We’ve only allowed 8 shots on ( 3 of which were long distance shots against Betis target during the last 4 games and have outshot our opponents 74 to 39.
The major issue for me is personnel and squad management. You can mitigate certain issues that arise over the season if you have properly selected personnel. We don`t. We have issues in every line, and basically whole season stands on the premise of not losing key personnel to injuries or drop in form. I dread what happens in february ->. How i miss the 16/17. Quality and depth.
He prefers players who are currently out of form and performing worse on the field and also disrespectful enough to show up out of shape their first day on the job still be out of shape 3 months into the season. This is not a preference due to semantics, substance or style; like choosing between prime Benz (9.5) and Higuain(9). I dont think you can even call it's about player preference - it's got to be a grudge factor. You implied that our bad collective performances were due to James individually, ignoring the fact in those games James was one of the few players who played well. A total smear job. I do think at some point Rodrygo and Fede are going to cool off or hit a bump in the road, and a scoring drought is like a perennial thing with Benz (sometimes lasting months). As good as Mbappe is, he's gone MIA in the last couple of R16's even against an embarrassingly bad Man United. Almost exactly a year ago Solari took over, brought Vinicius into the mix and the team was flying...
Do you understand how out of touch you sound when you talk about preferences for players out of form when we’ve had 5 clean sheets in a row and won 3 of our last 4 games by 4+ goals? Get a grip
The bastards have been extremely lucky in the last few years in El Clasico. They used to beat us because they were much better. Now they beat us even when they are the worse side. Luck is the deciding factor when both sides are extremely close in terms of quality and effort.
I’ve also been pretty pessimistic but yesterday I saw us play a type of tenacious, intelligent football I haven’t seen for a long time. I don’t know, maybe it’s down to individual improvements — Modric yesterday looked like a Modric I haven’t seen since 2017. But I also thought we looked more cohesive as a unit both in breaking their press and defending. So maybe we’re turning a corner.
they’ve been more clinical than us with their chances.. on the other hans we are too wasteful when we play against them.
Real Madrid's defense has been an absolute joke & the midfield got overrun. Which is a much bigger reason the club have lost El Clasicos with big margins.
The wins are against teams against which we should be winning to begin with (Gala, Eibar and Leganes) but we not only won, but did it convincingly. You can have games like Betis now and again, but honestly we should have won that as well with it being played in Madrid, and it's not like Betis this year are top of the table. The team does look better, and I'm going into the big games with a bit more confidence than a month ago or so. But I wouldn't say yet that the tide has turned, the quality of the teams we did very good against isn't even mid-level. But we do look better in more than one way, hopefully this growth continues on.
It genuinely isn’t imo. Finishing has been the biggest factor in those games in the recent years. It sounds so obvious that I feel silly even making this point; they simply take their chances, their forwards are clinical in front of goal and ours have not been. Even in Zidane’s last season before his sabbatical. We got pasted at the Bernabeu (again) in December in a game that pretty much sealed the league for them, a game which we should have been leading 3-0 at HT and mounting a push for the title.