Navas didn't start in the last two friendlies. Courtois is definitely starting. The rest I agree with. We might see Isco for Lucas.
Well the preseason suggests we will see this line up. He experimented a little afterwards but that was a fail as well. So he'll hold on to what he knows : 433 with the least inspiring RW ever to play for RM + a midfield that is just tired.
Well, Zidane has tried playing with 4-5 attackers, played with 6-7 defenders, maybe now he should try fielding 7 midfielders for the memes.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7fqkqo Extended highlights (16 min) from the Roma match, for those who missed it or wanna watch it again. edit: Courtois made a lot of huge saves. I don't know wtf happened to Varane, he was supposed to be dominating at this point in his career but he looks like he's way past it. Been saying it for a while, we should have cashed in on him and signed someone else. Nacho was never great but now he's not even average. At this point, if the opponent manages to get past Casemiro they have a very high chance of scoring a goal. Varane is afraid to tackle and gives A LOT of space to the players he's "defending". He's playing like he's near the end of his career but he's just 26.
Eh. He showed absolutely nothing. This goes beyond just playing off position. Especially when considering in general review of his pre-season performances is just bad. He looks like we got that Hazard who went on a strike for entire season in Chelsea. Struggles physically, no energy, completely passive and no leadership whatsoever. Before his purchase i did not believe he can pull the wagon, now i do even less. Especially if Zidane plans to play with two players up top, or three with third being Lucas. As i said before. We need to saturate this team with quality and hope it will mitigate tactical issues to desirable extent. As such, i am willing to risk it heavily with Neymar. Plus, we need two new midfielder starters and top tier instructor for Casemiro to solve his shitty off the ball movement and turning with the ball - especially when under pressure, in build up. And again, selling Llorente was such a retarded decision that i am basically lost for words. First game in matter of days. And we look catastrophic. Better go to Paris and charm Neymar, followed by pulling out two top tier mids. We should also add another defender, because our current line-up looks like a bunch of donkeys.
Completely disagree with the first part of your post, obviously we haven’t seen the best version of Hazard yet but where he plays absolutely makes a huge difference, as he said in an interview earlier if he can’t play with freedom he doesn’t enjoy playing and might as well be on the bench; I agree with the rest though
Seemed to me like he had tons of freedom in his pre-season matches. Maybe he should eat less and watch few CR7 instruction manuals of how to be alpha.
Zidane is at fault for all our problems within the squad. Why sell Llorente when we needed a back up midfielder who was actually willing to stay.
Worst pre season in the clubs recorded history, and worst pre season of all 1st division teams this summer. Counting the matches that went to penalties as draws, we got 1,14 points per match, making us the worst Spanish team this summer behind real valladolid who had a 1,29 points per match ratio.
This squad can play a lot better but Zidane is helpless and even the club knows. He will apparently give no interviews until the pre match interview vs Celta. The club responds with the press/interview ban to his problems to speak about the current squad, and comments that caused the club trouble in doing business like the "24 to 48 hours" stuff with Bale. People will pound into the players, who we should sell or buy, but iif Zidane's plan was buy hazard, Pogba and Mbappe, then he had no plan at all.
There actually are. Anyways Liverpool fans thought the same and they started off strong. I believe we will as well. If Florentini can somehow land Neymar it will only get even better.
How can you even compare the balance and squad depth that Liverpool has with ours? Not to mention their manager is tactically superior to zidane. Our squad is full of "have been' players, all getting the nod of approval from an inept manager.
Such as? We're boring, and not even effective. Purely as a spectator, if that wouldn't be Madrid playing, I wouldnt have bothered watching this nonsense. First time I watched the team play in person and was bored. I've seen us lose and left in better spirits than this.
When we switched from 532 to 442, we stabilized. Players who had been playing poorly had decent outings (Kroos, Isco). We also have a great opportunity for the third best player in the world and we're still in the market to build. I choose to look for the positivity. Not fixate only on the negative.
This is probably an unpopular opinion but I think Casemiro is a problem as well. I know that wothout a proper DM we concede even more but I do feel that he is makong the midfield static as well. I think we should try like City and pair him with two attacking midfielders. They pair a DM with De Bruyne and Silva and it works fine. We have 3 midfielders who seldom score .
Taking 10 good minutes and stretching them as some kind of signal is a sign of how low we are. We're looking for crumbs of hope. Neymar is needed mostly because we've lost the star factor. Nobody is really afraid of the team anymore or even impressed.
You asks for positives I pointed it out. Don't move the goalposts. He's needed because he's better than everybody on our roster and would cause panic in our opponents. Half the reason we're so boring and easy to defend is they just have to mark one player, sit and counter. With Neymar they have to focus more resources to stop us. It would take pressure off of everyone. Hence why Florentino kind of has to get this done. He has to.
True but a player like Silva or De Bruyne always think forward. They move or make others move. Something we lack and lack for a long long time.
The problems we have as a team are down to the manager. Defensively we are not compact ,acres of space between the lines, these problems are systematic. The team does not defend as a collective. This isn't down to individual players, you can sign any players you like (de beek, Pogba) it will not change till the manager is changed. I hope it's sooner rather than later. I think when the basic stuff is not being done then there's no point wasting any more time. I wouldn't be surprised if one of Raul, Guti, Allegri or Mourinho finish the season.
I think this is a hyperbole. Modrić and Kroos as double pivot was again porous as fck. Given a stronger team, we would be shitting bricks. The difference was basically better offensive ( albeit still chaotic one ) which forced Roma deeper and allowed us to breath defensively.
Based on decisions there is no plan. Ditching the only CDM / DM replacement, and instead opting for Valverde who with each game he plays makes me wonder why we kept him. What makes it even worse Casemiro is playing horribly. Not just offensively where he is completely missing in build up, but also defensively he is just nowhere near previous standard. Then you have James who would probably be the best midfielder currently, who would also give you tactical flexibility considering he fits to play in "a hole", in 3 man midfield or even better as right midfielder in 4-4-2, all the formations Zidane actually tried. Instead he gets blocked and the likes of Isco and Kroos play. Or Hazard and Vin playing as left / right midfielders. He then proceeds to cross, cross, cross, but benches striker and instead opts for Benzema and Hazard who have zero depth whatsoever. The fact that he is going to extremes just to find position for his favorite player - Marcelo, because he knows he cant play LB in 4 man defense, is highly worrisome. Etc...