Coming on a bit late, but guess sharing a few things will facilitate the moving on from this disappointment. First, and most positive takeaway by far was Hazards performance. He looked quite sharp, far more so than I expected, after 3 months out. Fitness didn’t seem to an issue either, seems maybe some folks may have known what they were doing nursing him back. That said, and I acknowledge this sounds crazy after his performance today, but I still would have started Vinicius in place of Hazard. I think he generally plays better from the start, and maybe could have kept some momentum from recent weeks, then brought hazard on in 2nd half. In any case it is done, but I think Vini starting and playing on the left would’ve shown a far better image of himself. He really seemed fine until he went to the right (crazy sub as many others pointed out). Carvajal, Varane, Ramos (for his maddening forays forward when he knows Marcelo will need cover), and even Casemiro, Amin’s others, were a bit off today and it cost us. The lack of appetite to play from Bale is hard to take for me. I can’t be made to believe he is giving 100% out there, or anywhere near it. Just leave him out until he’s pissed enough to give a shit and start playing like someone with his kind of ability should play. Zidane is maddening with selections lately. I don’t know what to say. I do however have faith that he will learn from these past few games and right the ship though. All in all, extremely disappointing, somewhat worrying, but in spite of all that there were flashes in this game, too few and far between for sure, where we played some slick stuff with Kroos, Hazard, and occasionally Benz in the thick of it. But we really are lacking that killer who will ruthlessly take chances (sorry Ramos, but you aren’t that guy). At times when we were playing the slick build up I thought how much Jovic could potentially benefit, especially when Karim is dropping deep or going wide like he likes to do. Anyway, onward and upward, hopefully we pick up and move on from this quickly.
As a few have said, we're lacking goals. Bale just doesn't have anything left in the tank anymore. He's cooked. It does indeed appear some players are beginning to have a dip in form.
Damn... I turned off the game 15 minutes from time since we seemed like we were dominating.. We choked...
There's just not enough creativity on the field most of the time with this team. Not enough to really make a run at the Champions League, but that's ok because I'd be more than happy with La Liga this year. But these home draws to the Celta's and Betis's are more than likely to be our undoing there too. Been the story over the last several years - we drop points at home regularly while Barcelona pretty much never do. Our stadium isn't a place teams fear coming to like theirs is.
Tough result. Why is even Bale playing? We lack scoring why not try James at RW? He’d surely do better than Bale and I’m confident he could do his thing there. When Madrid fans on the internet ask for Vasquez instead of Bale, we know we have a problem.
1 goal from open play against a team this bad is not acceptable I love Zizou but I am waiting with baited breath for any sort of offensive strategy that doesn’t involve switching the ball and crossing it in. Hilariously easy to defend. There is a reason we make shit teams look defensively organized.
I would give Hazard the freedom to roam a lot more than he had today. A lot of the time, it felt like he was told to stick out left, and more than once, he was occupying the same space as Benzema. Let Hazard play in a free role behind Benz and Vinicius, or Isco/Modric behind him and Benzema
After re-watching the game after we went up 2-1 we wanted to kill the game off with possession which was a huge mistake. We had the game in our hands by then and instead of playing normally like we were and making plays and attacking, we decided to try and kill the clock and pass it around making defensive subs and allowing pressure. We are Real Madrid playing at home against one of the worst teams in the league, going to a defensive tactic like that after going just 1 up was both embarrassing and a huge mistake that cost us.
Barca conceived 29 goals, real only 16, and yet, only one point difference. Can you believe it? What’s most annoying is that teams against Barca are missing a lot and agains us are scoring or that we draw a lot 0-0.
You must be Zidane? He turned off the game 15 minutes from time since we seemed like we were dominating. Say Hello to Enzo for me!
But what you ignore in this picture is that when teams are destroying our right flank for 80 minutes it gives them enough confidence to go at it for the entire match. Run against a wall for an hour and things get rough.
I spoke to a good Chelsea fan here in the UK about Hazard having a free role, he says does not do well. But I agree we should try it
Funny enough I’ve read that the reason ZZ thought we were lacking offensively in the first half was that we tried to play “too much” through the middle, and because of their packed defence that was our problem, so...... I have no idea who is seeing what, but, he’s the coach.........
Benz likes to head out to that left side far too often IMO, especially when we desperately need more presence “in the box”, Ronaldo isn’t around anymore, but, this topic has been discussed to death here already
I was thinking about Vin, Benzema and Hazard. Hazard feels constricted far left, while Vin thrives and provides fantastic runs towards opponents goal - something that we lack. Basically for me, he is the best winger in the squad currently. As for Hazard. I agree with playing him in free role. Possibly more central position.
Bale is a legend and he's not paid enough. You disrespectful Madrid fans. He won every trophy for us. Doesn't matter that he's a ghost who just happened to score in a few finals that we got there because he was either injured or carried by others. 2 goals, 2 assists in 16 games, 4 yellows, 1 red. Idolo.
It's all about how much you "bait the goalkeeper" now. Those are the new goals and assists. Lucas Vazquez, 2 goals 1 assist in less than 600 League minutes, but he gets the most sh*t here. Pretty funny.
Our forwards can’t score goals. No matter how much the rest of the team steps up to contribute, that is a problem that will probably cost us silverware if it isn’t addressed.