Madrid really controlled this game well, Malaga had few chances created. The pk shouldn't of happened, but oh well great ball to Owen from Salgado and a wondeful goal from Owen. It could be Perez's doing to keep Moro off, who knows he praised Owen during his slump saying he will come through. At the moment though you can't deny Owen has begun effecting these games, the first time he got the ball he made a good run up the side, got in the box and sent it to back to Figo I believe, but the defense jumped on him. Feel bad for Moro, but what can you do?
Give him the same chances as Ronaldo (or Raul) who aren't exactly scoring left and right at the moment. Either one of those players aren't scoring (mostly) in 70-90 minutes, why not see if Morientes could do otherwise? There's no point in having 4 quality strikers when there's no competition for those offensive spots, because score or not, the same 2 always get the first choice. That's not good for the 2 starters, the 2 sitters, or for the club.
IMO a player like Morientes should be given a chance to play with Owen, if that means dropping Raul or Ronaldo for a game then so be it. It's for the good of the club in the end. Just one thing though. Statistically Morientes is the 'worst' (using the term loosely) striker amongst the four. His goal to game ratio is not as good as the others. Would he really be a better option than Raul or Ronaldo on current form?
I don't know if you're looking at all time stats, or just this season. Could very well be all time stats, but Moro has played a lot of 'mini games' (few minutes, especially this season) for Madrid. When Ronaldo came over a few years ago, but also a while before that transfer when he hadn't become the starting player yet. Of course if you also based that on amount of minutes played, then this post can be ignored.
By the by, we're now [result]officially 2nd (in case somebody doesn't want to know the score in Atletico - Zaragoza) [/result] Next up is Albacete at the Bernabeu.
Raul should sit now. he is not getting anywhere again. It is psycologically unhealthy for a player to be gurranteed a starting place on team regardless of performance. In his interviews, he wanted Morientes to play more. So he is not a selfesh player, but it is human nature for an athletic to be competiative. I am sure that Raul will fight for his place back if he sits. He needs some kind of sparkle. Ronaldo should also get the same treatment. His overall performance was not so bad. He still twisted and turned on the field liked last season. He just lacked the last scoring touch. His place in starting lineup is also locked up. His place in Brazil is pretty locked up despsite the performance of Adriano at Inter Milan. It is not good mentally for a player.
I don't think Morientes is the worst statistically. Whenever he's played for Spain, he's always scored goals (Camacho only knows why he wasn't at Euro2000). At Madrid, he formed one of the great strike partnerships of the last decade with Raul (which is why many can't understand why they aren't being played together at least once in awhile). I'm speaking from memory here, but he then went through a couple of injury plagued seasons which saw Guti shine for awhile at forward, and then Ronaldo came and he hardly got a look-in. When he was at Monaco he was as brilliant as he should be. So certainly, there shouldn't be any doubt that he should have been given the same opportunities Owen was given upon his return to Madrid. But as long as Owen is doing well Morientes will not i'm afraid. Raul is too important to the overall engine of the team, and you new people who keep coming here and slagging him off need to understand that he should not be judged on goals alone. And the way i see it, Ronaldo is the kind of player who wouldn't sit happily on the bench. He's never even looked pleased when substituted late on. Besides, Madrid haven't dropped him since they bought him regardless of form, and i can't see it happening now.
I got excited when the announcer said we had a new line-up, then I saw it was Pavon starting, Celades playing & Owen on the bench. Sigh. Excellent performance: Roberto Carlos: many strong tackles, our first shot on goal - a real rocket, & he threw his body in front of & deflected what would most likely been the tying goal just before half time. Salgado: great defense & he went forward more than RC this game! Great pass to Owen. Figo: back to his old self, drawing fouls & tearing up the wings. Great PK. What a beautiful ball to Ronaldo's head off the free kick. Owen: great goal. Guti: plyed a strong DM the whole game. Pavon: I have to agree with the announcers - this was Pavon's best game all season. No fouls, many tackles & he stepped up & intercepted incoming passes several times. I know Malaga is no Dynamo Kiev, but even so. Poor performances: Ronaldo: twice he got clear & missed the target. Then he missed the free header on that beautiful ball in from Figo. Ronaldo should have had a hat trick. If this keeps up, we may see Owen starting & Ronaldo coming off the bench. Celades: this so-called playmaker just gives the ball away. Terrible. OK, he stole the ball twice in the second half, but other than that, I didn't see him add anything. So why play him the whole 90 minutes? Well I watched the Barcelona - Deportiva game. Talk about contrasting styles - I don't think RM & Barcelona could be any more different. Barcelona is playing very well, everyone runs and its not unusual for them to have 4-6 players in the box when they attack. RM works the ball around, 10 - 20 passes, a third of the team runs & then one player makes a great play in our opponents box. Still the confidence seems to be back for RM & they played very well last night.
So maybe I was wrong all this while after all and maybe Pavon is not the single worst defender in the 1st Division. He certainly played like a stud yesterday... anticipation, speed, timing, the works... reminding me of the run in 2002-03 when Hierro was injured and these Pavon/Helguera kept some 7-8 clean sheets and we were asking why Hierro had to play ahead of Pavon when fit. For well over a year now, Pavon has not had one game when I haven't thought he was crap, and it will take a lot more than one good game to convince me otherwise, but for the first time in ages Pavon showed that he had the potential to be a useful squad member. Would still love to see how Mejia does though if given so many chances. I think the game against Albecete would be perfect to bench Ronaldo. He really looks like he's lost his scoring touch. Maybe it's just lack of confidence, maybe it's complacency, but he needs a cracker lit up his ass, and I think a match on the bench will do him good. If as a consequence the greatest forward that I have seen in my lifetime goes into El Derby fired up and determined to prove a point, then we can all be happy. I doubt the coach would have the balls to bench him, but I would love to see Moro-Owen instead of Raul-Ronaldo next weekend... brings some rotation into the squad as well. But it's good to see the team starting to improve, to put together a string of good results. Other than Zidane, raul and Ronaldo, most players seem to be close to their A-game, and it's not a moment too soon. Yesterday's game gives me as much satisfaction as a more flashy performance because Malaga's chances were minimal, despite their having shaded possession. At this stage, I prefer this to a match where we dominate possession but only secure points because Iker-man produces 3 miracle saves. Lot's of work to still do though if we don't want to be slaughtered in 2 weeks.
By the way, in addition to Ronaldo the other player who was bad was Celades. While Ronaldo was poor while taking chances, I think Celades was worse because the reson he did nothing obviously bad was because he hardly had the ball and when he did he displayed such lack of ambition that it was not possible to screw up. HG Wells would have been proud to see that performance. And yes kudos to a player I love to hate, Guti. The last few matches have been exceptional... controlled, disciplined, intelligent performances. Last night was no exception. Would not like to see him automatically relegated to the bench when Beckham is back.
Statistically he is the 'worst' striker amongst the 4, that was decided by the statistics ie what he's actually done He averages a goal every 2.64 games (IIRC from last night) which is less than raul, owen and ronaldo in that order. 2.64 isn't bad but you've got to be careful to avoid building him up to be a goal scoring machine. I wonder whart the assist stats are like...
no, it's purely goals to games ratio over the course of their careers. finding actual minutes played is nigh on impossible unfortunately. the stats don't show everything but it does show that morientes is being held in slightly higher regard than he should. having said that I don't think he could do any worse than the other two (you know who I mean )
It would probably be Owen, somebody could score just twice and already be the team's top scorer the way we are (or rather aren't) scoring goals this season. In the end, I still think Ronaldo will get the upper hand. Simply because he won't get benched, and he's bound to come out of his slump soon, at which point there wouldn't even be a discussion if he should be benched (which wouldn't have happened anyway) "When the players that are playing aren't performing well, the players on the bench will be viewed as better by the public" It's not like it's some high prose or something, but I heard it on the Belgian channel this week when they were showing CL games. And I kind of liked it. Because it's true. At least Moro can also say he's been the club top scorer in the past, and the CL top scorer last season (wasn't he? he had 9 or something) so it's not surprising people would want to see him given a proper chance.
Does that mean 'Owen don't fall over'?? Because if he gets brushed in the box he's going down I'm afraid. It's part of his game. On the other hand, it probably doesn't mean that at all, does it?
Owen strikes again as Real move into second MADRID, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Real Madrid moved into second place in the Primera Liga, behind arch-rivals Barcelona, after a penalty from Luis Figo and second-half strike from substitute Michael Owen earned them a 2-0 victory away to Malaga on Sunday. Owen secured Real the win after a shining moment of individual skill, tucking home from 12 metres out after cutting inside a defender to notch his fifth goal in six games. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_y...wN0bQ--?slug=reu-spain&prov=reuters&type=lgns
Even though Ronaldo isnt scoring he still carves out plenty of chances and creates chances for others .I dont know if Morientes can offer the same qualities .