Real Madrid and the FIFA Virus

james is injury prone as well, but since he scores golazo lets gloss over it and focus attention on modric cause he older , too many wanna be experts....

no one but you is making this focus on modric. Bill made a comment about something i said months ago, nothing wrong with day. Modric had no back up until kovacic got here.

As for James, we have always had Isco around so he bailed us out a lot.

If I look through our line-up, I see a need for a 2nd LB and that's all unless we have injuries to both players for a given position are injured at same time. There are complaints about quality of forward reserves, but can we reasonably expect anyone better to have to play behind Ronaldo, Bale, Benz, James and Isco?

Look at all the injuries we have and yet the injuries haven't really hurt us adversely.

I just don't get this comment about someone here suggesting we need midfield help.

im saying injuries happen regardless of how old a player is.

futbol_bill wrote:If I look through our line-up, I see a need for a 2nd LB and that's all unless we have injuries to both players for a given position are injured at same time. There are complaints about quality of forward reserves, but can we reasonably expect anyone better to have to play behind Ronaldo, Bale, Benz, James and Isco?

Look at all the injuries we have and yet the injuries haven't really hurt us adversely.

I just don't get this comment about someone here suggesting we need midfield help.

Nobody said we need a midfield help. But we need to find a way to prevent having so many injuries. Modric is the best in the world in his position and he's not that old. He had a couple of bad injuries last season and another minor one this season, two of which surprisingly enough during the international break.

If I remember correctly, what Nick was talking about was that we didn't need another top midfielder, like Pogba, but we needed someone who could complement what we already had in Kroos and Modric and that both of them should be rotated to stop from being burnt out and Modric likely to not be at the end of his injury problems. Plus having adequate reinforcements would enable us to play three CBs on occasion. Casemiro and Kovacic have clearly demonstrated that Nick was right.

(note - at this point in time neither James nor Isco can be considered CBs, they are definitely part of the forward configuration and strictly AMs).

The midfield depth is fine. where we suck at? LB, we only have marcelo, and the forwards spot. Jese, Cheryshev, Vasquez... super weak/under utilized. they need to turn up

Injuries do happen all the time, there isn't much that can be done to prevent them, other than by rotation, limit those that occur from overwork and fatigue.

Back to Modric, his injury last season was severe and it is highly predicable that new related injuries will happen, plus his age (+30) is a factor.

The reason why most big clubs essentially try to have two for every position and have rotation is what is done to try to prevent detrimental effects from injuries. That also why Carlo failed and Benitez was hired, to use the entire squad.

According to Carlo we lost the last two seasons because of injuries to Jese and Modric, yet the real cause was burnt out players and a whole bench that wasn't given a reasonable attempt to be integrated into team.

Nick, Those three are a notch below (Jese, the exception if he ever gets back to the form of two years ago), but can you really expect anything better to be behind Ronaldo, Bale, Benz, James and Isco. Being behind these alphas who are all but guaranteed playing time, means there are several games were you don't even make it to the bench!!! Both Denis and Lucas have shown they can play at this level, but the reality is the opportunities are few and they have to make the most of them, something all three of them have yet to do.

I'm making a bold prediction for next year, I say all three of them will be gone and replaced by Morata and Asensio.

You forgot one thing, almost all the players you're referring to got injured on the international break, not on our watch. Modric, James, Danilo, Benzema. I think only Jesé, Carvajal and Bale got injured while playing for Real Madrid.

It's too early to say that the reason for injuries is fatigue.

Some NT managers need to understand that you don't have to play your best players during friendlies. And when you've already booked your place for the euros or whatever, don't field your strongest eleven and do us a favor, send them back to their clubs.

Morata lol, there is no point bringing Morata back to play second fiddle, he wont be happy, and it wont work out for all parties.

He only returns if he is a better player than Benzema, which he is clearly not, or Benzema somehow leaves, which looks as unlikely as ever.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. Morata doesn't start every game at Juve so he won't be insisting on starting. We don't have a 2nd CF and Benz does need rotation. I don't see it any different that Kovacic to Modric. Morata has developed quite a bit at Juve and he hasn't reached his full potential yet. He is looking like he may indeed be the main 9 on NT for Euro. He's no dud, but sure he isn't up to Benz's level.

In any event, that's my bold prediction. We can talk about it next summer whether or not this prediction has any validity. There is a lot of talk within club that it has to be next summer if we are going to bring him back, otherwise it's just another Negredo or Soldado situation.

and you think the main 9 of spain would play second fiddle here just because he is madridista? i dont think so, the guy is building his career slowly in italy, he is no phenom, but he is a good player. we can leave him be and focus on other positions.

Our forward depth is weak Counting Isco and James as forwards is flawed analysis as they are more midfielders than attackers. Isco especially played on right is non existent, understandably.

Jese,Vasquez, Denis is fairly weak depth.

Adit wrote:Our forward depth is weak Counting Isco and James as forwards is flawed analysis as they are more midfielders than attackers. Isco especially played on right is non existent, understandably.

Jese,Vasquez, Denis is fairly weak depth.

Jese is weak but we want Morata back ? The former is a way better player.

Valkyrja wrote:

Adit wrote:Our forward depth is weak  Counting Isco and James as forwards is flawed  analysis as they are more midfielders than attackers. Isco especially played on right is non existent, understandably.

Jese,Vasquez, Denis is fairly weak depth.

Jese is weak but we want Morata back ? The former is a way better player.

That's not true at all. Jese was the better player two seasons ago, but hasn't shown any thing close to that form since the injury. It's debatable at this point if he will ever get back to that form. Morata meanwhile has blossomed at Juve. He is a completely different player than what we saw at Madrid. He is getting callups to NT and starting while Jese isn't even a consideration. Besides they play different positions, Morata is a CF while Jese is a winger. The fact that we have only one CF on team is a problem, whether or not Morata comes back, we do need a 2nd CF on this team.

i'm not saying Jese is a bad player, but I am saying he needs to step it up if he is going to remain at Madrid. He has to take advantage of his opportunities (like this weekend) like he did so well two seasons ago.

Adit wrote:Our forward depth is weak  Counting Isco and James as forwards is flawed  analysis as they are more midfielders than attackers. Isco especially played on right is non existent, understandably.

Jese,Vasquez, Denis is fairly weak depth.

Adit, I'm going to disagree with you. James and Isco are part of the front four, but they are AMs and are playing as such. i will agree that Jese, Denis and Lucas are a notch below and do need to step it up when they get opportunities, but they are in no way weak. All three of them have played well in la liga, it is just a matter of them getting opportunities and stepping up. i don't believe you can expect anything else for what essentially are the last of the squad (except for Arbeloa and yañez). playing behind Ronaldo, Bale and Benz, means few opportunities and lots of games were they don't even make it to bench! i know you and nIck would prefer to have more mature players as reserves, but until the coach can rotate those three, you won't get many proven vets to accept the end of squad spots.

morata is not better than jese, morata now is still not better than jese pre injury, not saying he is a bad player he will be a pretty decent forward, some of are too quick to discard players and hop on the new bandwagons, have patience jese can still come good, he is not really a 9 but he can get the job done, if he gets service or just take his one chance.