Jornada 7: Real Madrid vs Villareal. October 26th [R]

[MadridForever]

Will we see the team good side or the team bad side?

News about the game:

Figo won't play. Raul is between the 19 players called for the game, but it's not sure that he play.

The team doesn't lose in the Bernabeu since two years ago. The record is 8 years!!!!! from 1956 to 1964.

Del Bosque will be today the third manager with more games in the history of the club. At the end of the season he could be the second.

The game is a sell out since friday.

Possible starting line-up:

--------------Casillas
Salgado----Helguera---Hierro----Roberto Carlos
Macca------Makelele--Cambiasso------Zidane
-------------Guti-----Ronaldo

Raul could play for Guti and Solari for Macca.


The game will be at 7p.m europen central time.

[dmar]

Hope they begin playing better... against the greek they were quite slow with the ball. They should practice more one-touch play.

[Merengue]

Here from Marca is an article on today's game. Disappointing performance once again it seems from Madrid. According to Marca, Casillas once again was Madrid's savior with some fine saves. Zidane played pretty well but Ronaldo's play was described as "flojo" (weak). I'm interested in hearing what others who saw the match have to say. This is getting frustrating. Time for the merengues to start winning!

http://www.marca.com/edicion/noticia/0,2458,200682,00.html

[Merengue]

Forgot to mention the final score: 1-1. Goals by Zidane and Jorge Lopez (penalty).

[MadridForever]

Well, I saw the game in the Bernabeu and the Real played very well. The Villareal only shot to goal in the first half in the penalty and in the second half in the last minutes when the Real Madrid was attacking desperately triying to win the game. The 11 players of Villareal were in their area the 90 minutes and thus was very dificult to find hollows.

The Real players fought the 90 minutes, running to all the balls and making a very good presion to the Villareal players in all the field. We had the problem that we weren't lucky in the shots to goal.

I'm 110% with this team if they play like they played yesterday. And the people in the stadium also was with the team, they Cheering the team until the last minute and not only the "ultras", all the stadium.

Yesterday was the 4 penalty against us in 7 games. Two of them nonexistent and the penalty of yesterday seemed very doubtful in the stadium - I haven't saw it in the tv yet. I was thinking what would happen if that penalty kick was in favor of the Real Madrid. The Media would be saying all type of ************************. But like the penalties are against the Real nobody say nothing. I think that the referee know that and thinks too much before sing a penalty in favor of the Real.

And about what the Media is saying is crap. I hope that we win against the Roma and close some mouths.

Hala Madrid!!!!!!!


Finally played:

----------------Casillas
Salgado---Hierro---Helguera---Roberto Carlos
Macca----Cambiasso--Makelele---Zidane
------------Guti-----Ronaldo

Raul for Guti
Solari for Macca
Morientes for Ronaldo

Player ratings (0-3):

Casillas -3
Salgado- 3
Hierro- 2
Helguera -2
Roberto Carlos - 3
Zidane -3
Makelle -2
Cambiasso - 2
Macca - 2
Guti - 2
Ronaldo -2

Raul -2
Morientes -2
Solari -2

[dmar]

Well, the players were motivated but didn't take good choices, with the exception of ZZ who was very good.
Del Bosque changed the 2 forwards, but IMO the problem was in the midfield. They play too anarchycally, and slowly, they're predictable and they don't use the wings. Guti and Ronaldo were misplaced, Guti was the nearest of them to the enemy goal and Ronnie went to the midfield while it seems logic that sit hould be the other way.

[Martin Cutler]

Perhaps some of Madrid's troubles of late are due to the club attempting to adjust to playing with Ronaldo (and vice versa)? Remember last year it took a month or two for the team to start clicking with Zidane.

As for missing Figo I really don't think that is as much of a factor as missing Raul. Raul is the most intelligent player on Madrid's team in my opinion and his tactical sense and of course skill are greatly missed. Figo, while an excellent player, is too individualisic for my tastes and falls down too much. Thus even when he is legitimately fouled, the referees are less likely to mark a foul due to his reputation for theatrics.

Nevertheless Madrid has the talent where the absence of players even as skilled as Raul and Figo shouldn't be greatly felt as Guti and McManaman are very able substitutes.

[Merengue]

Martin Cutler said,

" Perhaps some of Madrid's troubles of late are due to the club attempting to adjust to playing with Ronaldo (and vice versa)? Remember last year it took a month or two for the team to start clicking with Zidane. "

There's some truth to that. Like it did with Zidane, it will take a while for Madrid to acomodate Ronaldo onto the team. Once the players learn how to play with one another the attack should function much better.

" Nevertheless Madrid has the talent where the absence of players even as skilled as Raul and Figo shouldn't be greatly felt as Guti and McManaman are very able substitutes."

Yes Madrid can't be overlooking teams. Their team is too strong to be putting up with mediocre performances like recently.

[anirbanblah]

Okay, i finally saw a replay of the game and it was definitely an improvement on last week against Santander.

Positives:
- The team fought for the ball and didn't get overrun like the last game.
- They didn't lose concentration or intensity.
- They dominated possession and midfield.
- Raul looked sharp after coming off the bench. His understanding with Morientes was superb and it was good to see them playing together after so long.
- Zidane had a superb game, he controlled the midfield, tried to get involved in the action, scored a superb goal... a virtuoso performance.
- Casillas didn't have to make too many saves, but when he did have to make saves, he was superb. Cesar is going to find it hard getting that many games this year.
- We played well but lost the game due to genuine bad luck. Cambiasso missed a shocker, shooting wide at an empty goal, rushing into his shot a little. Then Roberto Carlos hit the post right at the end of the game.


Negatives:
- Too much ball watching instead of anticipating the game. This happened both offensively (like when Cambiasso played Zidane through in the second half), and defensively with opposing players, especially Palermo being left unmarked and with too much space.
- No width down the wings, we missed Figo. Neither McManaman nor Solari were fast enough
- Lack of speed in transition, with the midfield sometimes being over elaborate
- Bad final ball. Despite all the midfield possession, Reyna was not tested enough, and the service to the forwards was not consistently good enough. The ball was played in from of the defence too often leaving the forwards with too much to do.
- Both Guti and Ronaldo played badly. They lacked speed and inventiveness. Their runs were not particularly intelligent or penetrative. They had zero understanding with each other. And they both played too deep.
- Ronaldo still looks a little slow and off the pace, needs to work on the fitness and get more involved in the game. There were many occasions when he had a hint of space and a fit Ronaldo would have taken on the defenders, in a blur of speed, but not the Ronaldo we saw yesterday.

The best player: Zidane
The worst: Guti and Ronaldo