Bale has done more attacking in 30 min than Hazard in an hour. What happened to him really.... I've never seen him this slow and fat.
Not to make any excuses for him but i've been told he was like this almost every pre-season with Chelsea. I guess we'll see how he performs once the season starts on Saturday.
We can't compete against top teams anymore. The truth is we are Arsenal level atm. No consistency and no system at all.
Last year we blew through preseason and the Super Cup and people were thinking we transitioned perfectly after Cristiano and the season would be fruitful. The season was a disaster. Just because things start off poorly does not mean theh remain there. Man if this is how some of you take adversity in a sport, it scares me to think how you take in in your normal lives....
Man, it’d be one thing if we were playing fundamentally sound football and not getting results in preseason. But you have to admit the team looks in complete shambles right now — failing to execute very basic stuff.
You're only making my point. Last preseason we were huming. Playing well fundamentally, scoring routinely with easy and basically tearing apart teams. We ripped everyone. Did the same in the Super Cup. Then the season started and everything quickly fell apart. Just because you do well in preseason doesn't mean the season will go well. No differently than if you do poorly in preseason it means you will fail.
Hell, same issues going back to the 2017/2018 league disaster under the same manager. It’s not encouraging.
I expect us to step it up once the league gets going but at this point you’d have to be crazy not to have major concerns, especially if we don’t get the midfield reinforcements we sorely need.
I'm not denying there are major issues. I have acknowledged them. I have acknowledged that Zidane's stubborness is beginning to hurt the club as well. It doesn't mean we are Arsenal level. It doesn't mean we're going to fail. Let's try to believe and be positive instead of drowing in misery and negativity.
If we buy a CM or two (from VdB, Eriksen and Pogba) then I think we’ll be ok, competitive in the league and CL. If Barca get Neymar, it’s catastrophic in my opinion, from all angles. I’m now praying that he stays at PSG, because there are no new rumours to suggest we are actively negotiating for Neymar.
The good news is there's no hiding anymore; the players can't fail two years in a row (some even longer) and be protected, Perez can't have millions in payroll going to players who won't play, and Zidane, who came back early, participated heavily in the new signings, so he can't pretend he's not partially responsible. This is the squad, 352, 442, 433, it doesn't matter, these guys collectively made this bed and can sleep in it, good, bad or indifferent. Everyone one, board, coach and players have accountability. Let's see how they respond.
Hopefully they respond well, another year like last year and the pitchforks are out, most are already sharpening theirs as we speak.
You sound like some cheesy motivational speaker. We are doomed I tell ya, DOOMED! We are the club associated with being Galacticos but watching Barcelona have Messi, Griezmann, Suarez and about to sign Neymar. They also signed De Jong. Hazard is not on top form, our midfield is redundant, defence is dire and we are forcing out some of the best players on the team. Manager is on some stubborn-power trip and even Atletico Madrid have made more promising signings than us. So you can "believe" all you want like some fcuking Disney character and view the world through rose-tinted glasses, with rainbows, unicorns whilst being "positive" spouting inspirational quotes like these old people and damn millennials do on Facebook and Whatsapp all damn day like they're philosophers or something. The hard truth is that we are DOOMED! screwed, out of luck, have been bent over and had thousands years of bad luck shoved right up our asses.
Perez have hard time selling players (some of it because of Zidane, some not). what make you think it will change if we fail this year?
that is exactly what we have become. a group of players with massive potential that look like shit, have no clear direction of how to play as a group and most of them look also without the desire to play.
we're not going to pay out Bale's wages for the rest of his contract, he'll likely move on when the window opens in winter. James probably goes in next week or so.
really? I don't see any team talking about Bale. where will he move? and for free? what's the point, sell him for free now and save the wages. James at least have two teams interested in him.
Even you let him go to China for a nominal fee we'd be free of tens of millions in wages. It's a lot of money which impacts are ability to conduct other business.
I don't even think midfield reinforcements were ever really necessary to begin with. Although there were questions about the starters we had plenty of options on the bench and out on loan. This is not an area I think we needed to spend money on and, if we did we, only needed some workhorses for balance. James and Bale are both world class talent, because they bring different skills they provide the team tremendous versatility and both are capable of man of the match performances that will win points. If we only get about about 10 goals and assists out of each of them then we're pretty much already better off than with Isco and Lucas or any of the other players they "should" be competing against for minutes. I'm not a Bale fan but the time for appropriate action passed years ago and now we're stuck with him. I can't even come to one reasonable conclusion as to why James doesn't have a single minute this preseason (at least not without bringing Zidane's competence into question). I mean if both players did well and so did the team in preseason I imagine the club would be in a much better position to make a decision on either transferring them or keeping them. As things stand they are black holes.
Well provided we kept the likes of Llorente and Ceballos then sure but that ship has sailed so now we have to make some moves. I agree with you in regards to James, Bale I’m not so sure, he and his agent are more trouble than they’re worth right now.