Xabi Alonso is ELITE | Football Fanatic

I love the Champions League. I think you guys have heard this from me, you heard it in the last video, but I just want to re-emphasize how much I love the Champions League and this week was no different, let's not forget the Europa League. I'm going to give the Europa League some love because I got a lot of takeaways from both competitions this week, including Venicius Junior's impact on this Real Madrid team. So great that they really need to kill Mbappé. Are you too hard on

football

ers? Nowadays, are you a little hard on

football

ers? Nowadays, the social media climate we live in and last but not least, is chabby Alonzo really a coach who can make it to the top?

Let's discuss that, let's start in Bavaria and I want to start. We start with the biggest team in all of European football, Real Madrid, and I want to start in particular with one player, Venicius Jr. We all saw well what he did in Germany and this is not something new with Venous Jr and that is why I wanted to talk about him today, this guy, we really need to talk about this guy as maybe the best player in the world. Forget about Erling Holland and killing Mbappé and Venicius in the lower level. I think this guy is right up there with them.

I think if you look at the performances he puts in with Real Madrid week after week in La Liga, but most important of all is the Champions League, it's three years in a row, three seasons in a row now that Venicius Jr has been performing at the highest level. . level for Real Madrid he did it in the final against Liverpool he did it in the home and away games against Man City he did it in the home and away games against Man City last season he did it in the home and away games back against Man City this season this guy is performing every time Real Madrid needs him and when Kareem Benzema was in and around the team and he was getting towards the end, he always felt that the next player to take him away was going to be Venicius Jr.

Forget it Forget about the headlines. everything you read in the papers says this is Jude Bellingham's team. Jude Bellingham is the best player on this team. This team needs Jude Bellingham. This team doesn't need Jude Bellingham. This team needs Venicius Jr. and it made me think that if you look at his performance. position in Bavaria, of course, Tony Cruz had a very important role to play in Real Madrid's draw against Bayern Munich, but it was great, like you look at someone like Killian Mbappé, who will come to the team next season and everyone we see Killian Mbappé like this.

Left right winger, he likes to occupy the left hand space and come in. He is not your typical number nine. He played that number nine role for PSG this week and looked out of it and I feel like if Kilan Mbappé comes in. On this team, where exactly is he going to play if he puts him in the number nine position? I don't think he's going to be as efficient as you'd like. I feel like he and Junior could get in each other's way. but at the same time you never know that they could help each other, they could actually improve each other's game.

Look at the way vanous and Rodrigo play with each other Rodrigo, who is actually a typical left winger, he said it himself, prefers to play on the left. On the other hand, Venicius and Rodrigo have one of the deadliest partnerships in all of Europe, so I'm not saying Venus' pairing with Killian Mbappé can't work, it probably can in a two-man formation, maybe not in a forehead. three but I feel that sometimes you don't want all the great players on the same team obviously Real Madrid is synonymous with galactico and that is what they want they want the big names they want the Big Brand they want the best players in the world because they are the most biggest on the planet, but I feel like if you look at the way Venous Jr plays, he's got the number seven for me, he's the franchise player, he's the franchise player, he's the main man and Modric leaves in the summer, which probably means that Mbappé is going to come in and Tak with that shirt with the number 10, but I don't know, there is something in that.

I look at the way Venicius plays on this team. I look at the way he behaves with this new generation. of Real Madrid players who enter the team bleeding into the team I don't think Kilan Mbappé can just come in and become the main player. I do not see it. I'm not sure if there will be an ego I don't know if that kind of thing is going to happen I doubt it I hope I don't think Carlo Andelot can keep that under control but obviously I hope that happens because I'm a Barcelona fan I hope that everything he does Real Madrid is falling apart, but from a football point of view, Venicius Jr is an absolute diamond footballer.

I mean, every time I see this guy, he's one of the few players on the planet that really gets me out of my seat, he's one of the last. players on the planet that I really enjoy watching week in and week out, he does something different unlike a lot of players nowadays, he's unpredictable, ictable, completely unpredictable, completely Dynamite, but I don't know, I look at how HBA plays, it's pretty similar, a Very similar type of footballer. I don't know if they'll be able to play with each other, but Kil and Buffy will inevitably join Real Madrid and I think at the end of the day they'll have to figure out how. that's going to work, maybe I could talk about it and try to think about it and maybe make a video about it in the future, let me know in the comments if that's something you'd like to see how vishou, killing and Baff could play. side by side, but it's something I was thinking about while watching the game.

I look at the positions Venicius takes and I feel like they are going to get in each other's way, surely they are going to get in each other's way. in the way of others, but maybe not, maybe angelotti has something, maybe he has a plan that I don't see, I'm just a simple casual fan, but I just look at the way Venicius plays football and I look at the way he K Mbapp plays football in spaces. They both operate the way they like to play the game, the way they both play the game. I don't see how they can both play on the same team and that's a dilemma that Real Madrid are probably happy to have because they are two of the best players on the planet talking about the best players on the planet.

I also wanted to talk about something I've noticed over the past week, obviously most of you who probably watch this video are on Twitter when I was on Twitter. Last week you saw the typical reactionary procedure of football fans all over Twitter, you see them in the way they criticize players and then come full circle the moment the player shows any hint of actually being a footballer professional. and I felt that if you look at the way this Champions League semi-final unfolded, the way Jayden Sanro showed his level, Kim and Jay had an absolute horror show or even the way someone like Jude Bellan, who It's been great all season, it was I'm really not up to it, people like Jamaal Musala really showed their Flor y vers level for lcus and they showed their Gran and Jaca level too and I was having this conversation with one of my teammates just a few weeks about some players who play for Chelsea Mao mudric and I think it was Callum Hudson adoy who recently also left Chelsea and the discussion was essentially about how bad some of these players were now of course this is something we as fans of football we are very used to doing. ridicule and criticize footballers for every little mistake they make and I feel like sometimes we forget how Elite these footballers are.

I mean, look at Kim and J, for example, this kid can't even be called a kid, he's in the prime of him, this guy was. in Napoli last season and he was the best centre-back in all of Europe and now he has come to Bayern Munich this season and he looks like a shadow of himself and I don't think it's a mere coincidence, I don't think Kim and J are automatically now just a defender garbage I don't think Kim and J are now just a bad player overnight. I feel like it made me think because we also talked about mudric, we talked about Anthony Al Langa and Callum Huton Adoy and how footballers need an environment. around him, this example, this was strengthened by Jayen Sancho's performance against PSG, he was the best player of the night.

I think he completed 11 shifts 11, the most any player has completed since I think Lionel Messi since 2008 in the Champions League. at least and you look at the way he played, we've never seen we've never seen Jayen Sancho at Manchester United in full. I think he's been there. Now, for 3 years, we have never seen Jayen play like this. and it's not automatically now that Jayden Sano is in Germany he's a good footballer that's not how it works that's not how football works you need an environment around you you need a coach who trusts you you need players who fit what you want If you look the way Jayden Sancho was played at Manchester United, you could say that the way he thought about football was completely different to how others around him thought, even the attitude of the player is also questioned, the player who I just met.

I talked in the previous segment about venicius Jr fast forward like rewind I would say 5 six years ago venicius Jr was completely written off everyone ridiculed him Kareem Bena even said don't pass him I don't know if that was True or not but there were jokes like that who said not to pass him, is playing against us, Venicius Jr, who is now possibly the three best players in the world. I feel like people, especially people online, on social media. I am a victim of this, I have done it myself, of ridiculed players who are

elite

footballers, professional footballers, you can't be a professional footballer and not be good at football, but the volatile things in football change so quickly that games are defined by such fine margins that I don't think it's fair to criticize footballers, I'm obviously from a generation where Messi and Ronaldo had fun with football week after week, year after year, these guys were the two best players of the planet, except for a few years. and when you have that expectation of what footballers are supposed to be, anything less than that looks like an absolute car crash, look at the way Jude Bellingham played against Bayern Munich.

He had a bad game the night when he wasn't really impactful for Real Madrid. but that's not the end of the world, this boy is 20 years old playing for Real Madrid in a Champions League semi-final. I think it's the first Champions League semi-final in his career. The first Champions League semi-final in his career playing for. the greatest team on the planet against Bayern Munich, a team he has never beaten in his career, it is not the end of the world if he does not achieve a performance of 10 out of 10, he is an all-time player, this kid still he's developing, he's still learning his create someone like Phil foodon we call him oh he can't he can't play without Kevin De bruyne Kevin De bruyne needs to hold his hand Phil Fon is 23 24 he's still a kid in football terms he's just getting there at its best I feel like the Mystique of football has disappeared now, we have so much access to football, whether it is football in our country or football in other leagues or different competitions.

We have so much access to football that we can now analyze. For everything footballers do there are databases that analyze statistics and show XG and well, these statistics are fine, but how about just enjoying football? How about understanding that a player can have flaws? A player can have five games that are really good and then 10 games. That is absolutely horrible, it does not mean that that player is an absolutely abhorrent footballer. Any of you who actually play football know that sometimes your performance is out of your control, you can try as hard as you want, but sometimes the game just happens.

You overlook, because there are 22 players on the field, you can't have an impact on the game every week and we can't hold some players to a certain standard over others just because those other players have been Elite for years. Messi and Ronaldo, for example, I feel that it is completely unfair and unfair that the coach has an impact when playing. The players around that player have an impact by playing moving to a new country and learning a new language, learning a new culture and adapting to a new team. That's a completely different thing you need to talk about, so I feel like I realized I was doing it myself and I've softened the blows recently and given the players a little bit of freedom.

I give them a little benefit. the doubt because these footballers are Elite as if any of you had ever had the opportunity to play with a professional footballer you would see that not even a professional a semi-professional footballer the difference between them and a casual footballer is night and day So I feel that we should criticize these professionals just because the margins at the top level are so tight. Watch the Real Madrid match against Bayern Munich, which is one of the most

elite

football matches I have ever seen. in a long margin of time look at the first goal if Kim and J do not commit to it Venicia Jr does not score that only an elite player does something like that only an elite player like Tony Cruz chooses that pass only oneelite player A player like Jamal Muala wins that penalty.

Only an elite player like Lio Ran reaches that position to score that goal. These players are not bad players. Some of them might be going through a rough patch. Some of them might be out of shape. They may just not be in the right state of mind. I say some of them may just not be in the right club, but some of them could be really bad footballers. I know, I just talked about it for a long time and how we shouldn't criticize, but some of them do. They're just not good footballers, how they got there.

I don't know how they became professional footballers. We have to ask ourselves that question, but most of them don't always mind green and I think we football fans use social media. In particular, we must give some of these players room to maneuver because not all players are going to be perfect, even the great ones we talk about all the time, Zlatan, Messi, Ronaldo, Bales, Neymar, Suárez, etc., had bad games, but there was a mystique around it because you didn't always see those bad games, you only saw the highlights, you only saw the peak, but now if a player has a bad performance, there is a compilation of failures from 5 to 10 minutes published on Twitter. 10 minutes after the match 10 minutes after the match I saw a failed compilation of 16 year old lamin ma when he went to depron park in the quarterfinals a 16 year old we are doing a failed compilation of 16 year olds now it's it's it's it it's embarrassing it's embarrassing it's frankly it's very disappointing and I think we need to give the footballers a bit of leeway we need to give them a bit of leeway because they're playing at the highest level and they're entertaining us so we need to appreciate what are doing because some of them are completely incredible footballers and criticizing them will only hurt them, not bring them out, so I think we need to take that out of football. take it out quick now, this last part of the video will essentially be like a brief tactical analysis of some things I noticed from chabby Alonzo's side against Roma, of course they came out victorious two to nil, Florian vert and robertt andri with the Two goals for Lusen , but there were a few things I noticed and I just wanted to talk to you about it.

I have my laptop up here and the first thing I really wanted to talk about is that Chabby Alonzo has been described like this. manager who is a disciple of pep is obviously being managed by pep the initial reaction of the media and many people is to call him a disciple of pep but I look at the way he prepared against Roma and the way he prepared against Daniel D rosi side and I feel like you can see elements of Josie Maruno, you can see elements of Carl Angelot, you can see elements of Rafa Bonitz in that pragmatism.

I feel like in a league setting, Pep Guarda is the best manager we've probably seen. But in a cup competition, your Rafa Benítez is your José Mourinho, your Carlo Angelotti, these coaches have shown that their setups could be better for a single knockout competition and that was shown because the kid Alonzo prepared his team, they normally do on a 343 but in this game it was like they were set up on a 343 but also a 352 Jeremy Frong was playing as a sort of right winger but also playing as a right back with Floran Vers and Adley being the two forwards but also being false nines and I don't think this was out of the ordinary.

I don't think this was just a chabby Alonzo rotation because he had Shik and Bonny Face on the bench and he didn't play either of them for the full 90 minutes. I feel like this was definitely done to give his team an advantage because his two fake NSs created a lot of confusion for Roma throughout the game. You look at the way they fell and created overloads for people like Grimaldo, for people like Andri, for people like ja Great jaka and the Roma themselves were set up in a 352 with romu Lukaku above, sorry, they were set up in a 442 and the way The way they were set up allowed them to have all the superiority in defense because they had three people behind Tas tapsoba and I think H Cape was the third central defender and usually that will always give Ro um lusen the advantage in the preparation phase , but also in midfield, if you look at the way they set up, Roma had a 442, but because lusen has five.

The men in midfield will always have that overload no matter where you go, whether in a tight space or on the other side of the field, they stretched the game, they had relative width but at the same time they were able to take out the position players Great Jaa was moving all over the field he and Andri were very close to each other throughout the game Grimaldo and frong were essentially doing whatever they wanted in this team because Gran Jaa was the field, he was the insurance policy for Grimaldo and he was allowed to bomb. striker whenever he considered it appropriate the chot that we see in this team Jeremy frong is not a typical right winger, he is not even the typical right back, I don't even know what this guy is, he plays where he wants and he does it in such a way.

At a high level, he moved positions depending on the situation skillfully and, as I said before, he always appeared in different spaces, always created confusion, always dragged centre-backs out of position, which then allowed people to get ahead of them and get into the spaces. Stanisich, who was a central defender or a right back in this game, was making runs again and again and that reinforced to me even though I have seen Lusen play in the Bundesliga, this team is not a possession crazy team. games in which they don't mind giving the ball to the opponent, of course, we saw it against Bayern Munich, we saw it against Dortmund, we saw it a few weeks ago against Stuttgart, they don't mind giving the ball away and playing in transitions . because when you have people like raldo verz and adley you can play like that, you invite pressure but then you create space when you receive the ball because then once you are able to move the ball fast enough you have a lot of space to move.

You have a lot of field to play in and I think it works well in a European landscape because in Europe you won't always have to touch the green, you won't always have control, especially away from home, and I think he acknowledged that the way they played last year against J Mourinho Roma was obviously a different coach but the same team and I think the chabby Alonzo learned from that we saw in his press conference interview at the press match he said they learned from last year's failures, that's a paraphrase. They learned from last year's failures and you saw that because they set up to stifle Roma's strengths and highlight their weaknesses, they played with a relative width that is essentially WID depending on where your opponent is rather than just stretching out.

In reality, the entire team played with a width that depended on where Roma's players were, which allowed them to create overloads wherever they were on the field because they had more midfielders than Roma. Paulo Dybala doesn't track, so they were essentially able to execute all four. However, in the midfield they wanted, they had overloads with the ball at many times and most of the players had the freedom to go wherever they saw space, although Lusen was the better team and it was a superior C Turvy game. Roma had their opportunities and I feel that is the most important thing: the European competition is so unpredictable, as we saw with Pep Guardiola a few years ago, you can't control what happens in Europe, so sometimes you have to give your team the better chance to win games and I felt like that's what he did.

I felt that they were as strong as all the German teams, we see it with Dortmund, we see it with Bayern Munich, so strong. So physical, they will run and run and run and always make every game a battle. They had a fair amount of darkness. Arts with the turnover and you know how to kick the ball out of play and all that, but you also know how to move the ball. I feel like all these things that I've talked about briefly now are summed up in his first and second goals the two goals of the night on the right and you look, you look at Lusen's first goal and we look at it here, we look at the way they play the ball, the ball is played up here, you want to stop it.

Right here, right there and Galo runs into that space and Le should never win that header, but the determination in this Leverkusen team is that they never give up and Grimaldo runs into that space and by making that run he is in a very well equipped position. applying pressure to the carbs or who then makes the inevitable mistake that leads to the first goal, you obviously know what happens from there, but that goal doesn't even happen unless Grimaldo makes that pressure, it doesn't even happen unless Galo really take steps to move on and say you know what this ball may not get, adley should never win that header against Chris Smalling, he should never do it, that's not a good deal that should exist, but he makes it happen and Galdo reaps the benefits and flourish.

Vers fast forwards 1n to the second target and this is the second target, right there. I was telling some of my friends and they asked me: what is this guy talking about? But this second goal is just Pro. This is Elite, this is just Elite, I'm not even going to talk much, let me show you and it starts with The defenders, look at the way they play, they receive the ball, they exploit it and like I said before . Andrick and Jaca are so close to each other moving constantly, but then ja Jaca receives the ball in such a nice position, but before we even get to that, before we get to Jaa receiving the ball in that space, how do you create that space? if you look closely and observe the movement of flori and vert and this is what I was talking about about moving to the right dragging the players in the position Rome plays with a 442 and when you play a 442 against a 352 you are finished, especially If you have two false nines you are completely outnumbered because your full backs are immobilized your wingers are not even going to be able to support you because you are outnumbered in the wide areas your striker is completely outnumbered your center backs are completely outnumbered depending on how you are pressing because both verts and adiy were pressing throughout the game, but that's not even this, the fact of this goal, this goal here, look at Floran in the verus position, he is taking a position that he is capable of, he is on the side Pigini's blood, just 442.

I talked about you having your right midfielder and your central midfielder pressing but as I said before Lusan has the numerical overload Jaca and Andri close to each other as always look Flor reverses the movement he moves towards the blind side de Pelini realizes the space once Galdo leaves that space he realizes the space he runs towards the space Grimaldo and see they see they understand verts he moves towards that space on the left that left wing position that Galdo normally occupies Galdo He enters and in the minute rhaka recognizes that every time he goes, he goes and Grimaldo has that space because Chris Ming has to continue, he has to continue and that is what happens at this level.

Elite soccer goals don't happen by themselves, goals happen because of mistakes, small mistakes that lead to goals. adley goes the moment he leaves, that space opens up completely for Grimaldo manini is not aware of that and to be honest I can't even blame him because Chris Smalling has been completely taken out of where he should be, he shouldn't be in that side. he should never be in that channel, he completely leaves all the space open through the center and Grimaldo leaves. Grimaldo enters that space and once Galo gets there we just see elite football of elite players playing the ball from the controls down and then our beautiful goal from Andric, but at first glance it's like oh wow, it's a goal amazing from andri and that's just that elite footballers are elite footballers, but no, this Chavi Alonzo team, they are a good team, they are in sync and I feel like he needs to stay in this team, he needs to stay in this team and it needs to keep working because I love Floran Verts.

I am a FL Invests booth. I'll tell you now, one of my favorite players on the planet and how to get in. what is used in this team the way all the players are used in this team there is a structure but there is also relational relationism as described by Anchel and there is a synchronization, everyone is synchronized so I think these players need to stay together angelotti sorry no angelotti Alonzo needs to keep this team together and he needs to keep building because what I saw against Roma now it is clear that Roma are not the best team in the world but they are not the best players either.

In the world, this Leverkusen team doesn't have the best players in the world, but look at the way they are playing and that's what I always said. In the previous segment I said that the coach has such an impact on the players that an average player can see. incredible with one coach and average with another, but I feel that chabby Alonzo's versatility to change his tactics and not be stubborn and learn from his mistakes that he learned from in the semi-finallast year against Roma. I think that's something that's going to take him right to the top but, of course, that's all for today.

Thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode of Football Fanatic and I'm actually very happy with everything I've discussed today. I think there is a lot to process. Let me know in the comments what you thought about everything they did. Do you think Killan Mbappe and Venicius Junr can play together? I generally think they can when you have two players that are that good, they can probably figure it out. They were too hard on the footballers in the current climate and last but not least, do you think that chabby Alonzo's team will do well?

To the top, do you think that this team, not even this team, this coach Is he capable of training the best teams in Europe? Let me know in much more, but thank you all very much and see you in the next one. take care