Thursday Edition of The Daily Merengue
The Daily Merengue is a place where you can feel free to d all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name! Shoutout to the mods who do a fantastic job, Ezek, Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, Juninho, NeRObutBlanco and yours truly, Kung_Fu_Zizou
Xabi Alonso rotated a fair bit at Leverkusen. It was expected he would do something similar at Real Madrid. Fans are used to managers choosing a starting XI so rigid that when everyone is healthy it cannot even be altered for tactical considerations. Xabi is changing all that much to the frustration of some fans. It is still very early on in Xabi’s reign. Ancelotti stayed for 4 seasons in his second spell in charge. Xabi is 7 games into his first. It is not inconceivable that these rotations allow him to see if the players are genuinely adopting his ideas. By mixing it up with the line-ups and formations he can see if the players remain committed to the principles of his approach to the game. So far the players seem to have a grasp on his ideas. But is it all the players? It is some of the players? Which players get it and which do not? Which players might never get it or be the right fit? These rotations will give Xabi a very good idea about that.
We have a big squad with a lot of quality. Xabi is intent on using it, as he should. This means that even if he eventually settles on a preferred XI, he will still be inclined to rotating the players and perhaps even more than Zidane did in 2016/17.
Prioritising Set-Pieces
Stats Leaders
Kylian Mbappe
Vinicius Junior
Arda Guler
Alvaro Carreras
Xabi’s Improvements
Real Madrid create a lot of chances under Xabi but far more deliberately than they used to. The attack will get better but it has already improved. The team seems to know what it is their trying to do with the ball and why.
Derbi XI
Category: General Sports
