El Moro blasts Del Bosque?! http://football.guardian.co.uk/continental/story/0,8018,901063,00.html <b>"With four minutes to go and Real Madrid 2-1 up against Borussia Dortmund in Wednesday's Champions League game at the Bernabeu, the Real coach, Vicente del Bosque, decided to make a substitution. He glanced up at Fernando Morientes, who had been limbering up in the rain for 20 minutes, and said: 'On you go.' Morientes replied: 'On you go, you son of a whore!"</b> I don't know how true this excerpt and the rest of the story is, but if it's true, it's a terrible sign. Can someone who reads Marca or AS or gets some good information about the Team shed some light on this?
I don't know what he said, the article I read only stated that he had already apoligized for the comment he made to the coach, and that the club are still deciding how to punish the player.
I am getting really frustrated with Real Madrid, I was born a fan and I am sorry to say that this last 2-3 years I became really disappointed with how Real Madrid treats players like El Moro and others. El moro is and will always be one of the factors of why Real won 3 Champion League titles in 5 years, and this how they repay him!!! I hope and (I Know) that Real Madrid will crash this year, they will not win any titles, trust me this is for the good of the team. Marty
I can't fault El Moro for being pissed that they brought in Ronaldo as the flavor de jour. Nice way to reward loyal service. He is a great player, and deserves to be treated as such. Without having seen many of thier matches this year, has El Moro's form dipped? either in La liga or internationally? And as far as your prediction on Real's chances this year. I can only hope you are right
Good to see you back here anirbanblah. Yes Morientes did blow up at Del Bosque but the two have apparently made up. Still it's noteworthy that against Dortmund in the Champion's League it was Portillo and not Morientes who came off the bench late in the game. Portillo also of course scored the game tying goal. Morientes is way off form this year and i don't believe he has scored a goal all season long (but I'm not 100% certain of that). El Moro has always been a player who runs hot and cold and even when he was getting chances to play earlier in the season he wasn't producing. He's been a good player for Madrid over the years but in this sport you have to produce and right now Morientes is not doing that. It's a pretty safe bet he won't be in Chamartin next year.
His last goal w/Real Madrid was on 04/14/2002 against Osasuna; his last goal in any regulation match was his goal against Ireland in the WC.
And that's the bottom line then isn't it? As much as some may want to think Madrid has done Moreintes wrong, the bottom line is this is a job where you have to produce (especially when you are a forward) and Morientes is not scoring. Portillo has done the job off the bench and is much younger than Morientes. Plus Guti also remains an option at forward and he is much more technical a player than Morientes which is why Guti and not El Moro was starting at the beginning of the seaosn when Ronaldo was injured.
I think part of the reason why Morientes has not scored too many goals is because he really hasn't had that many chances. Moro is a rhythm player, he can't get off the bench and score instinctively like Portillo. He needs to get comfortable with his teammates and their passing so that he is able to get into the right spaces and make himself a good target-man. So it's a bit of a catch-22 situation, he needs to play to get goals, and he needs to score goals to get the chance to play. Anyway, I feel that Del Bosque decided that he needed speed and mobility up front to complement Raul's (and now Portillo's) poaching skills. Too many times last season, we looked slow and sluggish in attack. Now we have the speed, with Ronaldo turning it up a level the last 3 games and we have superb goal poachers. However, against certain kinds of opposition, especially when they pack their defences, it will help to have a big target man, and I don't feel we should get treat Morientes as shabbily as he has been. I feel he was treated really unfairly in the beginning of the season, before Ronaldo was fit. Yes I know that Guti is more technical but he isn't a goalscorer, perhaps even less so than Morientes. He's not a target, he's not too fast, and we already have a highly technical player playing at forward in Raul. Moreover, Guti is better playing in the hole behind the strikers than as a forward. I think that management had already decided they wanted Moro out so they decided to shaft him, maybe partly because the 4 ahead of him were the 3-time world player of the year and 3 home-grown Real Madrid players. Moro has never been loved by our fans, never been a home grown boy, and he paid the price. Of course, it didn't help that when they did get the chance, both Guti (remember Roma?) and POrtillo grabbed it. And even he can't deny that Raul and Ronaldo are better players.... About the supposed fat boy, interesting how he is now at 13 goals for the season and scoring faster than Makaay. 6 goals may be too far away in the pichichi charts, but not bad for a guy who apparently is underperforming. Marty thanks for the welcome back. I joined a sports management firm as part of my masterplan to learn spanish and get work in Real Madrid someday. We guys were busy with our first event and I haven't had time to write, though i have been following the unusually quiet discussions here.
Nope... i'll leave the dark side to my younger brother. I did buy some Barca merchandise for him when I visited the Camp Nou, and I did pay for entering the museum, that's the closest I will ever get to supporting Barca
This is a good assessment anirbanblah of Morientes but the bottom line as both you and merengue have pointed out, is that these other players have produced while Moreintes hasn't. El Moro has had opportunities this year but has spurned them. I will disagree with you in that Guti can be a goalscorer and has shown an ability the past few years to not only score goals but to do so at important times. Plus his versatility makes him a very useful player. I've been saying this for the past few years that ever since Anelka left, Madrid has lacked speed up front. Without that added dimension to their attack, it makes it easier to defend against Madrid. Ronaldo's addition gives the team the ability to exploit his speed by running into space. It makes Real Madrid a more dangerous attacking team as they can now vary their attack and don't have to play at one speed.