Marcelo has no business being anywhere near this team. Even in a meaningless friendly. It’s like automatically being a man down. Same goes for Isco.
Not in this game really though, unless the mistakes are now an institutionalised thing, no one who played/is playing is from our core from last season, Isco and Marcelo were peripheral at best and a few players who were on the pitch we actually wanted to see get chances, anyway, first game so it is what it is, liked Rodrygo and Lunin, and like Arribas as a player, no one else impressed me, early days yet
If Marcelo plays LB, the LCM (Left central midfielder, aka Toni Kroos) is going to have to constantly cover the left wing to plug the defensive holes. The problem would be further exasperated because RW are usually very pacey players (think Mo Salah and Riyaz Mahrez), and Toni has little to no pace. That sh*t worked when the offensive capabilities of Marcelo outweighed his defensive ineptitude. For Carlo Ancelotti's sake, I hope he doesn't stick to Marcelo for long. Idc if he's the ceremonial/honorary captain. You know it's unsalvageable when someone like Zizou, who dogmatically supports his loyal players, threw in the towel and went with Mendy.
The problem is Nacho , Marcelo , isco, and Lucas are still in the hangover of last season we would even apprehend why they are still in the squad and not sold - PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE
Marcelo isn't going anywhere and he's captain so' he'll definitely play a considerable role. I personally prefer Alaba or Mendy at left back but fairly certain Marcelo is going to get minutes on that LB spot.
Well, the silver lining is hoping that Carlo and Flo know that we need to ship some players out and get some new ones in or we’re going to have no depth at all; AO, Isco and Jovic showed again they need to be gone. Marcelo is cooked. Sad to see as he had flashes of his old self, the touch and vision of a few passes but he’s just a liability on the field. He can’t move anymore. Odegaard looks promising, he needs time to gel but I liked his movement off ball and was the one encouraging and guiding the press. LV - can’t understand why we resigned him. Average at best and gifted the first goal. Should never play wing, stick to RB. Rodry took that goal off a lucky bounce, but good finish nonetheless. Was the only bright spot in attack. Nacho, had a howler with the second yellow. Can’t be faulted as he had no protection from the Midfield and in defense in taking the first yellow. I think he will be ok. Lunin looked like he could start for most la liga teams. Hope we can convince him to stay and back up TC.
This is why Vinicius is a must in this team. We probably have 22 smarter players than him but without him there is no spark, no threat, no offensive output whatsoever. Our pressing today was beyond pathetic. Absolutely nonexistent. Blanco who we've all been praising played horribly, as did Odri and Marcelo. Rodrygo was invisible apart from his goals and patches here and there. Lucas did nothing all game, i forgive him though when you have Odri as your partner it's difficult to play well It's like we knew what was coming before even seeing the game Odegaard needs to up his game if he wants minutes this season. He is the midfield version of Rodrygo only his competitors aren't as terrible as Rodrygo's
Oh no we lost a pre season game, our first one with a bunch of kids on the field surely this means we’re doomed, oh god the horror, whatever shall we do, it’s not like we lost 7-3 in pre season and went on to win the league or anything, nope, pre season games mean everything. We might as well forfeit the season now.
I think it should be clear by now even to the casual fan that Marcelo is a liability whenever he plays and his flank is going to be exploited time and time again.
1-1 Vs. Rayo Vallacano 2-1 Vs. Rangers Don’t convince yourself that with all our starters they start to score… we saw it last season and before
A midfield with Isco and Odegaard isn't one that I would associate with hard-work and defensive support. Blanco didn't have much help at all. On a different note, fans expecting this team to be efficient pressers this season, with our starting XI,will be massively disappointed. I don't see our existing personnel helping us to become a press-efficient team at all, other than a few players. We're going to have to play a different style of defensive-strategy to a pressing-focussed one.
Odd statement. Odegaard was a mad man pressing, and probably one of the hardest working midfielders out there. He has an engine.
I didn't see him attempt any worthwhile tackles. A lot of the time chasing doesn't equate to automatically good defensive cover. It was too easy for Rangers to pass around the midfield. Transition defense wasn't that good either. I'll admit Blanco should have done better in some plays on the ball. He lost it too easily in crucial spots.
It takes a collective to press - he was waving his arms and encouraging the press and telling others to get closer as he chased. Having Isco, LV, Jovic around didn’t help. It’s encouraging to see, but it looks like the team did not all get the same message from CA tactically.
Pretty much this. No player is going to press for the entire team. If one player is chasing, it usually means there is missed coverage elsewhere.