🚨 Vini Jr. gets 4-game ban & will miss El Clasico 🚨 + Real Madrid's comeback win REACTION | ESPN FC
Vini Jr.'s four-game ban and Real Madrid's chaotic comeback win over Roma
The ESPN FC panel reacts to Real Madrid's 4-3 comeback against Roma and Vini Jr.'s four-game suspension. The consensus is that Madrid were poor and mainly won through set pieces, while Vini's ban could force Mourinho into a decision that may help the team.
- Real Madrid were poor despite the 4-3 comeback and won mainly through set pieces. — At 3-1 they had no patterns, no combinations and a disorganized back line; Roma's strange substitutions helped break up the game.
- Mourinho can take from the game that his side has the mentality and character to fight back and believe in a turnaround; Roma's set-piece collapse was unforgivable. — Roma were 3-1 up and in control, yet gave the game away from set pieces, which is normally an Italian strength; not protecting the posts and crowding the box did not help, and it will hurt them.
- That first-half-was-my-fault, second-half-was-the-players line is classic Mourinho, designed to keep the players on his side. — By taking the blame first and then giving them credit for the comeback, he can strengthen his support in the dressing room.
- Real Madrid's problem was a missing midfield: no pressure on the ball and no connection between the back line and midfield. — On Roma's third goal, Soule had all the time and space to play the through ball with nobody near him, and that disconnect ran through the whole match.
- Vini Jr. was poor again, Real Madrid were better without him, and that leaves Mourinho with a major decision. — Vini struggled and was taken off, after which Madrid improved.
- Mourinho was rehired to make Madrid solid and organized first, but that has not happened; he must find a midfield and back line with balance before Sevilla. — Against Valencia they offered little going forward, while Roma are stronger and Gasperini loves attacking football; there are more questions than answers about the best balance.
- Vini Jr.'s four-game ban is fair and matches the incidents. — The hair pull alone was terrible and warranted at least two games; his aggressive reaction toward the referee was unacceptable, with Rudiger having to step in, so four games is acceptable.
- The bigger decision for Mourinho is what happens if Madrid look better and go on a run without Vini Jr. — Vini's absence gives other attackers a chance; if the team is more organized and winning while he is struggling, Mourinho will have to choose.
- Mourinho may privately be pleased by the four-game ban because it takes the decision out of his hands; Madrid will be better without Vini, more organized, disciplined and structured. — Vini was ineffective on the left, through the middle and on the right, gave the ball away and was substituted; Mourinho can now give clearer instructions to his replacement.
- Mourinho's complaint that Vini learned of the ban an hour before the match is a deflection and a victim narrative. — It shifts attention away from Vini's poor form and the team's poor performances toward La Liga being against Madrid; but Real Madrid are not victims and should not play that role.
Stewart Robson, Jurgen Klinsmann, Ale Moreno and Craig Burley join Kay Murray to react to Real Madrid's 4-3 comeback win over Roma City in the Champions League. The crew also reacts to Vinicius Junior receiving a 4-game ban after receiving a red card in their win over Villarreal. ✔️ Subscribe to ESPN Unlimited: https://plus.espn.com/ ESPN ESPNFC
Transcript
Real Madrid getting the win. 4-3. It would finish for them. St. Robson and Jurgen Klinsman still with us after this one. Real Madrid with a comeback win. Robbo, are you surprised to see that? I was surprised because at 3-1 they were an absolute shambles. There was no patterns of play. They had no combination. They were disjointed. There were switches of play where they couldn't get out to the wide players. the back line as you saw for the the the third goal all over the place. They were in big big trouble. He made lots of substitutions. He just threw players on. Uh Guer played a lot better. End gave him a bit of pace and he he obviously won a couple of headers, but overall Real Madrid didn't play particularly well. This was another poor Real Madrid performance. It was the set plays that got them back in and Roma made some strange decisions on their substitutions. They were dominating the game. They made lots of substitutions. the the game became disjointed uh and and really Real Madrid just won because they were better at set plays. They didn't play well. That wasn't a great performance from Jose Mourinho and his men. >> What will Jose Mourinho take from it though, Jurgen? >> Well, that they have the right mentality to the character to fight back to to use these few opportunities from the set pieces and to believe in a in a turnaround. And for for his Roma, it's uh uh I mean they they I I cannot imagine how you as a player, you know, playing against Real Madrid and having everything under control, leading comfortably and uh and you give that game away through set pieces, which is an Italian specialty, they are usually unbeatable in set pieces. I I cannot imagine them sleeping tonight. uh not Gasparini and not not the players because I mean how many times in your life you play Real Madrid and you're up 3-1 and you have them absolutely under control and uh yeah that's devastating and and the the way they gave those goals away makes me furious as a as a coach because uh you look at the the corner kicks and you have obviously nowadays the goalkeepers come or I don't know maybe it's the setpiece coach now they call them setpiece coaches um and say we don't want to have anybody on in the first post and then the second post either, you know, so they don't protect both posts and uh they put the the players then in the middle of the scramble there in front of the goal and and even if you have two men more in the six yard box, doesn't mean that you get that ball, but if you have two on the post, you might have a bigger possibility to kick the ball out of the out of the danger zone. And so they gave this uh this game away in in in a way which is really as I said it's so not Italian and it will it will hurt them. It will hurt them. >> Set peace coaches. >> I said Stevie squirming in his seat watching at home right now. Jose Mourinho has been speaking after the game. He said the first >> I'm not finished. >> Go ahead. >> I'm going to go on a 10-minute rant about set peace coaches. No, carry on. >> So Jose Mourinho has said the first half was my fault. The second half was down to the players, not me. >> Oh, this is this is so Mourinho. So, Mourinho, I'll I'll take the blame. And then when it becomes great, it is the players because you want the players on your side. Stewie mentioned a word there that I think really described Real Madrid today, even in the second half, disjointed. And a good example of that is a third goal by Roma. When Soule gets the ball and he's about to play through Don Madden, while we can focus on the back line and how disorganized they are, what I would ask is a very big basic question. Sulle has all sorts of time and space. Where oh where I know this is a novel idea where's the midfield, where's the pressure on the ball? Where's this structure that is supposed to have players around the ball who when you have an attacking player in the final third or approaching the final third who's about to play a through ball, there's nobody anywhere near him. And while the back line is all over the place, there is no connection to the midfield. There was no midfield presence. And you can make that same analysis throughout the course of the match for this game about Real Madrid. Now as it pertains to the result itself is something that Jose Mourinho can build upon that the players can build upon. You can sort of sleep easy and kind of cuddle under the cover and under the blanket of this is Real Madrid in a Champions League night. This is what they do. This is how they come back. They have to get better than what they were today. And in speaking of getting better, Vinnie Jr. who has been in the news for all the wrong reasons about Real Madrid today was poor again was taken off the field and Real Madrid were better without him on the field. That's another big decision coming up for Jose Mourinho. >> I thought one part of the the part of the allure of rehiring Mourinho was to give them at the very basic something solid, something organized and then to go from there. We're not really seeing that at all in any of the games. I mean Val at the weekend you you could have been disorganized. They wouldn't have scored because they offered really very very little going forward. But Roma have got a bit more about them. They're unbeaten ser in third place. Gaspirini loves attacking football. So they'll always try these these little moves. And we saw how often Daniel Maling get in tonight. Now he's got a couple of weeks and he's got a match against Sevilla in between in terms of in in La Liga. He's got another Champions League game, but he's got a match against Sevilla to figure out a midfield and a backline that's going to have some solidity about it when it goes to the camp now. And at this moment in time, I think he's scratching his head. And every time he looks at a video of previous games, there's more questions than answers about personnel. So there's a the result is one thing and that's great for them and you can never you can never sort of overcriticize a comeback as much as Roma shot themselves in the foot but there's so much work still to be done in this Real Madrid camp to get to be to be where they need to be. Not just in terms of what's the best attacking balance but what's the best balance in midfield to have somebody in there that can pass the ball and defend. And then what's the best balance in the back four between the fullbacks and the center backs? We're we're we're not a lot closer to finding that out as we were at the start of the season. >> Yeah. One decision that's going to be made for him unless their appeal is successful is no Vinnie Jr. for the classic because before the game we heard that he had received his punishment which is a 4-ame ban after he was sent off for this hair pulling incident against Viel on Nathan Culliba at the weekend. So it's a minimum two game suspension for the hairful and a further two game ban for the conduct after the red card towards the referee deedro dias. So that's what it's looking like now. Real Madrid will appeal. However, if this stands, these are the games that he will miss. It's Sevilla at home. Classico at Barcelona at the camp now on the 25th of October. Rasing Santandere away and Valencia away right now. So, that's one decision that's been made for him. Four games. Does the punishment match the incident? >> Well, he hasn't played well anyway, but that's another story. Do you know something? When I first heard this come out earlier today, I thought, well, that's a bit harsh. And the more I think about it, I don't because the more I see the hairpool, okay, is is terrible. So, I get two games for that. Can't do it. And then I thought, well, maybe maybe it's a bit harsh. But then you see that reaction and you cannot have that reaction to a referee in any league basically in any sport that aggressive nature when you don't like a decision. You're trying to get in his face. You're screaming and shout of him and Tony Rudiger has to come in and basically block it off. So when you look when I think when you look at it a little closer that reaction was a not warranted and was b over the top. So for those reasons, I'm okay with four games. >> When Antonio Rudiger has to be the voice of reason in a conflict, you know, you know you're in trouble. You know, you're you're completely in the wrong if you're Vinnie Jr. Now, I mentioned earlier that uh Jose Mourinho has big decisions to make. And I what I was referring to is not so much obviously Vinnie is not going to play, but what does he do with the team? because in going back to the organization of this group now he has a chance to set up the team in a way that it looks more organized and it also gives opportunities to other attacking players that haven't been able to play say for example a guy like Andre who's a different profile player but what if what if this team actually looks better without Vinnie on the field and that's the bigger decision because at some point Vinnie Jr. is going to come back. But what if this thing goes on a run and they look good doing it and he hasn't been playing well? What do you do then? That's when Jose Mourinho has to make the big decision. >> Stuart, what do you think of this? Vinnie Junior missing for the classicalico. What will that mean? Will he be a miss for Jose Mourinho or is this a chance to do what Ali's saying here? >> He wouldn't say it, but I bet Jose Mourinho was quite pleased that he got four games because as he said, it takes the decision away from him because he hasn't been good enough. He tried to change him today. He had him on the left wing to start with. He wasn't playing particularly well. He put him into the middle to try and he put Diamandi out to the left hand side. He then gave the ball away then he took him off. He gave the ball away when he was in the right hand side for the first uh chance of the game. So he's not played well. It's a problem for Mourinho. It's a problem for Real Madrid. And uh I think they will be a better team without him. They'll be more organized. They'll be more disciplined. There'll be more structure. And then he can set tell Diamandi exactly what he wants from him. I do just want to mention what Jose Mourinho said about Vinnie's ban after the game tonight. Right. >> He said, "Do you think it's normal for a player of a Spanish club to receive information about a four match ban one hour before the match? Is this normal? Could they do it now or tomorrow morning? Did he really have to learn about it on the bus? They are shameless. Things are out in the open now. They are no longer hiding. They tried to kill the player mentally an hour before the game. Why? This is a Spanish team. Why try to hurt him? We're deflecting again. This is captain defleto again. It drives the conversation away from the fact that Vinnie Jr. hasn't been playing well and that this team hasn't been playing well and it now deflects the attention on well this La Liga is against us. Teas is against us. It's now out in the open that they're all against us. and then create this sort of victim role that believe me when I tell you Real Madrid are not the victims, have never been the victims and will never be the victims in La Liga. Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho are much better than playing the victim role. >> Yeah, more La Liga on the way this weekend. Make sure to check it out. But Craig, they've made this for you. Teams to repeat in European Cup history. you know for the historian that you are >> Real Madrid by remember 7072 >> or 7375 >> or 2015 17 >> 17 hey set peace coaches >> let's get on to that one 90 minutes on that Real Madrid against Sevilla coming up on Sunday 2:30 p.m. East will also be available on ABC Barcelona ROA at Betty's East on Saturday.