Casemiro is the BEST defensive mid we have in this squad. He is a little lack of focus today but it's okay to have an off day. For all of you Casemiro haters, you should rewatch the away game at Atletico to understand why Casemiro has massive role in ZZ gameplan.
Good game ! did anyone notice how much we improved as soon as Karim left? who wants to bet? he is going to start next game regardless !!!
Smh Karim set up the first penalty with a perfectly placed one touch pass and he won the second penalty.
thats why I said we should change the style we play. Instantly high press which suits Kroos the best. With a footballing cdm you obviously will have the ball more, the less the opponent has the ball less chances they can create. So that's another pro cuz casemiro bein losing the ball for fun. Kroos (Carvajal too) is always the first one that tries to high press but the forwards don't bother that's were the other problem lies. If we fix this we will solve most of our defensive problems.
thats why I said earlier.... change the style of play it'll suit our midfielders the best. They run less have more the ball and energy. When you change this you can get rid of casemiro. Or just stay with the counter attacking football play casemiro for sacrifice and hope for BBC. I know what i would choose..
We win 4-1 at Mestalla and people are still saying that Zidane sucks and the team is crap. The only difference I saw today as opposed to most of our games this season is that the ball went into the net. We've been short of confidence and now it's starting to come back. I can't believe we're sitting here debating on the midfield and who should be a CDM. It's Casemiro or Llorente. I love Kova but he's a B2B mid. What, you want him playing CDM get the ball and go on his galloping run to leave a hole in the center of the field? Get ********ing real and screw you're ********ing brain in. Some of the noobies here are really perplexing.
I've been Zidane's harshest critic but I have to say the two subs he made today changed the match. When he brought in Asensio and Lucas we basically had 5 in the midfield and we killed off Valencia, they stopped dominating. Marcelo blossomed. Before that it was almost certain we were going to concede more. Still too many defensive issues but it was an improvement. The fight was there, even Benzema had a decent match and was angry to get substituted (a good sign!). I worry about Isco though and where he fits in this 4-3-3. He shouldn't be a bench player at his age.
Improving (still not convinced by Ronaldo though, but my bet is still tha same: he will be better in CL games). Besides the penalties, the goals are nice with good combinations for the last two. Same as last week game, I think we are getting better. We still have time before the CL games. I'm still confident. And again we're better away with our A team, as expected. I'm a bit salty I couldn't watch it live though.
The irony is that you don`t need to compromise considering Llorente`s defensive capacity. Llorente 16/17 - 3.8 tackles; 2.7 interceptions; 1.4 fouls, 1.6 clearances Casemiro 16/17 - 4.0 tackles; 1.7 interception; 2.1 fouls; ; 1.8 clearances
Well said. I'd move Kroos up in front of these 2 and let him take some shots and hit through balls. Relieve him of some defensive duties as he isn't good at them anyway.
I also find that he does a decent defensive job too, this season his energy has dropped somewhat but I can’t say Kroos is poor defensively, I don’t see that, it’s one of the reasons I loved this midfield so much last season, all three of Kroos Casemiro and Luka had the ability to win the ball back and all three had the ability to pass the ball accurately and start plays, as far as I was concerned we had/have the best allround midfield three in the world, energy and performance has dropped for all three of them this season though IMO having watched him play every single Copa match this season this is equally true for Llorente, for me he is not the answer as yet
kross’ pressing is running for a bit towards the player who has the ball and then make a lousy attemp to interfere without really accomplishing anything. Players just go by him as if he was not even there- Modric on the other hand hussles and fights until he obstructs the play or regains possession.
Then again, he went from a team with about 40% of average possession to a team with about 60% of average possession. Hence why he might have better interception stats, but has 0 goals and 2 assists in almost 3000 minutes with Alaves. It's how Navas was leading at shots stopped with Levante, but didn't win the zamora trophy.
Why do people say he is going to be better in the champions league the 2 biggest games or 4 we played this year he was atrocious,totally invisible against farca,couldn't dribble anyone against tottenham both home and away but now he is going to be amazing an even stronger and better team. I sometimes don't get this way seeing things,i for one don't expect him to do anything oh i forgot maybe he would come and score some penalties becausw that is for sure what is left of him now days. Didn't really like the way they ignored bale in the second half him and benzema even though gareth wasn't at his very best this afternoon but valencia did a great job of putting 2 left backs on him which worked. I want for the psg game that cristiano plays striker so that marcelo doesn't get exposed like he always seems to be whenever lazy oss cristiano doesn't strike back with asencia and bale on either flank no benzema psg are going to eat him alive with his slowness we need pace and movement to beat which marco and gareth would provide plenty.
I can tell how incredibly angry you are that the team won and i am very much enjoying it. Martial sucks.
I imagine that given similar minutes as in Alaves, he would at least match those stats if not even improve them considering the ofensive texture of RM resulting in many holes to patch.
Well that is total rubbish. He was are best player or one of the best in the first spurs game. Hit the bar once or twice and if wasnt for some increidble saves by loris would have scored alot more. He was very good in that game. Last couple of seasons he seems to play at a different level in champions over la liga and same can be side for the rest of the team, thats why people say it.
What i'm saying is that there are a lot more interceptions to be made when the ball is constantly headed in your direction over the entire season, but i don't really see the argument as i actually rate Marcos.
So does Modric on the other side. When you wanw to press that high, one of the midfielders has to go up high.
Kroos isn't winning any balls back, and he is clearly the poorest of the mids defensively. Modric busts his ass and actually tries to win headers and 50-50s. I'm not hating on kroos, he just isn't good at that aspect of the game. Positioning is fine but again I'd move him up in front of Casemiro and Modric.
You'll have to permanently play Modric in a sort of a double pivot role with Casemiro in that scenario. He's sort of playing in that role anyway now with the amount of work he's doing. I was really astonished at the times where he was literally right beside Marcelo defending, with Kroos nowhere to be seen. Just to add, Casemiro right now is covering for two players and literally playing as the 3rd CB. He is pivotal to the team with Marcelo and Kroos on the pitch. He has limited his mistakes to the opponent's half, which is all I can ask for really.
Casemiro was a colossus today with 8 tackles. In this formation he's the first name on the team sheet. No discussion. Plays as a CB at times and covers everyone's ass. Modric is also underrated in his defensive contributions. This guy does everything. Still the best midfielder on the planet for me. Kroos is the question mark. Awful in defensive responsibilities and very lazy tracking back. He doesn't create enough going forward either. I prefer Isco or Kova depending on what the match requires.
don't look at statistics, look how team played. and it wasn't well played match lucky valencia didn't scored at least one o two. DIFFERENCE was just cause team took chances, but overall still not good enough in terms of game itself.
With the 433 you can tell how drained our midfielders get. They are tasked to do a lot and to cover so much ground. It's part if the reason why I don't like it with the current forward line. By the 60th mark they are exaughsted and opposition teams get the upper hand. Also why I'd like to see earlier subs from Zidane when he chooses this formation.
Valencia are very strong at home, and despite taking their chances, the team had quite a few more to score.