Real Madrid survived the Roma test on Wednesday, but it did not come without its challenges and hurdles. Real Madrid were just about able to avoid another bad result when they went down 3-1 in the second half of the match. Kylian Mbappe scored the first equaliser, bringing them back into the game, and then Roma went up 3-1. It seemed like it was just going to be another bad performance and result for Real Madrid.
They ended up winning 4-3 after goals from Carlos Espi, Endrick, and Antonio Rüdiger, which was really good to see because that showed that there is some fight left in this team. However, there was one point about Real Madrid's style, man, Mbappe, that became more and more prominent as the game went on.
Kylian Mbappe has so much to learn from Raphinha and Donyell Malen
To be absolutely fair, this is not a new issue. It has been going on for a very long time, and Mbappé is simply not improving at it. We have seen wingers turn into strikers in the last couple of seasons and start adopting some of the mannerisms that strikers usually have. Raphinha at Barcelona is now playing as a striker for them, and he looks unrecognisable. The amount of movement he makes inside the box is so natural.
It is seriously impressive that a player who has played as a winger all his life is doing work as a striker just a few months after playing in that position for the first time.
Even Donyell Malen, who played against Real Madrid on Wednesday night, has not always been a striker. He used to be a winger back in the day, and ever since he has joined Roma, he has become their primary striker and source of goals. If you look at his movements, it is night and day compared to what Mbappé does, with and without the ball.
Malen already knows when to drop back and support. This Roma team: there were multiple instances where Roma were under pressure from Real Madrid, and Malen dropped back. Within just one or two passes, the team looked much more fluid because he knew what he was doing. In the attacking third of the pitch, he was making consistent runs to help his teammates as well as to create space for himself, and it looked like he had been playing in that position all his life.
With Mbappé, nothing like this is natural. He drops back sometimes and sometimes feels like he's only dropping back for the sake of doing it. He doesn't make enough runs behind the opposition's defence, despite being the fastest player on the pitch at all times. His link-up play is pretty mediocre, and it just goes to show that if you want to learn a few things about playing in the position you're playing in, it goes a long way
It is a choice, and Mbappé has continually decided to ignore that decision. He remains the player that he was a couple of years ago. Malen, Raphinha, and countless other players who have adopted the striker position look much more natural and fluid than Mbappé does, despite playing far fewer minutes in that position. It probably will never change, which is the worst thing about this situation. Hopefully, looking at Malen and Raphinha strikes a note in Mbappé's head: he simply needs to change his mannerisms and start playing like a striker if he wants to be one.
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