It's a frustrating night for him. I lost count how many times he had to sprint all the way back to cover for Carvajal position. The club should shop around for a decent right back in the summer while they're cleaning house. This has to be the worst Carvajal version I've seen.
IMO the best and calmest assessment of this team I have read so far, the only thing I would add is that it’s surprising ( negligent?) that the directors did not have this view or see this coming and plan for it, considering that’s their job really, small changes might not have made us world beaters but the season might not have been as flat as it has been
The most logical assumption is that the club wanted to give this team the season to assess the situation. If you read what players were saying before the season started, everything was very optimistic. Sure, we could have dropped players and replaced them right away, but considering the togetherness this group showed, there was probably a lot of worry in destroying group chemistry after a lot was won. Hence why allegedly the club looked at other coaches (Allegri being openly one of them) and the players supported the hiring of Lopetegui which further made it obvious that the club wanted to give more trust into players Lopetegui knew and liked from the national team: Isco, Asensio, Carvajal, Ramos, Lucas, nacho, Ceballos etc. he knew half the team really. We talk about Solari, but the plan in the beginning of the season was to hire a coach that would unleash the potential of the younger spanish group in the team. The season started horrible, so we hired Solari to somehow bring it to a close, at this point the club probably already knew the who Spanish core experiment was a failure hence why nobody had a problem with Isco being sent on an early vacation.
Fair enough, I respect your view and agree with some of it but I can’t agree with the club about the apparent assumption that Gareth and Benz could carry the goal scoring load, considering their lack of real consistent production and injury for two seasons in a row, the evidence was there, i think in the end even the club realized they needed some backup hence Mariano arriving, i’m not so sure betting on a team that loses it’s top scorer, finished so far behind Farca in the league and had a lot of luck to make it to the CL trophy was a good idea either, we could all see it as fans, as a group of people much closer to the team and in charge of decisions I am surprised they did not take a more pragmatic view of what the team was capable of, Last season Ceballos and Llorente were nowhere really, performing relatively ordinarily in the Copa , Marco and Isco were inconsistent at best Rafa up and down , Kroos up and down, Marcelo up and down, Theo not relevant and shipped out, they had won a lot as a group yes but we as fans on this board could see lots of issues, I am surprised they did not, we all hoped for the best this season knowing what was needed ( others to step up and score to help fill the goal void) and a lift in the overall consistency of the team, but I think some refreshing was needed.
+ Asensio. Modric: "The club put faith in other players like Gareth, Asensio and Karim. It has brought Mariano, there is also Vini here who is doing very well for his age.. But sometimes things don't work out how we want them to"
The outliers are not only Bale but also Isco and Asensio. You'd expect Gareth to not only score around 20-25 but you'd expect Isco to chip in with 10 and Asensio even more. It's a failure across the board.
Because he got appendicitis and threw a fit when his favorite manager was fired so he stopped training. Let's be clear, Solari is an average at best coach but he was hired to right the ship. As culpable as Bale is for being a complete and utter asshole the guy probably showed up in training. I have a sneaking suspicion that Isco threw in the towel this season when Lope was fired and started off on the wrong foot with Solari. Could we have handled Isco better? Definitely. Did he throw in the towel like an 8th grader? It certainly seems so.
LOL, that Lopetegui decision was just an overall disaster. I mean it fncked the Spanish team also. Just imagine Isco going from world cup debacle to early season surgery and then, bam, Lopetegui is getting fired again. Flo has to take so much blame, he needed to sit tight and wait until the world cup was over; but, no, he did the quick easy thing to give himself cover after Ronaldo and Zidane left. Ego >>> club and country. Shameful.
I don't put much stock in Madrid announcing Lopetegui early as the reason why Spain did poorly. I put it down to Lopetegui's style of play. We saw it with our team. After teams figured us out the pretty passing and recycling of possession caused us to go scoreless in a record amount of games. Spain got dumped out of the WC because Lopetegui's style isn't sustainable against an organized team with at least one good finisher. Spain needed a focal point but didn't have one. They were crying out for a David Villa.
It was already known Ronaldo intended to leave, he has said as much. Difference is that the parties in that matter had the good sense to wait until the world cup was over. Would have sucked for Ronald but I imagine if he had sustained some career ending injury while the whole deal would have collapsed, on the other hand if Flo had come to his senses and realized that he was going to sabotage the whole project for Bale he might have been able to salvage something (by selling Bale, keeping ZZ/CR7 and buying Hazard). Flo has ruined two coaches career practically before they started and wrecked a three time CL winning team just to keep Bale happy.
Most difficult week of my career. Success is not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall. #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/4FEB1dYHIa— Luka Modrić (@lukamodric10) March 7, 2019
Listen to yourself: You claim Ronaldo told the club before the CL final that he wanted to leave. The CL final arrives. Bale claims maybe it's time to move on. Why would Bale make a statement of intent to leave the club, if he would have assurances that he'd have a leading role? I know you chose this hill to fight on, but you're contradicting yourself. First you say we sold Ronaldo to keep Bale happy but then you predate Ronaldo's actual departure before Bale's public statement of intent of leaving the club. All facts: Maybe Zidane didn't want to work with Bale next season. Most likely fancied Hazard. The club had already locked in every euro we got from Ronaldo for the stadium investment (see anual financial report), Bale thinks with Ronaldo out of the picture, he's staying, the offers possibly stink, and we end up giving him a chance. Your whole scheme of Bale controlling the club is neither funny nor in any way accurate but then again, neither is anything you post here.
One thing is certain; Cristiano knew he was leaving before the season ended. Marcelo confirmed this. So Zidane knew. What other explanation is thete for Zidane's abrupt departure than he knew Florentino was about to heavily handicap the squad and that Bale would be the face of this knew side? He also knew Florentino wasn't gonna bery him his big targets
Bale didn't know anything about becoming "the face of the team" though because after the CL final his comments weren't even hints, he clearly said he needs to think about his future and whether it's in Madrid or elsewhere. He was one foot out of the door. It's most likely that he changed his opinion once Ronaldo left and the club felt like we'd take a gamble and give Bale the season to cut costs. All this nonsense about doing what was best for Bale is frankly stupid. The club had transfer targets that were unrealistic, and decided to cut costs than settle for anything less than that. Zidane felt he couldn't win with this squad so he left.
I don't think Bale knew. He probably heard them talking about it but it was all in Spanish so he tuned out.
I doubt the entire squad knew, at least before the CL final. There are reports of Ronaldo being vocal about his issues with the club, but also reports of players not supporting him at all/finding it a bother to deal with. Several players made comments that they want him to stay when the rumours heated up, I don't think that would've happened if they knew it was a done deal between him and Juve.
There's a video of the 13th celebration in Bernabeu where everyone was chanting Cristiano's name apart from Kroos and a few others. Kroos was even chanting Lucas!, Lucas!. When the fans switched to Cristiano Quedate!, a few players didn't join in. You can literally feel how much Marcelo wanted him to stay. Kroos, Casemiro and Bale seem indifferent about that whole chant . Video of Kroos chanting Lucas In the end you can't read much into it.
You could interpret that some players felt he was being a primadonna again, or that some players got tired of him. It's all speculation. When it comes to Bale, he looked all be sure of his role. Its safe to assume he wouldn't be there if the situation wouldn't fall into his lap.
Flo's idea was to sign Neymar for 300 ME to replace Ronaldo. But talks didn't go beyond his family as Neymar chose to stay after enjoying all the attention and Al K flying to Brazil to pamper him.
Lol so players get tired of Cristiano being a primadonna but they don't get tired of Bale being one? I'm sure players love how the ever-injured Bale can have his agent infleunce managerial decisions, how he throws tantrums, leaves matches early, isolates himself and basically has an attitude of "I'm better than you.. and I should be treated in such a manner!" All with 1/4 if Cristiano's output, charisma and influence. ... but yeah, it is Cristiano whom they are "tired" over. Sure
Can we start blaming Cristiano now. It's his fault Zidane quit. It's his fault Bale became the star of the team. And it's his fault Benzema can't score a goal. On the other hand he's so unbearable that with him gone at least guys like Kroos were out there giving 110%. And the real bonus, Flo was able to focus on the important stuff - like retractable roofs and Ronaldo's transfer fee paid about half of it.
Modric recently defended Bale after the whole celebration thing and a lot of the things said about him. The problem with Bale is that he never speaks, in whatever language. When others talk for you, nobody knows what you're thinking. Meanwhile when Modric won the Balon d'Or Ronaldo made his displeasure public. You know.when he's angry and at who.
Cristiano is a bitch, but a great player who was a difference maker and who was worth the drama. Bale on the other hand is just a bitch