Real Madrid vs FC Basel

We have started the season awfully bad. We have like 3 wins in 10 or so games. That's just bad.

Anything other than a convincing win will be unacceptable. Carlo seems to think our losses are due to "lack of concentration" rather than the fact we are trying to force an AM into CM and whose heat map is very similar to the one Ozil had with us. I just hope we aren't out of all competitions when he finally realises the midfield of Modric-Illarra-Kroos gives us the most stability because the players are actually playing wbere they should be and not moved just so that they can play to please his employers

With Carvajal out through injury we are likely to field the same line up as the one we did vs Atleti...........

Nacho starts

Our 2nd bank of 4 needs to be fixed. Bale/James weren't tracking back properly. Needs to be more solid.

Also the CB's need to pick the right moments to close down the attacker.

For people who did not watch the match, don't get carried away by the scoreline.
We played pretty much the same way we played against atletico, just that basel has a weaker defense and dint attack us.
We would stil get overrun by teams that attack us
We lacked intensity and the victory was more about them being bad than us being good.
The first purposeful attack from them resulted in a goal
they scored from a shot casillas should have saved - story of his life.
(Credit should go to him for making a one-on-one save.)

Simply put, they scored only 1 goal because they dint attack us, whenever they did, the midfield was just Overrun.
Bale was still his one-dimensional self, although he went infield at some point and I believe he's less predictable there.
Ronaldo was ronaldo
Benzema was benzema but scored a great goal.
Marcelo was marcelo: forgets to defend
James was his average self but defended a little bit more
Modric took charge and it helped us
Pepe,ramos, nacho were just themselves

Its funny to say but kroos actually seems to be the main problem from the defensive side.
He is too slow and on top that, he doesn't even run at his full speed.
I noticed james has been running and defending more but kroos just looks like he would never stop being kroos
He doesn't have half Alonso's energy.
Kroos may be the better player but I actually believe that given our formation, illaremendi would be better.

Well, let's hope this victory spurs them to improve

Marcelo and James were our best players imo.

Proud of Nacho. He's in good form and should start over Arbeloa

BTW, Paolo Sousa totally messed up the Basel defense and no one really knows why. This was the first time, Fabian Schär, Marek Suchy and Walter Samuel played together in a 3-man-defense (before they only played with 4 men defense in the league).

Moreover, Suchy only played 4 minutes in the last two matches, not because he was injured or so, but because of Sousa's infinite wisdom. That he subbed off Fabian Schär after 36 minutes in the last match for whatever reason and then publicly dressed him down, ruining his confidence in the last match was just the icing on the cake.

So Paolo Sousa actually made it really easy for you...

nacho played well today...he's had some good games in a silent type of way. I hope it remains like that and we don't start over-hyping him, let him take his time, learn and keep putting in good shifts.

Nacho is a very good player and looks like the present-day arbeloa: an in-form arbeloa.
You know he is really good for him to have got a call-up from del bosque even if it was just once.
I hope he gets more playing time and gets called-up more.

Nacho was so calm and smooth you'd think he was a starter for us

Our problem is not Kroos, in fact he had yet another excellent game, the problem is LCM because nobody plays there presently. James played good but he'd rather be an atracker which is why you saw him at rw many times during the game. We essentially played a 4-2-4 like we have played mkstly this season. The only different thing is that Basel didn't attack which is a silly mistake from their part because if they had seen our laliga games this season they'd realised how vulnerable we are when defending

Illarra finally got some time but I was confused did he play CM or CDM because he and Kroos kept interchanging positions. Anyways hopefully Carlo isn't naive enough to think we can carry on with this suicide formation

Ancelotti didn't make james situation any better during his press conference when he said 'the four attackers can change positions anytime they like'
Which means he sees james as an attacker. He is unconsciously sending the wrong message out to james and making him feel his responsibilities are in the attack.
I can't imagine any disgrace bigger then the real sociedad defeat but the funny thing is that real sociedad's attack is not even all that impressive.
Imagine wen we play against a more ferocious and confident team with this same attitude.

Imagine this XI vs Dortmund double digit defeat anyone?

When Nacho scored our first goal James was at RW, Bale at RW, Benz at CF and Ronaldo LW/CF that goal just highlighted how inept some players are position wise, imagine if we'd lost the ball, it would've taken them at most 4 passes to get to our box and score. Absolutely dreadful from us. It's going to take a spanking by Barca for Carlo to realise this formation is suicide, I can just picture Messi with all that space in our midfield lol

I can't wait til we get totally hmuliated! But I hope it happens in La liga or in a match that wudnt affect our qualification in CL
I don't even know who to point fingers at anymore: kroos, james or both
Or maybe even carlo

We never lose an opening CL game at the Bernabeu, we're not going to start with a scrub Basel team lol

Anyway, in attack we look devastating when the team is focused, we just have so many guys forward when we're on top. If we can fix our transition defense (and set pieces of course) were could potentially be a super super team.

I seriously think james should play the wing and bale play the lcm position.

bale has incredible pace and athleticism. he could be useful there

Only if carlo would see that and only if bale would be redi to adapt.
I think that would be our best formation
On the contrary, james would be more like a right-sided forward rather than a winger because he doesn't know how to dribble or take his man in one-on-one situations.
He would mostly cut in on his left foot.
Initially, he could get away with it, maybe for a few months or luckily for a whole season but after then, defenders worldwide would get used to him and just shut him down easily.

Think your underrating james a bit. Hes an intelligent footballer and has gokd allround technique, cant argue with that