halamadrid2 wrote:Where do you think my avatar came from?? Up until the CWC James was very poor. He was very good on the right but extremely poor on the left. Carlo tried to put him in thst ADM role and the experiment failed, he benefitted from being out for so long because just as he picked up form the rest started losing theirs

You can tell a players quality by watching them play especially if they aren't even guaranteed to start

But still consistent throughout the whole year and despite not winning any silverware this year he had a great first season that was recognized by madridistas. Now I guess what he meant before is that we can't put a label on players especially in such a short time

We might end up seeing Danilo bench Carvajal or we might end up really seeing a Coentrao 2.0 (which im torn about because coentrao was miles better than marcelo many times during his time here).

Only time will tell.

I agree. Guess I am abit biased since the whole transfer frustrated me from the start. It was pointless.

Anyways the next game should be dedicated to James increasing his fittness, he looked short of fittness out there which is understandable, also I'd like to see more of Casilla, I like what I've seen from him so far

We were bad.

Only player who won my attention was Kiko Casilla who i thought was excellent commanding the box and shot stopping wise.

Asensio and Mayoral will join the squad for the Audi cup. Hope they get some minutes

Rafa said that Mayoral is one of the best youngsters in the world let's see what he can really do

The campaign by Marca/AS for Isco to start is eternal. There is articles about him everyday reminding Benitez how good he is. Also in a recent poll by AS over 80% wanted Isco to start at CAM and only 6% for Bale. Feel sorry for him (and Benzema to some extent) he won't be given even two games to get going before getting booed. This season is going to be loong

hala glad you can see it coming from a mile away, the brainwashing has already begun(polls) .

tbf he SHOULD start but he has an advantage in the sense that he has the media behind him to glorify everything he does and use that as a reason why he should start when there is a totally different reason why he should, I wish ADM had that backing

All I know is the longer he sits on the bench the deeper Benitez puts himself in the fans' bad books and gets booed along with Bale even when we win

They are spaniards wanting a spaniard to be at the heart of our team, cant blame them. But what they print doesnt matter, yet you can also see their point because he is that good.

If Bale plays and he is not good, he will be booed. it's as simple as it gets.

We have too many good attackers and not all of them can play, someone will always be left out

Mr Nick09 wrote:They are spaniards wanting a spaniard to be at the heart of our team, cant blame them. But what they print doesnt matter, yet you can also see their point because he is that good.

If Bale plays and he is not good, he will be booed. it's as simple as it gets.

We have too many good attackers and not all of them can play,  someone will always be left out

he's been booed for months, no result. he always played 90 minutes. so better no boos at all, it makes him worse than he already is

lets be honest if its between isco and james for a spot, isco hits the bench its not benz or bale fault, but we all know how this is gonna play out anyways.

isco is great and all, joy to watch etc, but jamez scores and assists like nobody business, pin point passer with excellent timing and reading of the game, he got isco beat for AM/RW tbh, jese is benz competition, bale and cr have none, don't see why benz gotta contend with 2 players, he is clearly the first victim to be pick out then bale.

I feel like players don't get picked on merit or we would've seen the back of Iker ages ago, Varane would start over Ramos, Isco over Bale and Jese getting alot of minutes even as a starter in big games

Shame really because even at Barca last season when Neymar and Suarez underperformed Enrique put them both on the bench whuch I assume got them fired up in the second half of the season

At our team the team sheet is picked when players are signed. At least Benitez didn't cave in and stopped playing Odegaard after that horror show vs Roma, maybe a sign for things to come

why do you always act as if you dont understand that our team is about CR and then Bale now. He will be forced into success.

And the way things are going, it's going to be between isco, james and benzema for a position. we can rotate the three and try out different variations. Or at least everything suggests that Benitez isnt obsessed by BBC and will experiment.

let be real having 2 attacking player who can be hit or miss, screw goals lets talk about overall performances, hit or miss as untouchable and giving them a primary control of the ball, in the attack is gonna make things harder fact.

cr and bale are not thinkers, adding a extra midfielder is just trying to stop the bleeding, if rafa can't get more creativity and teamwork out of cr and bale, then more of the same like with carlo.

Rafa has never been about creativity. He won't ask Ronaldo nor Bale to be creative. That's why he is trying both of them as forward as possible. He will put in a system which is based on solidity and work ethic. Creativity will come on its own from midfield once the system works.

Bale fits his system quite well.

what's more important is that kroos-modric work as the deep players. I don't think Isco will be a starter either despite what AS wants. James is necessary if Ronaldo/Bale are to be forwards.

I still think Benzema will be kept but I won't be surprised if he plays a much different role than he has been in the last few years

if you want to be real you have to recognize the fact that we are not in the business of performing but winning. And you also have to understand the fact that the current belief at the club is to nurture Bale because he has the greatest potential to be a match winner with individual effort, after Cristiano.

THat's just the reality of the team right now, whether you agree with it or not, it doesnt matter. And that's why the thinking is, "we got to make sure Cristiano and Bale are in the best possible positions to win us game"

Mr Nick09 wrote:if you want to be real you have to recognize the fact that we are not in the business of performing but winning. And you also have to understand the fact that the current belief at the club is to nurture Bale because he has the greatest potential to be a match winner with individual effort, after Cristiano.

THat's just the reality of the team right now, whether you agree with it or not, it doesnt matter. And that's why the thinking is, "we got to make sure Cristiano and Bale are in the best possible positions to win us game"

Yea, exactly that.

RealGunner wrote:Rafa has never been about creativity. He won't ask Ronaldo nor Bale to be creative. That's why he is trying both of them as forward as possible. He will put in a system which is based on solidity and work ethic. Creativity will come on its own from midfield once the system works.

Bale fits his system quite well.

what's more important is that kroos-modric work as the deep players. I don't think Isco will be a starter either despite what AS wants. James is necessary if Ronaldo/Bale are to be forwards.

I still think Benzema will be kept but I won't be surprised if he plays a much different role than he has been in the last few years

Exactly RG, for Benitez it's about chance conversion and turning possession into chance on goal with speed and effectiveness. It might just be the best possible way to play football when you are dealing with both CR and Bale.

halamadrid2 wrote:I feel like players don't get picked on merit or we would've seen the back of Iker ages ago, Varane would start over Ramos, Isco over Bale and Jese getting alot of minutes even as a starter in big games

Shame really because even at Barca last season when Neymar and Suarez underperformed Enrique put them both on the bench whuch I assume got them fired up in the second half of the season

At our team the team sheet is picked when players are signed. At least Benitez didn't cave in and stopped playing Odegaard after that horror show vs Roma, maybe a sign for things to come

Varane-Pepe doesn't work because both are right-sided cbs.

regarding Bale, I think the best way to make him do less harm is to play him LM in a 442.


In an ideal world he would be on the first plane to Manchester but these are wet dreams.

At the highest level cr-bale duo was meh, there is more to success than making sure cr and bale score a lot, that thinking is why the team comes up short last season, the head down shooting tactic is proven meh, the attack needs some form of structure.

We have come up short in many seasons before, even before Bale arrived, when Benzema/Higuain + CR were supposed to be the goal scorers... so to throw everything down to him as the sole reason why we failed is more than a stretch. When we won la decima none of those guys were a key factor

Im not sure what you are looking for... On one side there is reality, what is; on the other side, you are speaking of ideals, what should be.

Clearly, people believe that CR-Bale duo can work, you may not, but other people do believe in it.

so who is right?

My point is Carlo placed our season in bale hands, cause he want to feel important and everything was lost, that also a reality of just last season.

This season usual smash fodders, and lose in the big games, then try to field a proper line up can also be a reality, but since ego's are at stake here, lets waste half a season with no cf that logic as always worked..... Not.

Carlo never did such thing lol, it's just that we chose to blame him for everything that went down. With reasons at time, without any sometimes. BBC was crap, predictable, it worked for half a season. we can blame Carlo as much as we can blame Bale himself for not being productive on the right. i hate him, he is a donkey, but it's true. And when used effectively he is as productive a player as it gets, that's why Perez and other people are the club would rather bet on his individual talent.

you want them to sell Bale? ok, then bring them someone they feel they can rely on with CR declining. They are not betting on "let's build a team with nice guy who can play well together" nope, they want a star player that can win games on his own, THEN build a nice team around him.

There is no such attacking player around, so they will stick to him.

Ronaldo and Benzema have not made the trip for Audi cup. Denis will have a chance to show Benitez his quality without Ronaldo and Mayoral can get some minutes in the second half

Dat Isco-James connection