So far, Real Madrid's season has gotten off to a somewhat interesting start. Real have taken six wins from seven and have had some standout individual performers so far this season, with players like Kylian Mbappe and Arda Guler being some of the top performers. However, the team has also looked somewhat disjointed and all over the place at times, making some of their six wins far from convincing as they should be.
The team has also had some players get off to slow starts, with Vinicius Junior being the most prominent. The Brazilian has only managed one goal and three assists through seven games and has looked like a shell of his former self. Jose Mourinho and his men have a massive clash with bitter rivals Atletico Madrid this weekend, and it goes without saying this is a must-win game for Los Blancos. In such a high-pressure game, big decisions need to be made to give the team the best chance at victory, which could come at the cost of Vinicius Junior.
Jose Mourinho needs to take this obvious Vinicius Junior decision if he wants to beat Atletico Madrid
While it may sound harsh to be singling out Vinicius Junior, his form so far this season has been too poor to just brush under the rug, and with a win needed against Atletico, the Brazilian could prove to be a liability. All of the other attackers have been performing well, with Kylian Mbappe already bagging seven goals, Guler a goal and two assists, Carlos Espi two goals, and Yan Diomande grabbing his first assist against Elche.
While Vinicius does have three assists to his name, his one goal is worrying given the sheer amount of easy chances he has failed to put away so far this season. He missed a wide-open tap-in in Real's 1-0 loss to Real Betis, two clear chances against Inter Milan in the Champions League, and three big chances against Elche that in previous seasons would have been sure-fire goals for the Brazilian.
Atletico is a team where chances are hard to come by, and, when they do come, you have to put them away, and Vinicius simply isn't doing that while the other attackers are. As a result from an outside perspective, starting the Brazilian on the bench could prove to be the right call from Jose Mourinho.
Using an attacking line with Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, and Arda Guler with Carlos Espi up top would bring a good balance to the attack, and would also give Mourinho the chance to bring Vini off the bench late into the game against tired legs should the attack not produce.
Leaving Vinicius on the bench in a big game like this is a massive call and could go horribly wrong, both on the pitch with the match result as well as off the pitch with how the Brazilian would take being benched. But as mentioned earlier, his poor form doesn't warrant him being an undisputed starter, and the club brought in Jose Mourinho to make big calls like this, whether the players like them or not.
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