Former Atlético, Barcelona and Real Madrid coach Radomir Antic has passed away aged 71. 🙏❤️ pic.twitter.com/7CwQrd6Gto— 433 (@433) April 6, 2020 RIP
.@IkerCasillas: "Return to RM with a different role? Of course I'd like to return. It's my home even if I've been away for five-years. I was there for twenty-five years, the link is palpable. I am convinced that one day, once again, I'll have a close connection with Real." pic.twitter.com/ME5XtFNHqP— Infinite Madrid (@InfiniteMadrid) April 7, 2020
Not sure where else to put this. BeIn is showing classic matches and I’m watching the Nov 2005 Classico where the lineups are as follows: Iker-Salgado-Ramos-Helguera-Carlos Pablo Garcia Beckham Zidane Robinho Raul Ronaldo Eto’o Ronaldinho. Messi Deco. Xavi Edmilson Gio Puyol Marquez Oleguer Valdes This was the season before I really started following the club day to day, so I didn’t watch this live. This match is way more rough than current Classicos. Salgado is hacking away, as is Marquez. Sloppy passing from Madrid throughout and the legends look very leggy. Raul, in particular, is late to almost every 50-50. Robinho is running his ass off but making poor decisions. Typically Madrid’s backline is all over the place, lol. That Madrid badly missed a Kroos or Modric in the middle to help dictate things with more precision. Beckham is launching balls over the top. Pablo Garcia takes so long to pass the ball with his left foot, there is a noticeable windup, LOL. And it’s usually ends up on a Barca players foot.
The balance between the Barca team compared to our one back then are worlds apart. Was this the 4-2 win at the Bernabeu?
It was 3-0 Barca with goals by Eto’o and Ronaldinho x2. R9 was not involve during the first 2/3rds or so and woke up when it was too late.
Isnt it funny seeing our current midfield compared to the Pablo Garcia - Graveson double pivot, or the Emerson - Momo Diarra days? Even funnier is hearing people complain about how error prone Ramos-Varane are when we went a season with Helguera/Raul Bravo - Pavon as our first choice
I actually loved Helguera. To me he was a natural midfielder, excellent on the ball, and was banging in goals at a very good rate for a midfielder. We moved him to CB out of necessity, and he did his best. He never complained.
I think I started following the team around the time of his decline, so I only saw his worst days. Him and Salgado, always looked like a liability for me but seemed to be revered by others who've seen them at their best.
Same. I always thought he was bad and it made me nervous whenever the ball went near Helguera. I remember one of my first few posts on here way back then was saying Helguera makes me nervous and I got slaughtered for saying that by Alma Merengue or Zo5 I don’t remember. Lol. I never disliked Helguera as a player but he was just not good in my eyes. Perhaps I also only saw him closely at the tail end of his good years (if there were any).
That makes sense. Salgado was awesome, even when he started declining, he was still pretty awesome going forward. I have so much love for him, dude was a great servant for this club, super talented, and super underappreciated. Raul Bravo sucked ass though, you missed nothing there
Now I'm watching old videos, and I went from the remontada vs. Bayern in 2002, to this. That assist vs. Sevilla is still my favorite.
Man, I really miss those 06-08/09 teams. Robinho could ball on his day, could be frustrating but also entertaining as hell. That Guti through ball to RVN was just perfection, left Poulsen in his dust too in the middle. Those Sevilla teams were a pain in the ass too. Kanoute man.
I have a question since I didn’t see much of Zidane with Madrid aside from highlights and replays. Was he the kind of star you always wanted to shoot more, dribble more, attack more? Seems like he was kinda like Hazard ( I’m not comparing them in terms of skill level) in that he could seemingly do what he wanted out there but just picked his spots of when to turn it on. Am I way off?
Yes I agree. Zidane was just like magic. He also had such an elegance to the way he played. For me the best midfielder of all time.
Zidane was a hybrid midfielder who could create as well as control the tempo playing in central midfield dropping deeper when needed within the game. His first three years at RM were brilliant from individual perspective though he took few months to get settled in. 2006 WC game vs Brazil is the prime example of him controlling the tempo and dominating them. AM position is becoming obselete in modern game because current midfielders can only produce in the final third and not effective enough with the ball to control the game in midfield. Ozil, James, Coutinho all have these limitations.
The game evolved and those "Number 10's" didn't. That's why they're obsolete and a headache for the club.
Most Overrated player at your club Go!— Mark Goldbridge (@markgoldbridge) April 14, 2020 Tough to respond to this one. Bale seemed the most obvious. Many people still think he’s that speedster that burned Bartra when that Gareth is gone for good. Maybe Ramos at this age although I still love him. I know some will say Hazard but at this point he’s probably underrated imo because he’s seen as a fat bust at this point and he will probably perform next year. If the question was underrated, I’d say Casemiro. maybe Carvajal or Varane since they are trashed often?
Overrated: Valverde, Asensio, Rodrygo Underrated: Carvajal Valverde is excellent but some people make him out to be prime Ballack lol. He needs to be more polished on the offensive end, and obviously he is still young so he might get there, but today he isnt. Asensio is a moments player, needs much more consistency to justify the hype, and, am sorry, I hope am wrong here, but I dont see "it" in Rodrygo. Seems like a really nice kid so I hope he succeeds, but compared to Robinho and VJ he doesnt excite me as much.