I am not a fan of carvalhi. I want him as far away from our starting line up ss possibly, preferably in the stands but seeing as albiol was subbed out last game I think we can safely assume albiol will start. as for that left back position I am not entirely sure, Mou didn't play him even when cacktrao was away and he only has 45 min since coming back from inuury. if this is Mou's way of resting him then

I think calegoat will start in place of dimaria since he is the closest we have to dimaria defensively and coupled with how average arbeloa is, callegoat will be very busy

our formation will be the same I think with benz starting up top. I haven't been entirely satisfied with him this season neither with higgy for that matter. I just tjink we create more chances with higgy than benz due to his runs behind their defence. if he actually took his chances we would probably be 3-0 up after 5 mins. Anyhow most of our players got some sort of rest they have no excuses for Wednesday.

Benz can only do what we let him do. Send him crosses he will be poor. Leave standing and watching as you shoot he will be poor. Get him involved and he will produce.

People expect consistency.

He's getting inconsistent minutes,inconsistent touches, inconsistent service, and he's being asked to play different roles in different games. Out of this he's magically supposed conjure up consistency?

No one does that.

Put the ball on his feet and he'll do the right thing. Get him the ball in his area he will score at a nice clip. If he don't have a good chance of scoring he'll find someone who does. If he can't do that he will find someone who can find someone.

It's not just a mindset. Put the ball on his feet and he'll do it - he has the talent.

If he plays this game it will be no different. We pass him the ball in and around the penalty area he will be the most economical attacker on the pitch. We don't he will be useless.

It is what it is.

that's exactly what i think, perfectly put through samourai, people just expect miracles from him.

Le Samourai wrote:Benz can only do what we let him do. Send him crosses he will be poor. Leave standing and watching as you shoot he will be poor. Get him involved and he will produce.

People expect consistency.

He's getting inconsistent minutes,inconsistent touches, inconsistent service, and he's being asked to play different roles in different games. Out of this he's magically supposed conjure up consistency?

No one does that.

Put the ball on his feet and he'll do the right thing. Get him the ball in his area he will score at a nice clip. If he don't have a good chance of scoring he'll find someone who does. If he can't do that he will find someone who can find someone.

It's not just a mindset. Put the ball on his feet and he'll do it - he has the talent.

If he plays this game it will be no different. We pass him the ball in and around the penalty area he will be the most economical attacker on the pitch. We don't he will be useless.

It is what it is.

you pretty much summed up torres

@josh

I get what you mean. but imho if he wants the ball at his feets he shouldn't play as our out and out cf. either he changes position or we alter the formation to suit his needs which of course wont happen. we have enough people creating we dont need more than we already have. sure when ozil and dimaria were out of form we would have expected benz to create chances but did he? no

alll I am saying is that benz needs a team to be built around him and madrid is not the one. what do you think we would see if ibra played for us? my answer is exactly the same. ibra just like benz likes the ball at his feet hence why he doesnt play as a number 9 for psg or sweden both those teams are maximising his potential by playing him in a position that he feels more comfortable in

benz has missed quite a few glaring sitters over his madrid career and doesn't look like its stoping anytime soon. higuain is more suited to our counterattacking game with his little involvement at the back and more at the front. I mean there is no surprise why we create more "chances" with him as the cf than benz. dont get me wrong benz is brilliant everywhere but inside the penalty area which is where wecneed him. khedira is making alot more runs into the area (alot more than benz) hence the amount of chances he has had, his finishing is still horrendous tho kind you

ok I am going on now, but long story cut short. benz is not and will not be a number 9 , he should speak up and let Mou know he isn't comfortable acting ad one or else he will waste most of his career falling short of his potential. ibra realised this and made noise so should benz. I want him to succeed, he is a great professional

I'd agree: I think Benz is really really good, but just not in that team.

hmmmm.... except that Benz has scored 12 goals on 57 (21.1%) and Higuain 8 on 37 (21.6%).... but benz has 12 assists also, which leads all Madrid.

Both those percentages are, again, in the top 5 in europe. Madrid fans have no idea what wastefulness is.

i'll also add that Benz is asked to start all the tough game, or almost all. Much harder to perform against the tougher competition.

since somone brought up the idiotic Torres comparison... he's scored 13 goals on 79 shots (16.5%), and he's far better this year than the last 2 lol.

It's possible for Benzema to be at Real Madrid longer than Mourinho imo.

Honestly hala just want higs to play just to play sake no matter how good benz play, let's watch higs miss control every pass and ghost like every other big game, just get over it already its annoying watching you nit picking every little thing benzema does when higs does nothing to claim a spot in bigger games

Everyone missers sitters... i mean everyone. RVP has done it several times this year. The reason it sticks out more with our CFs is that they get so few shots in a game. CR7, for example, gets multiple chances to redeem himself when he misses... and he is by far our most inefficient scorer and misses the most sitters. When Higuain and Benz miss one, it very well could be the only opportunity they get in that game.

We're not a normal team for CF. It's almost like it's Getafe for them... they better score when they get an opportunity because they might not see another lol.

benz hasnt missed sitters for a long time, hopefully he doesnt start now.

@sports

those percentages are very deceiving if it has put them in top 5 of Europe because both haven't been playing like I know they can in fact very very far from it

might benz starting all top games be due it falling to him in their rotation thing which I am not a fan of btw

I can remember higgy starting against city where straight away he was through on goal the onoy thing missing there and against barca is him putting them away and that won't happen unless he is played consistently in them. benz is much more confident wgainst the likes city and stuff due to his experience playing against dating back to his lyon days. put it this way I think if walcott played for us he would score more against barca than higgy. higgy gets the chances but usually fails to put them away due to the inconsistent mins he gets. first he is a subsidary to raul and vangol then raul and now is fighting it out with a player as old as him both very talented

remember when he played on his own with nobody troubling him? he kept scoring nonstop the luck just isnt on his side

as for the assists well done to benz but that doesn't show me why he should be our number nine. as a number nine you get the chances you put them away as a ss or ten or am or whatever you can do both like michu has showed

I just don't think benz is maximizing his potential with us. I know he is capable of alot more than just a couple of goals and assist. people like ibra challenge for the golden boot and gets the most assist when a system is built so that they can fulfill their true potential. and as benz said he wants to win balond'or sorry for being pessimistic but at madrid he won't wjn that OR the golden boot even if missi and Ronaldo did not exist.

its good to have more than one quality no doubt but atm we only need one of them.

falcao is seen as one of the best and people have even suggested he should be included in top three of balond'or

let me remind you the guy does NOTHING but score absolutely zero effect outside the final third. I doubt he has more than 3 assists this season. thats what I look for in a striker. just keep scoring and don't look back. we are blessed to have more than one player scoring unlike a certain other team but its still not enough if its due to ronaldo or not I am not entirely sure

card happy clos gomez will referee this game. brilliant

Higuain started against City and guess what... we struggled. He didn't score. Then, Benzema came on the pitch, scored a goal and turned the game. We went on an offensive rampage when he came in. Every dangerous play in the last 15 mins came because he was torching his side and Kompany was forced to help out over and over. The middle opened up.

Look. Higuain is a nice player. A very good striker. But he's absolutely nothing that special in my eyes. He can't do anything unless the team plays a certain way that fits his strengths. If the opponent takes us out of that type of play, he doesn't have the skillset to adjust. If we need to play differently and the CF is required to play with the ball at his feet, he's ok but not great.

And i don't get this stats are deceiving thing... you guys say Benz is inefficient as a scorer. Well, he's been over 20% every year for the last 3 and has been in the top 5 in this category the last 3 years. Then you say that he's not enough of a scorer. Well, despite not playing regularly, he's scored over 60 goals in the last 25 months. And to boot, he's dished out about 30 assists in that same span. Higuain? 37 goals and 12 assists in that period.

Hate all you want. But a poacher lives on stats. A flow player provides a lot more than stats because he's involved in buildup. When a flow player "outstats" the poacher, then what?

halamadrid2 wrote:card happy clos gomez will referee this game. brilliant

Might be a bless in disguise, the more game stops the more we have the chance to stop their quick passing, kill their tempo, etc.

Pedram wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:card happy clos gomez will referee this game. brilliant

Might be a bless in disguise, the more game stops the more we have the chance to stop their quick passing, kill their tempo, etc.

plus pepe and ramos r missing

@ sports. I just checked benzemas stats and in the league he has 6 goals and 7 assists, dimaria has 5 goals and 8 assists, ozil has 4 goals and 8 assists.

higuain on the other hand has 8 goals and 2 assists. you are misunderstanding me here sports. I dont hate him actually far from it but for him to have similar stats to two playmakers whose season is abit short of what they usually do is with all due respect pathetic

he is a striker whose job is to put the ball in the back of the net not fluff around with it

our game against city we played our best football this season no arguments there and joe hart was named motm such was his outstanding goalkeeping. we raped them all over the pitch. his goal was very well taken I agree but us getting those goals were long overdue.

we won against barca with higgy starting and have always been putting ball in the back of the net short of a trashing. with higgy we will always get more chances but we can be confident benz will score on his when he plays. id choose the former any day as with abit more consistency the goals will be flooding in for him

Pedram wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:card happy clos gomez will referee this game. brilliant

Might be a bless in disguise, the more game stops the more we have the chance to stop their quick passing, kill their tempo, etc.

he doesn't only stop games but he pulls out cards as well. he was the referee in our game vs osasuna and he was the guy who got a bottle thrown at him by benitez

arbeloa to get a red card you heard it here first

Real Kandahar wrote:

Jack Daniels wrote:We are doomed.

thank you for that insightful post, smh

Anyways, rather than being random and saying we are doomed, we must support our Team! i think we will approach this well... i am sure Khedira, modric and Ozil will turn up... and Varane will cover Albiol's mistakes.

Furthermore, we have home advantage, and barcelona has not kept a single clean sheet in a very long time..

Finally, i m not one of those who will say we are doomed... ill say HALA MADRID

I always expect the worst because if we win, then I'll be ecstatic of course. But if we lose then I won't be hit that hard.

Do you really think that I don't support the team? Shame on you. Heck I almost never miss a Madrid match since my 1st year of High School and to tell you that we are 7 F%*king hours ahead which means that these F*%king kick off times are mostly held at F!#king 4am in the F%#king morning. Now you tell me Mourinho boy, Did you even watch this club play before your fapping material of a manager employed in this club?

I can certainly remember watching this club when your idol just finished playing scrabble with Sir Bobby Robson.

I just prefer to be more realistic and laid back when it comes to supporting my team rather than be crazy about it then look like shit if things don't go well.

Don't you ever tell me how to support my team.

He's only started 9 league games in La Liga lol. The other 8 are cameo sub appearances.... so suddenly CL and CDR don't count HM2? come on dude. He as 12 goals and 12 assists in all competitions. Don't conveniently omit the competitions that don't help your argument.

Out of his 12 goals, 11 of them have come in games Benz has started. The only one he scored off the bench was against City. He has 5 goals in 9 starts in La Liga, 2 goals in 4 starts in CL (scored 1 as a sub for his 3 total) and 4 goals in his 5 starts in CDR.

So in the 18 games he's started, he's scored 11 goals. You can't do much better than that as a CF tbh, especially when you consider that the starts include Barca, 2 against Dortmund and City. Mou likes to start him in away games since the team is less attacking and he needs better build up from the forwards. Of his 18 starts, 12 have been on the road.

lets be honest here guys, benzema is proven better than higuain in bigger games

nothing left to argue anymore tbh, benz has proven it and higuain hasnt

We all know Higuain chokes in the big games. Still can't get over all those chances he failed to score on against Barca in the super cup

Real Madrid fans want new signing Diego Lopez to start against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-final.

The capital club host the Blaugrana in the first-leg Copa clash tomorrow, and AS readers have voted overwhelmingly for the recently-arrived shot-stopper.

With Iker Casillas out for three months following thumb surgery, 67 per cent of readers have voted for Diego Lopez instead of Antonio Adan.

The former Sevilla man re-joined the Santiago Bernabeu club on Friday and has seemingly already confirmed himself as a fan favourtie ahead of the second Clasico of the season.

Yohan Modric wrote:Real Madrid fans want new signing Diego Lopez to start against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-final.

The capital club host the Blaugrana in the first-leg Copa clash tomorrow, and AS readers have voted overwhelmingly for the recently-arrived shot-stopper.

With Iker Casillas out for three months following thumb surgery, 67 per cent of readers have voted for Diego Lopez instead of Antonio Adan.

The former Sevilla man re-joined the Santiago Bernabeu club on Friday and has seemingly already confirmed himself as a fan favourtie ahead of the second Clasico of the season.

Poor Adan lol....

Gets recognitions for all the wrong reasons..

The last thing we need is a striker. Benzema and Higuain are young and talented, still improving. We need RB for God's sake and a player to replace Di Maria.