The positives: - Solari finally benching Marcelo and going with a very youthful lineup. Let's hope this continues and isn't a one week thing. - Vinicius was easily the best player on the pitch. His decision making at times leaves you wanting, but the talent is there. His movement off the ball is something Bale, Benzema, Lucas and the rest of the forwards should learn from. - We, for whatever reason, defend better in front of Keylor. Whether it's a comfort level or communication, the pattern seems clear. I think Keylor and Courtois are about the same level, but it is another interesting situation. The negatives: - That was some of the most atrocious football I've seen a Real Madrid team play, and shockingly, this isn't the first time I've said that this season. After the 30th minute or so, this team turned into a relegation level team battling to hold on to a 1-0 lead, heaving every ball up the field and conceding possession. And it clearly seemed as a "strategy". We were saved by a piece of brilliance from Ceballos... - A player who should have started the game. - The Cristo sub was odd to say the least. Sure, it was the only one-for-one option for the coach, but we sure could have used another midfielder in at that point in time to try to hold on to the ball a lot better. Cristo did nothing of note, and we seemed like we were playing a man down for the second half. - That goal sure looked like it was offside to me. His upper body seemed ahead of the line. But hey... it's VAR.
Solari need to accept that: 1. Benz is not a striker 2. You don't need a striker always. He could have added another attacking minded midfielder. Even playing with isco, LV and VJr is better then having benz over there. But that of course won't happen.
Not every manager would agree to that philosophy. After yesterday, I now believe Solari thinks he would make the team worse off with Isco on the pitch or that Isco in incompatible with his tactics.
He had three fantastic options to choose from. Okay, more precise two considering Isco is in deep freeze. First one Ceballos who improved us as soon as he entered the game (74` to late ). Not surprisingly considering he is strong on the ball and also has defensive work rate. Also second interesting option would be Diaz who is basically all rounder. But no. Solari pulls out Cristo. Now the question is what happens next week. Cannot wait to see how Bernabeu responds to 352 / 532. But one thing is certain, Lucas is coming back and is starting. To bad. I was hoping to see something in the line of Casemiro / Modrić double pivot, Isco and Ceballos as LM / RM and Vin / Diaz upfront.
Marcelino is another Juande Ramos, always sticks to his 442, he is nothing special. Setien and Sarri are, I only suggested Sarri because some wanted Allegri here. If we would have signed a coach from the Serie A, I would have signed Sarri instead of Allegri. In terms of football intelligence, Setien is tight years ahead of Juande Ramos and Marcelino.
Setien is a good coach, I'm not sure he can get these players to push up and press like he can with a smaller team in Betis. We've seen others try to no avail.
I agree, but Carvalho wasn't like this. He was more of a destroyer, Setien has done with him what Pep has done with Fernandinho, making him a footballing cdm. Canales is just unlucky he got that major injury, talented af, same goes for Lo Celso. Guardado was never a world beater, not at Deportivo, not at PSV, but he excels good in this system of Setien. He just knows how to get the best out of his players, seems logical, but some coaches do opposite, (SOLARI)
A lot of these guys won’t be with us next season so if we can’t get Pochettino then we should look at people like Setien or Machin from Sevilla. Both these guys have excellent philosophy and seem very competent.
I don't understand your comment. In reviewing the respective records of the two GKs since Courtois arrived I found that Courtois' record as the starter is 22-12-3-7 compared to Navas' 11-9-0-2. Courtois' goals against average is 1.23 compared to Navas' 0.91. Courtois has 9 clean sheets in 22 games compared to Navas' 4 in 11 games. Your comment makes no sense.
I think there have been unfair criticism of the goals conceded by Courtois, when in reality many were hard to pin on him. That said, as I said above, I think the defense looks a lot more organized when Keylor is back there. If Keylor keeps playing at the level that he's capable of playing at and the players defend better in front of him, it'll be hard for the coach to justify going back to Courtois.
Carvalho has never been a destroyer. He's been the opposite. Always a wide passing range and good touch, lacks physicality in defense and intelligent positioning on that end as well. I've written about him several times over the years here. Setien hasn't turned him into this, this is who he has been and they bought him for that reason.
Maybe we have different definitions of 'destroyer'. To me at Sporting he Carvalho was nothing more then a Casemiro type of player. He really developed his passing and reading of the game at Betis. Very complete midfielder now, didn't like him that much at Sporting.
I think all GKs are subject to unfair criticism from time to time so it's not unique to Courtois. That said, from my own perspective I think Courtois has an advantage on set plays because of his size. OTOH, I don't think he's a match for Navas in open play because of Navas' incredible reflexes, as good as any I see around today. Size and quickness are not always compatible.
I don't agree with this, he's always been more of a playmaker or metronome at DM. He was the focal point while Adrien Silva would do more of the hustle work. Carvalho needed to be more like Casemiro at times, as he was slow to react in defense and couldn't read situations quick enough to prevent danger. I wouldn't group them together. Regardless he has always been an excellent passer and calm on the ball with it at his feet.
I know that this is sort of my schtick and it probably gets tiresome, but IMHO offside should never be called in the first place when it's that close. It goes against the spirit of the rule IMO.
Courtois gets criticized because Madridistas have grown accustomed to certain standards when it comes to goalkeeping, how many time over the years have we seen Iker and then later Keylor make saves they had no business making? They’ve done so somewhat consistently, they’ve won us many points over the years. So far with Courtois it seems that almost every shot that’s supposed to hit the back of the net does so, so yea some of the criticism aren’t fair but you have to understand where people are coming from when they make said criticism. He so far just doesn’t inspire confidence in some of us, even in areas where he supposedly improves on Navas he looks very shaky, one example being corners. Hopefully as the season goes on he proves those of us who don’t think he’s our best keeper wrong.
That might be because you can make a youtube video with clips of Courtois getting megged. Messi keeps getting him over and ove, at Atleti, then Chelsea. To be fair if I were that tall I would probably be clumsy af. Carvalho "looks" like a destroyer due to his big frame. But he's slow and sometimes even looks timid but much better than Casemiro on the ball. Its always been that way, he's big enough to hold his ground but not any good at it. You would like to see a big guy like that put on some muscle and throw his weight around but that's not really his forte and if you are claiming that he plays like a destroyer then you are not watching and just projecting attributes on to him. Same with Courtois. Because of his size I was expecting him to be more aggressive on crosses and corners, but too often he stays on his line when I think he could muscle in and get his hands/fists on those balls.
No, that's the point of VAR. It's supposed to be accurate but has a big flaw in the offside lines. It's not hard to fix...
It's being said that his Betis has problems creating, despite circulating the ball very well. We some how saw this with Lopetegui here. Not sure about this now. I would like a tactically versatile coach. Both in defensive and attacking tactics.
It’s every single goalkeepers weak spot. One of the first things you should be taught as a striker is to aim low and hard between the keepers legs in a one on one. It’s very hard for any keeper to deal with. You could probably make the same YouTube clip for just about any keeper out there. Ronaldo (Brazilian) was a master at finishing like this.
What is the flaw ? from all the images I have seen, it was Onside. Remember, the player HAND does NOT count, his HAND was ahead of Carvajal however that doesnt count.