It's impossible to know. Some players peak very early or are limited by a lack of football IQ. Lucas Moura for exemple was supposed to be slighlty less talented than Neymar when they were young, now we know is far from it and i don't think the best coach in the world would have changed that.
La liga 2021/22
- Thread starter carvajal
- Start date
If finally Mbappé signs for Real Madrid it will be interesting to see who plays.
Benzema and Mbappé are undisputed starters, Bale is a player that Ancelotti likes a lot, Vinicius started the season well and the arrival of the Frenchman can be very damaging for him, Hazard came as a star and cost a lot of money.
Asensio, Rodrigo will have a year of few minutes if there are no injuries.
Interesting panorama.
Benzema and Mbappé are undisputed starters, Bale is a player that Ancelotti likes a lot, Vinicius started the season well and the arrival of the Frenchman can be very damaging for him, Hazard came as a star and cost a lot of money.
Asensio, Rodrigo will have a year of few minutes if there are no injuries.
Interesting panorama.
Bale would be benched by virtue of his contract ending this season.
Think we'll also look to sell/loan someone
This is just a ploy to motivate Vini!
I wouldn't be surprised if Ancelotti experiments with Bale a bit by moving him around in different positions.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
Real Betis have done fairly well in the first half against Madrid. However, they have 4 players and the manager on a yellow card. Any chance they end the game with 11 men on the field?
What happened to Real?
Carvajal
0-1
0-1
Class goal from Madrid there, but a totally wasted opportunity from Betis at the other end.
How has Alaba looked for Real so far this season?
Great, perfect league for him.
Sheesh, Casemiro and Valverde are allergic to the ball if an opposition player is 5 yards from him. As mediocre a midfield 2 as you're likely to find at a big team.
Better in the second half but damn, we need a fecking tactician. The Ancelotti hire is near as bad as Benitez back then
Betis are truly terrible in attack, aren't they?
Joaquin still dangerous at 40 years old
I see that Betis are experts at LVG-ball
What a chance and what a miss 
While slightly the better team, Madrid should be thankful that Betis didn't have a clue what to do in front of goal.
It was shocking having Anchelotti at Bayern. His tactics boiled down to „take the ball and beat your man“. And this after having had Pep for 3 years.
You gotta be kidding me. Casemiro is clearly the best defensive midfielder in the world. Valverde is one of the best young ones out there. Very dynamic.
No, he's not even the best Brazilian defensive midfielder. He's as technically limited on the ball as they come. It's funny to watch Madrid try to pass it out the back with that 2, it's really a fruitless exercise. Valverde is dynamic but he's also limited, it's a mess.
Vinicius jr is the most underrated player in the game
Depends. Casemiro is kinda limited under pressure, when he has space he's a pretty great passer. Agree on Valverde though
Honestly though, the main issue is the lack of elite athleticism in this team. We don't have the technical quality and firepower to make up for it anymore
It's inexcusable that we would put all the eggs in the mbappé basket like this, if we fail to sign him then Florentino will have a lot to answer for
Unfortunately this isn't the time to be messing around with midfielders who need space to work. It was sad to see Zidane try to hide him in the building from the back set up last season in the CL last season.
I'd say Madrid's biggest problem is the inability to play through the phases. Which is caused by midfielders who are a bombscare on the ball and a lack of technical leaders who can carry the creative burden. It's a sad sight to see Benzema realising that this batch can't play and basically pulling a Firminho. A creative player in that front line would go a long way.
He’s been that bad? Would you rather have Conte? I don’t see Koeman lasting past this season for us
It's about status as much as anything for Floper, but Mbappé really is the single player who can dramatically improve us. He fixes so many of our issues, directly or indirectly
We'd still be better off getting, for example, De Jong, Milinkovic-Savic, Laporte, Adama, Chiesa and Salah, but, well, Mbappé's cheaper and more realistic
It's not been bad per se, it's just that this team has flaws that, to win, would require either a maniac tactician, like a Guardiola, or a guru with both the ability to somehow always hit the right chords with the players and a paranornal ability to read games and make adjustments, like Zidane
Ancelotti is neither. Soon enough he'll draw the same conclusions Zidane did and revert to the ultra-controlling, slow-as-molasses style Zidane rode effectively to one title and nearly another, but I don't trust him to do as well as Zizou. In part also because Militao and Alaba are not Sergio and Varane
Great points buddy. Would be crazy if Atletico become back to back la liga winners.
If Atletico win back to back leagues, a feat Real Madrid have never achieved under Perez, he should be put in prison.
Was really a very weird appointment
Fixed
I adore him and he is a very important figure in the dressing room but I agree that he is very limited in passing.
Today he has to be 110% physically to stand out in other facets.
I disagree regarding Valverde, I think he has the capacity to offer more. More than limited I would say that he is reckless.
I would like to test him ahead of the two in the midfield, like Llorente at Atlético.
Not a bad idea actually, but that leaves Turbotoni having to defend.........
And he is a poor passer unfortunately. And not quite good enough as a dribbler to beat pressure that way consistently. This might not be too big an issue once we're fully fit and in good form, but right now it is
And he is a poor passer unfortunately. And not quite good enough as a dribbler to beat pressure that way consistently. This might not be too big an issue once we're fully fit and in good form, but right now it is
Im actually referring more to his control of the ball and his subsequent manipulation of it. Actually think he's a very good passer but it doesn't mean anything if you need an acre to get the ball under control.
He has flashes, like the great pass to Vini last week but on a bad day he misses many easy passes which as you say can be caused by his slowness
Maybe not signing Mbappe is the best thing that can happen to Madrid, it will save money for signings the following year
The same thing happened with Hazard, they paid €100M+ (30-60 add on) with one year left on his contract.
With that money they could continue to have Llorente (30 + 10), Achraf (40), Theo (20) or Reguilon (30)
Literally couldn’t have asked for a better start nice
Barcelona [1] - 0 Getafe - Sergi Roberto 2'