Real Madrid vs Deportivo La Coruña

Dont even remind me of that gap

I see a compact midfield and i will see that as an achievement

Also Depor will likely defend with 10 so we will see what Zidane has in store in terms of trying to open them up

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYS-SycWYAIHmEo.jpg

Bah gawd Zidane. Winning the hearts of madridistas in his first game in chsrgr. Well done.

No more best RB in LaLiga

Final EDIT of the original post: lineup revealed.

Finally, Danilo on the bench! I think I'm gonna cry.

Also Isco must be brimming with confidence after Zidane gets him out of the freezer and straight into the line up in his preferred position that he has not played all season.

are we lining up with a 4-2-3-1?

Isco is playing like James, creating a 424

How long is Kovacic suspended for again?

It's not a 424.  It's a 433.  Isco is covering Marcelo as Marcelo is given freedom to attack. You're getting a lot of runs from the flanks and it's creating very good spacing. The midfielders are there for flow and defensive cover mostly. The fullbacks are asked to attack more.

the last couple attacks benz has been in some great positions, but we forcing everything to cr smh.

sportsczy wrote:It's not a 424.  It's a 433.  Isco is covering Marcelo as Marcelo is given freedom to attack.  You're getting a lot of runs from the flanks and it's creating very good spacing.  The midfielders are there for flow and defensive cover mostly.  The fullbacks are asked to attack more.

The problem with it so far is that Isco isn't staying close enough to his cover... so there are a lot of free crosses coming from Marcelo's side.  Isco needs to get closer. Isco and Marcelo also made the mistake twice of attacking together as opposed to reading what the other is doing.

Fabulous half all around. Everyone doing their job to perfection. I must say Bale has improved alot this season. Keep it up

One miniscule critiscm i have is that sometimes Pepe and Ramos are not sure who has to mark the lone forward Lucas and he finds himself in between them with none of the 2 marking him

Also for all those saying Pepe was finished, i hope he has proved you wrong with this excellent display and its such a relief to have Carvajal back. What a beast he is

I've only seen that 4-2-4 when we attack and it's only been a few times. It seems like we are really trying to keep our shape during most of the half with bale tracking back while Ronaldo and Benze stay up almost a 4-4-2

pepe seemed pretty done tbh

Pepe is not great. He's still counting on his makeup speed when he's lost a step... that's why there's gaps. He's not adjusting to his loss of athleticism.

It's not isco not staying wide... Just CR not tracking back.

Benzema and Bale upped their work rate on both ends while CR only in attack. Can't wait to ship him off.

Btw it looks like we are 4231 in possession and 433 in defense. Isco has the freedom to play whatever he wants in attacking.

Attack looks promising . every time we were dangerous. Defense still suspect especially pepe.

It looks like a 433 in attack and a 442 in defense to me.

Where did you see a 42 nick i saw us attack with like 3/4 of our team on occassions and where left very thin on counters but never a 424. This midfield has been excellent especially Kroos who is having the role he had under Carlo

I am happy with this tbh. Crosses are coming in from Marcelos side because he is different to Carvajal. He doesnt attempt to prevent the cross rather he tried to block the path for a perfect cross. If you havent noticed all their crosses from his side have been awful

Varane isn't fully fit?

I don't understand your criticism sports. This is the best we've played since the Liverpool game. It was a masteclass of beautiful attacking football.

Bale looked terrific and Benzema played very well. Even Ronaldo who I thought was finished, made me eat my own words tonight. He was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. There was some brief moments of selfishness but that's to be expected given that he's only one of the BBC who still hasn't scored yet.

Carvajal was amazing as expected and I hope Danilo never plays for us again. Everybody played well with some standing out.

I honestly didn't expect Zidane to make us play this good this quickly.

the attack is spread better as BBC is spaced. fullbacks and midfielders are making runs into the gaps between BBC since the defense needs to be spaced to cover BBC.

Under Rafa, BBC was playing so close to each other that it was easy to defend... no gaps.

Just common sense tactics.

halamadrid2 wrote:Fabulous half all around. Everyone doing their job to perfection. I must say Bale has improved alot this season. Keep it up

One miniscule critiscm i have is that sometimes Pepe and Ramos are not sure who has to mark the lone forward Lucas and he finds himself in between them with none of the 2 marking him

Also for all those saying Pepe was finished, i hope he has proved you wrong with this excellent display and its such a relief to have Carvajal back. What a beast he is

seriously dude Pepe was horrible. Everything came through his side, that man he lost on that over the top ball sums it up.

i think we're playing great... i'm just nitpicking

Most of the issues have to do with new team concepts and needing time to hone the synergy in practice and in games.

Pepe wasn't horrible... he was decent. He's just lost a step and needs to recalculate the space he allows since he can't recover as fast.

One thing is that Lucas Perez has slipped past Ramos/Pepe multiple times. He's going to end up getting a goal lol

I like the contestant movements in attack, where was this with Benitez? . We have managed to create overload on their end in multiple times. Modric was superb, best player so far.

FalcaoPunch wrote:One thing is that Lucas Perez has slipped past Ramos/Pepe multiple times. He's going to end up getting a goal lol

Two issues there:
- Marcelo is caught up pitch a lot and Isco isn't covering close enough... free crosses
- Pepe is not staying close enough to Lucas Perez when he's responsible