Juninho Journal Entry 413

Juninho: Sunday, February 9th. The Santiago Bernabeu and ManagingMadrid is under the water. Coral moderators are coming. Martial law is in effect, but the criminal element never sleeps. Trolling and baiting will be rampant…in the threads on MM, no one can get to. I can already see things will get worse…before they get better. And some will seize the chance to grab everything they can. I’m starting to see now I have had an effect here…But not the one I intended. Vengeance, won’t change the past. Mine…or anyone else’s. I have to become more. MM needs hope. To know someone’s out there for them. The MMers are angry, scarred. Like me. Our scars can destroy us. even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them…They can transform us. They can give us the power.

To Endure…And the strength to fight.”

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, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Lord Juninho.

El Derbí: A Tired Recap

Dear MM,

In all honesty, I don’t really want to recap this game, but I have to as it’s still my Daily Thread week. I guess, I should take more pleasure in these as with every thread I post it’s one closer to the end of my mod tenure but sometimes it’s just difficult to be grateful. I don’t know…sometimes It’s hard to explain — nah it isn’t. I just don’t feel like explaining it yet or maybe I already have. Maybe this is just who I am.

Fun. Lately, I’ve told you that I’m “trying to practice peace,” and I swear I’m actually trying. I even at times reflect on adopting Hala’s almost delusional positivity (and I mean that in the best way possible). Life is idk just easier that way. I smoke less that way. However, I must admit. Watching this Real Madrid team isn’t particularly fun. It isn’t fun to witness one shot on target in the first 45 mins. It isn’t fun to watch our incessant belabored approach towards low blocks. It isn’t fun repeating the same analysis on a weekly basis — reiterating that Lucas Vazquez can’t play RB at an elite level and be asked to provide width and track back in transition, or that Jude’s position needs to be a bit more refined, or that this front 3 feels as if they’re just making it up as they go, or that clearly and I mean clearly this team needs a new voice at leadership. And I know, I know…maybe I’m just spoiled? Maybe I deserve another 18/19 season as I’ve witnessed so many years filled with breathtaking glory. Maybe I’m overreacting as trophies are still in reach. Maybe these are all just frivolous cries into an abyss. Idk. I won’t stop watching all the same. So this is on me.

Anyway, I’m ok with today’s result. I’m okay with a draw because we continue to stay in the lead for La Liga. I’m ok knowing that our destiny is still within our control. I’m ok with knowing that we are one more week closer to the end of this season. I’m not happy but we’ll ok. It’s just football.

Jude. Anyway, I guess I must continue to tackle a few observations from this game. There has been a prevalent narrative on MM that Jude Bellingham is calling his positional shots in order to only score goals. He has forgone his box-to-box midfield tendencies to play as a 10 as he searches for glory. IMO this narrative is a bit lacking. As even shown today, Jude seems to more or less be following Ancelotti’s orders when it comes to his defensive work and his positioning. Early in the 1st half, Jude was the LM in a defensive 442. Yes, he would shift into the 10 position in possession, but it was rare that #5 didn’t occupy the left flank when defensively necessary. In the second half, Jude was repositioned more centrally with an emphasis on his late runs primarily because 1) we were down a goal; and 2) Real Madrid lack a focus target point in the box. I love VMR (kinda) but there are countless occasions, especially against a low block, where these forwards do not make runs into the box. Additionally, none of the VMR are particularly good aerially, which completely curtails the utility of our fullback’s crosses (i.e., one of our fullback’s only good attributes). It isn’t accidental that Jude happened to be at the end of the majority of 2nd half crosses and I believe even hit the post on one of his shots. Now, we can debate whether this is a tactic that we should adopt; however, then we’d go into a long conversation about what system at all does this Real Madrid team play.

Separately, he looks exhausted.

Carlo. Late Subs. Low Blocks. I’m tired of repeating things. So I’ll keep this one short. We have an issue with CB depth, but today Asencio and Tchouameni performed well. Everything else was just a bit lackluster with moments of brilliance. But the individual dependency against low blocks and the even later subs (Atleti subbed 4 players before we subbed one) is increasingly frustrating as we approach mid-February.

The Rs. I’m going to keep this short but we keep getting increasingly good performances from Raul Asencio and Rodrygo Goes. But I’ll just share the tweets.

Cheers,

Juninho

Haunted Conversations Pt. IV

Ezek XI: …you still haven’t answered the question?

Juninho: …

Ezek XI: Why do you still do this?

Juninho: Y’know…I treat these like therapy sessions. I ain’t really in it for nothing else.

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“iix”