Saturday, Jan 11, 2013 La Liga BBVA - Game 20 Match Time: 4pm CET, 7am PST, 10am EST. Venue: Benito Villamarín Capacity: 52,500 Expected lineups: Real Madrid: Lopez; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Alonso; Bale, Isco, Ronaldo; Benzema Bench: Casillas, Nacho, Arbeloa, Di Maria, Illarramendi, Casemiro, Jese Real Betis: Andersen; Juanfran, Paulao, Amaya, Nacho; Reyes, Matilla, Sevilla; Leo Baptistao, Ruben Castro; Vadillo Recent form: Real Madrid: WWWWWW Real Betis: DLDWLL Head to head: WWLW Team news: Happy birthday to Arbeloa who turns 31. Ronaldo, Benzema and Bale have scored over 50 goals this season. Carlo Ancelotti pre match press conference.
I know they are bottom of the league but I still think this is going to be quite tough. Glad we made a few changes on Wednesday night.
I like the 4-3-3 more too. I just prefer Di Maria not to be a part of the 3 man midfield. Too erratic and suspect decesion making for me. It looked awesome when Khedira was healthy. I'd like to see Ancelloti try Illara - Xabi - Modric instead.
Illaramanedi and Xabi as part of a 4-3-3 doesn't look right to me on paper, the balance isn't really there. Having Modric as part of it of course helps a great deal, but it's no where as balanced as the Khedira - Xabi - Modric trio, sucks so hard that he's out for the season. Counting on Ronaldo to continue the goal scoring, and for Bale to be more involved from the start of the match.
Anything but the 4-4-2. Idk why but it just bugs the hell out of me. We seem to always struggle playing that formation. Marca reports that Isco probably won't play and that it's jese and di maria battling it out for his spot
Early game over here so I should be able to watch at least the first half in peace. Looking forward to it.
Hah, and I thought waking up at 10 on a Saturday morning was early and a pain in the ass. It's very odd, I've seen reactions on both ends of the spectrum for this Di Maria experiment. I've seen journalists that cover the team very closely and who know a thing or two about the game say either he looks lost in this system or he's doing a wonderful job. I've been very impressed with him in this role. He's made simple decisions in his own half to get the ball moving quickly. I'd still want him to take risks in the final third because that's what makes him special. I think he offers another dynamic to the midfield, someone who has the ability to make plays in the final third but gets back and helps out when we lose the ball.
http://www.marca.com/2014/01/18/en/football/real_madrid/1390035595.html ******** looks like it's going to be a tough one....
Cedrik Mabwati -the Congolese footballer who gave torrid times to both Pepe and Ramos in the opening match of the season at the Bernabeu -was stuck in the reserves for past 2-3 games (For reasons unknown to me) so he's unlikely to play today. Good news
Clos is doing our game on Tuesday against Espanyol. Iglesias Villanueva will be in charge of this game.
Diego Lopez; Carvajal, Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Xabi, Di María; Bale, Ronaldo and Benzema.
^^ how come its interesting,he fails and fails badly at it,and the team struggles as well,yet he has to be put in there ,why???