Post-Game Day: 04 September 2022

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, Kung_Fu_Zizou, Juninho, NeRObutBlanco and YoSnail.

Tchouaméni is making his case.

Tchouaméni is the only midfielder that started in all of our 4 games. In yesterday’s game, he continued to make his case and was nominated the MOTM. Marca’s cover stated: “The Bernabeu surrendered to the power of Tchouaméni.”

Mendy’s pass accuracy also impressed me: 100% (43 passes).

When Hazard and Asensio will play?

The squad has been reduced and we have 23 players. So far, Hazard and Asensio have not played. Again, this was a topic of the post-game press-conference; Carlo was asked when they will play:

Difficult to answer. I know that I can count on them. That is enough for me and I don’t how many minutes they will play. Every game has its own story and I’ve made changes to put energy in the center of the pitch. In the last minute, I’ve put Rüdiger to better protect against aerial balls. There was no need to put Hazard and Asensio and we were winning 2-1.

Their lack of minutes sounds more concerning (for them) because Ancelotti has repeated in many times that there will be rotations. He was asked if the defense that played vs Betis is the starting one.

It’s a defense that have been successful, but it clear they won’t play all games. We have Lucas Vazquez, Rüdiger, Nacho. So we have defenders with a lot of quality. These four [Carvajal, Militão, Alaba and Mendy] are more familiarized to play together, but if I put Rüdiger as right back or left back, the effectiveness of the defense does not change.

In fact, only two players have started and didn’t come off in all 4 games: Courtois and Benzema. Regarding that, Carlo repeated Benzema has potential replacements (Mariano, Hazard, Rodrygo, Asensio, Modric - noting that the croatian didn’t do well), but that Benzema will get proper rest, as Los Blancos will play on weekends and also in the middle of the upcoming two weeks.

The new dressing room.