The only player's hype we have killed this season is Odegaard (who was cheap) and Militao (no excuses). You bring up Jovic like if we played him every second his value wouldn't plummet further. We'd probably have also dropped more points. We loaned the often injured Odrizola to bayern and they sat his ass down as well. If this kid isn't injured he is playing inconsistent. At one time this entire forum didn't want him near the starting lineup but now he's a victim? Vinicius isn't cheapened at all. He has been inconsistent which is normal for a professional so young. This ridiculous forum destroys him for every poor performance. The same people who say he should be sold, loaned or is a failure at 20-year despite all the minutes and talent he has shown are the same ones who will attack the manager when he sits him. This forum does this after every loss or draw. The irony is the most of the players the do it for would probably have worsened the result.
Odriozola is four times the fullback Lucas Vazquez is, a former Spain international in his natural position. There is no limit to which i would go to say that i consider this "Lucas Vazquez - RB" wave ridiculous. We have Militao, Odriozola, Nacho available and we play Lucas. Even if Odriozola isn't a great defender, there is absolutely zero chance you look at this squad list and say "hm, i think this guy that never played in defense until he's almost 30 is the best option. I honestly don't care if it's Zidane, Zendaya or Marvel's Zeitgeist. It's a stubborn ass decision somebody has to explain himself for.
Every opponent seem to have figured us out. This team needs to exclusively focused on training in tight spaces. 🎙| Alvaro Benito Villar: "The retratced rivals are choking him. That is where the players and Zidane have work, to analyse why they have so few chances to score when there is little space" via @ellarguero #rmalive.— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) January 12, 2021
I'd like to see a midfield of Kroos, Fede and Ode in a 4-2-3-1 against such sides but knowing Zidane he'll just stick to the tried and tested. Oh well...
Agreed, I wonder why we just ditched that formation all together when it served us so well in our run towards the title last season, at times we weren’t even allowing teams to get a shot on goal.
On the other side of that coin, arguably, Luka has IMO been our best most effective mid so far, how can we just leave him out, also Martin is good at feeding passes to forwards who try to make runs behind defences, we don't do enough of that it's tough to be a coach with our team that's why i have faith in ZZ, he's made it work , still , the flaws are there, instead of calling Isco and giving Marco so much mins maybe he can use Martin instead, it's a tough balancing act really and each player's form has to be taken into consideration as well, nevermind age
Honestly it's Casemiro i'd bench in those type of games, although he's regaining form he remains our least creative midfielder going forward.
True in terms of creativity, but i think of the three, him, Luka and Toni, he ends up in the box the most, scoring crucial goals, though not as creative as the other two, which is another factor that he brings to games and is somewhat unbalancing for opposing teams, i could be wrong about the frequency as opposed to Toni and Luka though but that's the way it looks to me, still, tough calls to make for a coach, wouldn't want to be in ZZ's shoes which is why i respect his work, flaws and all
He pushes the furthest up field out of the 3 despite being the "DM" which is why he tend to find himself in these scoring positions more, i feel like we'd be better served having Fede or Odegaard in there doing that. I'll clarify that i want him benched only in games where the opponent bunkers down, in games where we get attacked he should be back in the 11.
You also forgot to mention that he often ruins our attacks when he finds himself in the final third. Spot on.
The way I see it Casemiro is pushed futher up the pitch because he's not good enough with the ball, which means Kroos/Modric have to drop deep to help in build-up. While this works relatively well most of the time the team still suffers attacking-wise because sometimes we're left with no midfielder to create any real danger between the lines, and this is where I think integrating Odegaard will help.
We saw this in action against Inter and the first half vs Shakktar, we looked good, especially vs Inter.
the reason you don't see a different formation is that having this "-1" in the top, will force Benzema to stick in his place and not do whatever he wants on the pitch, and that's something that Zidane will not consider.
As much as i'd like to see Martin get some mins to see what he can bring to the team (there's no guarantee we'll look any better) my biggest concern at this time is definitely not who plays in the middle, it's who occupies those front three spots, they just don't add enough to our attacking output with any consistency
Actually I think Casemiro pushing up makes him another target in the box against teams bunkering, his physical presence earned us a few goals already. Benz drifts wide, starts a move ending with a cross into the box, Casemiro makes the run inside and you got 2 capable headers in the box. I dont think the idea is for him to create when he pushes up.
I have never seen a manager sabotaging himself and the team like Zidane is doing the past year. We got lucky with Hazards injury after the COVID break so he didnt play much and we won the league but now OMG...this is the worst favourism i have ever seen in football......Burger King,Asensio 1 goal in 30 games,midfield from 6 years ago playing every game ....Vinicius and Fede the only players with energy and abilty to do something rotting on the bench........Raul will be a RM coach sooner than we expect
I can already see him leaving at the end of the season should we fail to win anything this season, Perez could be on his way out too. Either way, it looks like we're just a few bad sporting decisions away from turning into another Milan.
And it starts I will be on the defending side of Zidane for this one @YOUNGSTARS87 This was in the end a. Meaningless game. Let Barcelona have an extra game and let us focus on the league We went on a crazy run last season. Zidane will lead us to that again. We can bitch all we want, I know I do, but 3 CLs and 2 ligas speaks for itself. Let things play out. Zidane usually comes out on top
How to beat Madrid, give them the ball and relax then watch them run around like headless chickens. How have we not found a way to counter this yet?
Zidane lost us this match by not subbing quicker and efficiently, however how in the world do we counter that with this squad? We can't. We don't have the horses if Rodrygo is out on the right and Benzema and Modric aren't in form.
A meaningless game just like the one against Elche and Osasuna and the other ones that came prior? Your optimism is to be admired even though there's barely any sign we're heading in the right direction. And no, it's not bitching if you're just telling it how it is. We could have found a way if the coach was willing to utilize the players under his disposal properly.
I keep thinking about this when watching the team lately, Zidane left during the first stint citing that the team needed changes and new ideas and that he wasn’t the right person to oversee that at that time. The team needs that much more desperately now, but we’re 10 games into a back to back Modric, Kroos, Case midfield selection, Lucas and Varane playing at all costs etc. Concerning.
Swapping formations a nd tactics for once, despite having the same personnel we were very flexible towards our run to the title last year, we used formations like the 4312, 4-5-1 with only Benzema or Jovic up top and despite the latter underperforming we still got results and conceded very little but this year we can’t seem to get away from the 4-3-3 despite our wingers clearly underperforming, that’s on Zizou. He needs to be flexible, stop being god damn stubborn and use the players at his disposal. How is Odegaard not getting minutes when we clearly lack creativity? .....Casemiro ....... ...................................... Modric Kroos Fede.....Kroos. ..........>........................... Fede .odegaard Modric .......................................... Odegaard Benzema Asensio ......Benzema Casemiro ........................................ Fede Casemiro Modric Kroos. .......................................Modric Odegaard .....Odegaard ......................................... Benzema ...Mariano Benzema there are so many combinations we could try but nope. This.