i am not even that convinced Di Maria is a great dribbler, he has great technique on the ball but he can hardly get passed players because of his slight physique.

I think he was a great dribbler not 18 months ago, but somewhere along the line it fell off.

defenders know how to take it, they show him onto his right, and try to get physical with him. When he plays on the right, they are not even worried about him driving down the lane. The greatest asset about Di Maria is his stamina and his relentlessness, but yeah, not good enough to be a long term starter for us, maybe too good not be on our bench.

Di Maria has 1 dribble per turnover. It's not in the world class category.

To put it in perspective, Robben has 2.3 dribbles per turnover while Isco has 2.9 dribbles per turnover.

sportsczy wrote:Di Maria is worthless against the better sides... he's a scrub killer. He should only be used as such. He doesn't have the brain to adapt when he's severely challenged by the opposition.

iif memory serves me right he played a brilliant through ball to Ronaldo vs Juve and put Puyol on his arse last season and assisted goals vs Atleti last season. yeah scrub player indeed

Dimaria doesn't need the whole coaching team and team to stroke him every time he underperfodms to hope he eventually stops being useless and fat.

He is a player in our team that was personally requested by ronaldo to stay at our club. Dont think hed want a scrub killer to stay so badly

titosantill wrote:i kind of agree with sportsczy, di maria like many on our team is a scrub killer (ozil was a scrub killer too, people like him but he underperformed against bigger sides, and by bigger sides i dont mean teams like kiev galatasaray lyon et al, cos tho theyre in ucl they r still pathetic teams)....but maria is a hard worker he'll get his chance....rumors of a morata/jese loan surfacing....frankly i wont mind it cos it'll mean room to get someone like falcao or suarez......benzema imo is a scrub killer as well, i dont see him doing well against a team like bayern in ucl

Neither Ozil nor Dimaria are scrub killers. Both have their own strength and weaknesses.

Ozils weakness is the fact he has a very bad stamina and sometimes drifts in and out of games. Dimaria's weakness iz that he has a very bad ball control and tends to be like Mt said alittle eratic. he tries to do things too fast and either the players didn't catch on or he hits the ball wrong

benzema is best as a super sub because thats when he helps make an impact. his cameos against city, Dortmund and barca just shows this. he hasn't been very good for us these last few seasons. the fact he got his first few goals in 3 consecutive games this season since 2011 just proves that. Also the fact that bale without preseason is outscoring and outassisting him just throws his exuses out of the window. but worry not the benzema apologists will come up with something new

I wouldn't want falcao because he wouldn't be an upgrade but I would buy Suarez this january if he was available

halamadrid2 wrote: the fact he got his first few goals in consecutive games this season since 2011 just proves that.

or maybe that has to do with the fact that he is starting all games consistently now, and can build form, as opposed to playing once every other week... #footballlogic

Mr Nick09 wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote: the fact he got his first few goals in consecutive games this season since 2011 just proves that.

or maybe that has to do with the fact that he is starting all games consistently now, and can build form, as opposed to playing once every other week... #footballlogic

I seem to remember him going many games without scoring a single goal this season subsequently being booed by the crowd. Didn't score a single goal in the league between 26th August and 30th October sorry my bad ge is new to this undisputed starter thing I should have seen it forthcoming

football logic indeed. his goal scoring will die down and his apologists will come up with an excuse that bale and Ronaldo take all the chances. I can already picture it

Mr Nick09 wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote: the fact he got his first few goals in consecutive games this season since 2011 just proves that.

or maybe that has to do with the fact that he is starting all games consistently now, and can build form, as opposed to playing once every other week... #footballlogic

Or maybe HM2 is talking out his arse once again

Consecutive games with goals on 22/12/2012 against Malaga and on 06/01/2013 against Real Sociedad on his way to 20 goals last year. Also scored in consecutive CL games against City on 18/09/2012 and Ajax on 03/10/2012.

typo. missed out the 3. either way it is PATHETIC and in now way should a striker playing for Madrid have that dreadful record

I bet even Raul de thomas would be able to accomplish that in his first season.

@ nick, And about being in a rotation. Higuain played even less than him and wasn't as bad

When he stops getting the ball, his performances will drop. That's not really an excuse, it's an observable phenomena you see in any game. It's probably closer to a criticism all things concerned, but the reality is that when the play goes through him, the team plays better.

Suarez is a different sort of player, anarchic, I think we could have used him under Mourinhio, now less so. The day either him or Raul de Tomas hits 20/20 I'll stand up and applaud them.



More importantly, the way these convo's always gravitate toward the same arguments is pretty lame.

Suarez would be the perfect guy for a 4-3-3 but we seem to have switched back to 4-2-3-1 after Khediras injury and I still think we would be better off with Suarez because both wingers play as forwards so we end up looking like a 4-2-1-3 anyways and suarez likes dropping deep getting the ball and going forward so it could still be better

We have shown to play better with a more patient and technical midfield as opposed the physical bully type players we have had before. Hence why we have played alot better these past few games. Nothing to do with play going through benzema or any of the other forwards for that matter

I knew there was a reason i stayed away from the Madrid section here

For the way we currently play with CR and Bale, benzema is by far a better fit than Suarez, Aguero, lewandowski and the likes. Only ones that is equivalent or could be better, Ibra, RVP, Rooney.

it's if benzema fcks up that you have to consider a change, but as a fit, he is just right.

anyway, the debate was about Di Maria and yeah, he is a weird guy. Not good enough to start, too good for the bench. I think he will leave this summer most likely, i hope he has a great WC with argentina so we can sell for 35-40 mil to some team in England or Monaco if they make the CL.

With Cristiano and Bale on the wings there is no other better fit then Benzema other than Ibra (playing wise, I can't see him playing with Ronaldo). The last thing we need with Bale and Ronaldo is another scorer. Karim is more of a provider.

I'm not talking about two games, I'm talking about three years. Regardless, Suarez is a talented guy, but right now he hast the sort of unrestrained freedom that he needs, and that's not something he's likely to find under Carlo's method, or next to guys like Bale or Ronaldo.

I don't think he'd flourish in the role at all. Last year was the best year he had, and there were still times he'd go four or five games without scoring or contributing on the whole. The year before his finishing was beyond atrocious. The point I'm trying to make is that he has problems, like anyone else....and I'm fairly certain he doesn't fit with us like some imagine he does.

I think Di Maria is the sort of player who can be on the bench, but still play starter minutes. Just filling in wherever, filling gaps. If Carlo wants to give him minutes he can, particularly with Khedira out.

Agree to disagree then

I think Suarez would be perfect for us and the guy plays for Liverpool ffs with all due respect. he still finishes top scorer in the league despite playing with all those scrubs. he is a hard worker and is so versatile we could be using a host of different tactics and formations with him. I see him having the sort of impact bale and Ronaldo have had since arrival

also I disagree that ibra would be the best for our current formation. he is the sort of guy that likes having a striker ahead of him to feed balls to and have players feed the ball to him. I could definitely not see him work with bale and Ronaldo who are goal scorers themselves but not good at delivering final balls

As I see it right now it goes like this(in terms of those best suited for our cf role):

suarez
rooney
negredo
the rest

with regards to dimaria he is good enough to start and has been along with Ronaldo our best player this season (xabi and bale haven't played enough but they would be up there as well) Thats all our three wingers and only two available spots. one is default for Ronaldo leaving the other between bale and dimaria. bale has the price, his goal scoring form in his favour and I have no problem with him starting at all (until he underperforms) but I think thete should be away to include all three in the same line up

Dude, Di Maria in no way has been one of our best players. He got benched for a reason, he has terrible link up play and our current game asks for that.

to halamadrid2, i agree with most of your comments....i don't have a preference between suarez and falcao, they are different kind of strikers, i know florentino likes falcao and if we are to believe marca, ancelotti likes suarez...either one is fine with me, as long as its not benzema we are relying on to get us to the next level i'm fine

atm, Benzema is being the right point of balance between CR and Bale, he is a lot more selfless, vacate his space to allow the other guys to run into, his link up play and passing is by far superior to all CFs out there bar rvp, rooney and Ibra. It's working, like i said his profile fits perfectly. You have to wait and see if he can keep doing that while scoring as well, but if he can, there is no reason to change.

if despite the opportunities he flops, then ok, bring another guy because Benzema isnt working but for us, i dont see the argument how Falcao is a better fit than Benzema, not even close.

Adit wrote:Dude, Di Maria in no way has been one of our best players. He got benched for a reason, he has terrible link up play and our current game asks for that.

he got benched because bale needed a spot in the team you fool why do you think carlo tried a bale, Ronaldo, dimaria line up vs barca and dimaria in the midfield against that other team (both cases didn't work out)

bale has been scoring and asissting so he hasn't dissapointed which I am happy about but all three of them should start because that way it would be fair to all of them. However not at the expense of the team.

@ nick

]I think this whole link up thing with benzema is a tiny bit overused and rated too high. he loses alot of balls trying to do 1-2s and just generally doesn't get enough touches on the ball to even be rated on that.

as I see it right now suarez is the safest bet because you just know he will score as many as cr7 and bale and harass opposition defenders. he would fit like a hand in a glove

also this whole benzema likes to vacate his spot to help the others is just pure nonsense because plays go through our wings anyways and alot of times when ronaldo plays crosses into the box there is noone there. its ok when somebody else crosses because ronaldo has the instinct of a striker and would immediately run into the box. benzema is tame in this regard

of course if he continues his goalscoring throughout the season then yh we might be able to make do with him and that includes when both Ronaldo and bale are marked out of the game by better teams. history tells me he is not even gonna be by the box but by our midfield and it will turn out hw got his first touch of the ball in the 40th minute. thats not good enough. at least with the other strikers you know they will come up with something

@titosantill

I agree with everything bar your opinion of falcao being an upgrade to benzema. in fact I dont think he will actually improve us......nop didn't see his hype when playing for Atleti still don't see it. he would be useless in a game where our midfield fails because he is your typical poacher. a no go for me

halamadrid2 wrote:

Adit wrote:Dude, Di Maria in no way has been one of our best players. He got benched for a reason, he has terrible link up play and our current game asks for that.

he got benched because bale needed a spot in the team you fool why do you think carlo tried a bale, Ronaldo,  dimaria line up vs barca and dimaria in the midfield against that other team (both cases didn't work out)

bale has been scoring and asissting so he hasn't dissapointed which I am happy about but all three of them should start because that way it would be fair to all of them. However not at the expense of the team.

Again why are we playing far better with bale in the line up than di maria? why is Di maria unable to link up with any one successfully? why did Benzema started playing better all of a sudden when di maria was out of the line up?

Di maria is a headless chicken. He has no decision making, no link up play, no short passing or no patients.The way he cost the first Atletico goal was comical, if he had an ounce of brain cells he wouldve been best winger in the world but guess what ? he doesnt have a footballing brain.To say a benched Di maria has been one of our best players is hilarious.

Why we are playing good has absolutely nothing to do with who is starting at the top. We have sorted out our midfield problem hence our much improved displays as of late. if you can't see that then thats your problem

Bale was always going to start with that price tag and has not disappointed hence why he keeps his place. if you think bale would be sitting on the bench for the whole season costing more than Ronaldo then bless your heart

carlo tried to play ronaldo, bale and dimaria vs barcelona but it didn't work out because none of those are cfs so we ended up looking very predictable. he put benzema back in and we didn't anymore thats why its being kept that way

but since he has been so good he was tried in the midfield(the only other way to fit all three in) and again it didn't work. the only other option is the bench. he has only sat on the bencg twice this season so it remains to be seen how he reacts to it

headless chicken is that why all coaches he has had love him. I wonder how we won the super copa last season. dat headless chicken. he linked up very well with marcelo last game and has good link up with Ronaldo. but I think the word you are looking for is that he is more direct rather than poor link up player

Why we are playing better has absolutely nothing to do with upfront players? yeah ..no. We plays far better upfront with Bale than Di Maria, i am not the only one noticed that really.


Di Maria at RW links up well with Ronaldo at LW ...yeah what ever..I dont know how they does that but the fact that you had to go from one wing to another wing to find a single player who links up well with Di Maria just shows how poor link up play he has.

He never established a link up play with Ozil nor Benzema..both of them renowned for their link up play.

He just put his head down and went on a dribble or Crossed it to CR 8/10 of the time. We blamed it on Mourinho..guess what? its the same old story with Carlo. Very poor short passing game and decision making. Superb supersub definitely but one of the best players ? really ?

halamadrid2 wrote:@ nick

I think this whole link up thing with benzema is a tiny bit overused and rated too high. he loses alot of balls trying to do 1-2s and just generally doesn't get enough touches on the ball to even be rated on that.

rated too high? not high enough if anything. If he isnt performing, sure, it doesnt matter, but if he is then it's important. You wanna talk about someone who loses the ball a lot? benzema is a 0.9 turnovers per game, while Suarez is at a whooping 3.4, most turnovers in europe behind the one and only Gomiss. think about it

as I see it right now suarez is the safest bet because you just know he will score as many as cr7 and bale and harass opposition defenders.  he would fit like a hand in a glove

the safest bet is actually granny shagger but oh well... problem with having 3 players that only think of theirs in offense is that you lose some form of balance. I was pretty high on Suarez as well, but the more i see Bale, the more i understand why he is not the "safest" pick.

also this whole benzema likes to vacate his spot to help the others is just pure nonsense because plays go through our wings anyways and alot of times when ronaldo plays crosses into the box there is noone there. its ok when somebody else crosses because ronaldo has the instinct of a striker and would immediately run into the box. benzema is tame in this regard

Ronaldo crossing the ball in what world? none of our wide players are playmakers, they dont exactly participate to the build up in a very extensive way, benzema even from a central position does a lot more than both. he roams enough that he doesnt inhibit CR from running into central areas on counters and such, Bale is going to do the same more and more. Just look at the return game vs Juventus, plenty of that there.

of course if he continues his goalscoring throughout the season then yh we might be able to make do with him and that includes when both Ronaldo and bale are marked out of the game by better teams. history tells me he is not even gonna be by the box but by our midfield and it will turn out hw got his first touch of the ball in the 40th minute. thats not good enough. at least with the other strikers you know they will come up with something

the other strikers dont play with dominant wing players that can score 40-20 a season, they also are made the fulcrum of their teams and all crosses, through balls and such are aimed at them. At madrid would u say that it's through for benzema? no, the focal point of our attack is CR. If you dont take those elements into consideration then you are missing the point.