When Xabi was sacked or even before he was sacked. I lamented that the players behaved like losers despite having shared the dressing room with class acts for years. I said this despite my criticism of Xabi and even finding nuance for the friction between Xabi and the players.I stand by all that. The players got a good manager sacked even if Xabi himself should have done better in his approach to the dressing room.If we win silverware many will see it as vindication against Xabi but for me, the players simply have zero excuses. Can’t go through managers when you should be winning trophies.Couldn't describe it better myself KFZ.For me, I've criticised Xabi a lot throughout the past season, and his approach towards the dressing room was most probably flawed. Not as in incorrect in general, but not suited to the Real Madrid dressing room IMO. Also there were fundamental flaws in his in-game changes as well as lineups.My problem has been with broadly 2 things:1) that we didn't give him enough time to succeed. Not that we were performing brilliantly in the past few games or anything, but if winning is all that mattered at this club, as was repeated countless times, then he should've gotten a fair chance to finish the season especially when no clear replacement was in sight and we were still in contention for all 3 major trophies. For me, this represents that there is something else behind the decisions being taken by the board, and a coherent sporting project doesn't seem to be part of it.2) The player attitudes and the handling by the board. I often might've seemed hyperfixated on Vini in that regard, but for me, he was the perfect representation of my problems with the team's attitudes. How do you not put in effort for the team even when you're underperforming? How do you throw a public tantrum, when we're winning against our biggest rivals, and then exclude the manager from your apology? How do you require constant praise to put in the bare minimum effort for the team?And here's where the board comes in, with their lack of action and clarity. Why is correct action not taken on a public tantrum by a player? Why is discipline not enforced, irrespective of whether the manager is Xabi, Carlo, Arby etc? How do you let 3 or 4 players dictate the entire functioning of this club?And this is where Arbeloa comes in. He was able to conquer the players' minds and now they do put in effort. This, combined with some tactical inputs as well as players returning from injury has helped our recent performances, and he definitely deserves a LOT of credit if he's able to guide us to silverware this season.But here's where we get carried away. Winning will not improve the underlying problems and cultural issues at our club. What if tomorrow, Arbeloa loses 3 or 4 games in a row? Will the players just give up like they did with Carlo and Xabi? And will the board support this? Do we have to ride a rollercoaster every 1 or 2 seasons, that we go up, win, and eventually come crashing down?

0

When Xabi was sacked or even before he was sacked. I lamented that the players behaved like losers despite having shared the dressing room with class acts for years. I said this despite my criticism of Xabi and even finding nuance for the friction between Xabi and the players.I stand by all that. The players got a good manager sacked even if Xabi himself should have done better in his approach to the dressing room.If we win silverware many will see it as vindication against Xabi but for me, the players simply have zero excuses. Can’t go through managers when you should be winning trophies.Couldn't describe it better myself KFZ.For me, I've criticised Xabi a lot throughout the past season, and his approach towards the dressing room was most probably flawed. Not as in incorrect in general, but not suited to the Real Madrid dressing room IMO. Also there were fundamental flaws in his in-game changes as well as lineups.My problem has been with broadly 2 things:1) that we didn't give him enough time to succeed. Not that we were performing brilliantly in the past few games or anything, but if winning is all that mattered at this club, as was repeated countless times, then he should've gotten a fair chance to finish the season especially when no clear replacement was in sight and we were still in contention for all 3 major trophies. For me, this represents that there is something else behind the decisions being taken by the board, and a coherent sporting project doesn't seem to be part of it.2) The player attitudes and the handling by the board. I often might've seemed hyperfixated on Vini in that regard, but for me, he was the perfect representation of my problems with the team's attitudes. How do you not put in effort for the team even when you're underperforming? How do you throw a public tantrum, when we're winning against our biggest rivals, and then exclude the manager from your apology? How do you require constant praise to put in the bare minimum effort for the team?And here's where the board comes in, with their lack of action and clarity. Why is correct action not taken on a public tantrum by a player? Why is discipline not enforced, irrespective of whether the manager is Xabi, Carlo, Arby etc? How do you let 3 or 4 players dictate the entire functioning of this club?And this is where Arbeloa comes in. He was able to conquer the players' minds and now they do put in effort. This, combined with some tactical inputs as well as players returning from injury has helped our recent performances, and he definitely deserves a LOT of credit if he's able to guide us to silverware this season.But here's where we get carried away. Winning will not improve the underlying problems and cultural issues at our club. What if tomorrow, Arbeloa loses 3 or 4 games in a row? Will the players just give up like they did with Carlo and Xabi? And will the board support this? Do we have to ride a rollercoaster every 1 or 2 seasons, that we go up, win, and eventually come crashing down?

0