After the bad game against Valencia, we play tomorrow against oporto in his stadium. There are many news about this game: Queiroz spoke with the players 25 minutes during the yesterday training session. It seems that he said to them that he was very upset with the aptitude and play of some players. Raul said in Radio Marca that "We must play as a team if we want to win something" And Salgado, a player that always speak very "clear": "We must be intelligent in some games and made more faults if it is necessary, against Valencia we didn't made any fault in the midfield. We must correct manyerrors." Beckham "I could sleep until the 6 a.m thinking in the game. We have a bad day, and we must work hard to try not repeat the same mistakes." Roberto Carlos has said that "Oporto is one of the best teams in Europe" Beckham won't play, and Raul has traveled but it seems that he won't play in the starting line up. The starting line up can have as big surprise the return of Helguera as midfielder. It seems that he could play in the middle with Guti. I have my doubts about that, because Helguera hasn't played in that position in the last two years, and Guti isn't played good in the last games. But if they play good it can be a very creative midfield with Figo, Guti, Helguera and Zidane. Helguera would play as a very creative version of "Makelele". It seems that Portillo will play in the starting line up instead of Raul. Oporto is the first of the Portuguese league, and they have great players like Deco. There were rumours this summer about Deco playing in Barcelona or RM this season. Finally, nothing happened but i'm sure that the next summer the rumours will return, because is a great player. The RM starting line up could be: Casillas Salgado, Raul Bravo, Pavon, Roberto Carlos Figo,Guti,Helguera,Zidane Ronaldo, Portillo
Real Madrid is the favorite team, no doubt about that. But Porto, playing well, is team that can beat anyone. If Porto´s defense is efficient in tomorrow´s game, Porto can dream with a victory or a draw. If not, Porto is going to lose by big numbers.
Like some of the PSV players said after their game against Monaco, looking forward to their clash against Feyenoord, it's always a good thing for a team to have a difficult match so soon after a bad game to prove themselves: they won the game against Feyenoord.
What happened to Zidane during the game? In one pic i see him holding his head with a good amount of blood coming down.
Some scractched his head in the 1st half. They tied his head up(I think he looks better). During half-time, they took the bandage away. As for the game, Real madrid was unimpressive..... In the first half, Real Madrid spent long periods getting pinned down in their half. Porto had a few too many shoots on goal. Basically, Casillas kept Real Madrid in the game. Real Madrid was able to tie the game and eventually took the lead because they captialized their chances. In the 2nd half, Porto again pinned down Real Madrid. Casillas had a few saves..... then, Zidane capitalized their chances. After going 3-1, Porto looked drained..... Real Madrid finally controlled the game. Ronaldo looked aweful..... Solari and Cassillas were my MVP selections.
1-3 is a very good result for a away game in CL. And Score 3 goals in a away game isn't easy. We only have to see the results of the others "big" european teams. These are my conclusions (Positive and Negative) about the game: Positive --------- - I like the RM players aptitude, they fought and ran all the game, recovering many balls. They wanted to win, they fought to win, and they won. Other thing is if the play was better or worse, but the aptitude was very good. It was a great change in comparison with the Valencia game. - Solari played a great game. It was a big surprised see him play in the starting team, because all the people said that would play Portillo. Solari was the best player of the game, scoring one goal, one asist,.... He can be very important for the team this year. - Casillas made great saves in the moments that the team had more problems. He is playing very good. - Figo that was the best player against Valencia - not very dificult, and yesterday he played very good. - The third goal was a studied play - like the goal of Beckham against Malaga. The team has more variations in this kind of plays. That is a good work of Quieroz. Negative ---------- - The team lost the ball too easy in some parts of the game. Helguera and Guti failed a lot of pass, and in some moments the team played too precipitated. I'm worried about the Guti play this year, he was a very important player the last year. Helguera didn't play in that position since two years ago, and as he said after the game "it is a big change, i was dead at the end of the game". - Queiroz hasn't clear with what player play in the middle. In the beginning of the season played Cambiasso and Zidane, later Beckham and Cambiasso - with very good results until Valencia -, now Helguera and Guti. When Beckham returns to the team, what player will play with him? I think that Beckham will continue playing in the middle because he was playing very good. But the other player could be Cambiasso, Helguera, Guti or even Solari. It is strange that with Cambiasso OK, Helguera played against Oporto. It could means that Helguera would be the first choice but ... And about the defense. Helguera was OK and he played as midfielder. Will he play as midfielder all the season? Will be Pavon and Raul Bravo the definitive couple for the middle of the defense? Will Helguera play some games as defender and some game as midfielder? . It seems that Pavon and RB will continue but ... In summary, very good result, very good aptitude, good surprises, some fails and some doubts ... ... But meanwhile, we have 6 points and if we won Partizan in the Bernabeu in the next game, we would have the clasification very easy.
good post, madridforever. one small point, though - when you say "aptitude", I believe you mean to say "attitude".
Great post Madrid Forever. I agree completely with what you've said. I liked how Solari played and hope he can be used more often this season. The problem of course will be finding a spot for him but when any of several attackers (Raul, Zidane or Figo) need to sit Solari can fill in for them. Figo has also been playing well this year and that can only be encouraging. I liked seeing Helguera back in the lineup and enjoy how he is able to get forward from his midfield spot into scoring positions. Obviously when he played defense that was much less likely to happen. I still worry about the Raul Bravo-Pavon combination in central defense. It is very shaky and will get expsoed by the better teams as Valencia demonstrated last week. Still if Helguera is to play in midfield he will better be able to protect those two defenders than any other midfielder Madrid could currently place there. There are still a lot of questions the current Real Madrid team needs to answer but, as Madrid Forever stated, the team's attitude after the Valencia loss and falling behind early to Porto was admirable.
We are beginning to veer off topic here, but I was wondering about what people would think if CQuieroz moved Helguera into central defense instead of RBravo, and put Cambiasso next to Beckham as a DMid. Also, I am excited that Solari seems to be finding his form, as he is a great replacement anywhere in the midfield/attack if someone goes down. Hopefully Guti will find form soon again, and if so, they really could be unstoppable.
Thank you bkn0528. Kaberon10, i think that Queiroz have some options for the midfield. Beckham and Cambiasso. Maybe the most balanced. Beckham and Guti. The most offensive with difference. It could be good for the home games. Beckham and Helguera. Could be the best one if we did not need Helguera in the defense, and if Helguera recover his play as midfielder. Beckham and Solari. With Solari changing positions with Zidane during the game. It could be a solution to find Solari a place in the starting team. Martin, I'm also worried about the Raul Bravo-Pavon combination in central defense. They have lack of experience, and it can be very important for the big games. Pavon is playing good, but he need a player with experience next to him. And the only player with experience that we have in this position is Helguera. I think that Quieroz have confidence in Raul Bravo because he is one of the fastest players in the team and he can recover his position very fast, but i think that we need the next 15 games to know for sure that he is "good" in that position, and we don't have so many time. It can be too dangerous.
Yes, I think this is better.... Helguera played well over there.... the center defense needs him more than the midfield.... Cambiasso had a few fine performances in the midfield with Beckham.