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PAUL POLO
Updated
Kylian Mbappe lives a complicated situation. It has been less effective for a year now. They are appraisals of one’s own Didier Deschamps during a relaxed interview in which he addressed with Lizarazu for TF1 the problems that players today have to face compared to those of his time: the calendar, social networks or pressure affect the physical and also the mental level. Although at that moment the talk was more generic, when it was time to stick to Mbappé, the coach, who is not comfortable talking about the reasons for the dismissal, also got involved in the fact that Kylian is playing as a number 9 for his club and national team. and this could harm you: “He has been less effective in 2024, but I see no reason to think that he will not return to his level. He is going through a delicate moment, but he has everything to return. He can play in several positions and, although you are going to tell me I’m crazy for putting him as a center forward, with his last two coaches in his club (Luis Enrique and Ancelotti) He has also played as a center forward.”
The reality is that Mbappé’s decline, beyond his physical condition and the fact that he has changed clubs and needs an adaptation process, also coincides with his position as more of a reference. Karim Benzema In his interview in El Chiringuito, he was the most forceful in this sense when analyzing his role in Madrid and the fact that he is not at his level: “For me, the problem is that he is not a center forward. Mbappé is not. Every time he plays with the ‘9’ team it is not good. It’s not your position. But the problem is that on the left there is a boy who is like him. At the same level, Vinicius. Then there is a problem… You will have to get it into your head that it is a 9”.
The French striker completed the second session of the week, which started with 45 minutes in the gym and ended with a series of games on a small field and shots on goal.
Deschamps, for his part, has followed Mbappé’s adaptation with Ancelotti. “It is clear that he does not have the profile of Olivier Giroud, then it depends on the opponent you face. It is clear that he has more preference for the left side, even the right one, where I have seen him perform in the last few games with Madrid. Then it is a question of balance and giving freedom to the players.” As the France coach says, Kylian has been seen a little more on the right and, without going any further, his assist against Dortmund for Rüdiger’s shot comes from a good play on that side.
You’re going to tell me that I’m crazy because he plays as a 9, but with his last two coaches he has played in this position
Didier Deschamps
Sentenced to play as a 9?
The truth is that both in France and in Madrid, Kylian seems destined to assume that he will be the 9. Giroud has already retired and there are no forwards like him in the group. Kolo Muani is not, nor is Marcus Thuram and almost always the coach has preferred the Madrid player as a reference, also to save him defensive efforts in the Euro, where he was no longer going through his best moment. Something similar happens at Real Madrid with the departure of Joselu, who was also not a starter, and before with Karim Benzema. The other 9 is Endrickbut the problem has already been explained by Benzema: to put another 9 and throw Mbappé to the left you have to move Vinicius. However, the Real Madrid coach already said it even last season, before Mbappé’s arrival was confirmed, and he confirmed it again in preseason: “He has played more in that area and will continue to do so,” he commented in August.
What Ancelotti asks of him: Benzema’s role
Mbappé has entered a slump at Real Madrid as his numbers show. He hasn’t seen the net in four games: two in the League and the last two in the Champions League.. Since his absence in the derby due to an injury on September 29 and agreeing with Deschamps not to attend the two games last October to recover, he has scored only one goal, against Celta. And before the derby he seemed to have woken up, with five goals and one assist in four league games. That rest certainly did not have the desired effect. His controversial trip to Stockholm, although he had permission like the rest of Ancelotti’s group without international commitments, was not well regarded by some French media and fans as he did not respond to Deschamps’ call.
But it seems that Mbappé will have to emerge as a 9 unless Carletto looks for another solution before facing the Leganes and then to Liverpool at Anfield. However, he explained his initial idea very recently, when they asked him if he was also going to ask him to defend, in line with the private conversation that appears in Luis Enrique’s documentary in which the coach asks him that he has to defend like Jordan to be the best: “Let him score. I prefer him to score goals rather than press. The center forward position has not changed much. I ask him the same thing that I asked Benzema. Position yourself well to be ready.”
Duel of stars: Mbappe and Hazard face off at the Carlos Sainz Karting… Who won? The former footballer and the Real Madrid player starred in an unexpected and exciting duel in karting.
A problem that comes from afar
Mbappé has accepted his role as number 9 with much more diplomacy than in previous years. Your complaint in October 2022 with Galtier, then PSG coach, raised some controversy, when the forward recognized that with France he felt more comfortable having Giroud of 9: “I play differently with France. They ask me to do different things here than at PSG. Here I have much more freedom. The coach knows that we have Giroud as a 9 who sets the defenses and I can go into space. In Paris it is different, that does not exist. “They ask me to play center and it’s different.” On his networks, after a draw against Reims, he posted a photo of the match with the following: “Draw #estoesparis #pivotgang.” The last one can be translated as the band of pivots.
