree against Villa Real.
[20:03] But I grits, now you can see why Monaco and Villa Real, like it's
[20:07] funny 'cause Monaco we beat and we know they're weak.
[20:09] Villa Real, we on paper are strong, but they actually
[20:12] haven't taken shit off anyone in Europe or in the top of La Liga.
[20:16] They are literally flat track bullies this season.
[20:18] So we beat Monaco and gave up twenty shots to them and then we
[20:21] beat Villa Real, who are flat track bullies and didn't concede
[20:24] chances to them. But we didn't necessarily create
[20:26] so much. So that's the situation.
[20:29] Ardalua says this isn't the first time a goalkeeper scored
[20:31] against me. It's not that strange.
[20:33] We know we have a lot to improve on.
[20:34] We were unable to compete for 90 minutes.
[20:37] Do I regret my overly positive messages to some players, like
[20:40] telling players to run less? No, I don't regret anything.
[20:42] To be fair, I don't expect him to come out of the press
[20:44] conference and trash his own comments.
[20:46] I'm just saying institutionally guys like we have to keep the
[20:50] heat on Florentino Perez. If you think we lost tonight
[20:54] because the attackers didn't run, then I strongly disagree
[20:56] with you. I agree with that.
[20:57] I don't think again, I don't think you spiting the players or
[21:01] making the attackers run harder will change the fortune of our
[21:04] season. But at the end of the day,
[21:06] that's the point as round why we wouldn't have sacked Alonso too.
[21:08] Our floor and ceiling doesn't change with Arboloa.
[21:12] Arboloa said given the team's performance tonight, I'd rather
[21:14] not talk about the ref at all. Yeah, that those are his
[21:17] comments, man. I'm just hitting refresh on the
[21:19] page. Anything else here?
[21:21] We are very far from the level we want to be at.
[21:23] No fucking shit, man. Here's the thing.
[21:25] I don't see how we get there this season and our best bet is
[21:29] failure. I hate to say it but we need
[21:30] more failure. Like, and I'm not rooting for
[21:32] Arba Lord to fail. I'm just saying if we sneak like
[21:36] a lapse tie if we like. The further we get, the more
[21:40] we're convincing this stupid fucking bored that they know
[21:43] what they're doing. And yeah, the the further we get
[21:46] this season, the more we're literally begging our player to
[21:49] extend instead of forcing him to work for it.
[21:52] So it is what it is. Let's hope Mbappe continue
[21:55] scoring 'cause he's our only hope of winning games at this
[21:57] point. I agree.
[22:00] Just want to shout out our new members Honor bound Namuche Issa
[22:05] for all joining. Shout out to all you guys and is
[22:08] going back to honor bound though and it's super chat the they
[22:11] didn't play fast it's just our mid refuses to play the
[22:14] difficult pass and our attack doesn't run into space.
[22:16] The midfield's lack of bravery stands out.
[22:18] It's just that when you play one touch like our blow is, but you
[22:22] don't have the scanning capacity to play one touch and you don't
[22:25] actually have the IQ and a few guys do, Carreras honestly seems
[22:28] to really thrive. It's a shame Vinny can't find
[22:31] him on the overlap ever. But Carreras thrives playing one
[22:34] touch. Some of these guys do, but the
[22:37] midfield doesn't thrive. Playing one touch.
[22:38] Jute sometimes can take an extra touch and so you get a lot of
[22:42] ball movement that looks good and fast, but it doesn't lead to
[22:46] chances. Whereas maybe you'd get cruiser
[22:49] madrich only, maybe you'd only get a few good sequences in a
[22:52] whole game against Liverpool, like in the Champions League
[22:54] final. But when you had to play that
[22:56] one touch, you would slice the team.
[22:59] Now it's the opposite. Even if we get 20 sequences of
[23:02] 20 passes, it's all stale side to side.
[23:05] Yes, the positional rotations aren't working cuz you get guys
[23:08] like Arda in wide areas who can't do one-on-one.
[23:10] You get Vinny or Franco centrally where they're on it.
[23:13] Like Franco is not a big threat right now and Vinny centrally is
[23:15] not a threat at all right now. Let's be honest.
[23:17] Like he's a threat on the wing when he beats a man and he can
[23:20] square the ball in if he has a clear target, but when he comes
[23:23] inside, he's been inefficient. So yeah, it's been it's been
[23:27] tough guys. I don't know if you have any
[23:28] more comments here we can close out, but I don't believe this
[23:32] team has a future this season. I was like resisting the urge to
[23:35] just keep repeating that against Monaco last week when we gave up
[23:38] twenty shots and I was telling you I had an ominous feeling
[23:40] that this would be bad. Where can I find this post match
[23:43] interview? I was just pulling it off the
[23:45] Madrid zone on Twitter but they're usually fast some of
[23:48] these aggregators. But you can.
[23:50] I'm sure you can find it elsewhere.
[23:52] Vinnie's making Carreras look ineffective.
[23:54] He has to be the most frustrating talented player
[23:55] ever. Yep, you said it in a nutshell.
[23:57] To be fair, Neymar was extremely frustrating too because he never
[24:01] led his team to the promised land as the number one option
[24:04] and he would always choke in front of goal.
[24:06] But yeah, maybe he's starting to get really frustrating for me
[24:08] now. That whole conversation about
[24:11] Vinnie, Neymar and Ronaldinho's legacy grows more interesting by
[24:15] the day because we know Vinnie has those elite years on his
[24:18] resume. But now he's like it's very
[24:21] Ronaldinho after frankly like it's it's like nothing 0 after
[24:25] the after the prime. Of course the difference is
[24:27] Vinnie seems to be trying a lot more.
[24:29] Ronaldinho would just party and threw his career away.
[24:31] Vinnie cares more, no question. But it at the same time caring
[24:35] doesn't guarantee the result. Unfortunately in this case.
[24:39] This is one of the most embarrassing days for me as a
[24:41] Madrid fan. Yes, this and Alba Sette and the
[24:43] Alonzo sacking this month has been one of the most
[24:45] embarrassing months as a fan. You know, I, I think it's just
[24:52] I, I, I don't think we changed our floor and ceiling with the
[24:54] sacking. Liverpool are about to go get
[24:56] chubby and I don't even know honestly.
[24:58] Liverpool with Michael Edwards and chubby Alonso.
[25:01] That's a threat man. That's like it's not a PSG type
[25:03] threat in that PSG have endless money, but that is a threat.
[25:07] If we qualify from the round of 32, we're facing Man City or
[25:09] Sporting Lisbon, Great Man City, another team like us, we can
[25:13] beat them, but I just don't think we can handle rolling the
[25:16] dice as often this season. You flip the coin enough where
[25:19] it's going to land the wrong way sometimes.
[25:22] The one thing I hate about this team is nobody runs when you
[25:25] have possession. The boss to come to the field
[25:27] before doing anything. I thought they do try to move
[25:30] the ball sometimes more with possession.
[25:32] Without possession, it was mixed.
[25:33] I just think it's like headless chickens, man.
[25:35] It's wide rotation. Vinny drives into a wall.
[25:39] Either he passes it, but he's rarely beating his man and
[25:41] making the right pass in the wide rotations.
[25:44] Hardly anyone who's generating an advantage.
[25:45] It's just Killian popping up in spaces.
[25:49] It's just Killian popping up in spaces, man.
[25:51] That's all we got. Yeah, no, I and yeah, pulling
[25:55] back ARP what you said about Vinny.
[25:56] Yeah, I really we need structural change.
[25:58] No, I understand what you said earlier.
[25:59] Now you you were saying how the fuck did we get to the point
[26:02] where we're coddling A mediocre player who has put up mediocre
[26:05] performances for a calendar year?
[26:07] I don't fucking know. And if they called me a fake
[26:09] moderista for saying all this shit, But hey, man, like all you
[26:15] smart fake Madridistas and all you non Dick riders, people who
[26:18] are able to, you know, like be outside a bubble.
[26:21] Congratulations on being critical if you are with me,
[26:24] because you know a lot of people who follow this club, they just
[26:27] use it as kool-aid, man. They they want to be like Man
[26:29] United fans. You know, they they they want
[26:31] to, they want to preserve the past, They want to preserve the
[26:34] history. They glorify things.
[26:36] We are not Man United fans at the real deal.
[26:39] And I'm telling you, the Bernabeu, the fans in the
[26:42] stadium are not Man United fans either.
[26:43] We care. We have standards.
[26:45] Vinny's fallen off a Cliff. Perez has fallen off a Cliff in
[26:49] the way he's handling these guys.
[26:50] It's we're basically what Barcelona were with Club de
[26:53] Amigos. Remember Club de Amigos under
[26:55] Ernesto Valverde, it's like that.
[26:57] Like they won that they went from 4 Champions Leagues in nine
[27:00] years in a treble to suddenly looking complacent in the
[27:04] biggest Champions League ties to losing Messi and just having to
[27:08] start a new era. It just fell and it like
[27:09] bottomed out on them. That's very much a little bit of
[27:12] my fear here. It's like if we go Club de
[27:14] Amigos, there's nobody with football IQ on the team that can
[27:18] control the game like Cruiser Madrich.
[27:20] So it is what it is. And I mean, name.
[27:25] Yeah. Redshift brings up a great
[27:27] point. I mean, Neymar was dribbling,
[27:28] creating chances, and, you know, he's always going to beat A-21
[27:30] or the whole team. I wouldn't care if he's
[27:32] finishing his ass and did all this.
[27:33] Yeah. If he doesn't fundamentally
[27:35] create for other players, he he just doesn't fundamentally
[27:37] create for them. Why aren't you addressing the
[27:39] elephant in the room that is in Bape?
[27:41] Bro? He scored all our goals this
[27:43] season. And like, I think I still
[27:45] fundamentally subscribe to the idea that in the right structure
[27:48] with the right guys receiving, he is not the problem.
[27:51] I do think that if you try to accommodate for him and Vinny,
[27:54] the offense will look funky. That's my honest opinion.
[27:58] And the reality is that Vinny was better than Mbappe for the
[28:02] first six months when they were both playing together.
[28:05] Vinny was better than Mbappe when we beat Atlanta in December
[28:07] 2024 and then January 2025 on Vinny started dropping off
[28:13] physically. Vinny dropped off as a duelist
[28:15] and Bapi started scoring. And even if his game isn't
[28:19] optimized for other players, his end product is just
[28:23] significantly higher. You have to go off expected
[28:24] goals, expected assists. Vinny's on end product has
[28:28] fallen off significantly. We were putting out stats on our
[28:30] Twitter if you'd seen but his peak of 2024 he's a far away
[28:34] from that player. Hoyson is so fucking buns.
[28:37] I thought he beat some cool ball playing CB while being a smart
[28:39] defender but mother fucker is incredibly mediocre at both.
[28:42] He is slow, Ascencio has out shown him in moments.
[28:45] They both struggle defensively at times.
[28:48] I I just don't think Real Madrid was built to defend this much,
[28:51] frankly. Like even if you have good box
[28:53] defending, we weren't supposed to, we weren't supposed to be
[28:58] able to withstand such a lack of defensive rest on the ball at
[29:02] the end of the day. Like we rested on the ball under
[29:04] Carlo, like we weren't some lock down defence when we won those
[29:07] Champions Leagues. But yeah, just to close out
[29:09] here, Surya Vijay says we badly need a structure and strong
[29:12] leadership who put certain players to their position both
[29:14] on and off the pitch. They should be the start.
[29:17] I agree man, I agree. This really should be a
[29:21] watershed moment where they look inside and realize you need
[29:24] more. Football has evolved past
[29:26] superstar stage, says Williams. Modern football requires
[29:29] tactical plan to structure and we just let one of the best in
[29:31] the world leave through the back door.
[29:33] I think fundamentally the talent of a squad dictates it's floor
[29:36] and ceiling and I don't think our squad was talented enough to
[29:39] justify getting rid of these tactical pieces.
[29:44] I I think that's very much true. If we had Cruz, Modridge,
[29:48] Benzema, Marcelo, could we get away with the more laissez faire
[29:52] style of approach? Yes.
[29:53] But honestly, if we had those guys, we would have been able to
[29:56] execute what job he wanted and he would have stayed.
[29:57] If that's the sad reality, we we just couldn't execute what job
[30:00] he wanted because we're flawed as a squad and we choose to
[30:04] blame Jabi and bring in a new coach and hope things will get
[30:06] better and blame Jabi's fitness people.
[30:09] The thing is, the way they blame Jabi's fitness people is the
[30:11] same shit they did with Zidan and Gregory DuPont.
[30:14] Maybe Mourinho was auditioning for the job in the summer today.
[30:17] Listen guys, Mourinho was bad at Fenerbache.
[30:20] Mourinho is going to get replaced by Ruben and Maureen at
[30:23] some point in my opinion at Benfica.
[30:25] This is the bottom of the tactical food chain.
[30:27] The fact that we're losing to Mourinho in 2026 actually should
[30:32] tell you how far we fall on tackling.
[30:33] And that's why the whole R below A1 touch wide rotation bullshit
[30:36] makes no sense to me. It's like, OK, what if the wide
[30:39] rotations are useless and we don't create anything, Then what
[30:42] then? And and we're not going to
[30:43] control the game, Then what? It's all about your defensive
[30:45] effort. Honorbound says Vinnie needs to
[30:48] play with his left back. Midfield needs to play together
[30:49] in the center and creates that symbol.
[30:51] Winger should not be creating every single play.
[30:52] Yeah, we it's funny because Javi was so criticized for being
[30:56] positional and like he did lean on Vinnie heavily, but even in
[31:00] his positional setup, he had a bit of central creation going
[31:03] with Arda, which is why he kept playing him.
[31:06] That central creation has definitely like Ambape still
[31:09] gets on the end of stuff, but it definitely feels like it's not a
[31:12] priority. It feels like, hey, we run it
[31:14] through Vinny and then at some point when we get desperate and
[31:16] Bapi will get on that end of something.
[31:18] But fact is the fact that Mourinho beat us tells you we're
[31:21] at the bottom of the food chain. So man, it's so sad.
[31:28] I don't really know where else to go here.
[31:30] You know, I've taken all these super chats and as many live
[31:32] chats as I can. It's we're cooked guys, so it is
[31:36] what it is. We we'll be back over the
[31:38] weekend. We had a fan of ours at the game
[31:41] watching who is going to help enlighten us on the experience
[31:44] over the weekend. And we also Gerard will be back
[31:48] this weekend, but Conte will be back on the show soon and we are
[31:52] working on expanding what we have to offer.
[31:54] But thank you all for tuning in. Please like subscribe if you
[31:58] would like to be have your chats prioritized and be known as a
[32:01] supporter of this channel. We have a $3 a month tier just
[32:04] available for you. It is please sign up on desktop.
[32:07] So you get it at $3 a month is all, let's say.
[32:11] And we will continue covering where we go from here.
[32:15] Where do you go from here? Do you make a statement benching
[32:17] moves? See, I, I just don't see where
[32:19] you go when like you haven't been able to bench Vinny since
[32:22] October. That's where I don't know where
[32:24] you go. Like I do think one of our best
[32:27] bets to get better is to not worry about how much that dude
[32:29] wants to play minutes. Can't wait to hear the booze at
[32:32] the Burnabout. Yes, turns out the stadium going
[32:35] fans who actually are real people are picky.
[32:39] It's only the online fans who are Manchester United caliber
[32:43] casuals who you know, like the the complacent fans who who are
[32:47] OK being served up trash. And I say that 'cause if you've
[32:49] been watching United loyally for 10 years, joke's on you.
[32:51] But some of these fans with low standards aren't going to Boo.
[32:54] If you're paying money for this shit and you're not booing,
[32:57] what's wrong with you man? Do you?
[32:58] Are you used to being served up garbage?
[33:00] Go Boo. I I totally would warrant booing
[33:02] this weekend. Fundamentally, we've lost.
[33:05] Like as good as Monaco was, it was a disaster.
[33:10] This game was a disaster. Alva set, it was a disaster.
[33:13] So again, thank you all for tuning in.
[33:15] Thank you to the new members for signing up.
[33:17] We're we're working on expanding things.
[33:19] Look, Conte will be back soon and see you all later.

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