"Saving" Mbappe, Real Madrid's task must be completed

The reporter reported coldly For Real Madrid, this is not the performance of a star who has spent more than 100 million euros, and Mbappe, who is worth 180 million euros, is completely lost in Madrid. On November 29, the cover headline of the French newspaper "Team Daily" prominently wrote "Save the Player Mbappe", alluding to the classic Hollywood World War II movie "Saving Private Ryan", which was intended to emphasize the seriousness of Mbappe's sluggish state. This is the task that Real Madrid president Florentino, who has been bent on bringing in Mbappe at great expense this summer, must complete. Real Madrid never wants Hazard's nightmare to happen again, but it is obviously not easy to save Mbappe.

Compared to the era of Grand Paris, Mbappe has a huge disparity: only 5% of shots on goal in the Champions League this season, the lowest in nine Champions League seasons in his career. Previously, they were at least 14% (2018/19) and as high as 35% (2016/17). Mbappe averaged more than 0.66 goals per game in the Champions League before this season, but only scored one goal in five Champions League games with Real Madrid, an average of 0.2 goals per game, a sharp drop of more than 60%. In the Champions League this season, Mbappe has averaged less than 9 kilometres per game, the fewest of any Real Madrid non-goalkeeper player. The explosiveness and balance in the game are also significantly lower than during the Grand Paris period. Mbappe, who was known for his lightness and agility at his peak, is now unresponsive, heavy-footed, and lacks self-confidence, giving the impression that he is prone to falling into a state of self-abandonment.

In the Champions League away to Liverpool, Mbappe only had a 50% success rate in the left winger position (3 successful dribbles out of 6 times). The pass completion rate was only 75 per cent, and the number of times the ball was lost was as high as 15. And almost never involved in defence, Liverpool scored two goals against Real Madrid, with Mbappe just around the starting point. If he had intervened a little, the outcome could have been very different. Not only on the pitch, but also in the media at half-time, Mbappe tried to communicate with Bellingham but was ignored, and was left alone with his back to the wall, outside of the heated discussions and cheering each other on the back of the wall. After the game, Mbappe once again did not leave the pitch with his teammates and returned directly to the dressing room alone, which caused the dissatisfaction of some die-hard Real Madrid fans.

Like Mbappe, the French legend Roten, who has played for Monaco and Grand Paris, is very extreme, and bluntly said that Mbappe has become an "ordinary player". In his opinion, Mbappe is suffering from serious problems mentally, technically and physically, and his training routine, his dedication to the game and his communication with the outside world have changed dramatically. Real Madrid legend Mijatovic pointed out that since not renewing his contract with Paris last year, Mbappe has experienced too many things: a salary lawsuit with his former club, a broken nose, a European Cup failure, changes in his relationship with the French Football Federation and Deschamps, political pressure to refuse to participate in the Paris Olympics, a Swedish sexual assault scandal, and a slump in Real Madrid, his psychological capacity has reached the limit.

Le Parisien journalist François David revealed that Mbappe is in a state of depression and the team is already looking for a specialist for psychotherapy. Previously, the newspaper interviewed people close to Mbappe, who confirmed that Mbappe had been depressed for several months. Originally, people thought that the problems he faced in France would be solved in Madrid, but they did not expect that they would become more and more serious. Mbappe's refusal to pay 55 million euros in arrears has been affecting Mbappe's mind, coupled with the sexual assault scandal that broke out on a holiday in Sweden in October, there is still no clear judicial conclusion. At Real Madrid, he experienced not playing in an unfamiliar position, it was difficult to fit into the dressing room and the relationship with the media and fans was indifferent, almost all of which was negative energy, which made Mbappe unable to maintain his previous concentration.

In addition to Mbappe's team looking for a psychiatrist's "self-help", "Daily Sport" revealed that Real Madrid also asked Zidane for help, hoping that he could have in-depth exchanges with Mbappe for one-on-one "counseling" to help Mbappe get back into shape. Zidane can be regarded as Mbappe's Bole, and when he was still in the Monaco youth team, Real Madrid was introduced to this superstar "Jade". Zidane is also an important intermediary for Mbappe to join Real Madrid, and also attended Mbappe's debut at the Bernabeu. Moreover, when Zidane joined Real Madrid from Juventus 23 years ago, he also experienced a "painful" run-in period, and he had experience in how to get through the run-in period.

Of course, the core issue is to eliminate Mbappe's tactical position dilemma on the pitch. A coach who has coached Mbappe told the newspaper that Real Madrid did not allow Mbappe to play with speed and explosiveness in the position he is good at like Paris. Mbappe was able to play well on the left flank, but at Real Madrid he spent most of his time in the number nine position and lost space to break through. Unlike Neymar and Verratti in Paris, as well as Antoine Griezmann in France, Real Madrid currently do not have a creative midfielder to provide enough firepower for Mbappe. The anonymous coach stressed that having Mbappe in his familiar tactical position, providing him with adequate firepower, is essential for Mbappe to replicate his success in Grand Paris.

In the end, the ball that saved Mbappe was kicked at the feet of Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian coach must find a tactical formation that will allow Mbappe to get the most out of it as soon as possible, which could mean that Real Madrid's "Mr. 100 million" will have to be sacrificed in front of him. 9 years ago, Ancelotti was also in an unfavorable situation full of injuries, failed to activate J Ronaldo and left, will history repeat itself this time?