TA: Guler plays more of a midfield organizer role, and he works well with Mbappe

The Athletic wrote an article about the performance of some Real Madrid players under Alonso. The article stated that Guler played more of a midfield organizer, and he and Mbappe cooperated tacitly.

Mbappe

Mbappe contributed 44 goals and 5 assists in 59 games last season, but the outside world feels that these data do not fully reflect his true level, and his overall performance and efficiency could have been better.

At the beginning of Real Madrid's second season, Mbappe was clearly Real Madrid's number one star. He was the player with the most playing time in the team (1,135 minutes). Under Alonso's leadership, he started all 13 games.

Mbappe's performance is amazing. He scored 16 goals and contributed 2 assists, averaging a goal every 63.38 minutes. So far in the 2025-26 season, his expected goals per shot is 0.183, which is higher than last season's 0.164 and higher than his last three seasons in Paris.

Last season, members of the Real Madrid coaching staff were full of praise for Mbappe's outstanding performance, and the new coaching staff were also pleasantly surprised by the strength he showed. Mbappe was also selected as the team's penalty taker and he is also one of the team's main free kick takers.

Guler

Guler's new role under Alonso is actually another factor in Mbappe's recovery. The two cooperated tacitly, and Guler became the assist leader in Real Madrid with 5 assists, and all 5 assists were passed to Mbappe.

The improvement in Guler's situation is also clearly reflected in his playing time. He is the sixth-most player on the team this season. Alonso wanted to sign him when he was coaching Leverkusen, and he was still playing for Fenerbahce. Compared with last season, Guler's appearance data ranked only 17th in the team.

The change of position is crucial for Guler. Ancelotti usually lets him play as a right winger, but now he plays a more important role as an organizer in the middle of the midfield. Guler said every time he faced the media during the Club World Cup that he preferred Alonso because he played him in the middle.

Carreras

Carreras has been one of the pillars of Alonso's plan to coach Real Madrid from the beginning. The left-back trained at the Real Madrid youth academy before moving to Manchester United in 2020. This season, he is Real Madrid's fourth-most capped player and has started 12 of 13 games. Barring the loss to Atletico Madrid, Carreras' performance has received very positive reviews.

Carreras has excellent positional sense and physical fitness. He attempted 19 steals in 10 La Liga games, second only to Valverde, Guler and Mastantuono (both 21 times) in the team; he also completed 12 interceptions, second only to Joan Armene (14 times). Real Madrid believes that Carreras' offensive performance will improve as the competition progresses. At present, his impact on the offensive end is not as great as when he played for Benfica.

Gonzalo Garcia

Gonzalo Garcia performed well during the Club World Cup, contributing 4 goals and 1 assist. According to the original plan, Gonzalo would leave the team on loan, but with his performance in the Club World Cup, he received a first-team contract in August. Although Gonzalo has only played 112 minutes this season, he is considered to be more favored than Endrick.