According to a stat from Opta Joe, Vinicius Junior has gone two games in a row without attempting a single dribble for the first time in his Real Madrid career. Vinicius Junior was really bad in the game against Roma, and then, when he played Leipzig, the script didn't change too much, as he was substituted around the 70th minute. Yan Diomande, who came on for him, did more in the last 20 minutes of the match than Vinícius managed to do in the 70 minutes that he played.

It is now getting to a point where serious discussions need to be had about his spot in the starting lineup. Real Madrid fans have been talking about it for ages, but it is clear as day that Vinicius Junior does not look like the same player that he was, even one season away. Even last season, when he had his really bad blips, he would always come back from them and start playing like himself again, at least for a few games. This season, fans have not seen Vinicius Junior play that way yet.

Vinicius Junior is hitting new lows every passing game

In fact, this statistic is just mind-boggling because Vinicius Junior has always been a high-volume dribbler.Vinicius Junior has always dribbled past players, even when he was not scoring goals or creating them. That's what he was doing. When he then started to add goals and assists and good decision-making in the final third to his game, even after that, he was still a high-volume dribbler who used to do so much with the ball.

A lot of Vinicius Junior's USP comes down to being able to create something out of nothing because of his will to relentlessly go past players and find space where there isn't any. The fact that Vinicius Junior has gone two consecutive games without even attempting a dribble is, quite frankly, really worrying. That is like Antonio Rudiger not trying to win a single duel in the entire match.

Stuff like this should not be happening. It wouldn't worry fans as much if he tried eight dribbles but did not complete any of them. The fact that he didn't even try a single one of these last two games just shows that he is in a very bad position mentally and physically. It is really difficult for a player like him to be in a position like this. It doesn't really make sense at all.

It is very difficult to see how the player will come back from this because it just keeps getting worse, and the manager keeps performing the way he is performing. If that continues, Vinicius Junior’s starting spot, even with the hierarchy, would be in incredible danger because this is not just about not being in form. It is a completely different discussion altogether.