Quote (ampoo @ 29 Oct 2018 22:10)
The problem is much higher up tbh. He got none of the players he asked for. The team under him has played better than under Zidane for the most part... in El Clásico we had so many shots and yet we got destroyed 5-1... we have no one that can consistently get it in.
My biggest disappointment under Lopetegui was how he eventually bent over to Florentino and subbed Keylor, who was still performing well enough to remain as the starting option. The downfall kind of started there. And I'm not blaming it on Courtois or saying that we would have done better if Keylor was in goal, but that sudden and unwarranted change in opinion pretty much gave an impression of insecurity from Lopetegui, and that did imo hurt the team's mentality.
There are other factors that have hurt us... the WC has left several players like Marcelo, Varane and Modric exhausted. It's especially worrying in the croat's case, because he plays such a key role for us... when he's under 80% the team struggles big time. This is why Lopetegui was so adamant on keeping Kovacic... Luka seriously needs a break, but there are no options available. Under Zizou he would rest a lot, but now he's playing far more minutes than ever (literally ever Liga and CL game), and this is right after a long and exhausting WC run.
Hope it all goes well under Solari. I always liked him as a player, so I hope he works out as a manager... hopefully Florentino will have patience with him. But I have to say, I'm not confident, especially in the long term, because Florentino keeps weakening the squad season after season.