Madrid will sell him to us in the future. Hopefully we get more than just dregs.
Jude Bellingham | Real Madrid player
- Thread starter Samid
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I would rather not.
To me, he has stagnated as so many English players have. He had all the attributes of a great midfielder but his work rate and attitude remind me of Pogba mk. 2
Bellingham’s biggest issue is overworking to the point of exhaustion and fatigue, to the point coaches have told him to stop doing that and better focus his energy. His attitude is also hyper competitive to the point he goes on national tv and calls refs cheats and takes the fine for it.
Whoever you’re describing, it’s not Bellingham.
The idea he has stagnated or lacks work rate is pure delusion
Saying a 23 year old has stagnated is a bit weird but I do think he's a very difficult player to fit tactically because he best skill, goalscoring, is not suitable to the position he tends to play, as a CM. Anchelotti using him as more of a striker with 3 midfielders behind was the perfect role because Bellingham does not have the traditional skills of a CM, such as passing or playmaking. Playing him further forward removed any dependency on him for those parts of the game. At Dortmund, his biggest weakness was that he wasn't a dependable player to progress the ball, with him losing it often under pressure.
When it comes to work rate, it depended on his mood, he could be an absolute engine during big games but then sometimes would be just jogging back to defend. Though it is widely known that Dortmund lost the league on the last day of the season in 2022/23, a big moment in them losing the title was when they gave away a 95th minute equalizer to Stuttgart and Bellingham had a key role, where he for some reason burst forward in attack and made no effort to get back to defend after Dortmund lost the ball.
It has ofcourse been 2.5 seasons since he left but nothing has changed in that regard when I watch him. Every team that tries to depend on Bellingham for some form of ball progression or playmaking struggle at the highest level. Ofcourse great teams have had players who weren't great passers in midfield before and now (Germany/Madrid with Khedira, Bayern 2020 with Goretzka, Arsenal now with Rice) but those players are usually really intelligent off the ball and contribute to defensive solidity, which Bellingham doesn't.
When it comes to work rate, it depended on his mood, he could be an absolute engine during big games but then sometimes would be just jogging back to defend. Though it is widely known that Dortmund lost the league on the last day of the season in 2022/23, a big moment in them losing the title was when they gave away a 95th minute equalizer to Stuttgart and Bellingham had a key role, where he for some reason burst forward in attack and made no effort to get back to defend after Dortmund lost the ball.
It has ofcourse been 2.5 seasons since he left but nothing has changed in that regard when I watch him. Every team that tries to depend on Bellingham for some form of ball progression or playmaking struggle at the highest level. Ofcourse great teams have had players who weren't great passers in midfield before and now (Germany/Madrid with Khedira, Bayern 2020 with Goretzka, Arsenal now with Rice) but those players are usually really intelligent off the ball and contribute to defensive solidity, which Bellingham doesn't.
Yeah hes more of an attacking midfielder/second striker, but they have someone better than him for that so he's being shoehorned into midfield, they will sell him for a big fee sooner or later.
ITT Nobody has actually watched Bellingham?
No work rate? Shoehorned into midfield because...Arda Guler/Brahim Diaz is better?
Are you guys actually watching Madrid??
No work rate? Shoehorned into midfield because...Arda Guler/Brahim Diaz is better?
Are you guys actually watching Madrid??
Clearly not what i said.No work rate? Shoehorned into midfield because...Arda Guler/Brahim Diaz is better?
Right, well those are the players currently playing in the 2nd striker/attacking midfielder positions at the moment.
By saying that Bellingham is being shoehorned into midfield because they have someone better than him, you're basically saying Diaz and Guler are better.
The actual reality is that Bellingham is the only midfielder in actual central midfield who can hold the ball, dribble and control a game.
Also, he's been playing central midfield for the past 18 months now? Where has this shoehorned thing come from?
What's happening with your comprehension? He's not playing the central attacker/striker role like he did in his first season because Mbappe is better than him. Nothing to do with Guler and Diaz.
If you think Bellingham is a better tempo setting/creative CM than attacking midfielder then there's no point discussing it further.
I dont think he has any ability whatsoever to control the tempo. I think he is a better skilled Lampard, someone that wont instantly fit into every side but someone you have to adapt your team around if you want him to shine
He's not, but he's better than all the other Madrid players as a Central midfielder. If you put Bellingham in AM/SS then there's a huge hole in midfield. Valverde spends too much time racing around like a crazy motherfecker.
This also doesn't make sense. You didn't say that in your original post.
Mbappe doesn't play those positions. He's leading the line. The attacking mid/2nd striker is currently occupied by Guler/Diaz.
You didn't say central attacker/striker, you changed it later. You said AM/SS. Explicitly.
He's been doing that last season in absense of anyone else other than Ceballos who can do something like that. He's been doing it reasonably well for someone whose not a natural deeper playmaker.
Probably something to do with it being the last minute of the last game of the season after bursting forward.
Then we agree it's not making best use of his abilities, which is what i was saying. You want to get the best out of him play him in the final third.
Yeah i got the terminology mixed up, but his first season he played centrally with two wide attackers, but he wasn't quite playing centre forward either so fell into that 9/10 position. So what i meant to say he's shown his best as an attacking midfielder/striker hybrid. These positions inevitably overlap with the areas Mbappe is currently occupying.
He is not really playing CM though, hes more an AM or SS.
What? He's played started 2 games this season and he wasn't the most forward of the midfielders, Guler has been.
I think the best and worst thing for him was that unbelievable 23/24 season. No one knew he had that level of goal contributions in his game and now that he’s achieved that it’s like he’s focussed too much of his game on actions in the final third.
Although slightly different, he’s cut from the Gerrard mould but I wish a bit like Gerrard that he developed more as a central midfielder first before finally being a support striker.
I really feel Bellingham can be a great CM but I’m not sure he wants it for himself. People talk about him not being one but he’s great at winning duels, press resistant, can break the lines as a passer or runner. The main thing he just needs to learn is that the midfield is a unit and not a one man operation and knowing the right moments to speed or slow down the tempo.
I think prioritising his final third contributions is a mistake because the 23/24 season was more of an anomaly in my view. He’s of course still a good goal scorer but not to that level.
Although slightly different, he’s cut from the Gerrard mould but I wish a bit like Gerrard that he developed more as a central midfielder first before finally being a support striker.
I really feel Bellingham can be a great CM but I’m not sure he wants it for himself. People talk about him not being one but he’s great at winning duels, press resistant, can break the lines as a passer or runner. The main thing he just needs to learn is that the midfield is a unit and not a one man operation and knowing the right moments to speed or slow down the tempo.
I think prioritising his final third contributions is a mistake because the 23/24 season was more of an anomaly in my view. He’s of course still a good goal scorer but not to that level.
It wasn't the last game. It was close to the end of the season though, I think 3rd or 4th last game. A question though if also by we went so far forward given they were defending a one goal lead in the last minute.
A bit more context is that they had already given up a two goal lead against 10 men after conceding two late goals but then took the lead again in stoppage time. There should not have been any reason for Bellingham to run forward and lead space behind for a counter.
You are right he has barely started, but hes been AM nearly the whole time.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jud.../plus/0/saison/2025/wettbewerb/ES1/verein/418
English McSause.
Imho, he pekead early. Happens all the time in the sport. Just hope we stay clear in the future when he is avaiable on market.
Imho, he pekead early. Happens all the time in the sport. Just hope we stay clear in the future when he is avaiable on market.
So he’s not good at it.
His workrate and effort are obviously top notch, so is his mentality even if it sometimes veers into toxicity but the thing is he kinda feels like the right man in the wrong time, a player dropped to the wrong era.
He excels at almost everything but not quite enough for him to permanently occupy any of the classical roles when put up against the best of the best of in those positions but then he's too good to merely be used as a utility or bench player so you'd end up shoehorning him into a side perhaps at the expense of another or even himself.
To counter that one couldy build the entire team around him to maximize his performance which would be a fair proposition as he's good enough to justify that at most teams but therein lies the rub as he's not playing at most teams, he's playing at Madrid where unless your an all time level player you're not going to get that treatment and as good as he may be he's certainly not in that bracket.
Quite the conundrum.
He excels at almost everything but not quite enough for him to permanently occupy any of the classical roles when put up against the best of the best of in those positions but then he's too good to merely be used as a utility or bench player so you'd end up shoehorning him into a side perhaps at the expense of another or even himself.
To counter that one couldy build the entire team around him to maximize his performance which would be a fair proposition as he's good enough to justify that at most teams but therein lies the rub as he's not playing at most teams, he's playing at Madrid where unless your an all time level player you're not going to get that treatment and as good as he may be he's certainly not in that bracket.
Quite the conundrum.
I watch practically every Madrid game given my closest friends are Madrid fans.
He's not been AM the whole time.
Right, what's your expectation here? Peak Toni Kroos? Obviously not.
He's still better than pretty much everyone not named De Jong/Pedri in La Liga at it and would walk into pretty much every team in the world in that specific position outside of PSG/Barcelona.
Nope. He was clearly the AM playing off Mbappé
Check the heat maps
We're trying to convert Arda into a playmaking CM in fact
He's been the "AM" the whole time, even last season when Ancelotti shoehorning all 3 of Vini, Mbappé and Rodrygo forced him into playing deeper and taking a bigger role in buid up. Which he's not particularly good at, either
the sooner Xabi stops trying the same thing, the better for the team. We clearly can't sustain 4 attackers at the same time
How do you see your midfield shaping up in the coming years assuming xabi is here to stay?
Guller is obviously quite the talent and assuming he takes up half of your double pivot and with Bellingham playing a quasi no 10 role wouldn't that mean at least one or two of your other midfielders would have to play suboptimal positions?
Where would Valverde figure in for example? Surely he's too good not to play to his strengths?
Imo, Bellingham is a pure No.8 but that position isn't really one that is used these days. Really he should be played as Lampard was.
No? It really depends on Guler's development, but right now I'd say the ideal would be to treat Bellingham as a forward
Maybe we'll just sign someone too
Anywhere, he can play anywhere. Ideally CM given he's by far our best and one of the best in the world in general
In what specific position do you mean
I mean, i'd love it if we signed him before he went to Dortmund and played him him in more of a free role where he could roam up front, but i wouldn't want him anywhere near a central midfield position attempting to control the flow of the game. I reckon he'd be as fecking useless at that as Bruno Fernandes is. It's just not who Bellingham is
Agreed, he would need to compete with our 10s, and I'm not sure which top pl team would go looking for him if he was available.
Are we watching the same games?
I took his heat map from last season
This is not the heat map of a #10.
Isn't it?Are we watching the same games?
I took his heat map from last season
This is not the heat map of a #10.
Last season Bellingham often got shunted left midfield because Vini/Mbappe never tracked back and both liked to drift left so it left a gaping hole down that side that Bellingham got put there to cover for.
So that would mean either relegated rodrygo perpetually to the bench or selling him?
Same with Camavinga?
Indeed he is, here's hoping he'd become alienated from the club and moves on and preferably ending up at united.
When has reality ever been a good enough mesure against a tasty proposition one could dream about!
Ok, not really anything to do with what I said. In response though I would expect cunha to have a similar heatmap this season.
I think you're confusing this thread with the "lets rim Jude Bellingham" thread