The quiet, emotional moment of Bellingham on the field
You always see an image of Bellingham giving his all in thɾilling matches, always cheerful and friendly with the audience, but these are definitely moments you have never seen before
What changes will the departure of Toni Kroos mean for the team? Carlo Ancelotti was asked the day the German said goodbye to the Bernabéu. “That’s a good question. Let’s see, let’s see…” the Italian began. “On an environmental level, those who are here have to take on more responsibility. And on a technical level, ugh… [pause] We have to see, we have to see. We can think that it will be a more vertical style with footballers who have much more energy, but less playing time,” outlined the Madrid coach, aware of the complexity of the matter.
There is no area of the pitch where the transition has been cooked at a slower heat in the white team. The veterans have been leaving or losing prominence gradually, while the youngsters have been arriving and gaining more weight in a staggered manner. Casemiro left in 2022, Modric lost his starting position in the autumn of 2023 and Kroos retired in 2024. At the same time, Camavinga signed in 2021 for 31 million, Valverde reached the starting eleven in the spring of 22, Tchouameni cost 80 million in the summer of 2022 and Jude Bellingham arrived in 2023 in exchange for 103 million more, up to 30% in variables.
The four represent the club’s bet for this generational change in the midfield, a more physical quartet than their predecessors. In Lille they came together for the first time this season (not in their career), and their enormous difficulties in producing football by any means symbolized Madrid’s problems in chewing up the game or creating another model under the direction of Ancelotti in this new life without Kroos.
The fiasco in France confirmed the stagnation of the white midfield. Whether with three or four players, the creative output in these first two months has usually been flat, except for some flashes from Bellingham and waiting to see what impact Camavinga, who has been injured until now, can have. If he has not been able to run, a lane that almost everyone denies him, he has often been forced to a slow deployment, without a clear director and lacking intensity until the urgency has pressed him. Of his 22 goals in favor, only three have been achieved in the first half.
The warning in Las Palmas
After 11 games, the most basic statistics already record the hole in the wide area. While last season the three players who created the most chances were three midfielders (Kroos, Bellingham and Modric), this season it is two forwards and the most veteran midfielder (Vinicius, Modric and Rodrygo). And the same happens with the trio that makes the most passes in the final third: from Valverde, Kroos and Bellingham they have skipped Valverde, Vinicius and Rodrygo. Once again, two attackers, according to Opta, and the orphanage of the retired German, who still comes to the training ground from time to time. “There is also the that Carlo will tell me: ‘Now stay’,” he joked a few days ago in a podcast with tennis player Alexander Zverev.
The new scenario puts under the microscope the contribution of the young midfielders, who have gone from being Kroos’ gregarious (above all, Tchouameni, Camavinga and Valverde) to receiving a more leading role in the creation, and also Carletto’s work with them in Valdebebas. The Italian already tried out the same four from Lille at the start of last season: they were the starters in the pre-season classic in the United States, in the league opener at San Mamés and in Vigo, in accordance with the club’s intention to accelerate the generational transition in midfield. Kroos and Modric often started in the back room, until the coach concluded early and successfully that the German was his best piece to build the. The one who was sacrificed, when everyone was there, was Camavinga.
After seven weeks of competition, the problems of production in the centre of the field are repeated and the analysis of the Italian coach is cloned. “We are not fast in circulation, the ball reaches the forwards when the rival is closed”, he commented on 29 August in Las Palmas (1-1). “We have forwards who need a more vertical game than normal. If you reach them slowly it is a problem”, he said in Lille after an evening of very low rhythm. The bet on introducing a fourth midfielder in the last two matches has helped him to avoid defensive imbalances, his great complaint at the beginning of the season, but it has not contributed anything in the generation of.