What Do We Do With Our Attack Next Season?

Bale is clearly the weak link up front, I don't think he can continue on like this much longer. Do we drop him and try to keep a 4-3-3 either with Hamez taking his spot, or bringing in another winger? Is Reus still available? I know he signed a new contract but that usually doesn't mean much. Do we drop the 4-3-3 and just go with Cristiano and Benzema up front?

Personally, I would like to stick with the 4-3-3 and put Hamez as the RW since I think we played our best footy that way. But I don't know if he would like that to be permanent, being a number 10 and all.

i don't see reus as a solution to any issue. why? bale will not be sold or benched. we are in a situation where anything we do will have to involve him, that's the power of a price tag. not to mention carlo's attitude with respect to having strong faith in starters even when they're in the rot....my only suggestion would be one i have frowned upon for so long. push cristiano up front. he doesn't like playing center forward and isn't the guy to hold the ball up, but i reckon he can try to start adjusting to a nos 9 role...bale move out to the left (as a left midfielder) that way he can limit his blockhead mistakes to running and crossing, and he'll prolly have to pass the ball in that situation rather than cut in. benzema just behind ronaldo, after all he seems a natural in that 9 and a half role and james on the right.

this i think is the only realistic option besides playing benzema cristiano and bale as a front 3. i don't see carlo dropping bale no matter how much fans boo, cry, whistle or whimper. and even if it costs carlo his job, i don't see the next coach (probably zidane, who strongly advocated and had a role in the bale signing) doing the same neither.

and the same goes for james as well. when he comes back, he too will be untouchable considering the moneys spent to sign him, it will mean carlo can only tinker with the formation and not the personnel, and if we do sign another major signing, then carlo will be forced to operate with rotations rather than just dropping someone from the line up.....it just is what it is

Reus seems to have a brain and some technical ability, I didn't think Bale would be this bad technically.  There isn't much link up play from him (1-2's etc.), at least Reus can do that a bit and is not just a pure pace whore like Bale.  I don't know what other options are out there, only if we got Neymar

I don't think Bale is untouchable like you say, even with his price tag.  I think if pushed to the brink, Carlo (or Perez ) will drop him.

In regards to Hamez, he is a much better player so if he's also 'untouchable' it is not because of his price tag.

P.S. I'm not saying Bale is a scrub, he is a EPL GOAT but I don't think this league is for him. I hope he proves me wrong but I don't see it happening.

We can either sell Bale and bring in another winger, or sell him for the cash and use James on RW with Jese as back up. To be honest, Jese is still trying to get back into form from his injury, and he isn't as reliable now, but i hope that changes quickly.

Bale is quite a predicament.

if bale was touchable, he would have been dropped long ago after those debacles where he opted to shoot instead of pass and messed up those shots. ancelotti won't drop him and neither will florentino sell him. florentino still has a hard time admitting the kaka deal was a waste, (he will never fully admit that on camera), and when has madrid been known to sell a huge signing after only two seasons? trust me, even if we sign reus (which i doubt) he might be played out of position, carlo has never been known to drop his starters like that

in an ideal world i'd like james to move to the right, add some grit to midfield; a midfield of james (isco), modric and kroos is a little too flashy/technical for me, and bale coming on from the bench. however this is real madrid, not an ideal world, and there's a better chance of seeing modric sold and getting kroos or pogba or vidal, with bale as a constant feature in the line up

we don't need to replace Bale. Just play James there. More than anything, we need depth at CM and, if Jesse doesn't improve, depth at the wing spots.

Not sure why Carlo doesn't use Chicha. As good a game as Benz had, he was dead tired after the 75 min mark. Chicha should have come in.

I think benzema offers too much even tired, that carlo keep banking on him a lot

Sell us Benzema please.

There must be something wrong with the physical preparation/training. It is unacceptable what's happening, after the 70th mark the players could barely run. That can't be put down to being overplayed.

--ronaldo--benzema--
isco--kroos--modric--james

it worked like a charm, dont fix things that aint broken.


get 11 back2back fitnesss freak is probably our best shot on winning leauge thou.

Taking into account all his problems, Bale could actually be a great supersub. That pace against tired legs could be deadly, but sadly he will never accept that role.

titosantill wrote:if bale was touchable, he would have been dropped long ago after those debacles where he opted to shoot instead of pass and messed up those shots. ancelotti won't drop him and neither will florentino sell him. florentino still has a hard time admitting the kaka deal was a waste, (he will never fully admit that on camera), and when has madrid been known to sell a huge signing after only two seasons? trust me, even if we sign reus (which i doubt) he might be played out of position, carlo has never been known to drop his starters like that

We're only 4 pts back in the league, and in the CL quarter final's. That is not a bad situation at all, it could get much worse so I don't think we can say he will never get dropped just yet.

I have a hard time believing Ancelotti would take a sacking over dropping Bale

Valkyrja wrote:There must be something wrong with the physical preparation/training. It is unacceptable what's happening, after the 70th mark the players could barely run. That can't be put down to being overplayed.

How many times have you seen someone start for Benz, Kroos or Isco in the last 4-5 months?  In fact, can you even remember?  I can't.

Fatigue is not a game-to-game or even week-to-week issue.  It's an accumulation over months typically that suddenly comes home to roost.  This being a WC and CWC year has made it even worse.

Just to illustrate... once you get muscle fatigue, you literally need to take at least 2-3 weeks off so your body gets back to normal.  You need to avoid getting your players feeling fatigued because it's hard to get them to recover once they're there until the season ends...

My fear is that when James comes back, Carlo will keep on stubbornly starting Bale and rotating the remaining midfield spot between Isco and James. That would be brutal. That would be stupid.

Carlo needs to understand that when Florentino doesn't get results, the first head he'll chop off will be Carlo's. Is he that stubborn that he'd be willing to be sacked over benching Bale? I don't think there's anybody that stupid.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:My fear is that when James comes back, Carlo will keep on stubbornly starting Bale and rotating the remaining midfield spot between Isco and James. That would be brutal. That would be stupid.

You know that's gonna happen.

Even worse? He relegates one of them to the bench and lets them collect dust.

Bale is usually good for an injury if he plays a lot... so there's that.

sportsczy wrote:Bale is usually good for an injury if he plays a lot... so there's that.

Can you consider this run of games as him "playing" football?

He's not playing football. I don't know what he's doing.

yeah even the thought of it makes my skin crawl. The probable image of having a player of Isco or James' caliber on the bench while Bale is "playing" is beyond brutal.

The stupid thing is that Carlo/Flo are portraying Bale as this clutch player that can be a decisive factor in big games at any time... but if you saw the CL and CDR finals, you realize that it took him messing up 10-15 chances to score 2.  In reality, we should have blown teams away in those games but didn't due to Bale.  He scored... sure.  But can you even consider that clutch?

Benzema is far more clutch to me even though he doesn't always score in big games.  Why? He's often the best forward on the pitch in our big games (yes better than CR) and creates a ton of chances for the team.  Bale should take notes.  Also, when CR is having a poor game, he just plants himself in the box knowing that, if all else fails, he has his poaching abilities to fall back on...  Bale should take notes there too.

Bale should be in his prime right now (at least the beginning of it), what happens when he declines?

His 30's have the potential to be very ugly.

Most pure speed guys never make it to 30 tbh...  around 28, they start fading fast.

If Carlo benches Isco instead of Bale for James, fans will attack his car too lol.

sportsczy wrote:Most pure speed guys never make it to 30 tbh...  around 28, they start fading fast.

you never know. he might use his brain more if his body doesn't help anymore

chicharito wants an opportunity; at this stage, i can't blame carlo for not bringing him on, cos we need all the points and can't afford to experiment. but if he wasn't going to test him out at the beginning, why did we bring him in the first place? i never liked this loan, (i hardly rate chicharito to be honest), but what we need to do with our attack is use our brains next season especially regarding our bench/fringe players....

http://www.marca.com/en/2015/03/29/en/football/real_madrid/1427655923.html

titosantill wrote:i don't see reus as a solution to any issue. why? bale will not be sold or benched. we are in a situation where anything we do will have to involve him, that's the power of a price tag. not to mention carlo's attitude with respect to having strong faith in starters even when they're in the rot....my only suggestion would be one i have frowned upon for so long. push cristiano up front. he doesn't like playing center forward and isn't the guy to hold the ball up, but i reckon he can try to start adjusting to a nos 9 role...bale move out to the left (as a left midfielder) that way he can limit his blockhead mistakes to running and crossing, and he'll prolly have to pass the ball in that situation rather than cut in. benzema just behind ronaldo, after all he seems a natural in that 9 and a half role and james on the right.

this i think is the only realistic option besides playing benzema cristiano and bale as a front 3. i don't see carlo dropping bale no matter how much fans boo, cry, whistle or whimper. and even if it costs carlo his job, i don't see the next coach (probably zidane, who strongly advocated and had a role in the bale signing) doing the same neither.

and the same goes for james as well. when he comes back, he too will be untouchable considering the moneys spent to sign him, it will mean carlo can only tinker with the formation and not the personnel, and if we do sign another major signing, then carlo will be forced to operate with rotations rather than just dropping someone from the line up.....it just is what it is

According to marca; http://www.marca.com/en/2015/04/07/en/football/real_madrid/1428360587.html

as i mentioned before, no matter the complaints, carlo (or any new coach for that matter) will have to look for a system to accommodate bale, that's just the 'real-ity' of things at madrid...funny enough, a system that might work involving both james and isco playing will be compromised as carlo is left with choosing one over the other...definitely james