Sunday 18 December 2011
Sunday 4 December 2011
Saturday 26 November 2011
Real Madrid 4 - 1 Athletico Madrid Video
Jose Mourinho said the derby against Atletico would be difficult, aware of how the very nature of these games transform the teams that play them. Atletico's intention was to give the game a sort of stop-start nature, especially after Courtois was sent off. Eventually, after 45 minutes they couldn't keep this up any longer and Real Madrid turned the score around and showered them with goals.
Atletico positioned themselves well on the pitch and even tried to score on occasion, eventually netting their only strike of the evening when Adrian defeated Casillas while possibly being offside. Real Madrid reacted and Di Maria served a perfect pass to Benzema, who was tackled in the area by Courtois. Cristiano Ronaldo took the penalty and netted the equaliser.
Atletico decided to try to stop Real with fouls and this kept Mourinho's men from having clear chances on Asenjo's goal. Nevertheless, Benzema had a good one, but Dominguez only just managed to clear his shot.
The Whites truly worked on winning the clash after half-time. Cristiano Ronaldo crossed the ball into the box on the 48-minute mark and Di Maria finished it off beautifully. Atletico stayed close to their box trying to cover spaces as best they could, but in the 64th minute, Godin made a huge mistake in a clearance and Higuain, having just come on for Di Maria, snatched the ball from Asenjo and scored a third for the team.
Godin was sent off on the 82-minute mark, giving another penalty to Real that was again converted by Ronaldo, sealing the match 4-1 and giving the Madridistas a 13th straight win this season.
Atletico decided to try to stop Real with fouls and this kept Mourinho's men from having clear chances on Asenjo's goal. Nevertheless, Benzema had a good one, but Dominguez only just managed to clear his shot.
The Whites truly worked on winning the clash after half-time. Cristiano Ronaldo crossed the ball into the box on the 48-minute mark and Di Maria finished it off beautifully. Atletico stayed close to their box trying to cover spaces as best they could, but in the 64th minute, Godin made a huge mistake in a clearance and Higuain, having just come on for Di Maria, snatched the ball from Asenjo and scored a third for the team.
Godin was sent off on the 82-minute mark, giving another penalty to Real that was again converted by Ronaldo, sealing the match 4-1 and giving the Madridistas a 13th straight win this season.
Friday 25 November 2011
Real Madrid training for Athletico Madrid match (Photo Gallery)
Real Madrid finished preparing for today's 20:00 CET derby against Atletico Madrid at the Bernabeu. Jose Mourinho had 21 of his men on hand plus youth teamer Mejias. Arbeloa and Kaka did recovery exercises.
The 19 outfield players did ball work after tackling stretching and warm-up exercises. Marcelo, Di Maria and Carvalho were amongst them; they trained with their teammates yesterday after missing the match against Dinamo Zagreb due to injuries.
Goalkeepers Casillas, Adan and Mejias trained with goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. They played a foot-volley game to work on controlling the ball with their feet and head. They then proceeded to do specific goalie exercises.
Goalkeepers Casillas, Adan and Mejias trained with goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. They played a foot-volley game to work on controlling the ball with their feet and head. They then proceeded to do specific goalie exercises.
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Nuri Sahin interview after Dinamo Zagreb Match
Nuri Sahin and Antonio Adan were starters against Dinamo Zagreb. Both shared their views on the match in the mixed zone.
Sahin
"It's an important day for me because I played 90 minutes for the first time in six months. We also scored many goals. I'm not 100% fit yet and I have to work hard to improve on my football. I admit I didn't play very well tonight. I need to play more. It's every kid's dream to play for Real Madrid, and it is for me too."
Sahin
"It's an important day for me because I played 90 minutes for the first time in six months. We also scored many goals. I'm not 100% fit yet and I have to work hard to improve on my football. I admit I didn't play very well tonight. I need to play more. It's every kid's dream to play for Real Madrid, and it is for me too."
Wednesday 2 November 2011
Saturday 22 October 2011
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Mourinho: "Olympique Lyonnais will be as serious and solid as ever"
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho faced the media ahead of the team's Champions League clash with Olympique Lyonnais which will kick-off tomorrow night at 20:45 CET at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
"Real Madrid have always been an attacking-minded team and I hope it will remain a balanced team that plays for winning games either at home or away. It's normal that teams improve when they work a lot. We want to become stronger than we were last season but it's not going to be easy".
"What is important is winning against Olympique Lyonnais. We earned 10 points out of our first four matches last year and they helped us to qualify. It's not easy to win in the Champions League but we now already have 6 points. Winning the group might give us an advantage in the last-16 draw, but we want to qualify as possible as we can and get further than we got last year in the competition".
"It's possible to play with both Higuain and Benzema or only with one of them. Both players are playing well and the competition between the two improves the collective performance of the team. My objective is to unite and not divide. What's in the press is different; it's a debate about who is good and who is poor. My point of view is different, we win and lose as a team. We have different objectives".
"I'm happy with Varane. He already made his debut in the Champions at 19 years old and he could be a starter at Real Madrid. We are all happy with him".
"Real Madrid have always been an attacking-minded team and I hope it will remain a balanced team that plays for winning games either at home or away. It's normal that teams improve when they work a lot. We want to become stronger than we were last season but it's not going to be easy".
"What is important is winning against Olympique Lyonnais. We earned 10 points out of our first four matches last year and they helped us to qualify. It's not easy to win in the Champions League but we now already have 6 points. Winning the group might give us an advantage in the last-16 draw, but we want to qualify as possible as we can and get further than we got last year in the competition".
"It's possible to play with both Higuain and Benzema or only with one of them. Both players are playing well and the competition between the two improves the collective performance of the team. My objective is to unite and not divide. What's in the press is different; it's a debate about who is good and who is poor. My point of view is different, we win and lose as a team. We have different objectives".
"I'm happy with Varane. He already made his debut in the Champions at 19 years old and he could be a starter at Real Madrid. We are all happy with him".
Friday 14 October 2011
2011-10-10: La Liga Weekly Podcast
In the news yesterday, Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez put pen to paper on a 5-year deal with Manchester United. This was after an supposed explosion of reports in the press linking him to Real Madrid.
.
I absolutely hate it when agents use Real Madrid to spook clubs into signing their players into big money contracts. Chicharito is a good player, good striker, but last I checked we had Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema in our squad: both of whom are waaaay better than Hernandez: regardless of what the myopic English press would have you believe.
.
In any case, here is last week's podcast. Enjoy!
Saturday 8 October 2011
Of Mousetraps and Ketchup Bottles
I don’t get it.
.
Racing and Levante did it EXACTLY the same
way. Wait for
in your own half. Defend deep. Frustrate them. And with a bit of cleverness and
luck, through a quick counter, or a set piece: you just might nick that goal
that gives you a point – or 3.
.
Espanyol instead, chose to do it EXACTLY
the same way as
and Rayo. Control the ball, caress it. Ping it about: show Real Madrid who’s in
control. And within a matter of seconds: Kaka, Ronaldo and Ozil WILL murder
you.
.
Why did Espanyol choose to try to be
Levante or Racing? I have no idea. I don’t get it. I only know that I enjoyed
myself quite a bit watching it all unfold.
.
Real Madrid is the world’s best, most
fabulously-designed, attractive-to-watch, extravagant and ridiculously-expensive
footballing equivalent to the mousetrap. Cross a line enough times and in mere
split second, SNAP! You’re dead. Last night’s game at the Cornelia El Prat
wasn’t much different. Madrid didn’t really boss the game: the tried, but
couldn’t manage to. Espanyol did a good job of gaining control of the game:
enabling them to cross the line, that
line more than a few times… and they duly got punished for it. 4 goals. 4
daggers. Thank You and Good Night. Thanks for having us over.
.
.
Team
Selection
Jose Mourinho seems to be playing games
with all of us with his team selection. After not picking Albiol for a few key games
where first-choice centerbacks (Pepe + Carvalho) are unavailable. Varane instead
got the nod to start much to the surprise of many. This of course got the conspiracy theorists
a buzz. Maybe they were on to something…or maybe Mourinho just had some form of squad
rotation system in his mind that none of us at this point can understand. The other surprise of the night was also
Sergio Ramos starting at CB with Arbeloa playing at RB given Varane’s
performances during the last few game. The midfield was also a bit of a
mystery: with Lass starting ahead of Khedira despite the German’s
availability.
.
The choices were pretty much obvious
upfront given Di Maria’s suspension.
Despite the sentimental speculation that Vanilla Joe (Jose Callejon)
would get the starting nod due to his history as an ex-Espanyol player, Jose
Mourinho opted to further entertain the media with the Kaka-Ozil
partnership. Ditto for Ronaldo and
Pipita – Benzema was after all injured.
.
.
Player
Performances
The defense did reasonably well. One could complain that we missed Carvalho’s
passing capabilities from defense. But
then again, if you don’t have control of the game, what do you need a
ball-playing CB for? I’ve always said
that Arbeloa for Ramos at RB in Mourinho’s system (where there is less
attacking on the right side) represents no drop in quality for Real
Madrid. And as for Ramos, I belong to
the school of thinking that he is a far more suitable CB than he is an RB.
.
Meanwhile at midfield, once again, the Xabi
Alonso + Lass partnership fails to control the midfield. AS’ passing stats this morning showed decent
numbers for Lass, but I’m not inclined to only look at the numbers. What remains critical however, was Xabi Alonso’s
ability to pick out the right passes with a single touch to his teammates the
moment some form of control of the ball was gained.
.
The key plot line of last night’s story
however, was how Madrid happily allowed control of the ball and the game go to
Espanyol and were equally happy to get just those few chances in the game. Nothing personified this more than our
opening goal where a single touch from Kaka puts Ronaldo on his way to feeding
Pipita for the opening goal. Many have
spoken about how we managed to tear Ajax open in a matter of mere seconds
mid-week. I’m pretty sure however, that
if we were to measure the amount of time it took Kaka to ping that ball to
Ronaldo all the way up to the goal scored by Higuain, that you might find the
time it took to score the goal comparable to the one we scored versus Ajax
mid-week.
.
.
The
Ketchup Bottle Breaks
 |
| Welcome Back Pipita! |
How fitting is it that this also happens to
be the weekend where Ruud van Nistelrooy finally manages to score for Malaga:
he of the now-famous ketchup bottle metaphor. If we were to conclude that by
scoring his first La Liga goal for Malaga, RVN has finally managed to open his
“ketchup bottle,” then I suppose Pipita
has managed to smash his. All three of
Higuain’s goals were full demonstration of a shockingly improved level of
fitness and confidence. After all, it
wasn’t too long ago where we saw him run the entire length of the pitch to find
himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, only to blast it WAAAAY out. The opening goal fed to him by Ronaldo was
taken with 2 touches of the ball and aimed at the top corner: none of that
fire-it-at-the-goalkeeper crap that we all know we usually see from a non-match-fit
Higuain. Kudos would also have to go to
Alvaro Arbeloa for attempting and succeeding a very successful Xabi Alonso
impression: delivering a long vertical raking pass that travelled almost
three-quarters of the pitch to find Pipita for his and Real Madrid’s
second. And since we started this
discussion on strikers talking about RVN, what poetic justice it was to see
Pipita imitating his mentor, using his predatory striker’s instincts to
capitalize on Espanyol’s defending error to earn the right to keep the game
ball last night.
.
Perhaps the other surprise of last night
was that we did not see Cristiano Ronaldo attempt a bicycle kick especially
after we saw Julio Baptista knock a beautiful one in last Saturday. Instead, we saw him deliver two fabulous
assists including Vanilla Joe’s first goal as a Real Madrid player in La Liga. Callejon’s decision to not celebrate the goal
and gesture to the crowd to ask for forgiveness was also a touching detail.
.
Outside of Barca’s continued dominance of
La Liga (once again they are top of the table), I find that this La Liga season
thus far has been about ex-Real Madrid strikers: Negredo and Soldado leading
their teams with their goal-scoring exploits for Sevilla and Valencia,
respectively as well as RVN + Baptista’s exploits last Saturday. Last night, I just had to wonder whether post-Levante
+ Racing, would Real Madrid’s current strikers follow suit?
.
Three goals from Pipita + one goal from
Callejon with no discussions regarding Kaka + Ozil + Xabi later, we have a
broken ketchup bottle for an answer to that simple question.
Saturday 1 October 2011
El Clásico
Normally there is competition between the two best teams in the NHL, and this is especially true in La Liga, where the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, known as "The Classic" (El Clasico). Since the beginning of the national competition, the club was seen as a representative of the two rival regions in Spain: Catalonia and Castile, and the two cities. Competition reflects the demand for both political and cultural tensions felt between Catalans and Castilians, as seen by an author as a reconstruction of the Spanish Civil War.
During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco in particular (1939-1975), all regional cultures have been removed. All languages spoken in Spain, with the exception of Spain (Castile) itself, were officially banned. [65] [66] symbology Catalan people yearning for freedom, from Barcelona to "More than a club '(see more than a club) for the Catalans. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the best way to demonstrate their Catalan identity is that to join Barcelona. And 'less risky to take part in a clandestine anti-Franco, and allow them to express their dissent.
On the other hand, Real Madrid is widely regarded as the incarnation of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime in the management and so on (the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the former president called Merengues Stadium Club, has fought a los nacionales). However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs like Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra suffered at the hands of Franco supporters.
In 1950, competition has become even worse when there is controversy surrounding the transfer of Alfredo Di Stefano, who finally played for Real Madrid and the key to continued success. The 1960 saw the rivalry reach the European level, when you met twice in the fourth round of the Champions League. In 2002, a meeting between European clubs, called "The Game of the Century" by the Spanish media and seen by over 500 million people.
During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco in particular (1939-1975), all regional cultures have been removed. All languages spoken in Spain, with the exception of Spain (Castile) itself, were officially banned. [65] [66] symbology Catalan people yearning for freedom, from Barcelona to "More than a club '(see more than a club) for the Catalans. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the best way to demonstrate their Catalan identity is that to join Barcelona. And 'less risky to take part in a clandestine anti-Franco, and allow them to express their dissent.
On the other hand, Real Madrid is widely regarded as the incarnation of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime in the management and so on (the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the former president called Merengues Stadium Club, has fought a los nacionales). However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs like Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra suffered at the hands of Franco supporters.
In 1950, competition has become even worse when there is controversy surrounding the transfer of Alfredo Di Stefano, who finally played for Real Madrid and the key to continued success. The 1960 saw the rivalry reach the European level, when you met twice in the fourth round of the Champions League. In 2002, a meeting between European clubs, called "The Game of the Century" by the Spanish media and seen by over 500 million people.
El Clásico
Normally there is competition between the two best teams in the NHL, and this is especially true in La Liga, where the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, known as "The Classic" (El Clasico). Since the beginning of the national competition, the club was seen as a representative of the two rival regions in Spain: Catalonia and Castile, and the two cities. Competition reflects the demand for both political and cultural tensions felt between Catalans and Castilians, as seen by an author as a reconstruction of the Spanish Civil War.
During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco in particular (1939-1975), all regional cultures have been removed. All languages spoken in Spain, with the exception of Spain (Castile) itself, were officially banned. [65] [66] symbology Catalan people yearning for freedom, from Barcelona to "More than a club '(see more than a club) for the Catalans. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the best way to demonstrate their Catalan identity is that to join Barcelona. And 'less risky to take part in a clandestine anti-Franco, and allow them to express their dissent.
On the other hand, Real Madrid is widely regarded as the incarnation of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime in the management and so on (the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the former president called Merengues Stadium Club, has fought a los nacionales). However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs like Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra suffered at the hands of Franco supporters.
In 1950, competition has become even worse when there is controversy surrounding the transfer of Alfredo Di Stefano, who finally played for Real Madrid and the key to continued success. The 1960 saw the rivalry reach the European level, when you met twice in the fourth round of the Champions League. In 2002, a meeting between European clubs, called "The Game of the Century" by the Spanish media and seen by over 500 million people.
During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco in particular (1939-1975), all regional cultures have been removed. All languages spoken in Spain, with the exception of Spain (Castile) itself, were officially banned. [65] [66] symbology Catalan people yearning for freedom, from Barcelona to "More than a club '(see more than a club) for the Catalans. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the best way to demonstrate their Catalan identity is that to join Barcelona. And 'less risky to take part in a clandestine anti-Franco, and allow them to express their dissent.
On the other hand, Real Madrid is widely regarded as the incarnation of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime in the management and so on (the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the former president called Merengues Stadium Club, has fought a los nacionales). However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs like Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra suffered at the hands of Franco supporters.
In 1950, competition has become even worse when there is controversy surrounding the transfer of Alfredo Di Stefano, who finally played for Real Madrid and the key to continued success. The 1960 saw the rivalry reach the European level, when you met twice in the fourth round of the Champions League. In 2002, a meeting between European clubs, called "The Game of the Century" by the Spanish media and seen by over 500 million people.
Tuesday 27 September 2011
2011-09-28: La Liga Not-So-Weekly Podcast.
Kevin and I spoke about our win vs. Rayo Vallecano last Sunday Morning (Singapore time) after the game. I think he managed to speak and find out what Corey's thoughts are as well. Anyway, enjoy listening...
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Kevin and I spoke about our win vs. Rayo Vallecano last Sunday Morning (Singapore time) after the game. I think he managed to get some time to speak to Corey about the game too... listen here:
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Podcast Powered By LaLigaWeekly.com
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Since I haven't been feeling too good these past few days, I've happily taken Kaushik's offer to write the review on last night's Ajax game on RMFB. I'll update this site and link it to his article once he's got it up there :)
Sunday 25 September 2011
Monday Morning Joke Time
 |
| Someone's Agent has been smoking pot on the job. If you're going to jack up your boy's price by circulating rumors about other clubs' interest.. you should AT LEAST make them SEMI-realistic. |
The English Press are reporting that Real Madrid are interested in signing Bolton's Gary Cahill... And I thought it was going to be hard to make me smile (morel like laugh) on a Monday morning at work.
.
Clearly the English press have forgotten that to even qualify as a Centerback signing for Real Madrid these days, you need to be under 20, at least 190cm and capable of scoring goals off corners with your heel.
.
That, or you must be as ugly as Pepe.
Assumptions and Risks
 |
| Pipita Scored and Kaka had another good game. Great Signs |
‘Assumptions are the mother
of all Fuckups!’ – I once
heard my brother (who’s an associate Regional Director of a Fortune 500
Company) scold one of his subordinates. Filipinos have a similar adage: ‘Maraming Namatay sa Maling Akala’ (Many
have died from the wrong assumptions), I was often told when I was young. Last
night, the wrong assumptions nearly created the Fuck-up that nearly killed us.
.
Last night, Real Madrid looked like it was about to
turn its slump into the beginnings of a crisis when seconds into the match, we
had carelessly allowed Rayo Vallecano’s Michu to score the opening goal. The
goal was the culmination of a move which started from a bad pass by Lass –
shades of Roberto Carlos’ error that gifted Roy Makaay and Bayern Munich a
place in the Champions League Quarter Finals some years ago (during THAT epic Capello
season). But while both goals were borne of poor concentration… (sleep walking
to start the match again?) The bigger issue at hand for me was how we seemed to
start last night’s match with what in my opinion was the wrong understanding
(or assumption) of/about Rayo Vallecano.
.
Rayo are a newly promoted side and therefore, like
those bottom teams who come to the Bernabeu, they would line themselves up in 2
neat banks for 4, sit deep, park the bus and wait for us… That seemed to be the
assumption that the team started the game with which led to the spectacular
fuck-up that was their first goal: instead of quickly running back to their
side to protect their goal (as what many may have thought), they instead blitzed
us – intercepting Lass’ lazy pass and turning it into a goal. Sigh, if only
they read Guillem Balague’s match preview (who said “Rayo are very brave. I don`t think they`ll drop deep. I
think they`ll pressure high and see what happens.”).
.
The team continued to look like a deer caught in the
headlights as Rayo continued their pressing game on our defense: several times
choking the outlet to our midfield: something made worse by the absence of Ricardo
Carvalho, our ball-playing Centerback (all of a sudden, I was missing him!). It
was to be like this for the first 20-30 minutes of the match – and as the boos
and whistles began to come down from the stands of the Bernabeu, that sinking
feeling … and that 6-letter ‘C-Word’ started to creep into my head: Crisis.
.
And as many have spoken about Marcelo being Real
Madrid’s weakest defender (despite his clear improvements), no team thus far
has been able to exploit this despite the idea seemingly a solid one on paper.
There are 2 reasons for this: 1.) Madrid’s attacks come mostly from the left
side (using the Marcelo + CR combo), prompting teams to perceive Madrid’s left
flank as a defensive concern rather than an attacking target and 2.) Marcelo’s ‘Dad’:
Ricardo Carvalho. Our Portuguese grand-daddy defender has always looked out for
Marcelo either by covering for the Brazilian himself or marshalling the defense
or defensive midfield to provide him with cover. Last night, with guts and
without Carvalho, Rayo Vallecano became the first team that capitalized on
Marcelo’s defensive frailties: attacking Madrid through Marcelo’s flank and
managing to find inroads into our defense.
.
.
Rotations
I do not come from the school of thinking that
criticizes squad rotation. In fact, given the depth of our squad, I’m all for
it. Squad rotation keeps the morale of the players for the entire squad up and
it also equally distributes the fatigue factor amongst the players. For this
reason, I am not inclined to jump onto the shortcut conclusion that the reason
for our early struggles was Mourinho’s decision to rotate his squad. The
defense, though missing Carvalho, looked ok to me: I though Albiol (who finally
got a game!) and Varane looked good. Ditto for Ramos at RB too. Lass played
instead of Khedira as Alonso’s midfield partner, presumably to rest the German
for Tuesday’s Ajax game while Kaka, who is beginning to show signs of life got
the nod to start. This might actually be the season where Mourinho finally gets
to recover Kaka. The Brazilian’s confidence is starting to come back: the hesitation
to ‘turn the jets on’ is no longer there and the performances are becoming more
and more consistently positive. Mourinho has after all, revealed to the press
about speaking to Ozil about our google-eyed playmaker’s dip in form the last 2
games. We’re up for a healthy dose of in-squad competition for places here: and
with both men being generally nice guys, I genuinely think this competition
should remain healthy.
.
.
Mourinho’s Move: Realization
or Risk?
 |
| Mourinho's Response to going down 0-1 while being put on the back foot was to play a 4-1-4-1 with Kaka and Ozil as 'twin playmakers'. With the 2 on the pitch both playing their favored positions, our counter attacks became murderous. |
.
It was on the 28th minute when Mourinho
made his bold move: replacing Lass with Ozil: and converting team shape from a
4-2-3-1 with 2 pivots (Xabi Alonso + Lass) and a single ‘10’ (Kaka) into a
4-1-4-1 with a single pivot (Alonso) and 2 ‘10s’ (Kaka and Ozil). I have 2
theories as to what Mourinho was thinking here:
.
1.) ‘Fuck
it! I NEED to win, let’s attack, gain the lead, then ‘close shop’ later on to
kill the match’ or…
.
2.)‘These
guys (Rayo) are actually attacking us! Hey! That’s a good thing! Let’s provoke
them into coming more at us and murder them with our favorite weapon: our blitzkrieg
counter-atttack!’
.
Whatever it was the prompted Mourinho to make his
first half gamble. It worked out brilliantly for us. His post-match statements
would reveal he was probably thinking the former (1. above) when he made his
decision to play with a 4-1-4-1:
.
“It hurt to replace Lass, but
the team needed it….
Things get even harder when you're losing 1-0 as
soon as the game starts, but character shines through in difficult situations
and the team reacted. We had 20 to 25 difficult minutes on the pitch, but we
changed, took risks, reacted
well and took the lead by half-time.”
.
.
A tale of 2 10s
 |
| Benzema's Goal was Vintage Ozil. |
"Kaka and Ozil played closer to the goal…We didn't have
a true number '10' on the pitch, but there were three excellent playmakers out
there… We started pulling off more efforts. It's a shame I had to replace Kaka
when we were down to ten men because he was giving a very good performance… Kaka
and Ozil have to be prepared both physically and mentally to adapt to play
closer to midfield. It isn't easy for them to do this for 90 minutes. It's risky… They have to be fit
and aware that Xabi Alonso can't play alone in midfield for 90 minutes. They
both responded very well. They created ball movement and covered Rayo's exits.
They played well. It was a situation
of risk but they transformed it into a positive scenario for the
team."
.
Mourinho’s statements above pretty much explains every
clearly the on-the-fly adjustments he made to fit his 2 10s, Kaka and Ozil onto
the pitch while:
.
1.) Ensuring
that they didn’t get into each other’s way
2.) Ensuring
that Xabi Alonso wouldn’t be shipwrecked on his own at the CM position. (Apart
from the help given to him by Kaka and Ozil, the defenders also did superbly to
help Xabi Alonso out).
.
Kaka and Ozil are both 10s – just different types.
Though both are technically impeccable players, they represent 2 contrasting
types of ‘fantasistas’. Kaka’s primary weapon is his verticality: a deadly dose
of acceleration directness. In Milan, he murdered defenses regularly with these
2 weapons as their explosive counter attacks caught opposing defenses
back-pedaling. His final ball wasn’t bad, but Kaka also had a nasty long range
curling shot that killed many a goalkeeper. These qualities were best
demonstrated in 2 instances: first when he switched his afterburners on and
found Ronaldo with a great pass to make it 1-1 and another in the second half
where his run into the box forced a Rayo defender into conceding a penalty.
.
Ozil on the other hand, while gifted with a good dose
of pace, isn’t blessed with Kaka’s ability to explode and accelerate. What Ozil
lacks in explosive vertical foot speed with or without the ball (compared to
Kaka) however, he makes up with his close-quarter dribbling and ball-control
abilities that can allow him to maneuver out of tight spaces when swarmed with
defenders (moreso than Kaka) – he’s made quite a few players look like idiots
with this skill too. And while he too can fire a nasty shot from distance, they
also aren’t quite like the heat-seeking missiles we’ve seen the best Kaka fire.
This of course is not his primary weapon, his weapon of choice of course is his
Guti-esque ability to pick out lethal defense-piercing passes to his teammates
(as we saw in his exquisite pass for Benzema’s goal). Ozil also has more
qualities of an all-around midfielder as his passing game isn’t just for the
final ball but also for build-up play.
.
I suppose that the best analogy I can think of is for
Basketball: where Kaka is more like a player suited to a fast-breaking
run-and-gun style with his burst of pace, passing skills on the break and
finishing, Ozil is more adaptable to a slower game where his knack for
providing the killer pass in a crowd. In that sense – the 2 men are capable of
complementing each other. It is merely a matter of selecting an overall
tactical scheme that can allow for their respective abilities to thrive and
safeguard the overall solidity of the team. We’ve seen Mourinho try them both out
in a 4-2-3-1 system with 1 of the 2 playing in the wings: suitable to neither
to the 2. Last night was the first time we saw them working together AT THE
CENTER – the result however was wonderful to watch. Before we get euphoric over
this possibility however, we must all remind ourselves that it’s unlikely
Mourinho will play with this system from start to finish given the risks
that he himself has talked about.
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Scoring from Deadball
Situations
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| I've seen forwards make heel flicks to score goals but not 191cm. 18 Year Old CBs... until last night! |
Since Cristiano arrived at Real Madrid, we’ve only
learned to score from Free Kicks one way: from his Free Kicks. It was thus
refreshing to see Ronaldo finally relent to Xabi Alonso to do things
differently, allowing our Basque Pass Master to deliver a tasty ball for Ramos
to knock into the goal. It was Pipita who managed to poach the goal as Ramos
was barely allowed to make contact with the ball by his Marker. The set piece
goal of the night had to come from Raphael Varane though: who executed a heel
flick from an Ozil corner to put it past Gimenez. What a goal! Impressive with
his defensive duties vs. Racing, he showed us another dimension to his game
last night: becoming a constant aerial threat in set pieces even before his
goal. At age 18, and with his projected growth level: Did Real Madrid manage to
finally manage find a CB that can be a fixture for us for more than a decade?
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Before last night’s victory, we’ve only managed 1 goal
from our last 3 games (Dinamo, Levante & Racing) and a total for 4 points. Last
night was 3 points and 6 goals on the board for us.
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Let’s hope that last night’s victory has allowed the
team to finally re-discover their mojo: because the season is young and there
are many more assumptions to make and risks to take.
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