Nacho, Casemiro, Reguillon and Bale injured in one game. We still managed 4 goals and closed the gap to 4 points. Not a classic performance by any means but one of heart and determination. I usually hate international breaks but I am glad for this one. Maybe we get some players back from injury. Ceballos acquitted himself well in that holding role. Made a huge difference in that he is mobile and willing to chase something Kroos doesn't do consistently. Casemiro's defensive ability was still missed although Ceballos allowed better playing out of trouble. Reguillon is as we saw in preseason. All action and impressed while he was on the pitch. He isn't flashy but he defends well and his crossing is good. Odriozola had a good game as well. If he could add crossing to his skillset, he will be even more unpredictable and hard to play against. Loved his dedication on both ends of the ball. Javi Sanches...he gave me reason to smile. Lad put himself about and helped steady a very makeshift defence. This is the Benz we love. May this motivation and level of play long continue.
He was great minus that reaction when Ramos completely ********ed up which resulted in goal. He saw that Ramos does not have a clue player is running behind his back and despite he did not try to close that.
Ramos makes his mind up last second. If keeper moves he goes for paneka. If not he blasts it into a corner This one was a close call though
So will Marcelo and Carvajal have to fight to regain their spot? i doubt Solari makes them do that but god wouldnt that be great? Odriozola and Regullion absolutely deserve to keep starting in my book.
Marcelo should be back. our attack is a lot better with him. Carvajal tho, hes been garbage for a while so i don't mind the kid taking his place for a while.
Solari on TV "Celta played very hard, Casemiro had to come off. Gareth made a huge effort, with his ankle very swollen, after Celta played very aggressively, on the line of the rules."— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) November 11, 2018
we've scored plenty of goals in our last few games without Marcelo but while i agree that be brings tons of creativity he also is a weak link defensively while these kids have been rock solid there, well see though.
And Odriozola was left out vs Barca for... nothing. Dude like Carvajal, energizer bunny, good workrate, good to see battle between to good plaers.
Big win, and the boys showing some character in a tough environment. As others have said, it's nice to see Luka playing well again. Makes a big difference. After two early subs and makeshift backline, gotta commend the entire squad and especially Courtois, Ordriazola and Ramos more keeping it together. Sanchez brought some energy and Lucas although poor up front stepped up at Lb when needed. Benz is man of the match though, those moves for the second goal were sick. First goal shows our mids need to play more balls over the top to set our forwards loose. We have always hesitated too long on those dating back to when Ronaldo was still here. If we can mix more of those in and keep defenders honest our mids may have more room around the box as well. Overall though I'm a very happy supporter today with that result and effort.
Our GD was zero (yep) when Solari started, but it's 4 after just two matches, now SS isn't going to achieve a third of what ZZ did, but JL was doing an absolutely pathetic job few were able to pull off, to the extent that many were legit suggesting that we need a whole new team to make top 4. Maybe I was in the minority but I thought the club's statement re the quality of the squad not being reflected on the pitch was absolutely true, we might not be CL contenders but still far from the godawful results on JL's watch, be it not being able to implement his style, making dumb decisions or whatever reason, I really don't care.
JL, the corrector changes every capital L to LV, years of having LV on our team does that I guess. Speaking of LV, he should be the first one to be cut from the lineup and subs once our fullbacks are fit. He's been appalling for a long time now, Solari should know better.
The problem with that is that he is our only RW . I think Solari choses him above Isco and Asensio because he understands those two arent wingers.
I think that even if Lucas was on a great run -and I haven't seen him as bad in a RM shirt- he wouldn't be a good fit with our overlapping RBs, unless we faced some extreme wing play from the opposition or acres of space that we wanted to exploit (like Alba). I'd rather give more chances to Vin and put Bale/Asensio on the right, based on form.
If he sticked on that right wing it wouldn't even be a problem, but now he is trying slick stuff that he simply cant do. He comes in central position/left wing to participate in the play, but he ends up losing the ball (like today) because he simply doesn't have the technique to do that.
I think without injuries we would have seen Vin, Isco and Asensio subbing in today. Depending on the extent of the injury to Bale, we may just see Isco and Asensio starting in the next game.
1061753595660525568 is not a valid tweet id Really solid whenever he has got the minutes. Loving the defenders coming though 'La Fabrica' in recent years. Nacho, Carvajal, Reguilon, Hakimi, Javi Sanchez, Hermoso. Pretty good list.
Ceballos deserves praise for coming in and playing in an unfamiliar position on a tough ground. I expected Kroos to fill in Casemiro's spot but surprisingly it remained unchanged. Great goal too. Nice to our midfielders threatening the goals.
I think it's far too early to attribute any of this to Solari's work (any manager firing almost always serves as a kick in the pants for the squad), but there are definitely encouraging signs. Ramos and Luka were much, much better today than they have been of late. Still not enough in the final third, though I think Celta did a nice job for long stretches of the match with their shape without the ball once we entered their half.
I thought we created enough given it's a tough away ground. Benz hit the post in 2nd half and had a chance which went just wide in the opening minutes. Also Kroos missed a good chance at 1-0 when he just had to place it along the ground.