NO REPRIEVE FOR XABI ALONSO
Heading into Wednesday night's clash with Manchester City, the position of the Real Madrid manager as head coach appeared as up in the air as a Spanish omelette being flipped. Only a handful of matches into his reign, the only major stain on the 44-year-old’s copybook was an unacceptable 5-2 hammering against their city rivals. But, from the beginning of November, Madrid have only won three in nine, with arguably their worst performances being stalemates with supposed Spanish league lesser teams, and ending with a embarrassing loss at the Bernabéu at the hands of the Galician side.
In Europe's Bigger Cup, they still look set to secure an all-important top eight spot even after their loss at the hands of City, a loss that was met with shrill whistles of disapproval from demanding fans that had witnessed their knack-ravaged team play reasonably well.
"If you fail to win at home such a reaction is possible," admitted the coach of the reaction from the notoriously demanding crowd. "We persevered, we fought until the end and with all the difficulties we are facing [with injuries] everyone left it all on the pitch. For this match there is nothing to fault. The results over the past two months haven’t been good, not up to our standards. We’re self-critical, but must continue working and believing it will pass."
Despite rumours the club's high-profile stars have little or no truck with Alonso's demands for tactical drills, sit through lengthy analysis sessions and compulsory evening classes about the economics of fishing in Galicia, there was plenty of public backing for the under-pressure manager.
After netting the first goal, Rodrygo slapped hands with his manager by the sideline, with both the goalkeeper and Jude Bellingham provided supportive post-game comments to the media. "The boss has been excellent," tooted Bellingham, in an act of unedifying sycophancy he could try repeating next time he’s on England duty. "I’ve personally got a great relationship with him, a lot of the guys do as well. Following our initial spell when we had some draws, we held productive talks within the group. Recently, we have simply not been good enough again. But no one is giving up, no one is grumbling or whining, believing our campaign is finished."
Although it might be unheard of for any British publication to distort what Bellingham says to suit some weird agenda, one might suggest that by saying many of his colleagues get on with Alonso, he was tacitly implying that quite a few others don’t. Vinícius Júnior has evidently had disagreements with his boss and he is said to have told the club's hierarchy he will not ink a contract extension while Alonso is the coach. It makes you think what the Brazilian made of Thursday morning’s Spanish press, which gave Alonso a free pass for the loss while laying the blame squarely at the forward's missed chances.
STATEMENT OF THE DAY
"Freedom of expression and the right to privacy are fundamental rights. No supporter surrenders those rights simply because they travel abroad. This policy creates an intimidating environment of monitoring which goes against the inclusive ethos the [Geopolitics] World Cup is supposed to represent and it must be withdrawn at once" – Ronan Evain, the head of a fan organization, condemns the Trump regime’s plan requiring fans travelling to the United States for the World Cup to disclose information about their social media disgrace accounts.
