On ESPN FC Live, Don Hutchison, Luis Miguel Echegaray and Mark Donaldson look at Real Madrid’s start to the season with their new superstar signing, Kylian Mbappe.

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35 Comments

  1. Guy said that Real Madrid still hasn’t gotten going and blamed the midfield. Yes they don’t have Toni Kroos but with all that talent up front they’ve been bang average. KM gets a C no more no less. 2 non-penalty goals in the league.

  2. You can't underestimate the difference without Kroos. You can add whichever forward you want, but when you lose a guy like Kroos, it makes no difference. He was the one who could put the ball into any space in the final third, quickly, and where it allows the forwards to hurt the opposition. This made is tough for the opposition to defend because they needed to cover the full width of the pitch. Now that threat has gone, it's much easier to just crowd the forwards.

  3. What's Hutchison even talking about. Camavinga and Tchouameni are defensive midfield players. That's not the problem. He's all over the place in what he's saying. He begins talking about Makalele and Casemiro – that type of player is already in the squad. They haven't lost that side. The problem with the galacticos was selling Makalele. In this instance the problem is Kroos' retirement – he wasn't a defensive midfield player. When he played as the lone pivot, he had his worst performances, City away 0-4 being the most obvious. Kroos played his best as an inside left, with Casemiro in the middle doing the defensive work. Then later he played in the double pivot, firstly with Valverde, which was an adaptation to injuries leaving them without a defensive midfielder. Modric isn't that player.

    Camavinga will be considered the best defensive midfielder in the world after the next few seasons. When you compare him to any midfielder you want, no one has better stats for defensive actions. Compare him last season to any of Rodri's best 2 seasons and you'll see Camavinga is better at that specific aspect.

  4. hahahaha… seriously this guy get "information" from The Chiringuito?????? what a "pro"… BTW Mbappe have 5 goals with 2 penalties gifts from the referees in LaLiga

  5. If you can think for yourself and not influence by the latest internet trend to overreact about his performance you would say B+ is a fair assessment

  6. Trying to save face from their earlier predictions and save the reputation of their golden calf.

    No way he gets a B+. More realistic is C or C+. B- at the very highest if you're being extra generous.

    His numbers don't look bad at first glance. But when you take away the penalties they begin to look very underwhelming. His overall play hasn't exactly lit up opponents either. A good chunk of the time he looks lost and isn't effecting games. B+ is almost an A- and Mbappe has been nowhere near that level. To claim he's anywhere close is a lie. Plain and simple. The expectations and narratives before the season began were that RM and Mbappe would shatter records and shatter the league. Instead grandpa Lewandowski has the same amount of non pen goals in the league as Mbappe, Vini Jr, Rodrygo, Valverde combined. Throw in Bellingham for good measure. Embarrassing.

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