Will this game finish or we will have to play the second half within a month? Helguera won't play because he is injured. Pavon will play for him. Makelele and Zidane will play after not play the last two games Possible team: ------------------Casillas Salgado----Hierro----Pavon-----Roberto Carlos Figo--------Cambiasso---Makelele---Zidane -----------------Raul-----Guti Maybe Solary could play for Makelele. If Del Bolque thinks the he is not enought recovered. We have to win or at least not lose. The last year we lost la liga because the team lost many points outside the Bernabeu. The game will be at 9:30 p.m - Spain time.
The players on loan of the youth system (Aganzo and other guy whose name I don't remember right now) won't play. Madrid has wisely (IMO) re-established this policy that had unbelievably been abandoned.
a horrible game, madrid played very much like last year. some pressure from a mediocre team and no more magic! it was a torture. bad passing, no goal opportunities, the whole team took a 90 mn siesta. the first half was very similar to the ossassuna and genk games. they gave the impression that they didn't want to be there. but this time, valladolid didn't make any mistake in the back and there was no goleada. salgado behaved like an idiot and his teamates were no show. please madrid no more games like this!
Yes, the team didn't play well and it needs to improve the play outside the Bernabeu. But we had two important things against us in this game. We played since the first half with 10, for a very rigorous expulsion of Salgado. And the Valladolid goal was a nonexistent penalty. This is the second nonexistent penalty against us this year. At least we didn't lose. It's important that in the bad games - and i'm sure that in a long year with so many games will have some bad games - at least we don't lose. The best thing of the game was that Raul continuous making goals. He had made goals in the last four games. It's good for the team that the two forwards - Guti and Raul - are in good form.
How was the defence? How did Pavon and Hierro play? I think this is important because the best defender this year has been Helguera i'm sure that this won't be the last game he misses in such a busy season. This overdependence on him, as Pavon matures and Hierro ages could really hurt us.
Hello to all! I'm a new poster here and looking forward to discussing Real Madrid with everyone here. I'm a refugee from Soccer America Graffiti. Their new format is awful and difficult to sign on and I've been looking around for a new message board. The amount of posts here regarding Spanish futbol is impressive. I watched this weekend's Real Madrid v Valladolid match. As Madriz posted it wasn't the best of games. Salgado's expulsion was a case of him losing his head. He had picked up a yellow card for arguing that Guti was fouled in the penalty area (he wasn't) and within 30 seconds he chopped down a Valladolid player and off he went with his 2nd yellow. Foolish. Valladolid's goal was from a penalty which Fernando Sales cleverly invented. He dragged his foot so that he fell over the sliding Hierro's foot. But I can't blame the ref because it really took several replays to see that he dragged his foot and wasn't fouled. Sales caused Madrid's defense all sorts of problems with his speed. Without Helguera, the central defense never looked as secure as it has on other occasions this year. Real Madrid's goal came after Raul laid off ball for Zidane and then ran into space and received a great through ball from Zizou. Raul then was able to chip the onrushing keeper. Playing a man down and getting a tie is a pretty decent result for Madrid. But as others have mentioned the team needs to win on the road if they have hopes of winning La Liga. Hala Madrid!
He is recovered, he will play the wednesday against the AEK Athens. I think that the Valladolid over acted in the second card's foul knowing that Salgado had a yellow card. Salgado wasn't inteligent making a foul after he had been discussing with the ref, but for me was a rigorous expulsion. I saw some very hard fouls in the game, like one in the second half against Roberto Carlos, that for me was a Red Card. The center of the defense was weaker part of the team. Pavon played the first game this year and he was a little lost. And Hierro is slow. He recover many balls due his great positioning in the field, but he has serious deficiencies in the fast plays. We missed Helguera very much because, at the moment, he is playing near the play level that Hierro had three or four years ago.
I worry about Pavon, when he started last season I thought he would be the long term answer to our problems, but he doesn't seem to have improved over the last 12 months. I don't know what Oscar is like or what position he plays in but neither Raul Bravo nor Minambres can play central defence.... this is really becoming a big acchiles heel.
Helguera is an excellent midfielder but with Makelele and Cambiasso in the defensive midfield and Madrid's weakness at the back, I'm very happy to see Helguera in the defense. He is playing extremely well there and covers up for Hierro's deficiencies. Pavon is still young but you can't expect him to be as good as Helguera is now. This week against AEK Athens, Helguera and Pavon will team up as Hierro will be given the day off. It'll be interesting to see how they pair up. It could be a preview of Madrid's central defense next season (Hierro must certainly be in his last year as a fulltime starter). Madrid is weak in depth at centerback. Anybody know if Julio Cesar is still on Madrid's roster or has he been loaned out somewhere? Although not a great player he could at least be an alternate in the defense.
Julio Cesar played for Real Sociedad last season loaned out but I dont know what happened to him this season.
Yes, he is yielded this year to the Austria Wien. The central defenders for this year are Hierro, Helguera, Pavon and Ruben.
Just 4... they should be 5 at least in the firs team. And Ruben is not full time with the first team... I know that he was last weekend with the B team at Pontevedra's.
I think it would have been wise to keep Julio Cesar around as a backup central defender. Real Madrid is not deep at that position. You can't simply rely on young backups like Pavon and Ruben on a team like Real Madrid. They will be playing too many important matches where they'll have to rely on their reserve central defenders. Julio Cesar, while not starting material, is a very capable reserve.