when his game revolves around putting balls in all the time w/ his right foot, im ok with marcelo moving forward to play with ronaldo and one of casemiro/ramos helping.
Yep City were there for the taking I agree, and we should have finished them off. But the tactic to keep Kroos and Lucas on proved to play it's part all the way up till the end of the game pretty much. Lucas kept on doubling up on KdB till the end for example. I'm sure both Isco and James will be disappointed, and maybe we might have scored have they had come on, but City might have also created chances because of those moves. The primary tactic was clearly to not let them score and Zidane has that. Now to finish them off at the Bernabeu.
Also, Casemiro was very, very good, although I'm getting to the point where I don't feel the need to say this after every match because I expect him to do well.
Yup, I think they were banking of Silva going out right now and again, but that was obviously foiled when he got injured. Would have made that Sterling change a lot earlier if I was Pelligrini.
I guess Zizou thought they were a threat. I can't blame Zizou for the tactics considering some of our best players are either playing hurt or playing games on their iPhones in the stands.
"We" can argue about Kroos - who had a great match, but Lucas should have gone off sooner - dude was burned to the bone. James put centrally against tired City, with Bale on flank? Honestly i see no substantial risk simply because City was so poor, on the other hand "we" would improve play in final third + Bale would play closer to the goal which would been great based on that he is the only real goal threat when Ronaldo and Benzema are missing. With full and healthy squad "we" should advance to finale. But football is "son of a bitch", things can get nasty in a second! p.s: Zidane has wrecked another set of pants.
I'm perfectly fine with a draw now tbh. Now the next game decides the draw. We need to win 1 game at home and outscore our opponent. We cant draw the next game. But City can as long as they score. But a win at home is totally doable.
I thought Horsey hugging/groping Arbeloa would be the perfect RMBS good luck charm moment. Why you no let me have my funs?
I'm having trouble deciding who the MotM was. Between him and Pepe. Casemeiro kept KdB in his pocket but Pepe was vintage Pepe today.
Bale was utter crap tonight. He looked better in the second half but overall his performance was quite crap.
Pepe was great defensively but what irked me was when he would go forward trying to act like Modric only to end up losing the ball and it resulting in a City counter attack.
reepe Except for first 20 minutes where he gave away a lot of balls and was in panic mode. He was arguing with our entire defense too.
Ok I have to ask. What's with the "we"??? I've kept quiet for months but what's up with that? Is it like an ironic thing??
Modric was sublime. Tearing through that City midfield like it was nothing. Great to watch. Unlucky not to get an Away goal. A similar performance from City in the return leg makes me believe Madrid will see them out of the CL.
We also tied 1-1 against these guys when we last play them in this stadium then beat them at the Bernabeu 3-2
Also, if we can get a crowd behind the team like they were against Wolfsburg, and we can get an inspired Ronaldo, we have a fantastic chance here.
Pretty much this. Very sad we didn't score. We should have. There is so much uncertainty..... especially regarding our best player. Eh. We have to do something proactive. Fire the entire medical and trainer staff would be a start.
He's become quite the key player in such games. Incredible development by him. Do you still have some reservations on the player or are you convinced by his qualities? I know I wasn't too fond at the start, but he kinda won me over in the past few months. He's stellar defensively and if he can handle the ball just a little bit quicker, he'll be a very good player for this club.