It's not about him requesting a transfer now. It's about preventing him from joining another CL club in December/January should he be unhappy about the situation. With Iker being cup tied, there will be less of a market for him. If Ancelotti were to play Diego Lopez until the winter break in the CL, we'd have inquiries and offers flying in every day during the winter transfer window.
Yeah, that makes sense. Although @jeremy123 raised the issue and actually validated the stats...Ancelotti actually did this at Milan 1 year. Used 1 GK in all cup matches (Europe and Domestic) and 1 GK in League matches. So there is precedent here.
I don't believe that, mostly because the situation with us is much much more difficult to manage between the goalkeepers, and because the Europa League and Cup for Milan are tournaments in which you can afford to play the second goalkeeper (after all, Barcelona are playing Pinto in all Cup matches too for example, and we also did that too before Mourinho).
So Coentrao, Marcelo, Varane and Arbeloa are all injured and out for our two toughest matches of the season so far. Big Hairy Balls! If Pepe or Ramos gets injured tomorrow then we will truly be fucked. We will have to play Carvajal-Pepe-Nacho-Bale LMFAO. I wish the club had the foresight that some of us here had and signed another defender. We lost Carvalho and Albiol and promoted Nacho (who has not impressed at all). We have 3 deep lying playmakers and we are only able to play one. The whole thing is so unbalanced. Anyway so we will concede goals in this match. No doubt. I am worried about Carvajal on the right. His performance against Betis was one of the worst i've seen in a long time. He is not ready. Nacho on the left with Ronaldo is also poor. Hopefully Ronaldo or Bale turns up and we just get the 3 points. After Ancelotti's conference, it looks like we will go for this... -------------Diego-------------- ------Pepe-------Ramos------- Carvajal-----------------Nacho ------------Modric----------- -----Illarra--------Isco------- --Di Maria-----------Ronaldo ------------Benzema-----------
With Illarra in the starting line up, it will be interesting to see where Modric plays tomorrow night. Will he continue to sit deep and play the deep lying playmaker role or will Illarra sit deepest and hold and allow Modric more freedom to roam (like in the spain u21s with Illara-Thiago). The latter seems the obvious choice but Ancelotti might have other plans and could pull a surprise.
Carvajal admittedly had one hell of a stinker in that first game, but people are quick to ignore that the Cedric (sp) character was one hell of a speedster and would have given anyone a torrid time. Before that one game Carvajal played well against many good players and he did well. He is also coming off a good season in Germany. I think he should be given more of a chance and not be slated as a defensive liability based on the performance in one game which happened to be the first game of the season and in our home ground. that was just loads of pressure to deal with and to be honest, the whole defense had a clanger.
He's a talented full back but he clearly needs to adapt to the Spanish league. It might take a while, but when he's as good as he was in Germany last season he'll probably become the regular starter. For now I'd prefer Alvaro Arbeloa.
The defense does lack the numbers but will hopefully be made up soon. I would even prefer to see two defensive midfielders involved, or making the side slightly more defensive than trying to attack more often here. It's just isn't going to be very great if the defense isn't sound. That said, Benzema isn't good, so it evens itself out defensively and offensively with enough problems in each side of the pitch. Carvajal needs games, alongside Varane who is fit and ready to go. The defense can succeed. Bale and Ronaldo should just be wingers. No messing about here. Both of them need to help each other out, as much as possible. Without any problems between them. If it doesn't succeed at first, try again.
100% agree. Carvajal will be this team's #1 RB. In fact I find the Arbeloa injury as more of a benefit than a hindrance. Carvajal needs some time. This kid has it all. Coaches I find are reluctant to take chances because it forces them to "stick their necks out." They would rather play the old tired guy like Arbeloa, and if he fails they can always say: "Look, this is Spain's #1, this is Madrid's #1 for the last 2 years under Mourihno, a great coach. Now he is my #1. Guess what, he had a bad game." But if he puts Carvajal out there and he shits the bed, then he may be in for some press abuse. ON the LB side this team is in massive trouble. Even if Coentrao was healthy would he play? Perez and Co need to get in his ear. It won't take too much convincing to get him to play his all for Madrid, they just gotta put in the work.
We'll be ok tomorrow. I know we're suffering from injuries right now, but we're playing against a recently promoted Villarreal. I'm not saying we should taking it lightly, but I don't think we should be worrying so much about tomorrow as we should be worrying about our CL tie with Galatasaray the game after.
Pretty much our entire squad was away on international duty whilst pretty much their entire squad has been preparing for this game for 2 weeks. I wouldn't say I'm "worried" as such because we've won tough games after the international break before, but I think it's crazy and detrimental to be "worrying" about another game when we have a real tough one before it. Villareal and El Madrigal is going to be pumped tonight.
Good point. We're going to have to bring it and not take Villareal light heartedly. Let's sink this sub.
We should mop the floor with Villareal to be quite honest, they are a promoted second division club, staying in first division is their primary goal. The tricky part is that their strength has been their counter attacks so far though, and exactly that has been our weakness in defence so far this season.