Liga @Real Sociedad

First game with no preseason.

I expect them to come good next game.

Hopefully Zidane realizes now that both Valverde and Odegaard are better than Modric.

Valverde brought much needed energy to the midfield when he came on

AlphaBeast wrote:Brahim > Rodrygo --> Facts.

I was telling you guys Brahim is absolutely good enough and should start. He’s much better then rodrygo, asensio or Vini.. only guys who agreed with me back then were nick and futbol. Brahim has end product and much more close control and finishing then those three

I think the real issue is that ZZ has the wingers staying out wide like traditional wingers, which leaves them so far from goal. It’s because guys like kroos and modric can’t run and he wants maximum defensive solidity. Modric is going to have to be benched, and Casemiro is gonna have to stay on the bench for games we are facing PTB teams

Get used to it guys. This entire year will be about everyone given fair opportunities to show they belong. In a sense everyone is on the bubble. Only guarantees re next year are Courtois, Ramos, Varane, Mendy, Carvajal, Casemiro, Kroos, Benzema. Everyone else has to prove themselves.

How did we perform? I fell asleep on the couch and woke up an hour after the match was over

Just rewatch any match that ended in a draw last season its the same thing

Perucho21 wrote:Just rewatch any match that ended in a draw last season its the same thing

Were we unable to capitalize on our chances, or didn't we create any chances? Did Ødegaard play? The match must've been pretty poor, because I'm not having an easy time finding highlights lol.

Thimmy wrote:

Perucho21 wrote:Just rewatch any match that ended in a draw last season its the same thing

Were we unable to capitalize on our chances, or didn't we create any chances? Did Ødegaard play? The match must've been pretty poor, because I'm not having an easy time finding highlights lol.

he played, it was a bit of a bore, he did have one nice through pass that he made, but a defender blocked the shot. and yeah it was similar to any nil nil game we had last season.

Thimmy wrote:

Perucho21 wrote:Just rewatch any match that ended in a draw last season its the same thing

Were we unable to capitalize on our chances, or didn't we create any chances? Did Ødegaard play? The match must've been pretty poor, because I'm not having an easy time finding highlights lol.

Bit of both. We had chances but weren't able to covert, and none of our forwards, other than Benz and Odegaard created any chances.

I thought Odegaard was fine considering he wasn't 100 percent. But you can already see the stark contrast between him and Modric/Kroos. He made numerous through balls to create chances, some successful some not but the intention was there and it was refreshing to see

Thanks for the summary. Yeah, Ødegaard hasn't played in a while. He was absent for our last two international matches, due to his most recent injury. I expect him to improve as the season progresses. We've really been lacking a ruthless goalscorer for a while now. I hope we do something about that before the transfer window closes - otherwise, this will be the 3rd consecutive season where we have to hope for goals, rather than expect it.

It wasnt a bad game actually, lack of preseason does not help but at least we did not lose the game.

our attack is always going to be limited by our wingers who are kids and still undergoing their maturation process. Yet i feel like we could have won the game.

Credit to Zidane for calming everyone down and starting Odegaard, i am now optimistic about his participation this season.

I dont know if we will use the Mercato but i was surprised to see us linked to Cavani today, specially because it is very real and we are said to be interested. Providing Jovic goes on loan, Mariano leaves (which he does not want to), and Mayoral leaves as well. Too many conditional factors sadly.

Lastly, i'm still gonna lament that we dont have another holding midfielder in the squad with a more physical presence.

Mr Nick09 wrote:It wasnt a bad game actually, lack of preseason does not help but at least we did not lose the game.

our attack is always going to be limited by our wingers who are kids and still undergoing their maturation process. Yet i feel like we could have won the game.

Credit to Zidane for calming everyone down and starting Odegaard, i am now optimistic about his participation this season.

I dont know if we will use the Mercato but i was surprised to see us linked to Cavani today, specially because it is very real and we are said to be interested. Providing Jovic goes on loan, Mariano leaves (which he does not want to), and Mayoral leaves as well. Too many conditional factors sadly.

Lastly, i'm still gonna lament that we dont have another holding midfielder in the squad with a more physical presence.

That's probably going to remain an issue for a while. I can't think of any available, holding midfielders that I deem good enough, and there's no point in wasting cash on a player that won't improve us. Either way, controlling the midfield isn't going to solve anything, as long as we can't score goals reliably.

FennecFox7 wrote:I think the real issue is that ZZ has the wingers staying out wide like traditional wingers, which leaves them so far from goal. It’s because guys like kroos and modric can’t run and he wants maximum defensive solidity. Modric is going to have to be benched, and Casemiro is gonna have to stay on the bench for games we are facing PTB teams

I agree with everything you said, except, Brahim is NOT better than Vini.

Vini has too much flair / unpredictability / skills.

Playing against Sociedad, it's raining, our lineup sucks but what can we do

This isn't going to end good

Nick, where are you my man? People are waiting for your classic "Another solid win" comment.

Solid draw! When are we going to get Pogba to fix this situation? Find out in the next episode of Nick Predicts.

This idiot really started that front 3? my lord

Zz just like other managers can't let "trying to revive isco" go so boring, how many more games does he needs to lose?

Solari the only manager with any sense to drop the isco and asensio immediately, would probably suggest the club ditched them and he got run outta town, remember how people and the media was trashing him for them , everytime the scrubs play marca just excuse them and write nonsense about how Zidane or the team needs them, dudes are trash how many games does Zz needs to give it up, you messed up chasing James out of the team for favor from the Spanish crowd, now you gotta rely on this trash while James is balling smfh.

If isco and asensio stays another season, then it confirms my suspicion that they are on the team for the Spanish extremist to cheer for, cause plenty of better players left before isco, a player who contributes nothing at all for every season he has been at the club, every time he plays the team is much more likely to lose.