Since arriving at Real Madrid, manager Alvaro Arbeloa has played the role of the peacemaker to the point where he has come across more like a pushover stooge. Whenever the players perform terribly, he blames himself. He tries to hype everyone up and make them feel like they are the biggest star, even if they have been mediocre.
Yet behind the scenes, things are as bad, if not worse, than they were under Xabi Alonso, who was almost openly warring with some of the players. But now, the media leaks are making it clear that there is a contingent of disgruntled players who are displacing their own disappointment with their terrible displays onto the young manager. Meanwhile, Real are losing more games than ever.
Kylian Mbappe was once the media darling, but, now, the Spanish press are starting to tire of the forward just as much as many of the fans are, and they are, like the French, no longer treating the former PSG star with kid gloves.
Kylian Mbappe is a source of frustration
And neither is Alvaro Arbeloa. Like Luis Enrique, Arbeloa is beginning to publicly show his frustrations with Mbappe's lack of defensive effort. Everyone can plainly see he is hurting Real Madrid the same way he used to hold back PSG, who are now headed for a second straight Champions League Final without the 2018 World Cup winner in their front line.
Arbeloa cracked a bit at the last press conference around the Espanyol game in which he made a vague criticism about certain players hurting the team by not playing defensively or giving it their all, and media reports after the game murmured that players in the locker room are disappointed with Mbappe's lack of effort.
Now, it is French outlet L'Equipe, via the Madrid Zone, who report that Arbeloa actaully held an emergency meeting with Real Madrid players about how there are certain players who do not run enough and that this is largely responsible for how many matches the club are losing.
Although Arbeloa is talking about multiple players and there is definitely more than just Mbappe as an isolated problem at the team, it does not take a genius to figure out that Mbappe is absolutely one of those players he is calling out.
Real Madrid have looked better without Mbappe in the lineup, including this past weekend in a 2-0 win over Espanyol, and a huge part of that is that lack of defensive effort from him when he does play. Luis Enrique was convinced he could not win with Mbappe and that PSG would be better off without him. He was totally right. And now, Arbeloa, who knows he is getting fired anyway, isn't afraid to make it known to everyone that he feels the same about KM10.
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