Athletic Bilbao v Real Madrid

Mr Nick09 wrote:Ceballos never pretended to be the same type of player as Kovacic lol, if that's what the coach is seeing, and i am fairly sure he is not, then that's his problem.

You should not be comparing both

It is a bit though. Ceballos is supposed to be a CM. As a CM, he's supposed to link the defense with forwards with his passing and recover balls. Since Kroos was playing cover position and Ceballos was close to the forwards, he's also supposed to help the attack when needed.

When Casemiro is doing a better job of playing gaps and supporting the attack than you, you have a problem. I didn't expect him to recover balls like Casemiro (although i don't think he recovered any)... but I certainly expected him to help flow, which he didn't.

On the attack, I actually blame Asensio a lot here and not for his missed 1v1 necessarily. He made so many bad decisions on his last pass that I stopped counting. As a result of not getting served when making good runs, both Bale and Benz drifted. So when the end of the game came around, neither was in the game.

You have to feed your forwards. Even force feed. Make them feel that every run they make has a purpose.

Doc wrote:

Mamad wrote:And Vinicious should be or third sub not Vazquez. he can't do shit.

Can't even out run guys ffs. A winger that can't out run his opponent. He came on and actually killed the entire right flank by himself.

Vinicius would do worse than Lucas... by a lot... based on what I've seen from him in Castilla.  His football IQ is very low right now.  Relies entirely on skillset.  That won't work at this level.  His skillset isn't far enough ahead of the norm to get away with it.

Modric was also very poor by his standards...  we can't survive this one.  He looks like he has the WC hangover.  I hope he gets better.

At least it's not like the start of last season where literally nobody gave a shit until January.  Guys are looking to impress the manager at least...  but Modric is the same as he was to start last season.  Unfortunately, he's our most important player along with Kroos.

I'll be the first to say it: We should have sold Modric. Maybe would have fueled the Thiago purchase. But he looks hungover from WC which is understandable and on top of that lacks the motivation it seems to get to top level again. I don't know him personally so I can't say if he is feeling hungry or not but judging by these performances I'd say he has lost it.

We should have signed Ibrahimovic to back up Benz ffs.

very well put sports. that's the reply i was going to give nick, but i've been working all day. i thought ceballos was absolutely awful defensively and offensively. this is why ive been screaming over and over about kova.. he's basically our only mid with athleticism and speed. him and isco play very well in tight spaces be under pressure.he would've eaten bilbao's press alive.

modric is supposed to be that to a certain extent.. but he looks like he's two steps slow
right now

There's an old saying:  Don't confuse activity for achievement.  We have a few "activity" type players that have meager end product.

sportsczy wrote:

Doc wrote:

Mamad wrote:And Vinicious should be or third sub not Vazquez. he can't do shit.

Can't even out run guys ffs. A winger that can't out run his opponent. He came on and actually killed the entire right flank by himself.

Vinicius would do worse than Lucas... by a lot... based on what I've seen from him in Castilla.  His football IQ is very low right now.  Relies entirely on skillset.  That won't work at this level.  His skillset isn't far enough ahead of the norm to get away with it.

Yeah i agree. watched him today. so many mistakes.

Our final passes last night were awful. Casemiro and Asensio in particular.

the game was too open, possession is cute and all, but what i really want is a defensive structure and discipline at the back, it seems the few times we didn't have the ball bilbao could create a threat, a better side would have punished us. at some point defensive discipline needs to set in, "beauty" and "entertainment" won't help if we are dropping unnecessary points. i know he isn't popular but casemiro is crucial for that, i don't need a midfield 3 or a midfield 4 of ball passers.