Isn't Marcelo too good to be a back up ??

Contreao get in the line up and he is likely to the the starter ?? what's that mean for ??

since when is coentrao a starter?

Unless he improves defensively, he is not too good to be a backup, however he can play as a wing forward.

Coentrao isn't a starter yet

And Coentrao still doesn't offer what Marcelo does, it's obvious we've been missing his creativity, but he has lost his fitness and became slower lately. Looks like he is regaining it now though and probably will pull off a Lyon performance vs. CSKA like last time he missed a CL game

Well , contreao is going to be as it looks . Marcelo has been benched lately so unless contreao doesn't perform .... He cost RM 35 millions btw

And he won't play in the middle that much

Marcelo was injured + out of form for some time. when he back at his best he will be starter.

marcelo got benched in the last game and in the game against barca...thats pretty much it.you buy him for 30M,you gotta give him playing time.besides,the spanish fans in general arent happy with fabio for some reason,i guess its because of his price

The way I see it is that whenever Marcelo has been fit and not injured he has always played vs. Barca even if Coentrao is there. It's obvious by now he hasn't been in the best form lately so Mou opted for the more safe one aka Coentrao.

when Marcelo is fit and ready he is twice the player that Coentrao is IMO

Where are all these idiotic claims coming from lately?

I swear if you do not watch or follow Real Madrid keep your idiotic comments to yourself ffs.

I don't give a feck about creativity, we have enough creative players in our midfield and forward line. defenders are supposed to defend well and provide support for the midfielders if there's a chance. what Marcelo does during games is simply switching to wing and play the rule of a extra forward. this makes our team really vulnerable to counter attacks and i don't like it when i see Ramos or Pepe are leaving their position to cover for Marcelo's absence in defence.

When Coentrao plays at the leftback i feel safe.

LB=/= Wingback

Firstly, Marcelo is the superior player, it's a fact and it's simply not an opinion only shared by I. He has been phenomenal since Mourinho took over and is having a slightly better season than last. The progress he has made has been phenomenal. Secondly, Coentrao is not better attacking wise or defensive wise, in my opinion. I think everyone agrees that Marcelo offers much more creativity and has a better understanding with Ronado down the left hand channel. Defensively, Marcelo is more stable at the back and it's funny that El Pipita is trying to say that Marcelo leaves his position frequently, which is far from the truth. Coentrao is way too rash when making challenges and his positional awareness needs to be worked on. In every game against Barcelona this season, he has had the tendency of keeping players onside...

El Pipita wrote:I don't give a feck about creativity, we have enough creative players in our midfield and forward line. defenders are supposed to defend well and provide support for the midfielders if there's a chance. what Marcelo does during games is simply switching to wing and play the rule of a extra forward. this makes our team really vulnerable to counter attacks and i don't like it when i see Ramos or Pepe are leaving their position to cover for Marcelo's absence in defence.

When Coentrao plays at the leftback i feel safe.

because Coentrao is a rock solid defender right?...I presume you didnt watch him at benfica and his final 15 minutes vs CSKA when they decided to attack.

How can you not give a feck?A attacking FB gives another dimension to the team.. look at the past CL winners and tell me which one didnt have a attacking fb

halamadrid2 wrote:LB=/= Wingback

I swear to God 90% of Real Madrid fans do not understand this concept at all!

Added to that fact that Marcelo dosen't run down and join in the attack and leave Ramos/Alonso and whoever else to cover him cus he can, he does it because Jose wants him to do it. Not to mention he is bloody good at it.

Gladiator is telling the truth, we were extremly lucky that La Liga got some real shitty linesmen becouse the guy kept failing on the offside trap (which we clearly was relying on our defending) which meant Sanchez could have gotten a 1v1.

Coentrao is better at the 1v1 situations but Marcelo knows the tactical side of defending. And again, offers the creativity. And the "I don't give a feck about creativity" is kind of ignorant considiring how our creativity has been poor lately.

Like I said I expect Marcelo to give us a Lyon-like performance vs. CSKA like the last time he was benched.

Ganso wrote:

El Pipita wrote:I don't give a feck about creativity, we have enough creative players in our midfield and forward line. defenders are supposed to defend well and provide support for the midfielders if there's a chance. what Marcelo does during games is simply switching to wing and play the rule of a extra forward. this makes our team really vulnerable to counter attacks and i don't like it when i see Ramos or Pepe are leaving their position to cover for Marcelo's absence in defence.

When Coentrao plays at the leftback i feel safe.

because Coentrao is a rock solid defender right?...I presume you didnt watch him at benfica and his final 15 minutes vs CSKA when they decided to attack.

Nah, mate, obviously he hasn't watched games where Coentrao has kept the likes of Sanchez and Pedro onside, too, frequently.

Gladiator wrote:Firstly, Marcelo is the superior player, it's a fact and it's simply not an opinion only shared by I. He has been phenomenal since Mourinho took over and is having a slightly better season than last. The progress he has made has been phenomenal. Secondly, Coentrao is not better attacking wise or defensive wise, in my opinion. I think everyone agrees that Marcelo offers much more creativity and has a better understanding with Ronado down the left hand channel. Defensively, Marcelo is more stable at the back and it's funny that El Pipita is trying to say that Marcelo leaves his position frequently, which is far from the truth. Coentrao is way too rash when making challenges and his positional awareness needs to be worked on. In every game against Barcelona this season, he has had the tendency of keeping players onside...

Yeah you're right.

Great reply.

Marcelo misses 1 game and now this kneejerk.

Coentrao is a better defender than Marcelo,it isnt even up for debate.

If coentrao's positioning is terrible then what can we call marcelo's?

Coentrao is faster,more athletic,better at aerials and better at dealing with skilled player.You dont need to know rocket science to realize thats why Mou opting for Coentrao in big matches.

Mou plays Coentrao in big games 2 times becouse Marcelo is clearly out of form

= Prefers Coentrao in big matches?

Then why did Mou prefer Marcelo in big matches before when he was in form despite being such a terrible defender and Coentrao warming the bench?

Its easy to say "uts because Marcelo is out of form"..

while its clear as water to any one with IQ more than fifty that Coentrao is preferred because he offers much better defensive security.

Once again why did Mou still prefer Marcelo in the past while still having Coentrao on the bench?

Mou picked Marcelo over Arbeloa in the past who was back then more defensively solid than both Coentrao and Marcelo ffs

Great attacking players wins you games but having a strong defense wins you title. Marcelo has been fat and lazy this season and Coentrao is clearly outplaying him by delivering solid defensive performance.

As i said we don't need the creativity that makes our defense vulnerable. we have some of the best creative players in our attack line and we surely are a capable team offensively so we don't need extra support for attack.

People should put aside their bias. this season Marcelo has been horrible against Barcelona compared to Coentrao who single handedly stopped Barcelona's attacking moves from our left side.

Yes,you guys really dont need creativity.