Yet, Raul was one of those who complained about automatic starters, however wasn't he one as well? Ironically he made these comments after he was benched for a period. (I forgot the coach, we had so many). He complained about automatic starters, galacticos and preferential treatment. All things he has benefited from, which there is no defense for him for this. There is no denying that during Perez era he was playing shit, and even though there were players who would consistently get the job done even from the bench he didn't get benched. Tell me who has played more minutes than Raul? Seriously, if your going to be objective you got to look at both sides of the coin. Last season was Raul's best season in a long time and he played over 4,500 minutes to the next attacking player playing well over 2,000. When you are playing that much, why wouldn't you have some success? During Capello's tenure he wasn't getting the job done and his minutes were still the highest. Are you saying this is all by chance? Overstatement. I think it is very telling that Robinho played much better last year than Raul did with Capello, yet when the subject of renewing Robinho's contract came along you said he was effective but wasn't one of our best. You then say Raul was one of the two best outfielders. Isn't this a contradiction? To add to this, many here stated Robben would start over Robinho, however you say that Raul would start regardless just on his merit. How is this? To even compare Ruud and Raul's contributions is a bit of a stretch there honestly. Especially when we all seemed to agree as a forum that Raul had an average season, Higuain was coming along and we're just happy Reyes/Diarra did their thing. I remember quite well during the pre-season Raul started banging the goals in and you said specifically that his past season wasn't that good but his form in the current pre-season warranted him to start Schuster's first season. I know you're not seriously trying to say Pedja wanted Higuain to play over Raul. Pedja is a big Raulista and played with the guy. Every bad stretch Raul has Pedja is quick to come out to support him and say he should start/play. It is one thing to say something and another to actually do it. While Raul is the best of what we have (Saviola wasn't even given a chance to catch form, btw) and deserves to start, I highly doubt a person as competitive as him actually believed that. I'm sure he said what he wanted the press to hear, but he of course has his own plans. As well as he should. If Ruud were healthy, I say no. I wouldn't start Raul over Higuain (form) or Ruud (our "9"). Also his place the beginning of this season was warranted for last season, and not last season's place with Capello season. It's like you're taking his C performance and making it an 'A'. The irony is that if another striker gave this same performance we'd be giving him time slots to show what he can do. no? Yes, and it was also clear with Expensive Caro, Luxemburgo, etc when he was playing poorly. I'm not one to fool myself. He has been a great servant for the club and has been a legend in every aspect of the word. With that said he is an automatic starter and will remain so whether he earns his spot or not, whether we change coaches or presidents, until he himself wants to step down. I guess one can say he's earn such a position, but it IS a double edged sword. Also, last but not least, I do not hate Raul, Guti (I'm a big fan of his), Salgado (Fuera) or anybody else. I hope we don't let Casillas get so big. If he struggles for form and we can't bench him we will be in a mess. Let's all pray Iker plays unstoppable till he retires. There is no excuse for the poor spats of form he showed that season. Like I said he wasn't as great that season as you said he was earlier. How about I tell you what Juande does? He'll start Huntelaar with Raul, Higuain time will get hampered (especially if we get knocked out of the CL early) and he'll be reduced to starts here and there, but mainly substitutions. God forbid if there is an injury he'll get more playing time, if not his playing time with those two will be on the wing (where is isn't effective). Raul will end up obviously scoring more than Higuain because he'll for the nth season in a row be one of the oldest but play the most minutes out of all outfield players. Raulista's will say he should start next season because of his goals this season, and Higuain? Only God knows. Don't ban me. Seriously..
I do blame him. Lol @ most posters avoiding the heavy criticism for Iker. He's been shit, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Had he been half decent even though there was a send off we could of AT LEAST gotten a draw, if he had been half decent we could of beaten Getafe. The Iker of old would of made that save against Depor and would of came up big against Espanyol. The fact of the matter is people are focusing on how shit our defense has been. Yes, it is shit and for that matter if you actually look back we've ALWAYS been porous at the back and shady with defending in spots. The constant was a scintillating or at least decent Iker, which we've have lacked this season. *awaits neg reps and ban for past two posts*
Iker is a one of the best shot stoppers, but he is far from being a well rounded keeper, particularly when it comes to crosses. He definitely has dropped in form and hopefully will bounce back to a higher level. I have always thought a struggling defence brings out the best in goalkeepers. Its a shame that Iker's drop in form coincides with our defensive wreckage
I think Raul's ligament injury was a missed opportunity of easing him out of the starting lineup and into the stands.
I think Iker's first save last game was after we equalized, and in the getafe match I think Pato had atleast 6-7 saves more than Iker. If there's one thing i really hope Ramos can fix, its Ikers totall lack of form.
Palop had about 7-9 saves too. Sad, when these keepers are out performing Iker by a country mile. Had Iker had that kind of day we'd of won both matches.
Iker has been shockingly poor for his standards this year, but I give the guy credit for at least having some accountability for his personal form. Too many guys make excuses, he's basically stated that he has been piss poor.
While i do not agree with all your points (and to say he was playing sh!t during the Perez era is to overlook the first 3+ seasons of that era when he was arguably the best striker on the planet and to drop him would have been an act of madness by any coach) it is totally irrelevant anyway to what I said...there were a number of automatic starters in the Perez era and Raul was one of them. It was not a case of coaches being afraid to drop Raul because he was Raul, it was a case of a number of players, one of whom was Raul, having to play because the President wished it. And as I said... also irrelevant as I was not talking about this era Effectiveness has nothing to do with how many minutes he played...he played a lot of minutes because he was able to and because he produced As for under Capello, again the point is not what you think but what Capello thought. You say he was not getting the job done, I would say capello obviously did think he was getting the job done. Do we honestly think Capello would play anyone who was not doing what he wanted...and that is the argument. . Not really I'm not quite sure I understand what point you are trying to make here but if I've got it right... I have always said Robinho had a very good spell in the middle of last season, but that there were players more important to the team...most noticeably Raul. I would say that taken as a whole Robinho last year was better than raul the season before but then again whole team was...you are not comparing like with like. If you want to compare like for like, Raul had a better season than Robinho under Capello and a better season than Robinho under Schuster. I really don't understand what point you are making here. Where did I compare Raul and Ruud's contributions? 6-07 Ruud as I said was our stand out player. 07-08 he may well have been again but injury prevented it and Raul ended up being that player. I said that the past season he should not have played out of position, but the fact remains that Capello trusted hiim more and picked him because of this. Towards the end of the season (when the players, reportedly led by Raul had had a face to face with Capello to change) he played well and that form carried over into last season,. Again it is important to stay on subject here...what you, I and FC think is irrelevant...the point i am making is that capello played him because Capello wanted to...not because he had to. I don't mind these discussions but I do get pissed when you accidently or otherwise clip what I say to make it seem like something else What I said was "If there is one thing we do know about capello it is that he is his own man...he sells Ronaldo, benches Becks, plays Emerson on the right and chooses not to use Gago and Higuain when Pedja wanted him to yet we are supposed to believe he hasn't the balls to bench Raul? Please" As you can see, that in no way implies/states that I thought Pedja wanted to play Higuain over Raul. Pedja wanted his winter signings to be used and was angry with capello for dropping the youngsters as soon as he had an opportunity to do so. My point was that capello is very much his own man. It is what he said...you can chose whether to believe him or not. I see no reason not to. But Ruud is not healthy...too argue that Raul always has to start and to quote the proof being that he is starting before an injured player is ridiculous. If all three are fit I expect Schuster would have been rotating his strikers as he should. I'm not certain that Schuster/ramos or whoever would do either, but once again we are both talking hypothetically and posting what we would do rather than why Schuster and capello did what they did. The point still remains that he plays because they chose to play him. You can agree with them or disagree...but the fact remains. You mean Expensive Lopez. I have already dealt with the coaches pre-Calderon. I think most people were aware he was out of position and saying so...if you take that as an excuse I think it is a very fair one. For about the twentieth time, on the crux of the argument , what you or i think about his form is irrelevant...the fact is that capello was happy with it. He trusted Raul and his trust was repaid. How about you don't, as it is speculation at best. I'll think about it. Yes seriously.
Bah, you know I mean the ending of his era. You know damn well how high I rated Raul during the beginning, and I've mentioned many times the highway robbery of Owens (GTFO) winning over Raul. I hope nobody mistakes my post for me disliking Raul or trying to demean his great accomplishments. This is half truth from what I've read. It was just as much pressure from the star players as there was from the president. Coaches were afraid to drop the Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo, Raul, etc for fear of backlash from fans and the stars who basically indirectly held control of the team. I even remember reading a report of a falling out, with Perez being against Raul's playing during his rough form and this caused a lot of chaos. Effectiveness does correlate to how many minutes played, because with a team like we have the more minutes you play the more effect you can have. If you are given every opportunity to gain form when you lose it, keep a spot, and play the most.. one would expect you to be one of the biggest providers no? With that said he wasn't during Capello's years, and he barely beat out an all injured Ruud last year when it came to goals (just goals). I still say Capello did like Raul, but wouldn't drop him during poor form because he realized the backlash. The same could be said with Schuster. I mean FFS, Schuster rightfully benched Raul for a game early this year (Higuain being in flying form) and we had a press field day over it. We had Pedja coming out every other day saying Raul should play and he's not finished and never will be. Do you honestly think Capello, Schuster or anybody else wants to deal with that on a day to day bases? Hell no. I'm not comparing players, I could give a shit about Robinho. I'm comparing your attitude in how lenient you are and praise-filled you get when you dealing with a player you have an affinity for. You say Raul was the second best (if not best) player during Capello season, but say Robinho just had a "good patch" last year? Raul didn't even have a solid high flying patch during the Capello season like Robinho did last year. It's obvious you're going to play up your favorite, but come on nobody is buying what you're selling here. Raul last season? Yes. Season before? Hell no. We all agreed he was average at best and most were saying that was his final starting all the time season. He played well in pre-season and you came out saying he should get his shot again. You wouldn't have if he was as good as you are claiming he was, which he was not. You said they were both on the same level of good/effectiveness during Capello season. While not a direct comparison, it is indirect and completely false. It's like if Raul runs around an entire game not touching the ball you will say he was giving the defense a headache. Let Saviola do it and he's not proving his worth, and Raul should start. It's one bar for others and another for Raul. Honestly at times It's like I wish for him to do something good just to justify things. I disagree, he had to even if it were indirect. The same way Schuster, Caro, Luxemburgo and soon Juande will have to. History will tell us the truth soon.... meaning.. it will repeat like it has been. We will see another in form player benched in Higuain. Let's just pray Huntelaar proves his worth and Raul gets in hot form. Fair enough, with that said I don't like when what I say is clipped to mean something else as well. I'm not saying Capello didn't want Raul to play (He has already coached him in the past), I'm saying even during bad form he wouldn't bench him because of the backlash. Also comparing the backlash of Ronaldo (who was a villian), Gago, and Higuain to the outright apocalypse which would be Raul doesn't make sense. If you remember Capello backed off Beckham due to the press pressure and even folded to the press/fans by playing Emerson away from home, but not in the Bernabeu. If Capello was so resistant and bulletproof, why would he bend with Beckham and Emerson? Capello is not a fool, he's been here before and knows Madrid well. The utter calamity a long period of benching Raul in Madrid would bring would either bring gray hairs to his head or kill him. It's like Beckham+Emerson multiplied by 1,000,000. There is no manager who even wants to look that in the face, talk much of going through with it. Capello is his own man, and a smart one at that. Why? We'd be out of the Copa Del Rey. He didn't rotate Saviola or use any others until the injury crisis hit. Why is it that he must rotate now that Higuain is in form (if Ruud were healty, we were speaking on the "if's")? It's because even you indirectly acknowledge the fact that it is unthinkable for Raul not to play. You know damn well if a "rotation policy" was enforced it would be just like earlier this year. Higuain wasted on the wing, Raul with Ruud. Doesn't matter if both are out of form (which they both were earlier on, and badly). I just used an example of how things went in the past. How about this you save that post about what I said Juande will do, and we'll see if it comes true. Everything including the parts about the "what if's" with injury. You don't even need to guess the future when we've seen it before looking back at our past. I said that on purpose hoping you would catch it. Can't have the discussion too serious, especially when it comes to discussing Raul. Lighten up the the in the eye before the hurricane comes back along. It's already been done huh?
Firing Schuster was obviously the right thing to do, not because Schuster is a bad coach but because its time to change and I'm glad the board realized that sooner rather than later. Juande Ramos FTW I hope.
passed his 1st test today next one will be hell lot more trickier, let see if he's up for the heat he did it with Sevilla should do it with Madrid
Welcome Juande Ramos. I admit I did not want Schuster to leave until the winter break if he were to be fired before summer. However his recent comments and reactions to this crisis the team is facing was not at all reassuring. When I read that he said the team cannot win at Barca and another one along the lines of I do not know what to say, well duh. I am happy with the appointment of Juande Ramos, and I guess the timing is good because he may have been with another club come January. We have couple of massive games coming up, and from watching the zenit game the team looks to have had a massive moral boost. Not that we were not playing hard and trying to win the other games, but I saw a totally different team today. The goals and the smiles, the shutout and playing Metzelder and Javi Garcia and not missing a step. Welcome Juande Ramos. I admit I was all for Schusters hiring, and against is firing. But this looks like it could be a very promising addition to the club for a very long time.
A little bit of word war between JR and Alves. I liked his reply. those who have followed him.... how is Juande Ramos when it comes to communicating with media?
Alves is just a little bitter. I mean Juande ended up at the biggest club in the world, the place Alves dreams of at night. Dani on the other hand, had to make do with settling at a club where the fans affectionately refer to themselves as arseholes. Poor guy.