You cant expect that any turnover that high up the pitch would end up becoming a goal.. Is not like we were playing against Liverpool. We still had plenty of players to defend that run + the keeper, whose main job is to stop situations like these.. and he failed. Ramos and Dani failed to stop the guy and Varane is too slow to go and intercept the through ball and lastly our keeper decides to not take two steps forward and clear this as any other keeper would have.
Wait for what? You just have to look at their stats from last year in key competitions. Courtois: Copa del Rey, 1-1-0-0, Goals For Avg. 4.00, Goals Against Avg. 2.00, Clean Sheets 0 La Liga: 27-14-3-10, Goals For Avg. 1.59, Goals Against Avg. 1.33, Clean Sheets 8 UCL: 5-3-0-2, Goals For Avg. 2.00, Goals Against Avg. 1.60, Clean Sheets 2 Navas: Copa del Rey, 7-4-1-2, Goals For Avg. 2.43, Goals Against Avg. 1.00, Clean Sheets 2 La Liga: 10-6-2-2, Goals For Avg. 1.70, Goals Against Avg. 0.80, Clean Sheets 4 UCL: 3-2-0-1, Goals For Avg. 1.67, Goals Against Avg. 0.67, Clean Sheets 1 If you consider all the games in which they appeared, the team scored more goals and gave up fewer goals when Navas played.
It's not about him being out of position in this play, because he's pretty close and actually gets into his spot semi-in time (not entirely though) but Ramos is in the leftback position to cover for him. Where Casemiro is standing is where a wider cb would be, and that is where perpendicularly (I think I am using this word right) Varane is on the other side. That's what was thought up to make up for his defensive liabilities and was already there in the last game as well. Which makes perfect sense imo if you must play with Marcelo.That it wasn't as necessary in this play because Marcelo was pretty nearby, doesn't mean the plan isn't there or otherwise Ramos would be more centrally as opposed to almost hugging the sideline, and that's still the premise of this goal along with losing the ball in our midfield.
I think you're right: Ramos should have remained with the rightwinger. By not doing so he actually opens the rightwing free as well because Marcelo is too late to cover that player. And him going centrally makes Casemiro stop to take into account the player who is now free on the right as well, as opposed to take on the man with the ball. However I still say Carvajal did nothing wrong looking at the situation. Ramos was now in a 2 vs 1 situation, our dm is in the cb, he closed the way for the 2nd player to the left of the one with the ball. He did the right thing.
I indeed read what you wrote and it was pointless. It is irrelevant that Navas, like all keepers makes mistakes (did you see De Gea today?) and that no keeper is perfect. In this situation the only thing that matters is which keeper gets better results for the team. The debate is not a snooze as you suggest. It goes to the very essence of what is wrong with this club.
Backline had a couple big tackles that really should have led to easy goals, I think considering our history it's sort of reasonable to assume we'll concede a goal and we should be focused on scoring a couple each game.
I thought Kroos was fantastic today and I can't entirely blame him for the goal. Cortouis is there. He really completely ********s it up. You could also argue Zidane as he didn't react quick enough once we went a goal up. He needed to stick another midfielder in there as Valladolid started to pick up offensive steam to bypass our two man midfield. We need another option there badly.
I agree. This is not nearly as depressing as the utterly dead football we've seen for much of the last 2 seasons. Individual players could have done better but this one is mostly on Zizou IMO. Obviously thin midfield at the moment doesn't help. But La Liga is just too good for us to go 4-2-4 like that. Completely gave up control of the game. I am not going to even try to be objective but I thought James was the best player on the pitch. And I think we score 3 goals in the first half if it's a fit Hazard attacking defenders and driving the ball forward rather than Isco (who I'm not suggesting had a bad game but wasn't incisive enough IMO).
By whom, certainly not the fans on this message board, I think 90% of the fans here would like him sold , and he is mostly blamed for the state of our midfield so I imagine you mean by the coach and or board? As long as i’ve been a fan, this has been the case, and that’s a pretty long time, no matter what we’ll always score more than the opposition, not we’ll keep clean sheets and eke out one nil wins, it’s why even before the midfield issue my main issue is always who’s going to score the goals that we need on a consistent basis
im looking at the line up and i still cant belive it ,the same team from 2015 !!!!Atrocius management
I think pretty much all strikers know by now that there will be a massive gap between Courtois legs when there's a 1v1. Making himself big without opening legs too much Neuer style is a higher percentage move at this point. At least will make the striker pick a tougher angle on either sides. ZZ was also a bit naive to stick with 4-2-4 after we got the goal. You need to be pragmatic in that situation and shut the shop. Like Carlo brought on Varane for last few minutes against Bayern in 2014 to seal 1-0 win. Mou makes that change all the time. I'd have brought in Militao given the space left by FBs.
ZZ said James had a knock and hence taken off. Ramos: Today we played more with the heart than with the head looking for the second goal , and sometimes it is better to defend what you have. I do not think there is a lack of goal, because we have generated chances and played very good football. I have enjoyed watching the team since "I've had that feeling behind. We have to learn from these things because we didn't have to look for the second goal. We have to stay with that we did a great first half and continue working,"
Disappointing game. That is all. Really need some creativity in the middle on a more consistent basis and these are not new problems.
Will to be fair he was bringing LV in to cover the flanks (which where they attacked). We would’ve had LV and Vini to support Marcelo and Carvajal which is where the goal came from. To bad we didn’t get the chance to make the change until post the goal
Yes true why buy Militao if they are not going to use him - I waited for him too to bring some flair and some good defensive contribution to make sure Real won the game 1-0. It`s too easy to blame on Kroos late game - he scored a beautiful goal in the opening game, but finishing was lacking overall in this game for sure. Maybe it`s part of the tactics Zidane strategy that is not working.
Ramos doesn't stop his man either, nobody is in position etc. Focusing on Kroos and Courtois or a single player in general when Valladolid could have given us a 2nd and a 3rd with a bit more time on the clock is very naive. Zidane's lack of patience, then hesitation to be ready to change as soon as he got what he wanted was the problem. Put somebody on to regain control.
At that point in the match with only two midfield players on the field, playing with advanced fullbacks shows complete tactical incompetence.