Imbalance fueled by ego: One Madrid attacker has to go
I wrote an Article a few months ago claiming that Real Madrid ‘had got it wrong’ by letting their ego get the best of them in the transfer market with the signing of Mbappe and almost certain addition of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Yesterday, I was proved right. This whole season, Real Madrid have been kicking the can down the road. Constantly being bailed out with individual moments of brilliance that mask the fact that the team as a whole were not at the races during the game. Last night, Los Blancos came up against a real team in Arsenal who were hampered by injuries themselves and yet they made them look like titans.
Everywhere across the pitch, Madrid were outfought and outplayed, not a single performance that any of the players can be remotely proud of - except their goalkeeper Courtois. What I want to focus on however is this Real Madrid attack…
I genuinely don’t think there has been one big game this season where all of the front-three have played well at the same time. Vinicius Jr, Mbappe and Rodrygo. All of them are left-wingers and they’re expected to play together. It can work against the Spanish minnows that Madrid face bi-weekly in La Liga but up against the best of the best, the most solid and structured teams in Europe - you cannot just rely on talent alone without any plan to actually get the best out of said talent. They were all hopeless yesterday up against a defence featuring an 18 year old make-shift left back and a centre-back who is a squad player at best.
Obviously they aren’t bad players but the 3-0 battering at the Emirates has shown yet again that they can’t play together at the highest level. Even in the previous round against Atletico, they arguably should’ve gone out as they were helped out by a very dubious refereeing decision after being virtually anonymous the whole tie - but last night, they couldn’t luck their way out of this humbling.
One must go. There’s no other way to put it. You can’t have three right-footed left wingers all playing in the same team and expect to get anywhere with it. Every single one of them is good enough to start for basically every team in the world on the left and I imagine after a while, frustration will begin to grow at being second, third or fourth fiddle (if you include Bellingham) in the team - especially if this is happening out of position.
Rodrygo has 1 goal and 1 assist in his last 20 games of football, Vinicius also has 7 in his last 17. Mbappe is the only one who is actually playing like one of the best footballers in the world. If there was any sense in the Madrid hierarchy, they will hopefully be realising their mistake and plan to sell one of them this summer in order to accrue some signings that provide more balance to their attack.
Realistically, out of the 4 superstars, it will be Rodrygo or Vinicius that leaves. The Saudi Arabia links to Vini have been quietly persisting in the background and the Rodrygo rumours grow with every poor game he has. Although Florentino Perez will be incredibly reluctant to lose one of his superstars, sacrifices must be made for the long-term success of Los Blancos.
It was a humiliating defeat but is anyone THAT surprised at it? Madrid have been treading water for most of the season and Arsenal finally sunk them. For things to improve, one big name has to leave.
