OPEN THREAD: CASINO ROYAL | APRIL 16, 2026

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THE GAMBLE THAT FAILED

IN THE END, NOBODY WON…..

It was a losing bet from the start. Maybe the club were hoping that Arbeloa will be to us what Di Mateo was to chelsea in 2012, when they sacked a young and budding Andre Villas Boas and sided with the grumbling players/veterans. Although they won a CL with RDM playing nasty football, making them look like they were initially right. Maybe arbeloa should’ve tried that instead of being somewhat dynamic. Who knows, the result could’ve been different LOOOL. I digress. All it took was the very next season to show how nothing was actually fixed or resolved because RDM wound up getting sacked mid season. over the same thing he was hired to quell, poor performances from the same set of grumbling players. And it wasn’t until they started shedding those players out of the club, that chelsea saw new life again with a young Eden Hazard signing for them shortly. But they’ve never won the CL since then.

OR MAYBE….

They thought it would be like Zidane coming in for Benitez mid season, and leading the same fractured setup to a CL title…..only that they didn’t account for the lack of hunger for success in the players. Something that was pre-installed by mourinho over a period of 3 seasons a long time ago. Then there’s no generational god-tier player like ronaldo to spam victories when tactics fail, no prime generational midfielders like modric/Kroos, and strong defenders in ramos for leadership and locker room control amongst other missing CRITICAL things. Instead, the club board were boldly banking on pure vibes, route 1 football that got stuck in a viscous time loop, vacation mode behavior from players, overall poor man management that led to inordinate amount of injuries DURING PRACTICE, NOT EVEN GAMES, Players were getting injured in practice. Then add a YES MAN “it’s always my fault” type of coach in Arbeloa. And a set of players that were like a foreign language you didn’t understand, their every word had you wishing for SUBs to translate their strange behaviors. and there you have it, the soup is ready to be thrown into the sewer. Don’t let that last line go over your head. at least arbeloa gave us the castilla bright lights in thiago. the best thing to come out of this season.

BUT IN REALITY…

Our club’s board took a HUGE and risky gamble with our season and backed the player/s, causing Xabi to leave mid-season with everything still to fight for as at that time. Only For the club/players to lose the bet miserably. Knockout after knockout after knockout from all comps. Unfortunately for the sad press and the media, there’s no Xabi to crucify every week in the papers. Speculating about his future everyday in his face. Every loss deemed a sharp stake in his fate at the club. How quickly that ended in a dumpster fire. They can’t bother to print such papers against arbeloa in rapid fashion, he was never their target from the jump. No apologies needed for Xabi, because he’ll never get one from such a proud & esteemed club as ours. Nor will he ever get one from the gutless, lying and vain media. The only respite he may get is that he was able to leave before things got EVIDENTLY worse. This gamble didn’t fail today, it failed 6 months ago. Each loss is no longer about Xabi’s future hanging in the balance. Each loss is now a reminder of the gruesome natural disaster, otherwise known as “The Great Tantrum”, that struck our club in 2025. Leaving us bereaved of success ever since. Every year from october 26, 2026 onward, our club must hold a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims of hope that The Great Tantrum of 2025 took away from us. This is not to paint this club in a bad light, but boy was that a disastrous decision.

SPECTRE

That should be the name of our board. IYKYK

DR NO.

It’s time for our club to tell some players NO!

A QUOTED COMMENT FROM DAI SUKE

First of all, I was sad that we lost but looking back at it. This is the first Vital Loss in a long time where we lost with our heads held High. We were simply Undone by a Redcard( same with Barca yesterday).

As for Camavinga, I forgive him. He is human, and Mistakes are characteristics of human beings….no matter how much we think we can learn to avoid them, they are inevitable.

AND I COULDN’T AGREE MORE. Our first fighting loss, tho it came at the end. We went down swinging. I said it in the DT for april 15, that fighting spirit can prevail even if tactics and all else fail. We let ourselves down.

ICYMI:

MM PODCAST from the last game vs Bayern. Number’s narrative summing up the end of our CL campaign.