This is sure to be a tough game, but then again, we have not had too many easy ones. I hope Figo can play. If not, then Owen. Raul - Ronaldo Solari - Zidane - Guti - Figo RC - Samuel - Helguerra - Salgado Casillas
I did not see the CL match last night. Boy, the name Solari on the team is enough to make me happy. Valencia has their biggest game this season tonight against Inter Milan. Hopefully, it will affect their preparation for us.
i liked the formation i saw yesterday vs. Dynamo, and wouldnt be opposed to seeing something similar to it this weekend against Valencia. since Figo is out (damn it all), lemme see, lets try this: --------------Casillas------------------ ---------Helguera-----Samuel---------- Salgado------------------Roberto Carlos --------------Guti--------------------- Solari----------------------------Zidane --------------Raul--------------------- ---------Owen-------Ronaldo---------- i really like the idea of starting 2 strikers, specially when its Owen and Ronnie.
I would like an attacking lineup too, but I'm not sure that Guti provides enough defensively to keep Pablo Aimar out for 90 minutes. I'd rather see Celades instead of Guti, unless Guti was focused 100% on stopping Aimar and the rest of Valencia's offense first and foremost, and attacking only when he himself has defensive support. Again, Zidane last night played well offensively but was pretty bad defensively -- missing tackles, letting people run by him, etc. I think Guti might do better than Zidane did because he is younger and probably a little quicker, and also has more energy than Zidane throughout 90 minutes. Guti could do better than Celades though, particularly if Figo plays. If Figo plays, I think we could possess a lot better, and therefore would like to have more offensive options, which Guti is. We would be the attackers, and not be on the defensive like we might be without Figo and Guti. I hope Real can win; not only would it help us pick up points, it also would drop Valencia, and would give us some more much-needed confidence.
Anyone saw the Valencia-inter game last night. What happened? I wondered the impact of the game will be on this weekend.
hmmm... so it is their injury crisis that brought them down last night??? Ronaldo will run circles around whoever they put on defense.
I wouldn't be surprised by a Real victory this weekend Salgado admits that the offensive line up was risky, but that the players are all equal, so it's up to them to perform no matter what. http://www.marca.es/edicion/noticia/0,2458,549973,00.html MGR's gamble with the line up seems to have brought back a little bit of the confidence to the team, as they're showing a glint in the eye that had been missing for a while. Maybe the ghost has been cast away, and the monkey is off their backs. http://www.marca.es/edicion/noticia/0,2458,549830,00.html
Re: I wouldn't be surprised by a Real victory this weekend I really hope that the ghost and monkey are off fighting amongst eachother -- maybe they'll head back to Barca, their usual home. Ronaldo is looking more and more threatening as time goes by -- he was looking closer to scoring as I've seen a player get without actually scoring; he continually was running and beating defenders and getting shots off. His feed to Owen was perfect; he also made a few great through balls to Raul that Raul couldn't convert. I think that Valencia could be Ronnie's breakout game, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him get 2 or 3. He also might be feeling a little pressure from Adriano in regards to the Selecao, so he will want to remind the folks in Brazil that he still can play a little bit. I still dunno if we can survive against a better team without a DMid though -- perhaps we should play Mejia, Arbeloa, or Celades instead of Guti. Also, does anyone know Figo's status? It looked like the knock hurt, but wouldn't keep him out for any amount of time.
Re: I wouldn't be surprised by a Real victory this weekend Figo is hoping to be able to play. Vicente, Ayala and Baraja won't be available for Valencia. Marchena will be though.
Re: I wouldn't be surprised by a Real victory this weekend wow. big chance for madrid to get a morale boosting victory against the reigning liga champs. they were humiliated by inter, so the question is how will they respond? every team seems to get pumped up to play in the bernabeu, but they're missing some key players... (VICENTE!) come on Real!!
Madrid and Valencia MADRID, Spain (AP) - Recent games between Real Madrid and Valencia have gone a long way to determining the fate of the Spanish league title. But perhaps not this season. The teams, which have each won the championship twice in the last four seasons, are well off top form and badly need a morale-boosting win in Saturday's eighth-round game at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3098038
Con Casta y Huevos!!! MGR says they've got to get a win by any means possible. "We need wins. We can't create expectations without victories. They know we need to win. But when two great teams meet anything can happen.We represent a club that always says 'Here I am, and I want to win'. La Liga has been difficult for us so far in terms of results. We've fought hard against Depor and er Betis to earn a point. We're not having much luck. We need a victory in Liga play, and I want to see it." http://www.marca.es/edicion/noticia/0,2458,550694,00.html RE: Morientes... "There are certain positions that I don't want weakened. We'll help Moro all we can. The club & I are together, as we've said that he's very important to the club. It's a long season."
Re: Con Casta y Huevos!!! LINK It seems Valencia have put on their best "it's not fair! it's not fair" act, and have managed to get Baraja's expulsion for this match removed, so he will be able to play. Obviously they're the team of the government! edit: Figo has been given the ok to play in this game by the by
Re: Con Casta y Huevos!!! This is such bull....if it were RM and one of their key players were to be suspended for an important game, they wouldn't even give them a second look. Baraja or not, I still think Madrid can pull through with a win.
CONVOCATORIA REAL MADRID-VALENCIA Porteros: Casillas y César. Defensas: Salgado, Helguera, Pavón, Samuel, Roberto Carlos, Raúl Bravo y Arbeloa. Centrocampista: Celades, Zidane, Guti, Solari y Figo. Delanteros: Morientes, Ronaldo, Owen y Raúl. Fuera de la lista: Beckham, Woodgate (lesionados), Diego López, Mejía y Borja (los tres por decisión técnica). Mejia left out of the squad again. Looks like GR has lost what confidence he had in him. I'm wondering what GR will do in the midfield. Will he revert to Celades/Guti with Zidane back on the left. Will he stick with Zidane/Guti in the middle and play Raul on the left to have Owen up top? Or Solari on the left and Raul/Ronaldo up top? I can't predict what he'll choose but Valencia is not Dynamo Kiev, regardless of a 5-1 thrashing by Inter at the Mestalla.
Valencia will either be motivated or distraught by the Inter game, so we can't depend on any one motivational level from them. I'm not very happy that GR left Mejia off again; it doesn't make sense to me, especially considering how Pavon has been playing and that Mejia, while not performing amazingly, was not horrible either. Hopefully we can see Jurado, Mejia, Juanfran, Soldado, and the rest of our hopeful youngsters in the Copa del Ray. I hope GR goes with... ----------------Casillas Salgado---Helguera--Samuel--RCarlos ---------------Celades Figo-----------Zidane-------Raul -----------Owen ----------------Ronaldo And hopefully Solari and Morientes both get meaningful minutes, and if we have a comfortable lead I'd love to see Arbeloa
Re: Con Casta y Huevos!!! It is shameful!!!!! It is the second time that a Valencia sanctioned player is forgiven and he can play against us in the last times thanks to the Valencia moaners. The other one was Ayala. And what happened the last year, when Zidane was sancioned in copa del rey game three days before Real Madrid - Valencia? Valencia president, etc ... cry saying that Zidane couldn't play .... And the three sanctions committes maintained the sanction to Zidane and he couldn't play against Valencia. AMAZING!!!!! And more amazing, thanks to the great pressure of Valencia, the the committees take the Zidane decisions in the record time of 3 days, when the use to need a week to decide. Probably you also remain that famous penalty of the last year, What has happened with that Referee?. He isn't Referee anymore. Anti-Madridista's envionment (Valencia,Barcelona journalists, etc ...) destroyed/himiliated him like was a criminal for that decision, the spoke about that decision during months. FEF (Spain soccer federation) sancionated him not being able to referee again in 1st division, he isn't ref at this moment. For your information, the FEF are the one that haven't closed Barcelona stadium after two years of the massive throwing of object (pig heads, billar balls, whisky bottles, etc...), and the ones that have closed Real Madrid several times, and the same year of Barcelona incidents they closed Sevilla, Betis, Murcia stadium .... Barcelona stadium never have been closed, It seems that anybody have enough power to close that stadium ..... And what has happened with the Referee that few days ago didn't sancionate a clear penalty to Raul in the very important game Real Madrid - Depor, a penalty that watched all the stadium and could have decide the game seeing the mediocre play of Depor, final result was 0-1? NOOOTHIIIIIIING!!!!!! Nobody has spoken about that decision, only diario AS and some RM players the day after the game, but that all, end of the history. That ref willl continue with his profession and he will referee RM in the next years many times (like always has happened in similar cases). He hasn't been destroyed/humiliated by Real Madrid enviroment, FEF won't sanction him. In sumary, A REALLY HUGE DIFFERENCE between the 2 cases. Because he is a Valencia's player.
Jurado that was playing great being the brain of Real Madrid B (7 victories, 1 defeat this season) injured yesterday training, and he won't be able to play the next 2 months. I hope that we can see Javi Garcia in Copa del Rey. He is a great offensive midfielder, only 17 years old. Manchester United offer 2 millions of € for him the last summer, and a big contract to the player. But he decide to continue with us. Garcia Remon has called him for many games this season, but he haven't still played with the first team. It seems that the final team of Garcia Remon could be this one, except Guti instead Celades. I prefer Celades, I think that with Guti the team is extremely offensive, even for Real Madrid. With Celades would be still very very very offensive, but not so much. And Guti is a player that have tendency to see Red Cards in the hot games, and Real Madrid - Valencia used to be very hot games, i don't want to play with 10 players a big part of the game. With this team the team played a great 25 minutes againts Dinamo Kiev (I must say that Dinamo impresed me, they are a really good team, with several very talented players). We created a huge number of goal chances, but we only scored one goal. The game should have ended 5-3, 4-2. But ended only 1-0, suffering very much in the last minutes. Well, against Valencia we will have to score at least 2 goals to win, becuase i think that, although Casillas play another AMAZING game like against Dinamo, Valencia will scored at least 1 goal. It seems that Arbeloa has won the battle to be the sub of Salgado, a place where mejia can play. Arbeloa has played many times with Spain under 21 team, he has a strong personality, and he is the captain of Real Madrid B. And it seem that Pavon has won the battle to be 3rd CB. Some journalist in Spain are saying that Pavon should play instead of Samuel, i can understand that but ..... The game will be at 22:00 (C.E.T) and it will be a sold-out. You can listen the game (spanish): www.telemadrid.com www.marca.com www.cadenaser.com
Good post MadridForever, but I just don't understand this. Pavon should be fighting to be 3rd CB on the B team.
This could be the team's breakout game. Hopefully it will. Don't know bout Zidane playing next ot Guti . We need someone to rely on, this one is risky. Nice post kaberon10. Its obviouse that MGR or anyone will struggle a bit to come up with the best combination for such a match where one mistake is so vital! Ronnie + Owen + Raul , everyone of em' must be able to score tonight. If u guys've seen how easy it was for Adriano to get the advantage of this current shaky Valencia deffence, then ya will know what I mean. Allowing Baraja to play just prove how good they can cry. But come'on guys, a win with Baraja out there seems really good . Hope things go well tonight. MadridForever, good post bout Jurado. Shame he ain't availabe for the early Copa Del Rey matches.