Real Madrid vs Levante

Modric will play 60 mins this game which is a relief

Expect to hear boos even if we are 5-0 up at half time. Think they have had enough of some players now

Carvajal is back thank god. Wouldn't hurt to have Navas start but it should be an easy game nonetheless

If Bale and Silva (nothing against him personally) starts, they should boo throughout.

Bale will definitely start no doubts about that but Silva won't. Think Bale will find it hard to actually perform with so many on his back but this is Madrid not Spurs he will need to grow a thicker skin, some other players in the XI have had much worse than just boos

It's pathetic.

The way the British media have been jumping to this guys defence is embarrassing.

We played our best football.....................without him in the team.
Our best performances........... him not in the team.

It's disgusting. He better perform, because his place in the team is coming at the cost of Jese and it really shouldn't.

No doubt about that. I always laugh when the English media praise a pass of his to the heaven when it was just an ordinary pass. Meh he is the only Briton outside of UK so they have their reasons

But as you said we played our best football without him however the guy who played in hus place is now injured. No point dwelling on that thought imo

I think he'll be terrible today. I really do.

Knowing Carlo, if that happens, he'll let him play the full game.

Dont we all know it

Levante should be the perfect game to lift his confidence. If ye can't a game of this magnitude he should cut short his stay with us and just return back to EPL

What's wrong with Silva? Why should he get booed? As for Bale, he is gonna start and more than likely, he is gonna put in a stinker. The small chance that he is gonna actually perform, it is gonna get blown over proportioned by those working at Sky and he'll give his usual false impression of regaining "form" (which he never had for the entire season).

Which would come just in time to see him capitulate against Barcelona which, of course, he has a high chance of having a stinker there as well.

Nothing wrong Silva, I like him.

But should he really have started over Illara for the 1st leg against Schalke or against Elche? It made no sense and it showed Carlo's stubbornness to not let players prove themselves.

Fans shouldn't accept that, similar to the Bale rubbish. How can Jese prove himself and get back to what he was if he barley plays?

I personally don't share the same views for Illarra (anymore) since I don't mind either him or Silva starting. Once it isn't Khedira for whom I actually like but his mind is elsewhere. No need to start a guy who isn't giving anywhere near his best or even average.

Bale just upsets me every time I write about him and as much as I love the work Carlo has done, he really should take a proper stance against this ridiculous poor form.

It's not even about scoring (a stat which was highly confusing for me when ESPN talked about it, as if I cared if he scored or not), he is literally playing badly. Doesn't do much in attack and certainly leaves our RB's open to everything.

He doesn't do anything. I went back and watched the games against Schalke and Bilbao. He did nothing all game.

We should really look at bringing Di Maria back. Money + Bale should be fine.

Line-up:
Navas, Pepe, Ramos, Carvajal, Marcelo, Silva, Modric, Isco, Bale (), Ronaldo, Benz.

Kroos finally gets a rest.
Bale still starts
No surprise about Casillas.

Carlo

izzy wrote:Line-up:
Navas, Pepe, Ramos, Carvajal, Marcelo, Silva, Modric, Isco, Bale (), Ronaldo, Benz.

Looks good formation wise. I don't know who and how good Silva is but if he's a DM it's a good 4-3-3 on paper: DM-CM-AM. Unlike Kroos-Isco (CM-AM). Will watch this.

Navas finally gets to start. Hope he has a blinder

Carlo starts rotating when we have literally reached the bottom of the barrel good ol' Carlo

Isco is the next one he will run into the ground however

izzy wrote:He doesn't do anything. I went back and watched the games against Schalke and Bilbao. He did nothing all game.

We should really look at bringing Di Maria back. Money + Bale should be fine.

bale gonna goat again in epl, that's the league that suit him. and then we get all the joke and mock...

It suits him because he can keep running behind the defence like Kane is an expert at. LaLiga defence don't give that much space to our players bar Rayo Vallecano. Hence he struggles. He is not a bad player just not suited to us and this league

Suarez for example doesn't get the kind of space but makes up for it with his hunger and ability to assist his team mates. Bale only knows how to repeatedly run behind the defence only to get understandably ignored

Unconvincing first half. I would've been thrilled with the same display if we had been up against a tougher team. But this is Levante. They have no excuse.

As for Illarra, I have come to the conclusion that he's simply not good enough. He had his chance time and time again. He's simply not good enough.

Bale today with a brace, one stolen from Ronaldo, the other from...well Ronaldo lol. The latter must be really pissed.

i couldn't watch this game with a clear eye. i watched it not looking to being entertained but just going for the 3 points, as any slip ups before clasico would have been dangerous....carvajal has really settled into his role (i bring him up to deviate from the habit of talking about the usual suspects), hard working and energetic, his game really impressed me, willing to make a tackle and rush behind the defense; he doesn't have marcelo's skill, but he does the right things for the most part...after the two goals levante never really settled, and I myself was looking for us to go easy so as not to risk injuries. By the way, does anyone have any info on when james is slated to return?

I don't know; I'm happy with the win but I honestly don't feel even remotely satisfied.

Our defense is shaky.
We don't have enough athleticism in midfield to be fielding just three midfielders.
Our forwards don't have the stamina to help our midfielders out defensively.

We seem to have gotten better but not enough to be smiling from ear to ear.

titosantill wrote:By the way, does anyone have any info on when james is slated to return?

April, 5th, according to Marca.

One thing for sure though, he's definitely going to miss the Clasico. Terrible loss, really.

Mixed feelings about this game. Although everyone were fired up we still lost posession rather regularly and let Levante in on our goal a couple of times, we are lucky they are so bad offensively

Also Ronaldo keeps missing chances tgese days that has cost us in some games and affected our game in some others. He really needs to chill out if he doesn't score

The English media after Bale's goals: Bale scores two goals and covers his ears with cupids to silence his critics and ramm his goals down their throats" one was a deflecfed shot that he stole from Ronaldo babs

Not too confident about the Clasico but I remember we went into the last game with this mentality and came out winners. Here is hoping there is a repeat of that next week. Last clasico we played in the CL on Wednesday and Clasico on Saturday at 5, Barca play this Wednesday and get to plqy the Clasico on Sunday at 8

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2398875-real-madrids-gareth-bale-still-learning-how-the-massive-club-works

I don't usually agree with Balague on a lot of things, but he is spot on here.

Spot on stuff from Balague which would ultimately show up if Bale doesn't perform in the Camp Nou. Not that he would be first guy to disappoint there but he hasn't actually been doing well elsewhere either.

Balague wrote:Madrid doctors say privately that he has such a physique that he could play two games the same night. Hence the frustration with him when he doesn't track back or work harder without the ball.

What perhaps he fails to realise is that goals are only part of the scenario, although expected nonetheless. But the crowd haven’t been booing him because he hasn’t been scoring but because of other aspects of his play, or more accurately the lack of them.

Spot on. But here's the tiny bit of disagreement that separates me from Balague: I truly believe Gareth knows that people are booing him for not defending and tracking back; he just doesn't want to. This is what irritates me; if Bale tracked back and defended like Isco or James, our woes would've been considerably less apparent than they seem to be right now.

Here's another part where I disagree with the author of the article: He's confident that Bale will change his attitude; I don't. I also believe that he'll be more of a liability than a plus on Sunday, like he always has been, like he will always be.