Jose Mourinho just ended a major misconception about Kylian Mbappe
Jose Mourinho praised Kylian Mbappe for how he helped the team create chances by dropping deep and linking up with his teammates after Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Wednesday.
Mbappe was the protagonist as he scored a brilliant hat-trick, but his performance had a lot more to it than just the goals. Mbappe looked quite solid on the ball, and his passing was also pretty good.
In the moments where Real Madrid were struggling to create goal-scoring opportunities, he dropped deep and linked up with his teammates, particularly for his second goal of the night, as well as some other opportunities where he set other players up.
Mourinho was clear to mention that, because these are the things that do not get highlighted about Mbappe in the media.
He said: “I always say that in my career I’ve coached teams with incredible players, and I’ve had teams with good players, but not the absolute best. I always say that these guys need to be taught to play as a team. Nothing individual when the team is struggling to build attacks.
"Kylian has a lot of ability. He doesn’t wait for the team to play to score; he drops deep to create opportunities, plays a one-two with Jude for the goal… he has a lot of quality. Obviously, Kylian had his own game, but everyone played very well.”
Kylian Mbappe is very intelligent, and not really individualistic
This is what people mean when they say Mbappe does not really play for himself. He is actually a very intelligent football player. When people say he does not make deep runs into the box, or that he does not drop back or move around to help his teammates, it always leaves a section of the fans baffled – the author included.
The truth is, he plays according to what the game is offering him. Yes, there are moments where he can do better, but there are so many more moments where he moves and passes the ball around quite well. There were two or three instances in the first half alone where his one-touch passing and link-up play made way for others to have a crack at goal.
Mbappe’s brilliant movement in all of his three goals involved a run in behind, and one of them also involved an impressive exchange with Bellingham. It is things like this that no one really notices, especially when Mbappe does them so effortlessly, but the truth is, he is not a selfish goalscorer that many people try to make him out to be.
There are moments where he can do a lot better, and he would be the first person to know that, as well. But there are also moments where he creates for his teammates, where he makes brilliant off-ball runs, and where he drops deep to help the team string a few passes together.
There are definite criticisms to his game. Being a defensive liability is going to be a constant in that regard, but if fans are going to talk about the on-ball things he does wrong, they should also talk about the numerous times he does them right. Somehow, they only get talked about when he scores a goal. That needs to change.
