Shut up, you're 12 what do you know
Real Madrid need to get ready for a terrible season | It’s happening
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Would be hard to disagree, despite the recent fall they were a superb team and also I don't believe this decade has been blessed with many great sides.
Messi has some kind of obscene scoring record at the Bernabeau as well. I can’t remember what it is, but it’s quite impressive.
No you dummy, I meant they'll be around 20 +. But thanks, that genuinely cracked me up.Hmm, despite them having only won the league once. Interesting. But think you may be right, this decade hasn't had a standout team.
From him rather than PSG
http://www.espn.co.uk/football/manc...oss-mourinho-i-would-like-to-manage-in-france
Thanks. Interesting to see what will happen.
The candidates,for what I have read are Allegri,Pochettino,Löw and Mourinho but I don't know who is the favorite right now.
The more I think about it, the more I believe it will be Mourinho again, maybe with Xabi Alonso as his assistant manager.
I think Florentino values the change in mentality the club had in 2011 when Mourinho took charge (Real Madrid have played every semifinal in CL since then).
Everytime a journalist who is close to Florentino speaks about Mourinho he is quite complimentary towards him.
Just after yesterday's defeat some voices in the media were suggesting the next coach should be Mourinho. It sounded like a campaign to me.
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Classic.
Agree,a light version of Mou.I think Allegri would lose a lot of points if he is eliminated by Atlético.
Pochettino, Argentine, knows la liga,works well with young people and proposes a solid style, able to be tough with the squad.
Now let's explain to the socio who only sees la liga that Pochettino is not a Solari
Our OT cnuts were buying half and half scarfs with his name on it, while LvG was still a manager, so guess we have that similarity with white underwear waving bunch.
Funny enough Alonso's best friend since childhood is Mikel Arteta, who is as we all know Guardiola's assistant manager at City... Xabi played for Jose, Pep, Rafa, Carlo, Del Bosque and Aragones in his long career. I am very curious to see what kind of coach he could become..
Any talented youth players at Real Madrid for Jose to alienate, belittle and sell ?
Yep, he had extremely good coaches during his whole career.
Even his not so good coaches were pretty well considered at some point: Benjamin Toshack, Raynald Denoueix, Manuel Pellegrini.
"Madrid are one of the best clubs in the world, anyone would be attracted, in the future you never know, but I'm fine in Paris. I'm not saying that I'm going to play in Madrid
Neymar throwing some groundbait to the hungry muppetsTweet
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Highly unlikely, considering Perez loves Jose and it's widely known as such.
That story comes from Ballague, who has no affinity to either United or Madrid. I think what Perez feels about Jose is very misreported elsewhere.
Typical Neymar.
Now just need his father and relatives to get into the act as well.
I'm pretty sure Diego Torres confirmed that Perez and Mourinho get on very well. Torres is tier 1 and is one of the best Spanish journalists about.
article by D.Torres about the departure of Cristiano, the responsibility of Florentino and the failed signing of Mbappé.
https://elpais.com/deportes/2019/03/03/actualidad/1551635004_502074.html
https://elpais.com/deportes/2019/03/03/actualidad/1551635004_502074.html
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Great prediction. People never usually get these right on the caf
Modric:
"Cristiano is a player that every team would miss. Looking for a replacement is almost impossible.
"Of course we miss him, given everything he did for the club. What the club tried to do was divide the burden among the players, and that isn't easy.
"Cristiano scored 50 goals, and you can't find someone else who can do that.
"Some had to take a step forward, and though not score 50, but at least score 15-20, or even ten goals. This is what we are missing.
"That's why I think scoring is our biggest problem this season. For example in the Copa match against Barcelona we created many chances, but a rival with their quality punishes you.
"Cristiano is not here, so we can't complain for the next ten years that we don't have him.
"The club has put faith in other players, like Gareth, [Marco] Asensio, Karim [Benzema] and has bought Mariano [Diaz] and Vinicius is doing well for his age. But sometimes things don't work out as we wont.
"The only way [forward] is to work together. Madrid will always be at the top, and then this isn't the came, we will always come back."
With rumours swirling that Jose Mourinho could be on his way back to Madrid in the summer, Modric wants the focus shifted to the football.
"We don't listen to rumours," Modric stated. "We are only focused on us. There are always rumours like this in the world of Real Madrid, we can't avoid it.
"Madrid are always pronounced dead, but always come back. In 2015, we didn't win anything, and they still said we were dead.
"Then you all know what happened afterwards and what we have won since."
"Cristiano is a player that every team would miss. Looking for a replacement is almost impossible.
"Of course we miss him, given everything he did for the club. What the club tried to do was divide the burden among the players, and that isn't easy.
"Cristiano scored 50 goals, and you can't find someone else who can do that.
"Some had to take a step forward, and though not score 50, but at least score 15-20, or even ten goals. This is what we are missing.
"That's why I think scoring is our biggest problem this season. For example in the Copa match against Barcelona we created many chances, but a rival with their quality punishes you.
"Cristiano is not here, so we can't complain for the next ten years that we don't have him.
"The club has put faith in other players, like Gareth, [Marco] Asensio, Karim [Benzema] and has bought Mariano [Diaz] and Vinicius is doing well for his age. But sometimes things don't work out as we wont.
"The only way [forward] is to work together. Madrid will always be at the top, and then this isn't the came, we will always come back."
With rumours swirling that Jose Mourinho could be on his way back to Madrid in the summer, Modric wants the focus shifted to the football.
"We don't listen to rumours," Modric stated. "We are only focused on us. There are always rumours like this in the world of Real Madrid, we can't avoid it.
"Madrid are always pronounced dead, but always come back. In 2015, we didn't win anything, and they still said we were dead.
"Then you all know what happened afterwards and what we have won since."
Some good points, but yet another piece of efectism nonsense, Real have more problems than the goals scored by Ronaldo, were they 1-0 wins or a hat trick in a game they were already winning 2-0.
1) The cup situation, it would be nice if Ronaldo actually was a factor in that competition the last 4 seasons, he wasn't. You can argue "well but it's a leg against Barcelona. big games, he'd show up for that and score those chances". Well, fair point, but that leads to the second argument. League is almost the same, Ronaldo was there past season, even with his goals they lost the league months before.
2) Vinicius has been the best player for Real Madrid the last two months, no question about it, best man in the game vs Ajax, 2nd leg vs Barcelona, shining in league... the problem is Ronaldo and Vinicius play in the same spot, the argument that Ronaldo would bury the chances Vinicius creates is absurd, because if he's on the pitch, Vinicius rides the bench. That's true for the Ajax leg too, Ronaldo is a player that scores a ton of goals, but hardly creates his chances 30 or 40 meters away from the goal anymore, that's all the chances Vinicius has brought to the team, you can put him in the right wing, we don't know how he'll perform there, and you lose the workrate of Lucas Vazquez and get Ronaldo jogging around the area, total switch of chemistry.
3) Chance creation and ball retention. It's nice talking about how Reguilon helps Real Madrid defend better on his wing, and how he runs and runs, but he's not Marcelo, and never will be, on his good or decent days, Marcelo is a competent defender (Reguilon still a level above him) an extra midfielder (no other LB in the world plays football, the sport with the ball, better than Marcelo), an incisive and polivalent winger (who can open the pitch and put some of the best crosses out there, or cut inside to link up) and maybe the best scoring LB in the world too. All of that is gone, Madrid are weaker defending with the ball, creating inside chances, wing chances and scoring, just by being marginally better on the defensive end, because Reguilon isn't the second coming of Maldini either.
So, would Ronaldo elevate the level of this Real Madrid, or could the opposite effect happen too, Real Madrid being so bad this season to drag Ronaldo to the grave with them?. If you do the logical thing, Ronaldo comes in for the best player they already have, all those 1vs1 dribbling chances and the electrifying speed are gone, they become more stale, Marcelo isn't there to link with Ronaldo either, you get Reguilon, Bale still plays like ass, how does Ronaldo being in the pitch improve Casemiro's poor defensive performances (tactical wise, you saw what Alvaro Benito said about Rakitic's goal? that's on the coach) or how does having CR7 in there help Modric's form in the first months when he was gassed after the WC?.
Goals are one part of the problem. But a minor one, there's bad coach selection and then too little patience, subpar squad building, bad ego management and that stingy point that mostly Marcelo and Bale might feel, stars being mistreated by the board because they feel their cycle has ended, starting with Ronaldo, following with Bale and Marcelo later, it's either stick with the board, like Ramos, Benzema or Modric have done, or be singled out as a rebelious character and get sold in the coming windows.
Don't disagree with most of what you've said but
Btw: alvaro benito is spot on, but the thing is, with Varane in particular that's his biggest weakness, he's very poor at reading the play and positioning. He's often too focused on covering his zone instead of following the play. There are so many times were he just stays in his position covering nobody while the striker slips behind him between him and Ramos(who usually would be covering either another player or is not in position because he is actually following and reacting to the play). Varane-Ramos are just not a well-assorted duo, there is too much overlap in their flaws. That's why Pepe was so important and why both were consistently better playing next to him than each other
In the first half of the season, sure. The problems went far beyond lack of goals and not even Cris would have been much help. Now though? Now goals are the whole problem. I've said this before too. It's now that we're truly feeling his absence.
Btw: alvaro benito is spot on, but the thing is, with Varane in particular that's his biggest weakness, he's very poor at reading the play and positioning. He's often too focused on covering his zone instead of following the play. There are so many times were he just stays in his position covering nobody while the striker slips behind him between him and Ramos(who usually would be covering either another player or is not in position because he is actually following and reacting to the play). Varane-Ramos are just not a well-assorted duo, there is too much overlap in their flaws. That's why Pepe was so important and why both were consistently better playing next to him than each other
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Well that's another debate, I don't get how some games Benzema can catch fire and score easily, and then he can go two clasicos with what, two chances? because he's too far way from the goal.
Benzema might be a good goalscorer (figures, he's 31 y/o and we still don't know for sure), but if you field a team with a kid that shows problems finishing, and Lucas Vazquez (20 goals in 172 games with Real Madrid) you're basically asking for that problem.
Bale may not be too hot, but I'm sure that a run of games would help his confidence and put him above the numbers Benzema has, Isco is a good scorer for a midfielder, Asensio can score if you play to his strenghts... the last games, it almost looks like Solari is trying to save face at the back (Lucas, Requilon, Benzema playing a little deeper, changes like Fede Valverde) than embracing the whole "let's outscore our rivals" mentality that you had with Zidane, and at the same time, trying to make clear how bad some players are performing by outing them as culprits instead of winning them back. Like the team is in some kind of survival war.
The squad might be far from scoring at the rate of the last decade, but surely they aren't this bad, just two coaches that refuse to use the virtues of their best players.
If Ronaldo had stayed and Madrid didn’t win the league against the worst performing Barcelona team of the past decade he’d be getting the blame for not performing well enough with ‘the best midfield in the world’ and all time greats like Marcelo and Ramos behind him. Does anyone doubt that?
If it wasn’t for Vinicius being fantastic they’d be fighting for top 4 with Getafe and Alaves... if they had sold Ronaldo without adding to the squad (Reguilon, Courtois, Vinicius, Odriozola) I doubt they’d even be in the top 4 right now...
Goals aren’t the problem? They’re breaking all kinds of negative records when it comes to goalscoring. An 18 year old is their biggest offensive threat.
Last year Casemiro was equally poor defensively, Marcelo was exactly the same for months, Modric was out of form, Kroos didn’t give a shit then either, Bale was exactly the same... and who got the blame for the poor results??
Last year they went through Dortmund, Tottenham, PSG, Juventus, Bayern and Liverpool to win a third consecutive Champions League. You get a pass for underperforming domestically when you pull off the biggest achievement of the century. This year, does anyone believe they’d be able to repeat that?
If this season doesn’t show the importance Ronaldo had to that team and the disrespect he got during years of football media downplaying his significance I don’t know what does. They can buy whoever they want and spend how much they want this summer, good luck getting to the level they’ve been at for years.
If it wasn’t for Vinicius being fantastic they’d be fighting for top 4 with Getafe and Alaves... if they had sold Ronaldo without adding to the squad (Reguilon, Courtois, Vinicius, Odriozola) I doubt they’d even be in the top 4 right now...
Goals aren’t the problem? They’re breaking all kinds of negative records when it comes to goalscoring. An 18 year old is their biggest offensive threat.
Last year Casemiro was equally poor defensively, Marcelo was exactly the same for months, Modric was out of form, Kroos didn’t give a shit then either, Bale was exactly the same... and who got the blame for the poor results??
Last year they went through Dortmund, Tottenham, PSG, Juventus, Bayern and Liverpool to win a third consecutive Champions League. You get a pass for underperforming domestically when you pull off the biggest achievement of the century. This year, does anyone believe they’d be able to repeat that?
If this season doesn’t show the importance Ronaldo had to that team and the disrespect he got during years of football media downplaying his significance I don’t know what does. They can buy whoever they want and spend how much they want this summer, good luck getting to the level they’ve been at for years.
Can you give a summary of you don't mind?
Yes sorry, it was too long to translate.
In the first part he talks about the lack of goal and the calculations that the dressing room had made,being very skeptics regarding to the plans of the club.
Later he says that in the spring of 2017 Cristiano knew that Madrid wanted to sell him to finance Mbappe.
Cristiano leaked to A Bola that he wanted to leave the club, waiting for a renewal offer that did not arrive.
Mendes spoke with PSG but they could not because they had decided to pay the clause of Neymar,and Cris stayed one more year, reason according to the article that stopped Mbappé,for competition issues.
After that he says that the technical secretary concluded that Cris had three or four years "as a top-class opportunistic scorer".
They concluded that they would have to reinforce themselves, among the names Mane, Hazard, Lewandowski, etc., but Florentino refused, since he only wanted Neymar and preferred to trust Bale and Asensio (what Modric said today between the lines)
Thread title seems a little dated. Can we change it already? Solari's been manager for a while now.
Thanks. I certainly believe the Ronaldo part.
By downplaying his significance do you mean being considered best player in Madrid history behind Di Stefano instead of just best player in Madrid history? Otherwise I don't know which media and what level of significance you are referring to.
The problem with Ronaldo from the club's perspective was signing a 4-year contract for a player to finish it at 37 years old. Accepting that contract was a 4-year bet. Real Madrid placed instead a one year bet on Benzema, Asensio, Bale, Isco taking a step forward this season. Only Benzema did. Lucas Vazquez alone getting more minutes than Asensio, Bale and Isco has nothing to do with Ronaldo. The problem is more deep than that imo, Modric pointed out at it today, Mourinho also spoke about unmotivated players last week. One thing is not being able to cover Ronaldo's absence, another thing is reaching a situation where Lucas Vazquez deserves his starting place more than any of those other three stars, and no fan will complain about that, even if the gap in quality is evident.
They are 3 points behind where they were past season in La Liga, at least this year they went through Leganes in the cup.
How does that show the importance of a single player that's no longer there?. They won the UCL because of Ronaldo, or because players that haven't been too hot so far (Marcelo, Bale and Benzema) carried them through the last 2 legs of the competition. Marcelo alone had 3 clutch goals, even with Ronaldo scoring loads in the first two legs, him gone and using Reguilon means that his efforts go to waste.
You're going to try and sell that this squad, after changing managers 2 times, is the same one he "carried" to a UCL title, Casemiro for example was better because Zidane had this team drilled better than Lopetegui, and certainly way better than Solari.
I agree with what you say about Marcelo.
We are missing him, although Reguilón is doing well, considering that in his first season he shouldn't be in this position,so exposed, part of the bad management that you said.
The stingy point has to do directly with the performances. Benzema is responding, and Ramos seems calmer than at the beginning of the season.
Marcelo was too bad to justify him, and Bale protests and gets angry but then he is below his level.
RM and JM deserve one another.
Last year’s squad minus Ronaldo.... plus over 100 million of investment in Odriozola, Vinicius, Courtois and Reguilon. You’re damn right it’s not the same squad, if Ronaldo stayed they’d be a lot better than they were last season. Finally some offensive help in Vinicius, capable defensive depth and a better goalkeeper. They’d currently be the big favourites to win the Champions League especially with the draw they got so far, Florentino decided to throw away those great odds of winning a fourth CL in a row to build for the future.
I don’t care about the difference in points. Ronaldo missed games last year too, refs and luck played their part, lack of motivation was a big factor, etc. watching them play is enough, it’s one thing to have a poor league campaign after winning the double when you have a great possibility of winning the CL. It’s another to follow a disappointing league season with an even worse one while not winning the CL. Everyone expected Madrid to be worse this season but everyone also expected them to get a higher points total than last season...
The same form that cost Marcelo his place in the starting eleven this season was exactly the same form he was showing last season for most of it while people called him the best left back on the planet. Maybe you’re getting used to abnormalities but for a player to be the main reason a team wins a competition doesn’t mean he has to win them every game.
They were never a great team. They were (and still are, but to a slightly lesser extent) a top squad that had a crazy streak in a cup competition. They are currently where they were last year, and there's not much difference in how they play.
The hallmark of a great team is retaining titles in a competitive league. They almost couldn't win one, let alone retain it. Too much gloss and mythology over something that never actually had much substance.
Barcelona aren't much better, but they always had another gear because of Messi, hence their domestic superiority and consistency in winning over Madrid. Their flaws in Europe were complacency and refusal to play reactive football. However, it seems that their transformation into an opportunistic and cynical side is complete, so maybe there's some European success coming their way.
The hallmark of a great team is retaining titles in a competitive league. They almost couldn't win one, let alone retain it. Too much gloss and mythology over something that never actually had much substance.
Barcelona aren't much better, but they always had another gear because of Messi, hence their domestic superiority and consistency in winning over Madrid. Their flaws in Europe were complacency and refusal to play reactive football. However, it seems that their transformation into an opportunistic and cynical side is complete, so maybe there's some European success coming their way.