Real Madrid CF 3 - FC Mehcelona 1

I dont believe we will control the game, I dont think we are at that level yet. So I probably, sadly, prefer Rakitic.

Despite how well Xavi is playing and how much Mascherano could use him next to him in the midfield.

messixaviesta wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Expecting a high goal draw. Both teams will have a poor defensive shape (Madrid has no dms, Masche will be caught out of position every 3 minutes) which should make it an interesting game for neutrals. 3-3.

I have been pondering over that for some time. Will Madrid play this entire season without a conventional DM? It seems as if Modric may be expected to do the needful. It's not his ideal role but he is probably the best suited for it in their first choice starting XI. Does this along with Di Maria's sale make Madrid weaker than last season? I think it does but we'll know for sure only at the end of the season.

We haven't played conventional DM's since Carlo arrived. In fact last year his biggest success was making a midfield of Modric-Xabi work defensively.

This year we've stuck to that system. There are no specialists on this Madrid team so you'll likely see a 4-4-2 with two banks of four whenever we don't have the ball that snaps into a 4-3-3 when we get it back. How well Madrid defends will depend on how they defend collectively.

I'd definitely start Mache - Rakitic.
I don't remember a game where Busquets exceled this year and Madrid are too athletic to play with slow mids.
My concerns for the game are the backs Pique and Suarez.
The backs because usually they suck defensively, Pique because he's a hit or miss in big games and Suarez because of course he comes from a 4 month absense

Zealous wrote:

messixaviesta wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Expecting a high goal draw. Both teams will have a poor defensive shape (Madrid has no dms, Masche will be caught out of position every 3 minutes) which should make it an interesting game for neutrals.  3-3.

I have been pondering over that for some time. Will Madrid play this entire season without a conventional DM? It seems as if Modric may be expected to do the needful. It's not his ideal role but he is probably the best suited for it in their first choice starting XI. Does this along with Di Maria's sale make Madrid weaker than last season? I think it does but we'll know for sure only at the end of the season.

We haven't played conventional DM's since Carlo arrived. In fact last year his biggest success was making a midfield of Modric-Xabi work defensively.

This year we've stuck to that system. There are no specialists on this Madrid team so you'll likely see a 4-4-2 with two banks of four whenever we don't have the ball that snaps into a 4-3-3 when we get it back. How well Madrid defends will depend on how they defend collectively.

Interesting reply. I had also never seen Xabi Alonso as a fully fledged DM as such but last season he surprised me. That performance in the first leg against Bayern was probably his career best defensive performance. So compared to what Madrid is playing now Xabi perhaps did give you more cover.

I don't think we will start with Suarez. We could even start with four midfielders though more likely we will start with Pedro. Expect Suarez to come off the bench though.

Oddly I'm not concerned about Suárez at all. I only hope that if he gets benched, which would be understandable, Munir starts over Pedro.

Suarez shouldn't be a concern

three things could happen with him
he plays good - good..
he plays medium - better then pedro
he plays bad - same level pedro would play regardless.

we cannot lose tbh.

Why would you want Munir to start when Sandro is much better than him?

If you dont start Suarez, Sandro should get the start imo

You guys are fine... Ramos is healthy and Carlo said today that he would start instead of Varane. That's automatically an extra goal or 2.

sportsczy wrote:You guys are fine... Ramos is healthy and Carlo said today that he would start instead of Varane. That's automatically an extra goal or 2.

Superb news.

Still, I read Pepe is a doubt. Varane could single handily carry Ramos and defend himself.

Pepe is training today.... nothing to worry about. You guys just increased your chances greatly to win.

Ronaldo: "it is unfair that they get 24 hours more to rest"

And so the excuses begin.

What can be done about that? UEFA split the CL groups how they do, they dont have to give a shit about this game.

RFEF could have scheduled in on a Sunday to give both teams enough time to rest.

But we still have 24 hours more rest.....

Why is 4 days rest not enough but 5 is just fine? It will make hardly any difference.

"Real Madrid went easy on Liverpool because we were saving ourselves for Barcelona"

-- Yohan Modric

3 days rest min is fine.  Less than that is a problem...  Reason Madrid are complaining is that they're not getting 3 days rest (CL game was Wednesday night).  You can't recover 100% physically with less than that.  If both teams had less than 3 days, ok since the issue is the same for both.  But Barca have a physical advantage in this one.

You played on Wednesday and then will play on Saturday. That's not 3 days?

The Franchise wrote:You played on Wednesday and then will play on Saturday. That's not 3 days?

I think he is talking about 3 days rest not including the game day...
but anyway, crybaby will cry no matter what...woah...woah...woah

Lucho said busquets is available for classico but i doubt he will start over Mashcherano unless he is needed in CB position.....

Fussball you should've used this gif ffs

last season real madrid had the extra day of rest and still lost
stupid excuse is stupid.

Don't call me James wrote:Fussball you should've used this gif ffs

Spoiler:

When I saw this for the first time I think I didn't stop laughing for 5 minutes

http://messivsronaldo.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/78444748_elclasico_messi_v_ronaldo_2.png

Reading that the team trained like this on Transfermarkt:

bravo - alves, piqué, mascherano, mathieu - busquets, xavi, rakitic - iniesta, messi, neymar

Don't see anything good coming out of this.

Mashcherano in CB i can see Benzama using him as a spring for jumping just like he did it in last classico....we are back in our last season's defensive level....