Quote from: reagansimms on Today at 05:15:43 AM

Quote from: MarjorieZimmermanGinger on Today at 03:53:50 AM

Quote from: jems on July 16, 2025, 08:50:36 AM

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Being a coach of a big team always carries pressure, especially when it comes to Real Madrid, where the team as a whole is always ambitious to win the championship. Without patience from management and fans, Xabi Alonso won't be able to make major changes in a short time, as it takes time to adapt. Xabi Alonso may not have much coaching experience, but managing Leverkusen with a limited squad is a huge success.

At Real Madrid he has a number of good players, and a little touch will make it easier for him to develop the team. But it takes time to find a good strategy format so there are several options that can be applied if the previous strategy does not work well.

The high demands from management and fans who want to always win trophies make coaches always under pressure, at least Alonso has experienced pressure after he failed to lead Real Madrid to win the Club World Cup trophy. His arrival at Real Madrid was also a result of Ancelotti inability to win the title last season, even though if you look deeper, Real Madrid failure was not entirely Ancelotti fault because he had previously asked the management to bring in new players after several key players suffered injuries.
It's impossible for Xabi Alonso to make major changes in a short time even though Real Madrid has managed to bring in several top players because next season will face more challenges in La Liga and the UCL.

Madrid's problem is about a club culture that literally monetizes chaos. Alonso's "adaptation period"? Fans pretend it exists, but one slip in the first few La Liga games and the Bernabeu's council meeting will be chaotic. Madrid's best runs (Zidane era), did not come from slow-building projects. They came from ruthless, adrenaline-fueled pressure, where even trophies were not always enough (just ask Del Bosque or Capello)

This summer is the classic "high spend hangover" setup: €167.5m net, a raft of new faces (Huijsen, Carreras, TAA, Mastantuono), and zero departures for cash. It is Madrid's history. After big squad churn, you get volatility, not instant glory. Add in the injury curse (seriously, Valdebebas?), and you get a perfect storm. The medical room is its own storm: head of medical sacked last year, Pintus the fitness chief now basically a Perez spy, and Bellingham literally going abroad for surgery

Tactically, Alonso is the opposite of what the club has been doing for years. He is all about system, pressing, data, drones hovering over training, while the last era was just "give the ball to the stars and pray". Integrating Mbappe and Vinicius (and their wage egos) into a hard-working press? Good luck. The guy actually tried to bench Vinicius for the PSG semi, but the only thing Madrid hates more than losing is benching a superstar