LaDecima wrote:We have to develop the us against the world mentality....
I think for a lot of these Madrid players, you make it to Madrid, and you're at the top. We just don't know how to be underdogs.
I think we need to develop an underdog mentality against Barcelona....us against them..not us against the refs.

babun1024 wrote:
You don't have a clue about Real Madrid apart from our 4-2-3-1 formation
First, Pep and Mou battle was on the field. To avoid our pressing, Pep let Valdez play the 11th man and moved his defenders extremly deep and wide to start passing through the midfield. This way, once the ball was in midfield, we were exposed. Our defenders needed to press even higher but there is always the danger than dribblers like Messi or Sanchez just will run away and score which happened. In turns of game balance, it was pretty even on chances, our chance coversion was bad. Also, contrary to what people think, we didn't just give up after 60th minute, players were exhausted from pressing. So were Farca as well but their midfielders and attackers did a better job with the opened up space than us

In terms of lineup, CR7 was a big fail on the night. He should've been subbed or moved to CF with Benz on the wing. Alves didn't even bother man marking him this time. He left tons of space for him at the back because he knew CR7 was useless. On the other hand Di Maria faced 2-3 people at a time Benz can beat his man an do much more. Contrary to what you people think of Ozil, he was the most active midfielder/attacker for Real Madrid. First goal would've never happened without him Second, he kept the link between midfield and attack alive as long as he was on ( even defensively, he stole balls). Subbing him off was the worst decision Mou made in this game. After Kaka came on, the link disappeared, he didn't defend at all. All he did was act as another attacker and try to dribble through wings where he failed all the time against tired Puyol/Alves ( he came on fresh with little impact...). Di Maria was off that night but he had some problems. His target, CR7, wasn't where he needed to on time to give him through balls or crosses. Most of the time, he had to dribble his way through people. Add the increased pressing, he was out of breathe many times. Scoring in those situation isn't easy
So much to attack, Benz, Ozil and Di Maria are a must against Farca. The first two can create and keep the ball under pressure no matter where, Di Maria is a bit of the gamble but at least he keeps his side safe. For noobs, Kaka doesn't defend at all...

Our biggest problem is actually in midfield. Ozil is the only guy who can receive the ball under pressure, turn around and look for a pass. Alonso can't do that, he is technically limited. He can play one touch passing but he can't dribble his way out of challenges. Playing Lass next to him was even more of an epic mistake. While having better ball control made him look better throughout the match for noobs, his positioning during midfield pressing sucked. Instead of zonal pressing with the whole team, he went for the people with the ball at their feet. Spotting runs is his biggest weakness, I don't know what Mou thought playing him so far forward. Lass was afraid to mess up, each time he got the ball he tried to back pass...

Coentrao on the right after just two games there was a fail as well from Mou. I'm sure blondie is capable of it but he isn't ready yet. Now, I would play Lass there, he's got tons of experience at RB and he could be as headless as he wants there

Throughout the game, Pepe and CR7 and later Kaka kept giving the ball away cheaply. When Higuain came on, he didn't see the ball often but the times he did, he made the most intelligent choices on the pitch

Ideal lineup to face Farca with our current system is this:

When Coentrao has enough experience at rightback under his belt

-----------------Casillas-----------------

Coentrao----Pepe---Ramos---Marcelo

----------Sahin----Khedira/Alonso-----
------------------Ozil---------------------

---Di Maria-------------------Benz------
---------------Higuain-------------------

Alves isn't as godly defensivly as CR7 made look like to be. Benz would rape him over 90 minutes. Sahin and Ozil( in deeper role) can keep the ball under pressure. Khedira is purely there for zonal marking which Lass didn't provide. Higuain doesn't choke under pressure and has very good chemistry with Di Maria. He drifts to the right wing sometimes which ensures that we don't attack from the left side only
Even with this line up and all people on form we might lose because Farca's first team is vastly more experienced at top level then our current player crop but this lineup would give us the highest chance of winning

Adit wrote:Mou subbed Ozil because he was totally dead come 60 minute,not the worst decision.Ozil need to improve his stamina.

Khedira was total useless against a tired iniesta

He always have some problem with agile midfielders.

Adit wrote:Oh no,Coentrao owned iniesta if first half,he had no effect what so ever in that half.He only turned God mod after we conceded the second goal .

Khedira imo is total useless for a high pressing game.He can never steal ball from agile midfielders hence Mou went for Lass and it was justified in first half.


60 minutes of intense game vs barca is certainly good enough to tire out Ozil from our past experience.