Atlético Madrid vs Real Madrid | La Liga J.12 | 18.11.2017 | 20:45 CEST [R]

Either that, or play with Ronaldo as a striker (which he basically already does for most of the time in a game) and add another midfielder. I don't see a problem with giving Mayoral a few starts either. He practically can't do worse than Benzema (what's he gonna do? not score? ) and it would send a message to Benz that he has work to do, that somebody who couldn't start at Wolfsburg is getting chosen to play over him.

 

We need to start benching some people. I'd start with the obvious one which is Benzema, let him redeem himself in CDR or some shit like that. Cristiano, given his status, should be given a little more time but he should be next on the list followed by Marcelo.

I don't think this shit is gonna solve itself, it's one of the situations where i don't think Zidane's way of trusting the players is gonna turn out for the good.

 

beIN refereeing analyst claims it was a penalty on the notion that Ramos was AHEAD of that twat when he went in for the header.

He also mentioned that Lucas was not going to get the ball and took 0 consideration to the safety of Ramos hence his reasoning for a penalty. Yellow card included.

 

Seeing Ronaldo being outrun like he is nothing. Well, that is just sad.

Flo better get some counseling, because RMs checkbook will suffer in the summer. Possibly even in january.

 

Ye right, like benzema will ever get benched for Marco.

 

He will improve numbers, but sadly his speed and with it his ability to break and exploit space is gone. As result he cannot play winger anymore, as for CF - i dont like it.

Positives such as? I saw more drive / energy and that is it. While the same poor structure - especially upfront persists. I agree about Benzema. What is the point spending so much time on wing? Can he break on wing? No. Is there presence upfront to play with? No. So???? We are basically playing without forward line and have zero presence in final third. No wonder we cannot do shit and the only way we can do something in final third is by crossing on static players in the box.

As for Ceballos, another thing that makes zero sense. But again, the main problem is upfront and the worst thing we can do nothing about it. Because we dont have subs. Thanks Flo or Zizu.

 

Disappointing result but it was positive to see the midfield back playing closer to their normal level and nice having Carvajal back. As everyone has noted, the problem was the movement and finishing of Benz and Ronaldo.

Unfortunately I don’t see many fixes for goals within our squad as it is currently constructed until Karim and Cris start scoring again or Bale gets healthy. Only thing I could think of would be to play Asensio and Ceballos more at the expense of Benz in a 4-4-1-1 type formation.

 

The issue with Ronaldo as a CF is he doesn't do the work off the ball that a CF needs to do. Ronaldo in recent seasons has developed into an incredible finisher but he's done it by playing between the lines in a very unconventional manner.

That said I'd entertain giving Ronaldo a free role as a second striker but only if we have someone in the box moving and pulling the defense for him. If we can't do that than serious consideration needs to given to the notion that both Benzema and Ronaldo need to go.

 

No match thread yet. Are we that desillusioned?

 

Gon be the same shit anyway. Class midfield and defense, utter shit in attack.

Really funny how the same ppl who praised our midfield trio last year (even compared to farca's xavi, iniesta busquets) and now all of a sudden that same trio are shit because ronaldo and benzema cant score lmao. everyone gets the blame except ronaldo himself, even isco is getting blamed looool. Our midfield is still worldclass, our forwards arent anymore

 

How could you see that the midfield is world class from this game? Whoscored for the game says --

Player ----- Crosses ------ Accurate Crosses
Marcelo--------6----------------------0
Casemiro------0----------------------0
Modric----------1----------------------0
Kroos-----------7----------------------0
Isco-------------6----------------------0

No accurate thru balls the entire game either from any of the midfield.

Checking Leganes vs Barca for comparison....Barca has 3 or 4 crosses all game. Leganes is closer to the RM stat, they have 12 crosses with 3 successful.

 

I too think he’s not ready, but what you say here then beggars the question about squad management, why on earth keep a player, that you have no intention of ever giving a min because he’s not ready, were there absolutely no other options out there at all that could give us a few mins that were better or more prepared than Mayoral,

even if the thought was, if one of the starters go down or play poorly we’ll just change formation and try to make it work with the players we have, but not really use Mayoral because in the end he’s not good enough to cover for Benz why keep him at all?, why not sell or loan him again?

If this is the thought about him in the coaching and management circle ( I have no idea if it is) then that was monumental nonsense, let’s keep him here just because....... more madness in terms of planning IMO , if this is how they view him, just making up the numbers in a Real Madrid squad, unbelievable, the most prestigious team in the world , he is a lucky guy

I’m not sure what an accurate cross is so I won’t get into that, but there is no point trying to play thru balls when there is no one around to play them thru to, need better movement from the front players in order to see passing lanes, can’t just have strikers coming deep to receive the ball playing it out wide and then just making a mad dash for the penalty area looking for the cross time and time again, at least Ronaldo tried to get in the area , I don’t know what Benz was doing, but thru balls demand smarter movement from the front men IMO

 

Not sure how you define an accurate cross but let's be very clear, both Ronaldo and Benzema were running to the far post behind defenders on nearly every play. Neither went to to of the key or ran near post, they both made the exact same movement (if I can call it movement) making it impossible to get a ball to them.

On at least half a dozen occasions the top of the penalty area was empty because Ronaldo and Benzema made same run behind players or simply stood waiting for ball surrounded by defense.

At one point Benzema laid the ball off to wide player and tried to run behind two or three defenders in nearly the same location Ronaldo already was when he could have continued vertically and pulled one or more of Ronaldo making the attack harder to defend. The play died of course with wide player holding too long because he had ZERO options other than a random ball into box.

The crossing is poor but it's poor because our attack is lazy and expecting wide players to be able to reproduce the kind of accuracy that the JFK shooter allegedly had.

 

Valid answer, but where in all that does it show a 'world class' midfield?

 

It's shows a world class midfield needs a realistic target. Iniesta and xavi in their best would not be doing any better with this front line. You can't stand around or worse go and hide behind a defender along with other forward and expect good service. Its asking the impossible.

 

Exactly, Not to mention being relatively solid in helping out the defense , the best midfields aren’t just about going forward, when I hear controlling the midfield I think about in both directions, not just being able to play “thru balls”,

 

What point in playing thru ball without movement? It only hurts your team... Benzema and Ronaldo are the problem, everything else is pretty much what you'd want to compete for silverware every year.

 

1. That stat says shit. 2. No ppl making runs to give them through balls.

 

hehehehehehehehe