# In Defense of Xabi Alonso, Mbappe & Vinicius

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 2 Jan 2026, 43 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/113377954/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-0-1%2F415333490-44100-2-780eb8b68b3ec.mp3

Mazin Mukhtar joins Siddharth Ramsundar to discuss the tactical nuances surrounding Real Madrid, Arda Guler, the lack of Gonzalo Garcia, the general weaknesses of the profiles at the club, and why Vinicius-Mbappe dynamics are not the issue. Audio issues from earlier episodes have been sorted, so we released this bonus episode early. Tell your friends and share this episode if you want more content like this!

## Transcript

[0:00] Hello everyone, It's been a while since we had Mazen on the
[0:03] show to kind of do a deep dive into the various tactics of the
[0:07] situation at Real Madrid. Mazen, how's it going?
[0:12] Hello, it's going well. Happy New Years.
[0:15] Happy new year, Happy new year. So obviously we we thought we
[0:19] were going to get the dream at Real Madrid with we thought we
[0:22] were going to get Javi Alonso. Short distances in possession,
[0:26] half space, domination, slowly death by 1000 cuts and maybe the
[0:32] start of the season we got some of that and then we tried doing
[0:35] some of that in November. But between the players kind of
[0:38] wanting to change tactics, between the players not
[0:41] defending, it's just been a very complicated situation.
[0:44] So just off the bat, the first theme we were talking about,
[0:48] like with Alonzo, that this club needed to make it easier for our
[0:51] young crop of players to grow and play together is short
[0:54] distances in possession. So what have you seen in that
[0:57] regard? Like, I feel like we saw
[0:59] progress, but it in my opinion, it kind of went out the door a
[1:02] little bit in November, December.
[1:06] Well, I think I'll just start with a quick overview.
[1:11] So for starters, I think one thing that people didn't really
[1:14] realize going into the season is this was going to take time.
[1:18] And even if there's a new coach saved by after the Copa Super
[1:22] Cup, that coach is also going to require time.
[1:25] And I think we came from Ancelotti.
[1:28] And no matter how, how, how much you rate him and his style of
[1:32] football, it's it's not very there's there's no direct kind
[1:37] of replacing. So those going to require a
[1:40] solid 23 months at a minimum, honestly, a season.
[1:47] And yeah, in terms of the distances, I think the main
[1:50] thing in possession is the midfield.
[1:54] There's just too many passes that are going forward, too many
[1:57] passes that are probably 1015 meters long.
[2:00] I think a good example was the last game against the hill
[2:04] there, there was one clip with with Kama Vinger telling Bapi to
[2:08] to go on. And I think I remember looking
[2:13] at that. You know, I think as a
[2:15] midfielder at that situation, you're losing control of the
[2:17] game. You're up 10, you're up a man
[2:19] that that's kind of where you want somebody to tell you, OK,
[2:22] you're going to play the pass short and you're going to
[2:24] organize and we're lacking that at the moment.
[2:28] Yeah, yeah, we don't play the short pass for sure.
[2:31] Well, it's too easy to bait us into making any pass that the
[2:34] other team wants. So if they see like if the
[2:37] scouting report is like make Guler receive back the goal and
[2:40] then dispossess him, it's we end up in situations where Guler is
[2:45] receiving back the goal. We don't control who receives
[2:47] back to goal very often because we have limited numbers of
[2:50] players who can receive back the goal and do anything with the
[2:52] ball. But yeah, agree completely.
[2:55] And so I guess in terms of distances, it's how far the pass
[3:00] is played. And do you think there's a
[3:01] reluctance from the attackers to play a game with shorter
[3:05] distances, or do you think it's a lack of profiles that's
[3:08] leading to this? I think it also comes down to
[3:10] the midfield. I mean luck.
[3:12] When Mbappe and Vinicius make a run that forces the defense 1015
[3:16] meters back, right, that also alleviates pressure near the
[3:20] ball. It doesn't necessarily mean that
[3:21] you have to look for that run, but rather you could use that
[3:24] run to to kind of disrupt the counter press.
[3:29] Yeah, yeah, definitely. But it doesn't feel like
[3:32] Vinicius and Mbappe help us escape the press necessarily all
[3:36] the time, like like a lot of times they seem to.
[3:41] They seem to only thrive in large distances and spaces.
[3:44] Would you say sometimes? Again, I would I would agree
[3:50] that they're very direct once they get on the ball, but I
[3:55] think that that comes again, there's there's a lot of people
[3:58] who are very direct, right? Look at Manchester City and and
[4:01] you look at the Kunal and those are two players who are directly
[4:05] going to go towards goal as quick as possible.
[4:07] Once they receive it's, it's dead on.
[4:10] You know, Nico Gonzalez, Rodri, the defense before the all, you
[4:18] know, those players to make the decision when to to attack the
[4:21] situation. And I think that's what we're
[4:23] lacking. Yeah, yeah.
[4:25] Like we don't decide when we can attack the situation.
[4:28] We just when we get the ball, we attack it no matter what.
[4:30] Usually it's an open space. Yeah, a lot of that would maybe
[4:35] comes from the build up rhythm and how we build up.
[4:37] And what do you have to say about that?
[4:42] I think this is a bit more of a complicated situation.
[4:46] I think probably our most comfortable player in build up
[4:50] is housing, but he's also very direct.
[4:52] He will seem to look for it up the pass over the last line or
[4:55] the switch to the other side. I think Rudiger is a lot more
[5:00] calm than either house in the middle of town.
[5:03] But the problem is it's also just his passes are the worst
[5:06] from the three. Also, of course, no cover hauler
[5:12] checked for the majority of the season, right?
[5:14] So on the right side with Val Verde, you're looking at a lot
[5:17] of ball carrying rather than passes.
[5:20] And I think really apart from I think Alvaro and and Courtois
[5:26] have probably been the most consistent in that.
[5:29] I think people, Courtois actually taking a pretty big
[5:31] step up, not necessarily with his passing, but he's a lot more
[5:36] brave than he was a year or two ago.
[5:39] Yeah, yeah, Courtois, that's interesting.
[5:42] There's still been situations where there's pretty clearly a
[5:45] lot of back and forth between the goalie and the midfield,
[5:48] like they're trying to tell him not to who fit or saw their
[5:52] situations where they're not happy if it's played short to
[5:54] them. They're still finding that
[5:55] balance. I think there's generally just a
[5:58] large scale deficit in terms of ball security on the team.
[6:02] And the way that plays out is, of course, while it feels
[6:05] overtaxed to me, like I know you've seen improvements, but
[6:09] I've just seen like improvements that are nowhere near enough on
[6:12] a team that is just deficient in terms of press resistance all
[6:16] over the pitch. How much do you think, do you
[6:19] think that's entirely personnel related?
[6:21] Because for me, I think it's largely personnel related.
[6:25] I think it's it's a mix of everything.
[6:27] Again, for starters, you need a lot of time to implement this,
[6:31] right? I think it's funny, everybody
[6:33] talks about PSG, but there's a good 18 months period at the
[6:37] start of Enrique's Rainway they couldn't string 3 or 4 passes.
[6:41] We've seen that against a lot of clubs actually last year in the
[6:46] league phase. There's also personnel rate too
[6:51] many is not the best school. There is not the best.
[6:54] It also requires people like perhaps Venetius and Bape
[6:58] Bellingham to drop deeper, which is not necessarily what you want
[7:01] to do, but it's what you have to do.
[7:03] And Rodrigo's another one as if they come in.
[7:07] So I think it's it's a bit of a mix.
[7:09] And I think also we're we're seeing that on Alonzo side that
[7:13] maybe he's he's taking a step back and he's not necessarily
[7:19] trying to force himself as much. Yeah, so on that I feel like the
[7:24] big difference was the way the like the build up and like the
[7:30] the build up change because I feel like the rest offense
[7:33] changed when Vinicius just said I'm not tracking the full back
[7:36] after the classico. I feel like that was a big shift
[7:39] Liverpool game. I don't I don't think he was
[7:41] perfect tracking, but he was he lost all his one on ones on
[7:45] offense. And I just feel like Vinny
[7:48] wanted to deal closer to goal and he wanted to receive the
[7:53] ball with more numerical advantages.
[7:56] And like I just feel like the out of possession shape has
[8:00] shifted after the Classico and I just feel like that's player
[8:04] driven. Is that what you see or do you
[8:06] see like the coach trying something to make Vinny more
[8:08] comfortable or do you see a player driven change?
[8:12] I think it's, it's a mix of both.
[8:13] I think you get them to buy in earlier in the season when the
[8:18] the counter press is leading to a lot of goals and assists for a
[8:21] BAP. And with the system, I think
[8:22] once that started dying down the last month or two, you kind of
[8:26] see a little bit less effort and less effort.
[8:28] So I think it's it's about incentivizing that.
[8:31] And we had that earlier in the season because we created a lot
[8:34] off the press and now we're not. And I think that takes a bit of
[8:37] the incentive away. Yeah, it does.
[8:40] It does. It does for sure.
[8:43] It's just funny because we were winning and at other clubs they
[8:47] have a culture like Vincent Company at Bayern.
[8:49] Mueller was talking about how A33 draw was the game.
[8:53] They figured it out. And the journalist is asking
[8:55] him, hey, like you guys drew that game.
[8:57] How are you pointing to that as the game?
[8:59] That company drew gave you inspiration?
[9:01] He's like, yes, but look at the game, watch the game and how we
[9:03] played. And there's that sensitivity to
[9:06] the process. But yeah, these players have won
[9:08] so much, so I understand they're they're not as happy about it.
[9:12] You feel like our method of chance creation has changed
[9:15] since the the big shift of tactics though?
[9:17] Like a a little more direct since the end of October then.
[9:21] I'll get back to that in one second, because you did raise
[9:25] about buying, and I think that's another good example.
[9:27] Iron was a team who, after Flick, tried to kind of change
[9:31] the culture, and I think they're a good example of something that
[9:34] takes a long time. But you seen it with Nagasman,
[9:37] you got sacked, you seen it to hell, we also got sacked.
[9:40] You see now company he is, first season results wise wasn't the
[9:45] best and maybe results wise he kind of was riding off the fact
[9:50] that they weren't the defending champions anymore.
[9:52] And so just being able to win the once legal was good enough
[9:55] for him. So I think that that's another
[9:57] club that just kind of shows that these things take time.
[10:02] Yeah, for sure. That's a strange one because
[10:04] they definitely didn't back Naglesman the way they're
[10:08] backing company, you could say. But at the same time company was
[10:11] able to create a little bit of buy in by he's bringing
[10:14] attacking football, which people enjoyed.
[10:16] But it's just funny because like companies buyer and all that,
[10:19] attacking football is founded from defensive discipline as
[10:22] well. It's it's just fundamental to
[10:24] who they are and it's just the rejection of that at this club
[10:28] is really funny. But yeah, I feel like the
[10:30] distance has got larger. Just to be honest, I lost
[10:34] interest because the distance has got larger.
[10:36] The turning capacity didn't change like the, if anything,
[10:40] the like people like Arta Guler who we'll talk about, I guess.
[10:43] Yeah, let's just get there. So first two months of the
[10:45] season, we're playing defensive possession.
[10:48] Arta Guler is essentially being found in certain set situations
[10:53] or in situations where Mbappe is peeling off the last line and
[10:58] he's finding him, but people find out that he can't turn.
[11:02] The Classico is a great example. Perfect game plan that he screws
[11:05] up by giving away a goal. So I think as that happens,
[11:09] teams start realizing, hey, we can just go and force Art
[11:13] Aguilera to like give the ball up and don't let him do
[11:16] anything. Then they don't have any agency
[11:19] on the ball. And then on top of that, Vinny's
[11:21] playing higher up. And so the distances are high.
[11:24] And I just feel like we pretty much went back to a little bit
[11:27] of Ancelotti ball because of that.
[11:31] Yeah, I think that's that's the problem with having somebody
[11:34] like we learn 11, it's just a physical write off and I think
[11:39] you can't have that. And I think also started a
[11:43] season, we've had a we had a pretty easy schedule and not
[11:47] just necessarily in terms of talent, but also in terms of the
[11:50] physicality that we the physicality that we explain.
[11:54] So for example, even if you look at maybe some of our recent
[11:57] quote UN quote easier matches, there's still LJ Ryo, very
[12:01] physical teams that are going to give him a hard time that are
[12:03] going to press him high. So I just think that's one
[12:07] thing, kind of an experiment that probably has to stop and
[12:11] probably a player that we should cut our losses on sooner rather
[12:15] than later. So a lot of people push back and
[12:18] they don't understand this. They're like, they say he's a 10
[12:20] and they criticize Alonzo for trying to help him, have him
[12:23] help deeper. They point to his expected
[12:26] assistance and they pretty much want him to be judged like a
[12:29] forward like Killian. But football is not so simple, I
[12:33] guess. What would in your own words?
[12:35] Why is it not so simple? I think first of all, the the
[12:40] whole pushback as a 10 or a forward is nonsensical.
[12:44] Angelotti tried that, it failed. Alonzo tried something
[12:47] different. It's not going well because if
[12:50] you remember actually what what Angelotti tried to do was
[12:53] basically kind of eliminate him from the game and make use of
[12:57] his finishing and his final pass.
[13:00] And he still couldn't really find a role for him.
[13:03] And so I think, again, it's just a simple case of somebody not
[13:08] being good enough for this level.
[13:11] Yeah, for sure. I think a lot of people like
[13:15] Turkish fans especially, they really want to see him succeed
[13:19] and they see the numbers and they like they don't see a
[13:22] reason why he can't do well and they almost want him to go
[13:25] somewhere else for his own good. And I do think that would be
[13:28] better for him. Like he definitely has the
[13:29] traits of someone who can help a smaller club, like maybe play
[13:33] above their means in offense, but for a team that's good.
[13:38] If you can't help control the game, then just that level of
[13:41] play making, it's good. But like fundamentally, he
[13:45] doesn't help you keep the game in your hands.
[13:47] And I think the game's evolved a lot.
[13:50] I'll say this, like Ozil, I think a lot of Turkish fans are
[13:53] like, he's just another Ozil. Ozil was good like this guy
[13:56] creates, but the feeling is almost like you're asking more
[14:00] of him than you ever asked of Ozil or any 10 in your club
[14:03] history. But I, I do think that Arta
[14:06] might be proof of some ways in which the classic 10 is dead.
[14:10] But I, I just think he is really below average in some ways if
[14:13] you want to point out, but turning and winning duels like
[14:17] he really is near the bottom percentile.
[14:20] And it's like bad. It's not like it's not like
[14:23] passable, but it's like really bad.
[14:25] And I mean the extent. Do you want to elaborate on the
[14:27] extent of that? I'm going to sound like a broken
[14:33] record. I really just think there's no
[14:34] extent. I think it's just somebody who
[14:38] first and foremost, right, you, you have to have a certain
[14:42] physical level to play for Real Madrid and to play at this
[14:45] level. And I think he's just one of
[14:47] those where you kind of look at that physically and just write
[14:51] them off at that instant. I just, I think I also don't
[14:55] think he has necessarily a standout ability, like for
[14:58] example, Ozo, Ozo grows thread the pass, right?
[15:02] And that's something you could build around that.
[15:04] You can't do that through there. With Tibo Courtois, for example,
[15:08] we might concede another four or five shots a game because he is
[15:12] not the best passer and maybe he's not the most aggressive off
[15:15] his line. But you have a guarantee that
[15:18] he's probably going to save each of those and more.
[15:22] And I think those those are kind of the the things you look for
[15:25] when you're looking for maybe A1 dimensional player and he
[15:29] doesn't have that have that. Well it's interesting because
[15:31] like his at one point he was at .73 expected goals plus assists
[15:35] for 90 while being 1 dimensional.
[15:38] And when you say thread the past, what do you mean?
[15:41] Because I I know what you mean personally.
[15:44] And that also was capable of more horizontal and vertical
[15:47] passes at different tempos that could access different like
[15:52] moments in space-time and different sequences.
[15:55] Glare feels very much like fast delivery, not much curl like
[15:59] honestly, like very deadpan like almost like knuckle like it does
[16:04] curl but he doesn't curve it like crazy.
[16:05] Some of the longer passes he does.
[16:08] But when I think of him, I think of like a almost like a shooter
[16:11] who's passing like just very pinpoint but without the
[16:14] variety. Is that what you mean in terms
[16:16] of? And then there's also I feel
[16:19] like Ozo's turning capacity was a little better.
[16:21] Even if it wasn't like like Iniesta, it was still far
[16:24] better. In terms of all the I'm, I'm
[16:30] trying to say he he's really a specialist pass in the sense
[16:33] that he could play any pass, right.
[16:34] You don't have that without a Guler.
[16:36] You could set up, you know that if Ronaldo makes the run he
[16:40] could find. I think with Guler, it's a bit
[16:42] more that he's willing to make that pass.
[16:44] And even though his passes aren't the best, you have such
[16:47] great receivers on the last line like Bellingham and Bappe
[16:50] Venetius, who could just get to any ball that that that is
[16:55] spotted. And I think that's kind of what
[16:58] he's done this season, to be honest.
[17:00] I don't think he's done anything crazy.
[17:04] And I think, yeah, that's that's really it.
[17:09] You know what's funny? I actually think in that regard
[17:12] he's a little similar to the coach.
[17:15] Alonso had a lot of things he didn't do as a coach, as a
[17:19] player that people think he did like.
[17:21] He actually was, in my opinion, a very limited footballer.
[17:25] But what he was way better at duels than Tony Cruz, for
[17:29] example, like he could defend more effectively in the pivot, a
[17:33] little bore, adept at plugging spaces, a little situationally
[17:36] aware defensively. And therefore his incredible set
[17:41] piece plays, his free kicks, crosses, long balls, you could
[17:44] use them, but Alonzo really couldn't turn out of a press
[17:48] either. So I, I just think it's kind of
[17:49] funny that he's leaning on a player that way.
[17:52] But you know, I guess in that sense he knows all about trying
[17:55] to optimize a limited player on offense because he was a little
[17:58] bit of that himself. Yeah, you sorry, it was a bit of
[18:03] that. And I think The thing is he also
[18:07] played in a different area, right?
[18:09] That was he was, he was, you know, playing for Madrid when
[18:12] this whole Guardiola thing just started to happen and team
[18:16] started to, you know, with club and Guardiola press higher and
[18:19] higher and these type of things. Guler is kind of living in that
[18:24] era and this. So as a result, the physical
[18:28] requirements are very different to it.
[18:30] I thought you could see it. You know, some of these players
[18:32] are not necessarily as technically gifted as maybe
[18:35] players were 10 years ago. But again, it's just adjusting
[18:39] to what's required now, which is a much higher physical level.
[18:44] And physical level you mean also in duels?
[18:47] Like I mean. Offensively as well.
[18:50] Yeah, I mean in in duels, so literally physical duels, you
[18:54] know, shoulder to shoulders since sustaining contact.
[18:58] Also just running endurance, being able to run at a high
[19:02] level for 90 minutes. We we, we didn't touch on this,
[19:08] but I don't my notes in depressing, right?
[19:11] I think one thing we lack physically is being able to keep
[19:15] up intensity, right? So you kind of see a lot of
[19:18] times we we make the initial run right to, to whoever has the
[19:23] ball, but within the last two or 1m that kind of dies off right.
[19:29] Where you don't necessarily see that if you watch say Manchester
[19:32] City per SE or Barcelona. Yeah, and Boppe and and Boppe
[19:39] and Vinny, like Vinny initiates with aggression but gets the
[19:42] angles wrong and Boppe does not initiate with aggression and he
[19:47] just slowly tapered off as the season went on.
[19:49] That was like, yeah, last couple months were pretty bad.
[19:52] And yeah, I agree about the game evolving.
[19:55] I just find it interesting cuz like Cruz had a lot of the same
[19:59] issues in terms of lack of mobility.
[20:02] Lack of endurance in terms of high intensity defensive actions
[20:06] and consistently executing them. But he would win offensive duels
[20:11] in one-on-one situations with his drop step, his turn, his
[20:14] pass that would allow you to escape pressure.
[20:18] And he was a little more combative, like aerially, like
[20:20] he could jump in midfield, he could get after it a little more
[20:23] than Arda. I just find it interesting
[20:25] because I think football in general is actually full of
[20:30] exceptions to the rule. These players were so good that
[20:33] you have to play them. And so the tactics then becomes
[20:36] about that environment as opposed to in which these
[20:39] players exist. And so in general, I agree with
[20:42] the idea that Arda can be good, but I do think the game has
[20:46] evolved so much that it's not going to work as well for him.
[20:49] But I think that's one reason it's not as easy for Alonzo to
[20:53] go back to the team from the start of the season, because
[20:57] that team was reliant on Arta Guler.
[20:58] And why do you think he keeps playing him?
[21:03] I think the reason he plays him is, is very obvious he wants, I
[21:07] think Guler is probably the most tempered midfielder and I think
[21:11] he's willing to to go through this struggle if he could see
[21:17] the finish line with him. And yeah, I think it's just
[21:22] again, lacking any sort of temperament in midfield and he
[21:25] wants to perhaps mold Cooler into that.
[21:28] And then on Cruise, I think Cruise and the later end of
[21:32] Mudge's stint, they they're players you could hide, can't
[21:37] necessarily do that with Cooler in the sense that you could have
[21:39] Camel, Bing and Valverde doing the running and you knew that
[21:42] Mudge and Cruise within a 5m radius were going to win most of
[21:46] their duels. You don't even have that with
[21:49] with Cooler. No 100% that's what I was
[21:52] saying. Yeah that's facts.
[21:53] Like you know Cruz and Madridge within 5 meters will fight.
[21:56] But Cruz, yeah, like the closer the ball was to him, he still
[22:00] would sometimes be slow to track to it.
[22:02] But if it was next to him like he could get away with the ball,
[22:05] like it would stick to him. But with Guler feels like he's
[22:08] heir sometimes. I agree.
[22:11] So I feel like Bellingham has been phenomenal the last couple
[22:15] games and build up really took huge strides.
[22:17] And I think he took the Bentamot play making comment to heart.
[22:21] But I feel like essentially what's happened is he has to
[22:24] receive back the goal, but he's also temporizing midfield play
[22:28] and controlling it better than cool air.
[22:31] And it's just too much responsibility on him.
[22:33] But I feel like Jude made some big strides, but he I feel like
[22:38] he's not like Modridge. So he's not able to open up as
[22:42] much space playing at a patient speed as someone like Modridge,
[22:46] but it's still better than everyone on our team.
[22:48] I didn't see that coming. I think that's kind of shocking
[22:50] and almost damning that like, I guess Camo Bingo is hurt all the
[22:53] time, so it didn't have to be this way.
[22:55] But Chumani and Fede have definitely been disappointing,
[22:58] would you say? Yeah, I think there's there's no
[23:02] doubt with Chumani. He's just he's kind of slow on
[23:06] the ball. I think the the biggest problem
[23:10] he has is he doesn't necessarily realize that.
[23:13] I think he'd be a lot better if he let the ball, for example,
[23:17] run across him a lot of times, right?
[23:19] You when you see him, let's say he gets a pass from Rudy, right?
[23:23] Then he's trying to move it to the left side.
[23:25] It always kind of takes this 123 touches to move it rather than
[23:29] just letting the ball kind of go across him and then pass.
[23:32] I think that's something Castamero did really well.
[23:33] Is, is that right? Castamero was also quite slow on
[23:37] the ball, but he kind of knew to limit his touches so he could
[23:41] keep the tempo of the game going.
[23:43] And I think that's something true many lacks.
[23:46] Agreed, that's a great point, definitely something Truman
[23:49] lacks. Kassimer new to the point where
[23:51] yeah, he he would actively try to make the most efficient pass
[23:54] with just the least touches and he got better at making the hero
[23:58] pass. And it's interesting because
[24:00] true many when he signed was better at the final pass, the
[24:03] through balls, the between the lines pass and he's completely
[24:08] lost it like just going through some of the clips.
[24:10] It's pretty shocking and I think it's surprising because like
[24:14] Alonso develops Ubamendi over at Sociedad, you you would expect
[24:18] better from Chuomeni. Like just seeing Jude do it.
[24:21] Like it's these are things that we talk about a lot.
[24:25] We we like. If you're slow on the ball,
[24:28] that's fine. But I feel like with enough time
[24:30] on in film study, it should be resolved.
[24:33] Are you like, would you say this is the worst case scenario for
[24:36] his development? Like when he signed, he was
[24:38] supposed to be so much better? Or is this just kind of how the
[24:42] archetype of player is going to end up?
[24:43] It's it's, it's really hard to master both sides of the ball.
[24:49] I think it's a mix. I don't, I think he hasn't had
[24:51] the best situation apart from maybe 2024, the first half of
[24:57] the year when when he was kind of dropping the deeper and had
[25:02] the the game ahead of him rather than behind him.
[25:05] He got a bit unlucky that year with the injury before the the
[25:08] final. But yeah, I think his, his with,
[25:14] with the midfielder. It takes time.
[25:16] And I think again, it's, it's kind of hard to to say whether
[25:23] he'll reach that level or not. But I, I just think again, it
[25:28] takes a lot of time with these things, right?
[25:30] Fabian Ruiz there's there's a time going into last season
[25:34] where a lot of people said why didn't the desire and we start
[25:37] over Fabian Louise. So again, it just takes time.
[25:40] I think it's on both him to improve and also putting him in
[25:43] better situations. Yeah, that makes sense.
[25:47] What do you want to say about sorry?
[25:49] Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead to that.
[25:52] Recently we've we've seen him kind of going back to that
[25:54] earlier season where he was doing a bit a lot better
[25:57] actually, where you see him dropping back as the third
[26:00] center back now. Yeah, yeah, he has looked pretty
[26:05] good in the back 3 for sure he has.
[26:07] What do you want to say about keeping the ball central?
[26:13] Yeah, I think, well, with Alonzo, probably with Alonzo, I
[26:19] think what we've seen from him at Levicuzzi wants a lot of
[26:23] quick passes. So he wants, you know, maybe the
[26:26] same 60, I mean 607 hundred passes that like a Guardiola
[26:30] team would play. But he wants that at a much
[26:31] higher tempo and you just naturally can't do that if you
[26:35] keep moving the ball wider and wider.
[26:38] And it is perhaps a consequence of having Marcelo, Garbajal,
[26:44] Valverde, these kind of white players who would bail you out
[26:48] over the past last 10 years. It was how we played on Nazidan,
[26:52] it was how we played on there and Gelati.
[26:56] But we we just need to keep it a lot more central and I think
[26:59] that comes down to Carreras and whoever plays right back.
[27:06] Do not always look for the line pass, but sometimes, you know,
[27:09] like we said earlier, passing the ball at a higher rate.
[27:14] Yeah, yeah, We just don't like do the whole thing where you
[27:18] look somewhere, you pretend you're passing there, you shift
[27:20] the block, then you pass against that, like in a different
[27:23] direction. Just not enough of it, just
[27:26] watching the whole season and like some of these games,
[27:28] eventually they get boring. It's like watching the same
[27:30] thing again and again and again and you just start noticing
[27:33] like, OK, who's actually like shifting the block?
[27:36] Does anyone even do it anymore on this team?
[27:37] Or did modestly with Milt to Milan with the last of it?
[27:41] But what's it called? On that note, can and I agree
[27:46] Alonso wants to play a lot of passes at a high tempo.
[27:48] I agree. And and I wonder why.
[27:51] Like he hasn't played more Gonzalo Garcia or Andrick is.
[27:56] And you obviously have a take about Garcia.
[27:58] I want to hear it where you feel like he's not good enough to
[28:00] play. But do you feel like like I feel
[28:04] I feel like there were moments when Garcia came on and Trent
[28:06] was taking off. There was one game that was bad
[28:09] in that even if Garcia doesn't have a touch, some games we need
[28:12] to change that tacking dynamics to force a victory.
[28:16] And I feel like Alonzo struggled with that a little bit in
[28:20] November, just not playing Garcia or playing more Andrick.
[28:23] And what are your thoughts in terms of chance creation that I
[28:26] feel like that was the one mistake he made just cause and
[28:29] just and because the expected value of a game like a draw,
[28:33] it's just lower. Like in some of those
[28:34] situations, you're better off going for the win and getting
[28:37] the win like 2. You know, one win is more points
[28:40] than two draws. So in three games, if you're
[28:43] going to draw 3, like if you know what I mean, the math is
[28:47] just better going for the win. So the I feel like he
[28:50] miscalculated that maintaining a platform in midfield when that
[28:56] platform is very weak because we don't have guys who can turn.
[28:59] I feel like he maintained that at the expense of bringing on a
[29:03] striker or even using Andrick. And I get why with Andrick,
[29:06] sometimes he makes mistakes, but the dynamics have been a little
[29:10] stale, especially in November where Vinny's playing higher.
[29:15] The defensive system seems to be a little more tailored to the
[29:18] players, and so, you know, if you're doing that and you're not
[29:22] executing the defense well, why not more Gonzalo, What are your
[29:24] thoughts? I think the problem with Gonzalo
[29:28] Garcia is it's kind of like throwing a 7 foot coin at
[29:33] striker and basically saying this is our reference point,
[29:36] right? He doesn't bring the ball down,
[29:38] he doesn't win any. He barely wins the duels.
[29:41] Like I'm not talking about necessarily as a header to
[29:43] score, but more as like Kurtois trying to bypass all the lines.
[29:48] He barely wins that his touch isn't the best rate.
[29:51] He doesn't have a layoff pass on him.
[29:53] I think he also struggles to finish with chances.
[29:58] The ultra game was a good example.
[30:00] I don't remember if you I don't know if you remember, but the
[30:04] last second there was a pass kind of played across the the
[30:08] goal. This is like part of the last
[30:10] two minutes of game to win. And he just you lack the the the
[30:15] pace to reach that ball. Where as I think if that wasn't
[30:18] back Andre, that's probably a goal.
[30:21] And I think playing him because you know once every 20 games
[30:26] he'll knock down a ball or cause some chaos is just really not
[30:29] worth it and nor is it a viable thing.
[30:33] What about Andrek? What do you do?
[30:35] You think it was politics there? Or you think maybe he gives the
[30:38] ball away too much, like he started plays a little rash,
[30:42] like it it doesn't fit Alonso. But I I don't know if that's the
[30:45] only reason he's not played. He's he's very wrong.
[30:52] So for me, I think he's a better option and Gonzalo Garcia, for
[30:55] example. However, on his side there's
[30:59] obviously the World Cup coming up and I think he wants to to
[31:03] make that squad. I don't know how likely that is
[31:06] with Angelati, who also they news him the most.
[31:10] He is, like you said, very rash, loses the ball a lot.
[31:13] We've seen it against Manchester City, right?
[31:15] He had a couple opportunities the last kind of 3-4 minutes
[31:18] where if he perhaps passed the ball, we would have if, if he
[31:23] made maybe a simpler decision, right?
[31:26] There's the one where I think he tries to chip it over to
[31:29] Venetius. I don't know if you recall this
[31:30] one. When, when?
[31:31] Oh, I remember. It well.
[31:33] Yeah, Bellingham, right side. I don't remember it remember.
[31:38] It was Brahim against Man City cuz Ushraf had a tweet and it
[31:43] was like blown up a little and then I quote tweeted it with the
[31:45] clip and it got like a million impressions on Twitter and I was
[31:48] just like, oh, you guys love making fun of players, huh?
[31:50] Like cuz I don't know, we talked about so many things.
[31:53] That's the most impressions we've gotten, like a quote tweet
[31:55] making fun of Enrique for not making a simple pass and like
[31:58] goal wasn't to scapegoat him, but it was looking back, it was
[32:02] a shocking decision to to play the lofted pass instead of the
[32:06] simple on the ground keep the move alive.
[32:08] Like the safe decision. We saw it when he scored that
[32:12] goal, which when he ignored like 2 guys to either side of him and
[32:16] from 30 yards. I knew the adaptation.
[32:18] I just figured on that point. I'm like that.
[32:21] It looks really cool when it works, but the nine times it
[32:24] doesn't work, you're going to look stupid and and the the
[32:26] senior players aren't going to put up with it.
[32:28] He didn't actually actually that the same goal you're talking
[32:30] about. I, I do remember, I don't
[32:33] remember the exact game, but about two or three weeks later
[32:36] he was in the same situation and he didn't score and you could
[32:39] tell this time and Bobby and Venices were quite pissed off.
[32:43] Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like it's, it's I'm, I'm like,
[32:46] OK, the fact that this happened, it's just so it's a microcosm of
[32:50] this club. Like we've signed a young guy,
[32:51] he has a big ego, shoots from 30 yards out, but and it works,
[32:55] yes. And then, but then you have to
[32:56] wonder about the ramifications of him doing that again and
[32:59] again. Good job.
[33:00] Like it's even Messi wouldn't like, you know, some decisions
[33:04] are objectively good, some are bad.
[33:05] Even Messi shoot wouldn't shoot from 30 yards out again and
[33:08] again, Maradona, Paleo, Ronaldo, like there's situations where
[33:11] the past is better. There's a general criticism of
[33:14] his usage of youth players because it was a very big
[33:18] marketed thing even in the summer.
[33:20] What do you have to say about that?
[33:23] Think this was actually something that I defended and
[33:27] Gelati on a lot was how he not only do you youth players in our
[33:31] Castillo, but also like you said, Andrick, for example,
[33:34] quickly on Andrick. I think that's just fortunate.
[33:37] Unfortunately with him. He's at the point where to kind
[33:41] of fix like those type of decisions.
[33:44] You have to play him a lot and that means you either loan him
[33:46] or you stick with him making these decisions within your
[33:50] games. In terms of the other you youth
[33:54] players, look, I mean, I know everybody likes it, loves it.
[33:59] In the past, you know, 15 years, I think there's Ashraf Akimi,
[34:03] there's Alvaro we just bought brought back, there's Nacho,
[34:08] there's Carvajal, and I don't think we've had one more player
[34:12] who's Madrid level. So I don't understand where this
[34:14] idea that we're going to have some new Comoche region out of
[34:19] the Academy comes from. The Academy does a good job, OK.
[34:24] I think it does what its goal is, which is to generate a lot
[34:27] in sales, which is why we probably have.
[34:30] I think it's still the most players in Europe out of any
[34:33] Academy. We just don't produce a lot of
[34:38] Madrid level talent. Yeah, they, no, I I largely
[34:42] agree with that. I just think it's funny because
[34:45] like Jacobo Ramon looks phenomenal for Como and he
[34:49] looked unplayable for us. So it is there's an argument
[34:54] that like playing more of those guys who care will help.
[34:56] But I agree, the board is put, I think the board's put Alonso in
[34:59] an impossible situation. If you tell him you have to win
[35:01] or you're going to get fired, he's going to play in Papa and
[35:04] Vinnie and all these high paid guys.
[35:07] Any other closing thoughts here? Mazen, anything we've missed
[35:10] from your notes in terms of the team tactics, anything?
[35:14] Again, time time, time time. Just echo by the way.
[35:23] Oh yeah. Sorry, Sir.
[35:25] Yeah, I think it's just about time.
[35:27] I think the board has to settle on somebody they want to give a
[35:30] year or two to, you know, being in a situation where your make
[35:37] or break is being Barcelona in a glorified pre season game
[35:41] without Kelly and Abapit. It's just I think that's kind of
[35:44] sums up the club structure at the moment and whether it's
[35:48] Alonzo or Baloa, whatever they bring, we're going to need a lot
[35:54] of time. And I think one thing that a lot
[35:56] of people don't recognize is we did not have a preseason that's
[36:00] really important tactically, fitness wise, We had the Club
[36:04] World Cup. That's another hit physically.
[36:07] Amber Thomas to well actually talked about it and he stated
[36:10] this was a major advantage for Arsenal and Arsenal going into
[36:14] the season over Manchester City is they didn't have this
[36:17] tournament to play. Yeah, agreed.
[36:21] Agreed. All those were big things.
[36:24] Time and patience will be important.
[36:26] I don't know how it will get a coach like Alonzo anytime soon
[36:29] though, so it'll be a shame if he's fired.
[36:33] Excited to see how the Athletico Super Cup game coming up goes.
[36:37] Any predictions for the Athletico game and bape noem
[36:39] bape? You think he potentially playing
[36:42] makes a difference? What do you think?
[36:46] Yeah, I think he obviously makes a big difference.
[36:51] I find it quite funny because I think for the last two years
[36:53] everybody's been blaming him for everything and then he gets
[36:56] injured, which is, you know, what everybody was waiting for
[37:00] and now he's quote UN quote, ruined our season or whatever.
[37:04] But yeah, I think a Mappy just applies a lot of pressure to the
[37:08] back line. We need that.
[37:10] I think a lot of people don't realize that that's a lot more
[37:14] valuable having somebody like a Mappy Venice's who makes the run
[37:17] behind and force your defense back just naturally by being
[37:21] there, rather than having, you know, somebody that Gonzalo
[37:25] Garcia who might stick in the box but doesn't really provide
[37:28] much of A threat. Well, the criticism of Mbappe is
[37:31] that he just doesn't, you know, he just doesn't attack the the
[37:35] box enough. Like, I agree that largely his
[37:38] first touch is kind of mediocre for a player of that caliber.
[37:42] And because it's mediocre, some of those sequences with Ronaldo,
[37:46] Benzema that we were used to where Ronaldo could play bad the
[37:49] whole game, but the sequence that mattered, he would move the
[37:52] ball the way it's needed. We don't get that as much.
[37:54] It feels like he plays more for himself as a result of the fact
[37:58] and he can't hit the ball. I think heading the more I watch
[38:01] football, I just think it's underrated heavily because it
[38:04] just opens up a whole new dimension of being able to play
[38:07] through the other team that wouldn't exist otherwise.
[38:10] And so when you increase the number of options you have to go
[38:14] it, it makes playing offense easier, so on.
[38:16] So I think the big pain there is that he's so ball centric and
[38:23] he's always coming short if he could.
[38:25] And there are moments where he uses his gravity well.
[38:27] And I would say especially against Barcelona, he does it so
[38:30] well, playing on the right. If you could do that a little
[38:32] more, I think the criticism would go down.
[38:35] But yeah, it is funny that the amount of criticism towards him
[38:38] is funny. I think if like it's funny
[38:40] because Vinnie Vinnie plays more relentlessly in terms of
[38:44] attacking the space than Mbappe sometimes I feel like, but the
[38:48] difference is he's worse than attacking that space, so he
[38:51] won't generate as many shots when he does.
[38:53] But ironically, I think if Mbappe could play more like
[38:57] Vinnie in terms of sacrificial runs, he doesn't do enough of
[39:00] that. Like I go through the clips of
[39:02] Ronaldo, like Ronaldo's body language might have been mad if
[39:06] he didn't get the goal, but he still made the right pass.
[39:09] Killian sometimes just loses engagement if he's not going to
[39:12] be the one on the end of the move.
[39:13] I don't know if you feel that, but I think that's a valid
[39:15] criticism because like, you know, there are, there are valid
[39:18] criticisms, but at the same time, he's nowhere near the main
[39:21] issue. So there's a nuance.
[39:26] Yeah. You know, I think the attack
[39:34] offensively in terms of personnel is the least of our
[39:37] problems. Defensively, of course, there's
[39:39] problems over there in terms of, you know, putting in enough
[39:42] work, pressing things like that. But I think, yeah, when when you
[39:47] have a player fist caliber, you kind of build towards that.
[39:49] You don't, you know, force him to do force him into a role you,
[39:55] you know, you build around him. For example, like PSG and
[39:59] Dembele upfront, right. That's a good example, I think.
[40:04] Yeah, I think there's also PSG tried to do that also in
[40:08] Enriquez first year. I think they got to be unlucky
[40:11] with the Dortmund type that maybe 40-50 shots but that's
[40:14] beside the point. I just think Venicius and Bapi
[40:18] are just overly criticized to be honest.
[40:22] Yeah. I mean, do you think it's going
[40:23] to work with them both though at any point, especially
[40:26] defensively from what you've seen?
[40:29] Defensively is is a whole, you know, I think that's, that's the
[40:34] much tougher question. And again, I think it comes to
[40:40] they'll work if everything else works, if you know what I mean,
[40:43] like at the start of the season, because when everything else
[40:46] works, it it leads to them scoring.
[40:49] And I think then they could see that as they kind of almost
[40:53] attacking the sense, right, that they could win the ball up here,
[40:57] you know, take 23 touches and score like the Sociedad goal,
[41:00] the the first one, if you remember that one, Yeah.
[41:05] Basically, if we don't have 10 things going wrong at our club
[41:07] at the same time, they wouldn't be the issues.
[41:09] Yeah, totally agree there. It's just the contract
[41:12] negotiation is coming up. He's not worth 30 million a year
[41:15] of any like he we just can't give him that.
[41:17] So I I think it's interesting because they're not the main
[41:21] problem, but they're positioned in a way where like that problem
[41:25] has to resolve before some of these other things, even if it's
[41:29] not the main 1, and it may not resolve favorably as a result.
[41:34] Yeah, I agree. I think in terms of the contract
[41:37] situation, I think from the whole classical fiasco and his
[41:44] performances, I think week by week can have a bit more
[41:47] leverage in that. And again, look at what, 27 and
[41:53] 25? Obviously you want things to
[41:56] work right away, but there's still a lot of time to get it
[41:59] working. Yeah, I mean, honestly, not long
[42:03] though, 18 months still Vinny's contract runs out.
[42:05] So really I feel like we're in the last six months of this home
[42:08] stretch. Yeah, it'll be interesting
[42:10] knowing Bape. So we get we get to run back
[42:12] that new lineup. The thing is those people never
[42:14] get their due though, because you have to understand him
[42:17] signing means we didn't sign a bunch of profiles.
[42:19] So we're they're never going to get convinced.
[42:21] Like, they want that timeline where we sign at 9:00 and then
[42:25] we sign a center back and we bolster that team after 2024,
[42:28] after that win. And because we didn't get there,
[42:31] they're always going to nitpick. But yeah, I'm curious to see how
[42:35] this goes without evaporating the Super Cup.
[42:38] Any final thoughts here Mazin, as we close out?
[42:41] Yeah. No, I think just like I said, by
[42:45] the end of the month, you have to have somebody, you have to
[42:48] have a plan. And whoever that is, whether
[42:51] it's a Lonzo or somebody else, you have to give them a good
[42:54] amount of time to change the culture, to implement their
[42:57] ideas and so on. Yeah, we'll be very interesting
[43:01] to see if they're given that time.
[43:04] Mazen, thanks for coming on. Wish we could talk more about
[43:07] winning, but it's not really there yet.
[43:10] Hopefully we talk more about winning in the future.
[43:13] Thank you for coming on. Thank you all for listening for
[43:16] to the show. Please leave a like and a
[43:18] comment. We'll be back on for the next
[43:20] post game. See you all later.

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