Rafa's lack of man-management skills are legendary and it would seem that it has already begun. I knew there was something up when he a week ago refused to name Ronaldo as the best player, even when pressed further on the question by the press. And then there is all this nonsense going around about Rafa wanting to build the team around Gareth Bale (lol) and Florentino having to reassure Ronaldo. It's going to be a long season.
But again, who fault is that? When we signed Bale, he was seen as the replacement for Ronaldo in a few years time. He's had a bad season and all of a sudden he's a Nani. Rafa was right to say we should build around Bale because again, seen as the guy who will replace Ronaldo. We're not building around James or Isco because James is not there yet and Isco probably won't be with us in a season or two. It's pathetic that Perez has to come out and massage Ronaldos ego. No, we're not building around him because he close to 31.
We're not building around anyone. Moving Bale to the middle or to the left is not building around him. It's getting the most out of the front 4.
Bale moving to the left means disrupting other functioning parts of the attacking four. I think the way it is now is the best compromise, you can't make them all work perfectly.
James played quite competently on the right and has done so for good portions of his club career. In fact, our best spell of play was with him on the right and Isco on the left last season. So I don't get how you're "disrupting" the other parts when all you're doing is essentially swapping Bale for James.
Does it really matter where Ronaldo starts? He moves from side to side as the spirit moves him. The other players adjust. This is not criticism of Ronaldo, it is reality.
Its always the case of something's got to give. There is too much attacking talent and to gain the most from some of them, you need to lose something from others. The dilemma has been for some time now do we maximize Bale at the expense of midfield balance and creativity.
IMO moving Gareth to the middle is not getting the most out of the front 4 at all, no matter how much James has played on the right he is still better than Bale in the middle behind the striker, so is Isco, for me getting the most out of the front 4 wouldn't include Bale at all, so the idea that playing Bale in the middle is not disruptive is only if you decide that Bale has to start somewhere even though we have better players than him for that position, If James is so good on the right we could play him there, Ronaldo on the left ,Benz up front and Isco behind him no? Sounds better to me already, only one guy who can't pass that well, especially in tight spaces instead of two, and the excellent finishing abilities of the best at it in the world and James, I'm sold, no need for Superman, ah well wishful thinking. His best season ever was when he ran around with no restrictions, that suits him best, maybe they should let him do that here, despite the quality we have around him who can play a more organized game just to " get the best out of him". Getting the best out of the "team" can be a secondary goal maybe.
I don't see an issue with playing Bale in the middle, especially in post-Ronaldo world. We know he is good in the center, can score goals, is an aerial threat, and can help on defense because he's full of running. But importsntly, his directness and pace provides something different to Benz/James/Isco/Kroos, it would help provide a solid counter attack threat. Just as an example: Benz Isco --- Bale --- James Kroos --- Modric If he works hard in defense too, which he does, it will allow both wingers to play closer to goal than any line-up that has Ronaldo on the LW. So they'll be able to contribute more towards scoring as well.
"Getting the best out of the "team" can be a secondary goal maybe" It's the blueprint of the galácticos. A whisker away of winning treble in 2014 to the most humiliating season in the history of the club watching judas winning treble with Berzas in 2015. Bale can play football with Mr. Colombian motorways attached to his back and still be the better player. The team that started against city with the exception of Ramos is the best one.
This is how Florentino looked going to the bank with a cheque worth 700M in his pocket for just 40km of road.
Yeah cuz James is the only player Madrid bought for marketing reasons. I mean at least James justified his starting spot last year, unlike someone else who was only playing for marketing reasons.
Bale was and is much needed, James Rodríguez wasn't and isn't needed. In 2013 it was evident that Higuaín's discal hernia has wrecked him, there were concerns over Florentino's son Karim Benzema's knee after he played throughout 12/13 with a cyst in it, a slow midfielder wasn't the answer to resolve the problem. The top goal scorer and best player in the English 1st division was the logical choice. And it proved to be the right choice. Real Madrid have something no other club have - the supersonic counter- which like Josep The Phylosopher, The Inventer of Football, The Guru of Qatarlonia not to be mistaken with the very beautiful Spanish province Catalonia Guardiola said 'is impossible to be stopped'. On his presentation Ancelotti said word-for-word "the idea is not to play on the counter". After 5 months of desperate attempts to turn Real Madrid into something the club has never been, he went back to counter-attacking. Everything Ancelotti won, everything Real Madrid ever won was, product of counter-attacking football, in Ancelotti's case Gareth Bale was an instrumental figure. Messing with this aspect of the team's play against the manager's will after he found the winning formula, was always going to end up they way it did. J. Rodríguez having a good season doesn't translate into being a successful transfer, because in the process to accomodate him Real Madrid lost its efficiency.
It wasn't "messed with" to accommodate James. Kroos was signed, Alonso left, Di Maria left, James was signed to replace Di Maria. The coach utilized the system that he felt was best given the squad he had in front of him. Make excuses all you want, Bale had a shit season and was a major reason why the team struggled, we were unbeaten in all the games he missed. Is Bale better on counter attacking style? Sure, but that doesn't excuse him for failing in other systems. If we move to counter and James sucks, it is not an excuse. I expect our players to perform and find a way regardless of the system. Unlike Bale, I don't think James is a one trick pony though. I expect him to perform in either set up.
@J-Mezzy he is trolling you, don't fall for the bullshit of some guy that only started posting in our forums recently, by mid season this guy will disappear just like every other troll we have had each off season. Best thing is to just put these clowns on ignore.
It's always great to have differing opinions lol, but seriously Gareth can improve on his passing his first touch and decision making, this isn't Spurs IMO.
Since Benitez is known as a manager who likes to analyze players stats to figure out their weaknesses and strengths, is he going to look at the ATROCIOUS statistics Ronaldo has as our FK taker? Like virtually all power and zero accuracy on his shot these days. We need to let Bale or James take them more often.
Rafa wife speaking about Rafa. Quite funny and it just seems Rafa lives for football. The former Napoli boss, who replaced Carlo Ancelotti at the Santiago Bernabeu earlier this summer, has now succeeded Mourinho at three different clubs, having previously taken charge at Inter and Chelsea. And Montserrat Seara believes it seems almost fated that Benitez should continue to join clubs in the Portuguese coach's wake. "We tidy up his messes," she joked, speaking to La Region. "If you think about it, of course you end up crossing paths. There are only a few world-class clubs out there." Seara, a law professor from the northern region of Galicia, says her husband's passion for the game remains unabated despite the difficult circumstances of his time with Napoli. "On our first date, Rafa explained to me what a 4-4-2 was. He finds it hard to stay away from the game," she said. "The year we spent at home he helped coach the local school team. It was hilarious. He stood on the sidelines and shouted at them as if they were first division players, waving his arms about. He doesn't see football as work, it's his passion. "It was hard to see each other over the winter in Napoli. There were no direct flights and it was complicated. Things will be much easier now in Madrid." Seara also believes Benitez's infamous tendency to tinker with his starting line-ups left him hugely unpopular with a handful of fans by the end of his spell with Liverpool. "Even I don't know them," she said of his tactics. "Sometimes I ask him, who's going to play? He says he doesn't know yet. They criticised him at Liverpool for constantly tweaking his starting XI. I thought his two best friends in England were going to kill him." She does, however, believe Benitez has a long career in the game still to come. "I don't know if he'll ever retire," she added. "All being well, he has 20 years of football left." Article on goal.com