With uncertainty still surrounding Mbappé’s role at Real Madrid, the key question remains: how can the team capitalise on his immense talent without it negatively affecting the team’s cohesion? The solutions are not straightforward, but they are essential to maintaining the team’s effectiveness in big matches.
The first step lies in redistributing roles within the forward line, so that the team does not rely entirely on Mbappé’s individual pace, but instead utilises his intelligent movement to create space for his teammates as well.
In this context, deploying Mbappé as a left or right winger rather than a centre-forward could be a good solution, as it would allow him to move out wide and create space for his teammates, whilst still having a clear target man up front, all whilst retaining his ability to cut inside and shoot.
The second solution relates to the psychological aspect, as players need to boost their confidence in their individual choices and not feel pressured to always pass to Mbappé, whilst continuing to implement a collective plan that balances individual and team play, so that his abilities do not become a burden on the rest of the team.
On a tactical level, the solution may lie in adopting more than one attacking strategy suited to the nature of each match, so that the team can switch between intense collective play or capitalising on Mbappé’s individual abilities, whilst maintaining organised lines and balanced support for all the forwards, to ensure that cohesion is not lost during big matches.