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...
.
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:
.
Podcast Powered By LaLigaWeekly.com
.
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.
.
.
Scoring from Deadball
Situations
 |
| 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?
.
.
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.
.
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.
Saturday 24 September 2011
Sleepwalking Too Rarly and Sleep-Waking Too Late
No, Real Madrid
is NOT in Crisis. We are merely in a slump. 5 dropped points over 2 games
against La Liga teams whose objective is to stave off relegation is proof of
that. Maybe Jose Mourinho’s sarcastic remarks prior to the Levante game about
just wanting to stay up were taken seriously by the team: prompting them to
play as if we were a team battling relegation.
.
On a more
serious note: I can only speculate that perhaps the team is tired. The team did
have an intensive preseason and looked supremely fit for the Super Copa and the
opening of La Liga. Since the international break however, the team has looked
flat, out of ideas and mentally and physically tired. Is this a case of the
team peaking at the wrong time? Or maybe Mourinho’s fitness regimen really
designed things this way given the lack of top-level opposition at this point
in time in our calendar? (But he didn’t anticipate we’d be bad enough to drop
points)
.
.
Team Selection
On the back of
my hypothesis that the team might be mentally and physically fatigued, I will
not criticize the rotations instituted by Mourinho for last night’s game.
Vanilla Joe (Callejon) did indeed deserve a start while Di Maria clearly
deserved some form of punishment for demonstrating his credentials to join
Argentina’s Diving Team for the London 2012 games. Arbeloa’s entry into the
starting XI is also logical to me – as I’ve always pined for him to start.
Ramos going to the bench might have been a bit curious, but I’m willing to
chalk it up to rotation: after all, it would be 7 games of football every 3
days for the boys (Getafe-Zagreb-Levante-Racing-Rayo-Ajax-Espanyol). It was
however the decision to start Varane as opposed to Albiol to be Carvalho’s
partner that gave credence to the internal Portuguese-vs.-Spanish clique warthat some reporters / conspiracy theorists have been abuzz about. At midfield, the selection of Lass also seemed to be the logical choice
given Khedira’s suspension and Coentrao + Pepe’s injuries.
.
Having said the
above, let me be the first to say that in my opinion, Varane had a good game
and found his performance to be shockingly impressive for a teenager who was playing
in the reserves of a relegation-battling Ligue 1 team at this same time last
season. My clamors to see Arbeloa start were also rightly justified as well.
All in all, I thought we did well in the defensive department. Even the
recently-oft-criticized Carvalho wasn’t bad – nevermind Iker Casillas who had a
signature reflexes were on show for all of us last night. And speaking of the
Captain, I would also like to point out that his ball distribution out of his
penalty box has improved immensely as we have seen his tendency to make
pointless hoofing kicks out of his box less and less and more intelligent
throws to streaking players to start plays instead.
.
Sadly, that’s
about as positive as I can get re: what I have to say from last night’s
performances.
.
.
The First Half – Sleepwalking
Our first half
performance could essentially be described as the Team Sleepwalking. The team
was sluggish, unimaginative and lacking in assertion to seize control of the
game and take the game to Racing Santander. Every Real Madrid supported on
twitter also pretty much noticed how little the off-the-ball movement was from
Real’s players: an ultimate sign of ‘Sleepwalking.’
.
And apart from
being a big bleh in terms of performance, Real Madrid played a very unusual
game tactically in the first half as
well. Mesut Ozil, was frequenoziltly on the flanks while Ronaldo would be in the
‘10’ position – it is a positional arrangement that benefits / maximizes the
capabilities of neither Cristiano nor Ozil.
.
Apart from the
already-mentioned positive performances from Arbeloa + Varane, perhaps only
Xabi Alonso deserves a mention. His midfield partner Lass however did try… to
match Xabi’s passing numbers… but in fouls (uff!). This game was no longer just
about the popular criticism of Real Madrid for not finishing their chances
created – because in the first half there were hardly any scoring chances
created by our Men in Black-and-White.
.
Real Madrid did
find some measure of control of the game late in the first half, but there
would be no goal… or even good scoring opportunities created.
.
.
The Second Half – Waking From Sleep Too Late.
.
Mourinho did try
to change things up for Real Madrid: initiating 2 bold moves meant to intensify
Real Madrid’s attack on the Racing goal. His first move was to convert his
4-2-3-1 into a more conventional 4-4-2 with Pipita coming on to join Benzema in
attack in place of Ozil. The switch to a classic 4-4-2 also involved placing
Ronaldo and Di Maria (who had come on for Callejon) in the Right and Left side
of the midfield respectivel while Xabi Alonso and Lass remained as the pivots
of the match.
.
The second
tactical change Mourinho put late in the second half was the conversion of this
4-4-2 into a diamond 4-4-2 with a single pivot (not the narrow CM-centric
version you see in Serie A nowadays): with Xabi Alonso playing the single pivot
at the base of the diamond while Kaka, who came on for Lass played at the tip
of the diamond. Once again, I thought Kaka looked bright but still lacking in
the ‘final product’ for Real Madrid that it so badly needed but never managed
to get in the game.
.
.
The Truly Worrisome Thing
On the back of
what was visibly an improvement in terms of the team’s performance, I
personally cannot find fault with the IN-GAME adjustments Mourinho made to his
team to get the win – because both ‘degrees’ of tactical modification appeared
to me like they worked in terms of tightening the screw around the neck of
Racing. The truly worrisome thing about was that at the end of the day, the
ultimate objective of scoring a winning goal (nevermind creating adequate
scoring chances), was not achieved. All the signs are now clearly pointing
towards the possibility that Real Madrid have in fact had a massive drop in
terms mental and physical fitness.
.
3 Games. 1 Win,
1 Loss, 1 Draw. 1 Goal Scored. These are definitely not the numbers of a
title-contending team. At this point, then perhaps only the comfort / consolation we can get from
last night was Barca’s lost points (we have Unai Emery to thank for that).
.
.
Injuries and Experiments
Rayo Vallecano
visit us at the Bernabeu this weekend and it’s looking like Ricardo Carvalho
will not be available amidst reports that he may not want to make the match
because of a head injury. With a slew of other injuries and a lengthening list
of players whose forms are dropping off, Perhaps Mourinho should re-think the
tactical options available to him as his 3 options of varying tactical systems
all failed to secure us the win.
.
Maybe Jose
should give a couple of other tactical systems a try too…
.
A voice inside
of me at this time however is just offering up a much simpler solution: That
the team stops Sleep Walking and instead Wakes from their Sleep.
Monday 19 September 2011
Domino Effect
 |
| Angel DI(VE) Maria. He earned his nickname last Sunday. The Olympics are next year you Jackass |
.
1.0 What have we done?
It just HAD to be the absence of Khedira once again that
made the difference. Only this time, we weren’t talking about the difference
between winning by 4-0 or 4-2. This time, we are talking about actually winning
or losing: 3 points, 1 point or nothing. And as was the case last night, we
ended with zilch: putting to waste the points dropped by Barca vs. Sociedad and
the ones we gained vs.
last week. Now, Barca’s 8-0 massacre of Osasuna feels that much more orgasmic to
the cules thanks to the freakshow we put out last night.
.
Losing points like this regardless of what Mourinho says (“we’re
better of losing 1 than drawing 2”) hurts – because believe it or not, the La
Liga Title is NOT won during the clasicos but in games like this. Last season
we dropped points to teams like Levante, Sporting and
points that would’ve allowed us that tiny advantage to win La Liga: lost
clasicos or not.
.
I’ve always imagined / hoped that our squad, considerably
larger than Barca’s and whose fitness has reached peak levels can rattle off
win after win going into early December for the first clasico. On the other
hand, many in the know, among them cules, anticipate Barca to drop points here
and there till they reach full fitness and go about their annual weekly
massacres by end November-early December heading into the Clasico. I was hoping
our early season fitness advantage would see us 4 – 5 points ahead of Barca
heading into the December clasico: meaning that not even a loss then would cost
us League Leadership. But it was not to be.
.
I would have accepted dropping points to La Liga’s other
top-level sides too: the rejuvenated Diego+Falcao-led Atleti (who hammered
Racing last night), the Soldado-inspired
the Negredo-spearheaded Sevilla or even the Millionaires at
all are legitimate
upsetters. But Levante? Come on!
.
… And none of that Levante-is-a-bogey-team-crap please! I’m
not interested in constructing a reincarnation of the Riazor.
.
.
2.0 Di(ve) Maria
 |
| His Thank-You-Speech: "I would like to thank Sami Khedira for taking a Red Card for me... I will never forget this!" |
The subject of much conversation / irritation / hatred of
course had to be the man who started the Domino effect that led to all this:
Mr. Angel Di(ve) Maria. Was he trying to ‘fit in’ because he mistakenly thought
that he was playing in the
‘Blaugrana Colors’? In a world where
Madridistas rebelliously stand in disgust at Barca and their Biscuit Boy divers
and whiners, Di Maria robbed us of all of the credibility to do so.
.
Although I do partly agree with Mourinho’s statement that
Khedira ‘walked right into the trap’ when he pushed Ballesteros aside to defend
his teammate, I’m having a very difficult time imagining anyone else except for
Di Maria who set that trap. Di Maria owes Khedira and his teammates an apology
for this stunt that cost us the game, Khedira for at least another game, his
other teammates for yellow cards accumulated because of the tempestuous affair
the match had become and of course, the fans given how terrible the game turned
out to be for Madrid after Khedira’s sending off.
.
The sending off of Khedira thanks to Di Maria’s moments of
childish mindlessness triggered the Domino Effect that completely sucked Real
Madrid’s momentum out of the game.
.
.
3.0 Tactics & Personnel
3.1 Pre-Khedira Expulsion
While
press were salivating about what a rich, handsome, great AND brave footballer (the
latter adjective used to describe his insistence to play) Ronaldo was, I was
just happy to see Sami Khedira back. I also didn’t mind seeing Kaka in place of
Ozil.
.
Until Di Maria’s childish antics got the better of the team,
the German panzer made the Real Madrid Midfield robust, and much more effective
and ‘enveloping’ Levante’s goal. His ability to ‘fade away’ from attention but
always be there for a ball recovery, a simple pass, or tackle, gave Xabi Alonso
the perfect platform to do his thing. On the other hand, I totally didn’t mind
seeing Coentrao in Ronaldo’s role. As for Kaka, his starting XI place seemed a
just reward for his standout cameos off the bench in place of Ozil who seems to
need to adjust to life as a player-against-whom-defenses-are-designed-to-stop.
Kaka looked refreshing last night during the first half: confidently using his
acceleration to knife through Levante’s defense and showing us glimpses of the
confidence-applied-to-his-directness qualities that made many a Madridista
dream of seeing him in white during his days with the Rossoneri.
.
While it is true that Levante played reasonably well (I
thought Ballesteros was very good for them) to repel us and ensure that they
weren’t going to get a hiding ala Osasuna, I was pretty confident that we
would’ve walked away with at least a 2-0 on the back of our first 40-mins.
performance.
.
.
3.2 Post-Khedira Tactics
Apart from Di Maria explosion of immaturity last night, what
really drove me up the wall was how the team played post-Khedira. The team came
out in the second half sending Ronaldo in for Benzema, pushing Coentrao to
partner with Xabi Alonso: give us a headless 4-2-3 shape (without the 1). It is
still a fundamentally sound tactic, playing with 10 men: sending in a hybrid
winger-cum-striker (Ronaldo) in for a pure striker (Benzema).
.
Once again however, my problem with the team lay with
Coentrao playing as a CM. Forced by the urgency to score a goal, Coentrao
failed to give us a presence at midfield that we so badly needed without
Khedira. Xabi Alonso played his role heroically – but it wasn’t enough. With
the presence of Lass on the bench as a direct replacement and Arbeloa as well
(to push Ramos to CB and give Pepe the DM role), Mourinho instead opted for his
compatriot to play a role unsuitable for the ‘15’. Kaka got no service (neither
did Ozil when he came on) and the attack went stale. To top it all off, Real
Madrid shockingly began to play long ball soccer in the second half too: with
Pepe, Carvalho and Coentrao hoofing up speculative balls for Ronaldo and Di
Maria to chase. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Route 1 football: I
do have a problem with us playing it, without a proper ‘9’.
.
It was as awful as it was ineffective and ultimately,
dangerous: CBs and DMs hoofing up long balls for Cristiano, Di Maria and the
Fullbacks to chase – leaving space for Levante to strike and threaten with
counters. The cycle repeated itself over and over again – it wouldn’t be long
before they had more chances on goal during the second half than us. Soon
enough, a dagger would find itself into our chests with Kone’s goal.
.
And while Mourinho is predictably ‘protecting his team’:
talking about the state of the pitch, penalties not given, etc. I’m pretty sure
(or hoping at least) that once he watches the DVD of last night’s game, he will
be asking the same question: Why the hell were we playing long ball football to
get back into the game?
.
.
.
Somehow we all saw it coming. bit by bit: Di Maria’s little
tumble knocks over one domino piece after another…
.
… A nasty tackle that earns him a yellow.
… A little poke in the face that gives him the opportunity
to do a Sergio Busquets
… A telling off from Ballesteros that provokes Khedira’s
protective instinct for a teammage
… A second yellow for Khedira. Expulsion
… The game turns ugly for
… Levante find the opportunity to turn the tide and score.
… Real
lose 1-0.
… And Just like that, a not-yet-fully-fit Barca are now a
point ahead of us
.
.
How far does this domino effect go? And when does it stop?
The answer is quite simple: when we choose to grow up, stop
fucking around and play some bloody football.
.
originally posted in Real Madrid Football Blog here
Thursday 15 September 2011
Rich (Expensive) but Ugly and Not Great…
 |
| There was Benze-cat, and now there's Cris Charming. Yuck. |
.
“He’s
NOT handsome!” was my wife’s instant reply when I read Cristiano’s post-game
comments to her. I can only suppose that this is what happens when you read out
comments that epitomize the arrogance of an ex-Manchester United Player to a
.
"It's surely
because I'm good-looking, rich and a great footballer. They're jealous of me. I
don't have any other explanation," he said after the game, in quotes
published by Marca.
.
Last
Wednesday, Real Madrid was the opposite of Cristiano’s self-description: Rich
(or rather, expensive), Ugly and Not Great.
.
Putting
things into perspective, the game per se, and the outcome, wasn’t that bad. We
always knew that this trip to
was going to be a tricky one. Dinamo was a physical and solid tough nut of a
team to crack. They also had a giant (who had a monster game) in goal.
Considering the fact that Champions League day 1 was largely a letdown for the
favorites (The 2 Manchester Clubs and Barca dropped points while Inter lost),
one can say that perhaps say that Real Madrid managing to eek out a win isn’t a
bad outcome at all.
.
And
this is why Ronaldo’s explosion of arrogance is just disgusting: because it
robs us of the merits of last Wednesday Night’s outcome.
.
.
Tactics
Tactically,
I thought we were ok. Fabio Coentrao started again and played a much more
restrained game: his energy and active-ness was instead used to give Real
Madrid a much stronger presence at midfield. It was much-needed too: with
Dinamo’s Robust midfield game largely backed up by the appropriately named
JERK-o Leko patrolling their midfield, trying to pull off a Mark Van Bommel
performance.
.
Coentrao
did, however interchange positions with Marcelo frequently – drifting to the
left wing, while the Brazilian put in shifts at the
(where he took the opportunity of feeding Di Maria to score). For Coentrao,
playing in Marcelo-mode however, he will need to develop his understanding of
overlapping with Ronaldo when Mr. Prince Charming is attacking on the left.
Without Marcelo’s overlapping runs, Ronaldo was constantly left having to face
2 or 3 defenders rather than just the 1 or 2 when Marcelo overlaps to drag at
least one defender away.
The
big problem however was as Bassam of RMFB had pointed out: our front 4 didn’t do enough
to press the opposing defense. I can distinctly recall that all our periods of
dominance in the game were when our front 4 did this. And this is there we get
to…
.
.
Player Performances
Like
Bassam, I was stunned by how much vitriol is being spewed towards Higuain who
only played 10 minutes in the game. I also feel that Carvalho and Di Maria’s
poor performances in the
game has tainted the opinions of many Madridistas about their performance last
Wednesday. They weren’t great but they certainly didn’t have bad games. In my
opinion, the most off-color performance last Wednesday was from my current
favorite Real Madrid player: Mesut Ozil. And in case Andres is reading this:
No, I have not yet purchased his jersey and jinxed him :P. Maybe it’s because
Ozil is now being singled out by opposing defenses as a man-to-watch for Real
Madrid or maybe it was just one of those nights.
.
After
all, a player who usually supplies the final ball that leads to a goal tends to
go through these ‘phases’ (Ronaldo and Benzema, the team’s 2 primarly goal
threats are the chief benefactors from this). Sometimes it’s due to opposing
teams designing their entire defensive scheme to stop such a player, sometimes
it’s just one of those days when things aren’t clicking and those passes aren’t
quite as inch-perfect on the night… or sometimes it’s just that slight (but
almost fatal) dip in concentration for the night. I can only suppose that this
is the next step for Ozil: taking his performances and his ability to influence
a game to a consistent level. At his age, this is a crossroads period for him:
to learn to assert himself and potentially reach ‘legend-level’ ala Zidane, or
‘could’ve-been-legend-level’ ala Guti. To end up in between isn’t so bad, but
then again, it’s hard not to be one or the other if you have such talents.
.
In
this sense, Bassam was also right in his questioning of why Granero wasn’t sent
into the game. Granero would have been a great possible ‘cure’ to an off color
performance from Ozil. With no Kaka on the bench to stabilize control of the
game when in possession, Granero could have lubricated the team’s creaky
passing gears last Wednesday.
.
Finally,
there is once again, the issue of finishing. A stat came out recently: Real
Madrid had a mind-numbing 65 shot
attempts in their first 2 La Liga games. 10 goals in 65 shots = 15.38% - worse
than a bad baseball batting average!
.
.
This
weekend, we’re off to play Levante. We wiped the floor with them in the Copa
Del Rey last season, but also dropped points there in La Liga. With a 2 point
lead over Barca, it’s now time for the team to get their shooting boots on and
re-introduce Levante to the floor.
.
Wednesday 14 September 2011
Dinamo Zagreb 0 - 1 Real Madrid Highlights Video
Real Madrid beats Dinamo Zagreb at the first match of Champions League of this season.
Dinamo Zagreb 0 - 1 Real Madrid Highlights Video
Real Madrid beats Dinamo Zagreb at the first match of Champions League of this season.
Football Lost Again (as Some Might Say)
Some Quick Thoughts on Last Night's Champions League Results:
.
Borussia Dortmund 1 - Arsenal 1
It's hard to recall the glory days of Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera's Arsenal: wonderful to watch but with a strong, rock-solid core. Today's Arsenal strike me as little wimpy boys. Won by a goal thanks to an error fit for a second-division side last weekend... no spine, no character, no poise to secure a lead. This is getting pitifully boring for the Gunners.
.
Chelsea 2 - Bayer Leverkusen 0
Fernando Torres assisted both goals for David Luiz and Juan Mata. "Is that all he's good for now? Just assisting?" was my Liverpool-supporting (and Chelsea-hating) wife's retort when I told her what happened last night. It's obvious that the resentment is still palpable amongst Liverpool fans re: 'Nando. But what the heck, signs of life, right?
.
Barcelona 2 - AC Milan 2
Andres Iniesta got hurt and is out for a month, following Alexis Sanchez to the injury ward. With Iniesta gone, in steps Cesc right into the midfield. Thiago's waiting on the bench too...
.
70%-30% Ball Possession in favor of the Cules. 22 shots to 6 in favor of the Cules. But a 2-2 scoreline. Call it fatigue / lack of fitness / whatever. Somehow I still sense that a few idiots Catalunya are now are saying / thinking: Football has Lost. Tss..!
.
Just wondering aloud: had Barca chosen to spend some of that summer moolah on a Central Defender (e.g. Thiago Silva, who scored last night's equalizer), rather than on striker/wingers (Sanchez) and CM (Fabregas) - both of whom are generally 'bonus additions' to their squad, then perhaps they wouldn't need to have a Biscuit and Masch Potato to play on defense... and very likely - they probably might have won.
.
.
Valencia also turned out to be a dud last night.
.
Villarreal play Bayern tonight while we head to Croatia to play Dinamo Zagreb in our far-from-traditional Red Kits tonight. Being of Chinese descent, I consider red to be an auspicious color - and I very much prefer to perceive our Red Kit as an equally auspicious omen to this season's Champions League Campaign.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)