Break: 13 November 2024 – Managing Madrid

The Daily Merengue is 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, Juninho, Kung_Fu_Zizou, NeRObutBlanco, and yours truly, Felipejack.

Few players training

Insane schedule ahead

If the injuries haven’t been enough, our possible schedule in January is insane.

The missed game between Valencia might be the first to be played in January. It’s yet to be confirmed. In addition, if Real Madrid goes to UCL playoffs, it means they will play one game at every 3 days until March!!!

Academy player retired from football at 19

Marc Cucalón was Real Madrid academy player. He had so much potential – he was called the new “Xabi Alonso”.

Is Alonso ready to coach Real Madrid ?

In this MM Podcast, they discussed if Alonso is ready to coach Los Blancos. Interestingly, the guest Ardit Karagjyzi (known on twitter as Loconté) made the claim that Alonso is more similar to Ancelotti than any other coach. Just a spoiler so you are teased to watch it:

There are few things that Alonso does better than Ancelotti, especially the pressing and how Leverkusen are setup off the ball. One of my issues with Alonso has been the on the ball approach. Of course, it’s an issue I have with Ancelotti as well.

I don’t think Alonso has everything nailed, considering the best managers. If you want to switch the coach, you want a change. But Alonso and Ancelotti, for me, would be more of the same. Maybe Alonso would optime the team better collectively by sacrificing some players at individual level.

I think a lot of deficiencies are there in Alonso setup. The inability to control the flow of the game for long stretches is my biggest concern, which is the same under Ancelotti.