Another Juninho Edition of the Daily Merengue
Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss 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, Valyrian Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.
Word From Author:
Notsogoodlawyer: Juni — I thought you were done with all of this? With all this melancholy…
Juninho: Yea — I thought I was too…
A Collection of Letters (Prelude)
“I hope one day these words find you.” — [censored]
Writer’s Prelude. This week will simply feature letters as we discuss Real Madrid. Maybe they’ll matter and maybe they won’t. It is what it is. It’s just how I felt those days.
Dear MM,
Absence of Midfield. I’m not entirely sure that we need a general recap of this match. I think it’s just best to dive into the mechanics of this game and what we’ve somewhat witnessed this entire season as well as the last. I feel like a broken record, so I’m not going to spend far too much time on this particular topic but our midfield is broken. Now, I’m not doom and gloom and believe it can’t eventually be fixed but at the moment I’m not entirely sure that the current components of players that we have can function in an inspiring manner. I’m not entirely sure that we can put together this jigsaw puzzle of people. IMO Arda doesn’t fix our midfield as he’s far too inconsistent, lacks the physique to properly play against more well-versed midfield units, and if not present as a 10, he often simply becomes a passenger lost by the whims of others. Tchou can defend but not much else. Ceballos is inconsistent and when he draws form he finds himself injured. Please reread the last sentence and just replace the proper noun with Camavinga as well. Fede is inspirationally athletic and puzzling with anything technical. Jude is a fantastic talent, but at the moment seems to often be first and foremost a dribbler, an inconsistent passer / decision maker / and not someone who can dictate a midfield in the most traditional sense.
Then on top of all of this — and this isn’t purely a midfield issue — there is just a lack of true movement. You can tell how long it takes our players to think before making an obvious pass. You can watch them stand as they await for the ball at their feet rather than moving into space to either receive a pass or create space for someone near by. In many ways, our midfield is simply paralyzing.
Again, I don’t know the solution here (it’s Kees Smit). It’s certainly not Nico Paz. And I’m not entirely convinced this is something we can fix before Summer 2026. But until we do, we’ll continue to suffer.
Subs + Xabi. I’ll be even briefer here as Xabi, I have an entirely different day and letter dedicated to you. So I’ll use this instance to applaud but also condemn our current manager who may only be with us for a short period of time longer. The lineup today was interesting to say the least and imo had some curious but also questionable caveats. Rather than a 433, it looked similar like we played in a psuedo 4132 where Vini + Mbappe were CFs, Rodrygo played as a hybrid-RCM / RW with bits of freedom to connect play, Jude and Arda had deeper more rigid roles and then of course Tchouameni and co providing defensive solidarity. For the most part, it looked as though the formation worked. Yes, it didn’t create a myriad of chances but in a game where we were missing the majority of our defense, there was a formidable defensive solidarity for large portions of the game. So I’ll applaud you Xabi for this interesting facet and how you found a means to set us up despite the game’s context.
Really quickly — this also may be a good time to applaud Valdes, who actually performed pretty decently in his debut. English broadcasters put fault on him for the 1st goal, but really I think that’s more of a Rudi issue. We’ve played with a higher line all season and Rudi simply just seemed to have had a mental lapse.
Now the in-game management portion: subs. Xabi Xabi Xabi. I more than most am willing to concede and understand your concessions in terms of subbing particular players and how that hamstrings one’s approach. However, in the dire straits of this Real Madrid crisis, I’m going to need you to make more liberal changes when the game calls for them. I’ll write more about this in the section below but there were clearly players (i.e., Vini / Arda) who for the most part were just behind the game. In the end your trust was rewarded by a brilliant Vini play, but how often has this trust (or as some may say corporate guidelines) rewarded your job security? It may be time for you to show a resolve closer to the two managers you often refer to as your reference points. Certainly, they would have “pissed on their own”
Vinicius Jr. It’s ironic because I earnestly didn’t plan on talking about Vini today. I somewhat wanted to give back what he gave in today’s performance which was little to nothing. But alas here we are with The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly of Vinicius Jr.
Let’s start with The Good. IMO no matter what anyone says, we can’t deny Vini’s effort today. I think he’s read the complaints and certainly heard the boos at the Bernabeu, so today we certainly saw a player who looked motivated to do the little things. Vini constantly pressed. He more often than not tracked back into position (even tho a bit late). He was willing to shift around the front three to provide others space and better options. Also the assist and his play after the assist was more confident and usual Vini. The assist was just glorious from him and without it we likely draw this game.
The Bad. The bad is despite the brilliant play and assist, Vini was one of the worst players if not the worst player on the pitch. El Blankano often says the eye test is too subjective, so he prefers more objective stats. Well here are some stats: According to SofaScore, Vini was rated the worst Madrid starter on the pitch with a score of 6.4 (note: his rating is higher than it would’ve been because of an ASSIST). This is the 3rd worst player on the field with only two Alaves players with worse ratings. Vini had 7 dribbles with only two being successful, lost possession 16 times, and had 75% passing accuracy. Certainly, this is not good enough for a player who is hoping to command the highest wages on our team.
The Ugly. The ugly in all of this as many have said is this has been Vini for a long time. I know we all still clamor to his key play in 21/22 and 23/24, but its now December 15 and we are 16 days away from 2026. And quite frankly 2025 Vini was bad like very bad. Many Real Madrid fans loved to repeat that Rodrygo hadn’t scored in 32 games spanning from April 2025 — Dec 2025. This is understandable, Rodrygo was bad. However, we as a community may want to also note that despite Rodry’s lack of goal front production for nearly 7 months, Rodrygo only has 3 less goals in 2025 than Vini Jr. And note: just this 25/26 season alone Vini has played 1000 more minutes than Rodrygo. This minute calculation does not count the CWC which technically occurred in the 24/25 season. The goal calculation does include Vini’s 2 CWC goals. Anyway,this in itself is a crisis. Yes, we lack a cohesive midfield. Yes, we have injuries everywhere on our backline. But also our 2nd best player simply isn’t performing. And this isn’t just a Xabi problem as he wasn’t performing for Carlo too.
Cheers,
J
Now I’m not entirely sure how to resolve this and potentially some of this is the contract or the coach or the lack o
…Unsaid Letters
Roll with the punches like — Rodry goal tally in this b-. I bob and weave in this b-. My eyes’ll bleed if I switch. If I don’t feed in MM’s negative, Vaseline won’t eat in this b-. 1K MMers know me and know better, better know Juni in this b-. If I bite my tongue anymore, then Imma bleed out my lips. If I type my soul in this, Lord, I’m beggin’, please let it hit. If I write this DT, I’m immortal, I won’t cease to exist. Once I speak, it exist. Hope my peak don’t exist. Piece on my hip, but I’m peaceful if you peaceful, I trip. Only if people gon’ trip. Only then features are ‘quipped. Coral clips make GFE v BSGs dip — immediate. Hala say “be up in the comments like a median”, then he posts egregious — it’s never gettin easier. Maybe, I’m just getting better at dealin’ with ish-. Ignore my feelings, and then I realize how easy I feel. Ignore the ceiling, and then I realize no ceilings was here. Focused on millions, then woke up one day and millions was here. But I’ve been building for years, that felt like millions of years. A DT rose grew from concrete, but I watered it with my tears. Blood, sweat, liquor, and beers. Juni been slippin’ for years. Juni been quittin’ for years. – was hittin’, mixed with the -, givin’ different ideas. Watch what y’all did with success, but I got a different idea. MMers act like stickin’ to your ish ain’t a simple idea. Don’t know who robbed you, but I’ll call if I get an idea.
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“dont trip. we fallin.“
Category: General Sports
