Alex Kirkland

And the answer is no, and it's not us saying that.

That's what Xabi Alonso discovered, because clearly all of those ideas were dropped as the season went on, and it felt kind of improvisational, sort of going game by game and trying to work out a way to kind of muddle through almost.

But all of that kind of big game plan for what this team were going to be as the seasons developed,

has just fallen by the wayside.

And I think Vinny was one important part of that.

Yeah, there were some whistles in the last couple of home games over decisions, over passages of play.

But there's also, I think there's disappointment and a bit of sadness because don't forget Xabi Lonzo is a Real Madrid legend, was a really important player in Real Madrid's history.

He was here for a number of seasons, won trophies.

Everybody loved him as a player.

He was a brilliant signing when he came in.

And so I think there's sadness that a guy who the fans loved hasn't been able to make it work.

Sadness

and disappointment but also yeah you know there's not a lot of patience here and so when the team weren't performing consistently week after week you know the fans were never going to be shy about about making that known I think in terms of viewing this decision I think there's kind of a spectrum of opinions I think some people will support it some people think it it's come too soon some people think you know there's there's a

There's been a hurry to make the decision.

They should have given a new project more time.

His replacement, who we haven't touched on yet, Alvaro Arbeloa, is massively popular with Real Madrid fans.

They love Arbeloa.

They love what he represents.

They think he sort of stands up for the club and its interests and has done so ever since his days as a player in the Mourinho team era.

So they love Arbeloa.