OPEN THREAD — White Knight In Satin Armor: 23 Oct. 2025
Just a note on Jude "crashing the box".How Jude played in the games against Getafe and Jude is most likely due to the experiments Xabi is doing when we're playing against teams that sit deep and we got plenty of those in La Liga (where you basically lose points and automatically the championship). Jude is the presence in the box and that was seen also at the goal scored yesterday. While the other players are doing their thing, which doesn't involve them being much in the box anyway, more like "juggling with the ball" around the opossition box. The two midfielders are also playing higher in those moments and also the RB, while Carreras becomes the LCB (hence not attacking enough). Basically we try to pin the opossition around their box while also having some physicality in the box.We can expect that these experiments will lead to a solution (at least for this season), since the La Liga titles lost in the last 10+ years were mostly due to our struggles against low-blocks, which is also why we basically won the UCL more often than La Liga. Jude won't be "crashing the box" by himself against Barca, City, Bayern, PSG etc while his teammates will be in a mid-block trying to recover the ball and score in transition. If Xabi will approach those teams/games with similar lineups as in the last two games, Jude will most likely play like RCM and Arda like LCM (if both on the pitch at the same time), which will be a classic 4-3-3.
0Immediate Reaction: Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus
Some of my thoughts, after tonight's game and after browsing MM'S discussions from the last few days. Vini showed again tonight why he is an asset for the team. The team was struggling a bit to create real danger in attack, so Vini invented something which lead to the goal. Vini is beginning to look more and more like the Vini from Vinzema period, which is awesome. Mbappe is also more than capable of "inventing" stuff in attack as we've already seen it so many times and honestly another player capable of such moments is Rodry. So by playing also Rodry, the chance for creating in attack extraordinary in-game moments increases by 50%. Jude is basically the definition of a modern number 10, which needs to be a hybrid between the back in the day SS (Del Piero with less skills, but with a much higher strength and workrate) and CM (Veron with less vision, but a with better goalscoring rate). Especially with our CF being Mbappe (not Haaland), Jude brings some much needed physicality to our frontline. Arda can't become Toni and can't became Luka also, but Arda has some traits from both Toni and Luka. This means that being 20/21 years old, Arda could become a Toni & Luka combination, which is a big compliment for him. There is no need to worry about having too many "bodies" in midfield this season or the next because having fresh midfielders plays a big role in winning throphies. Regarding Carreras, he is just what the team needs for balance, while somebody like Marcelo would be what the team would need for spectacle. And as I've said before, I'm confident for el clasico. After the slip at Metropolitano, I don't see the team playing with the same lack of intesity, which is more important even than tactics for achieving the win. Good night!
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