Debunking Kneejerk Reactions to the Spanish Super Cup

Real Madrid beat Barcelona over two legs to win the Spanish Super Cup at an absolute canter, with fans and journalists alike on both sides quick to point out just what the tie means for the season ahead.

While there can be no doubting that Los Blancos were the better team in every regard—depth, tactically, individually—it's important to remember and keep in context that the Super Cup, as with similar domestic cups in most nations, merely heralds the opening to the new campaign, and it does not indicate what lies in store for the next 10 months.

Here we look at some of the more extreme reactions to the result and performances and examine why it's time to take stock ahead of the 2017/18 La Liga season properly getting underway.

On-field issues are all Bartomeu's fault

There's no question who is bearing the brunt of the Barca fans' ire: Josep Bartomeu, the club president. He has overseen the sale of Neymar Jr., has not yet signed Lionel Messi to a new contract (despite it being agreed) and hasn't brought in adequate replacements for the likes of Xavi, or indeed the recently departed Neymar.

Doubtless, there are certain aspects of running the club that he has not managed to do to keep Barca at the elite level required.

But he's also not responsible for tactics implemented by managers, overseeing patterns of play in training, and so on.

Last season Luis Enrique attempted to merge to a back-three system, which didn't yield tremendous results, and Ernesto Valverde tried a similar trick in the second leg as he attempted to get his side back in the tie.

It didn't work, but taking an in-game snapshot without the context of what has happened in the phase of play and then blaming the president for it is bordering on lunacy. Yes, football fans will always make a scapegoat, and if players and coaches aren't in the firing line, then there's only one step further to go—the boardroom—but without reason and logic behind the fury, it's helpful to nobody.

Only now are Madrid superior

Dermot Corrigan reported the comments from inside the mixed zone at the Santiago Bernabeu, but it's Gerard Pique's words we're skeptical of here.

Barcelona have been a phenomenal club, perhaps the most watchable side on the planet for the best part of a decade...but the centre-back is wrong to think it's only now that Real Madrid have eclipsed Barcelona.

This has been on the cards for some time.

Perhaps only now has it begun to sink in for the players, those within the Camp Nou club who have previously known only success and assurance of their status as the best (or close to it—and over a period of seasons, if they're the only team constantly there, that makes them the best over that time) but Real Madrid have been enormously successful themselves for four years now.

It's not just back-to-back Champions League titles, either.

In 2014, 2016 and 2017, Real Madrid have been crowned the best club in Europe. Barca have won it only once since 2011. Domestically, perhaps the silverware continued to flow for the Catalans, but last season the race wasn't even all that stressful for Los Blancos to manage.

Barca have work to do to get back on the same footing as their rivals.

Real Madrid are better without Cristiano Ronaldo

No, they're not.

A popular kneejerk opinion nonetheless, it appears lost on many that Real Madrid are a tremendous all-round side who are not reliant on one star or another; they can absorb an absence or two and plug in one of the younger options fighting for game time.

Those would-be stars—Marco Asensio against Barcelona, Isco in the second half of last season—have to play at their absolute best, every time they take the pitch, and then find consistency at that level just to maintain a role as the first option off the bench.

That's how good the starters are.

Manager Zinedine Zidane has, importantly, shown a level of willingness to reward those who come in and play so well by finding a more regular spot for them in the team, but it doesn't mean Real Madrid should immediately offload, or bench, the likes of Gareth Bale, Ronaldo or whoever else.

The point is, the incoming players have watched Ronaldo et al play at the elite level, without pause, without dropping standards, game after game after game.

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more than a goal per game across a frankly stupid total of around 400 games. Those who want to play alongside him, or instead of him, have to somehow aspire to offer the team as much as he does, as regularly as he does.

Stylistically, might some prefer Asensio's speed and rocket shots to Ronaldo's lethal efficiency of ghosting in and netting from close-range? Sure. Might others appreciate Mateo Kovacic driving forward and combining at pace with Isco, or Lucas Vazquez? Absolutely. But the key is that Real Madrid have these options as well as Cristiano, and to suggest they'd be better off without him is a full-on nonsense.

Valverde isn't big enough to manage Barcelona

This one is subjective, but it has taken root far too early among some sections of the fanbase. For starters, he follows a pretty set pattern for Barca bosses: a former player—just like Luis Enrique, Pep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff and several others.

He's also a more experienced boss than Lucho or Pep were when they took over. But he's inheriting a broken team at a difficult time: Andres Iniesta is clearly not the force of even two years ago, Neymar has gone before a competitive ball has been kicked and Real Madrid are on a serious upward curve.

Add into all that, production from La Masia has fallen dramatically over the last few years, so it's not as though he can add four ready-made stars to the squad unless he's willing to sacrifice the average level of quality.

Valverde is a proven tactician. He achieved relative success with Athletic Club under more constraints than Barca fans could comprehend, even beating Barca in the Super Cup back in 2015. Whether or not his tactics, methods and player management translate to success, he's a capable top-tier manager: uninspiring, perhaps, in an age of stars and icons, but proven in deserving a chance to step up to the elite level.

Of course, he must get his players to respond to him, but he's also walked into a club in open warfare between fans and board, with the squad needing a revamp and last summer's purchases—Samuel Umtiti aside—looking like little more than recycle fodder.

And his first two competitive games were against the best team in Spain, Europe, the world.

That's not an easy start, but it doesn't mean he's a terrible appointment who is destined to fail, and even if he doesn't initially succeed, the blame cannot be placed entirely at his feet.

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