Real Madrid v Éibar

sports, they were playing well against malmo. remember i complained about it. the posts on that season are still here, they haven't been deleted. plus, we had that thing of name the top 3 players for every game. under rafa, in games that meant something, none of those players had their names listed. i'd even go as far as to say that, even games where they all raped the stat sheet, keylor and modric were still nominated ahead of them in most of those games. remember it was in that season i got infuriated and said we should overhaul the team. cos we barely went in the market that year, i don't think we even signed anyone, maybe besides danilo

so nope, the rhetoric of how good they were slowly changed when some people wanted to justify rafa being right about one thing or the other. nobody set the stage alight in that period. benzema scored, i think he had 11 come middle of the season, but we've seen a much better benzema, bale and marcelo at madrid, than what rafa provided. i think i even preferred bale in the latter part of the season. i preferred him stepping up against city and i think rayo, (When we needed a late goal) than when he was scoring 5 against hapless sides that we were going to massacre regardless. i think he even had a good showing in the second clasico

I don't know dude.  I think Bale and Benzema were very well appreciated...  heck, even Hala was on board...  during that span.  The midfield, Danilo, Ronaldo and... the midfield some more was getting roasted.

Ronaldo went on a scoring spree once Zidane became the manager.

I dont want to jinx anything but Celta

Meanwhile, somewhere in Vigo, barca is busy getting butt licked 3 - 0 at half time.

Don't worry we will return the favour next game with a fresh draw against FC newly promoted side

To think we could've went Ike 10 points ahead of them with the fixture list we had

Adit wrote:To think we could've went Ike 10 points ahead of them with the fixture list we had

That's what's killing me.

Would probably have made us complacent. We lost the league 3 seasons ago despite being 9 points ahead of Barca in Dec nvm October. I don't like us dropping points but I like that we are not too far away from them this early. It will keep us on our toes

In the past, with all the injuries and lack of form we've faced... we would have likely lost 2-3 games at this point.

Our defense is hanging in there pretty well other than the Dortmund game despite Casemiro being out. We're not leaking a crazy number of goals. We just lack balance because of his absence. There is no solution. With Modric out as well, we're just going to need to get lucky imo. I'm not sure there's any system that can work with 5 AMs and no CMs or DMs.

Cannot talk about balance when we struggle to create chances against Eibar at home.

First seven games under Rafa:

1. Sporting de Gijón 1-1 Real Madrid
2. Real Madrid 5-0 Betis
3. Espanyol 0-6 Real Madrid
4. Real Madrid 1-0 Granada
5. Athletic 1-2 Real Madrid
6. Real Madrid 0-0 Málaga
7. Atlético de Madrid 1-1 Real Madrid

4 victories, 3 draws

First seven games under Z:


1. Real Sociedad 0-3 Real Madrid
2. Real Madrid 2-1 Celta de Vigo
3. Real Madrid 5-2 Osasuna
4. Espanyol 0-2 Real Madrid
5. Real Madrid 1-1 Villarreal
6. Las Palmas 2-2 Real Madrid
7. Real Madrid 1-1 Eibar

4 victories, 3 draws.

Zinedine Benitez

Interesting read here.

Here are the main points:

1. Madrid's excessive dependence on crosses then came to the fore, as their unwillingness to create anything down the middle made it difficult for them to break Eibar down.

2. It seemed that every time a Madrid player got on the ball, his first instinct was to pass the ball wide to set up a crossing opportunity.

3. It's quite understandable to want to exploit the aerial prowess of Cristiano Ronaldo and Bale, but a crossing game cannot be Plan A, Plan B as well as Plan C.

4. Devoid of imagination and creative penetration, Madrid didn't look too dissimilar from Rafa Benitez's much-maligned side from the first half of last season.

5. Yes, the team is missing some key players in Luka Modric, Marcelo and Casemiro, but that can hardly be an excuse when playing against the smallest club in LaLiga.

6. Karim Benzema drew no reactions whatsoever during his 45 minutes on the pitch because it was easy to forget that he was even there. The Frenchman's playmaking skills might have been helpful in creating something through the middle, but he showed little interest in getting on the ball and taking charge.

7. But if the team is serious about wanting to win LaLiga, they need to play to a specific and sophisticated attacking game plan that involves more than just crosses and moments of individual brilliance.

8. use crosses but don't abuse them, and don't be shy to play that ball along the grass and up the middle of the park.


You know, whoever wrote this, they echoed exactly what I'm thinking.

No Casemiro or Modric, no God damn party. If Barcelona is Lionel-dependent which they are, we are just the same with those 2 players. Without them, we lose both creativity and defensive stability. Of course, this dumb dumb club of mine decided to go a whole season with NO BACKUP for Casemiro. Barcelona actually has an excuse in that there is no one on Earth currently that can do what Messi does.

We can talk about Zidane's coaching ability and I can see the detractors' points. Our team is barely doing or showing much but those 2 really dictate what we can do. Unless you think what we did during half a season under Carlo can happen again.

Of course, Atletico looking like they are evolving into a more fluid unit and Sevilla is starting to do something, I don't know what exactly is happening there but it's working.

i dunno about that. modric was here against las palmas, dortmund, villareal. i know spanish dailys and the media are putting out the modric dependency thing...he's a good player, he does a lot in midfield, but he has also played in all the games where we complain that all we do is recycle possession in the middle of the park. casemiro brings a lot on the defensive end, so yes we are feeling a lot of hurt with him out

still doesn't excuse the results to any of these sides...obviously we are better with them than without them, but the team has still had some glaring problems on both ends of the pitch regardless. the international break came at the perfect time. everyone can sort of clear their heads, and the coach can assess the problems we have

I don't think anyone is saying crossing is not a tactics to use. Rather we are saying Zidane is abusing that tactics.

The point is not to become Crosselona.

I don't know Tito, from those 4 games, 2 of which Modric started (Las Palmas and Dortmund), our midfield had more, I don't know, something than when he isn't there.

It's like he is the only one that can actually run with the ball in midfield and look like he is in control of it. Against Eibar, Kovacic showed glimpses of it but he needs way more game time.

Anyway, that is where I am coming with the Modric dependency. Subject to disagreement which you have but I think the Casemiro is 100% legit. We really need that Brasilian back.