Re: The official rival discussion thread

[halamadrid2]

https://vine.co/v/eTETEnTwBjh

What an idiot

[Doc]

David just can't catch a break

[halamadrid2]

Barca have now won at both the San Mames and Calderon, not looking good. They aren't even playing good, imagine when they peak later on, they'll become unstoppable like last season. only we will be able to win against them

our next 6 games:

Granda
@Bilbao
Malaga
@Atleti
Levante
@Celta

The three away games are must win if we want the title. Those are the games we lost points in last season

Also whoever has the most points after the second clasico will have an easy ride to the title. Most tough away ground out of the way in the first half of the season

[The Demon of Carthage]

The Bilbao, Malaga and Atléti games will clue us in as to whether we'll be fighting for the title this year or not.

We mustn't drop points where Barça didn't, which means we'll have to beat Bilbao and Atlético away.

[halamadrid2]

loooool just checked. We will play Bilbao, Atleti, Celta, Villarreal, Valencia, Sevilla all away in the first half of the season dat Perez begging for a favourable schedule in the second half because we always lose it then

[chad4401]

after atleti game we can be sure where the teams stands.

[Bankz]

Dunno bout bilbao, but you'll rollstump atleti real bad. Neymar isn't fully fit and hasn't even left first gear, messi was unavailable & didnt train due to the intl break while barca arent even playing well, with all our defensive problems and thin squad depth, ath madrid at their very best yet look what we did to them.. Easy win for madrid but bilbao is an entirely different proposition tho.

[halamadrid2]

Barca have the psychological advantage over Atleti, while Atleti have the psychological advantage over us.

If our players can focus and not make stupid mistakes I think we can win but alas we have a mistakes master (Ramos), a guy who has yet to show up against Atleti (Bale) although he is playing in HIS favourite position now so no excuses from him and Benzema also struggles against them, he has looked pretty sharp so far this season though so hoping for improved performance against his bogey team

I am hoping we can collect 9 points against all those teams away. I believe we have more options off the bench in both winning/losing scenarios so that should work in our advantage. So far so good imo. Sporting had no intention to attack us it was basically us against their defence and keeper so willing to write that game off provided we don't lose more points

As for Barca they are doing what champions do, winning when not even in form yet

[Bankz]

But also u have a rejuvinated cr7 who'll probably put a couple over atleti. As 4 the psychological edge, tho i'd say u have a point but u guys can at least take inspiration from barca last season when atleti had a psychological advantage over us from the previous season with 6 consecutive draws. Anyway, i believe madrid have the talent to pull it off and easily at that tbh. My only problem with real is that there seems to be no middle ground (or should i say consistency). Its either a blow out (7-0, 8-0, 5-0 and the like) or crisis for them and that isnt healthy for a team as big as real imo.. Its left for benitez to tweak whatever is missing tho.

[halamadrid2]

Ronaldo usually scores millions anyways, what has let us down in the past seasons is either conceding too many stupid goals which means no matter whether Ronaldo scores or not we still concede and end up drawing/losing games we should win. Take Bilbao or Valencia for example, we always score against them but then end up drawing or losing because one of our defenders has decided to have a brain fart and lose someone on a corner they shouldn't or let someone take a long shot without pressure or when Ronaldo doesn't score and we desperately need one of the Benz/Bale to step up they don't and we end up with no goals scored

On the other hand Barca can scrape past the likes of Valencia, Bilbao, Sevilla and Atleti with a single goal cushion all while taking the sting out of the game in the latter part of the game when the opposition should be putting pressure on Barca's defence. That's one very big advantage Barca have over us. In the past season we've always had to be 2 goals up to be comfortable, Barca only need 1. I hope that changes this season but I doubt it

[Valkyrja]

I always live with the impression that if Ronaldo has an offday we'll lose. When James isn't playing it's even worse.

[Thimmy]

I always live with the impression that if Ronaldo has an offday we'll lose. When James isn't playing it's even worse.

I think it's a bigger problem that when our midfield isn't working properly, the whole team breaks down, which consequently leads to Ronaldo going into rage/tunnel vision mode and does nothing productive. I wish we weren't so reliant on Modric against the competent teams. Similarly, Barcelona used to be extremely reliant on Xavi. Luckily for them, he very rarely got injured

[chad4401]

hala you gotta understand if you want benz to step up more, the team needs to give him proper service, he had what 4 shots in 2 games and scored 2, that down him being clinical and taking his chances, against tougher teams 2 chances ain't enough, not trying to make excuses but people need to be a more logical.

suarez got like 4 chances against atleti missed all of them, and some of those i know benz would bury tbh but he won't get similar service, that should be highlighted imo.

[chad4401]

I always live with the impression that if Ronaldo has an offday we'll lose. When James isn't playing it's even worse.

pls stop it we have won plenty of games with cr off form, when we lose its because out of form cr doesn't want to let anyone else take over and force the issue himself until the game is lost.

[halamadrid2]

Benz doesn't need service when he is in form. He drops down picks up the ball and drives up with it. He has never been a good goalscorer but his overall play is fantastic when he is at it. His flaws are exposed against Atleti, you Don't see him drop back or on the left, he is right there static between Godin and Miranda and everyone including myself expects him to score but his movement in the box is very poor and he ends up hurting us

[chad4401]

if benzema is static its because that what the coach wants, benzema job is to pin godin and maranda back, so cr or bale can get their shots off which failed, cr hasn't done anything against atleti in a while don't see why he is blameless when the team creates most of the chances for him.

benzema is a great goal scorer, he scores the type of goals you guys praise all the time, some of you need to get over benz vs higs mind state, give benzema the service bale/cr gets he scores 30-40.

look at cr yesterday all goals except the pen was from good service, every forward needs proper service to score, its how the game works can't call a guy inconsistent with inconsistent service.

[halamadrid2]

ADM scored a beauty for PSG and was the best player for them before he was subbed to a standing ovation. I always wondered why he was so bad for United. He is awesome

[The Demon of Carthage]

Not his fault that he was working under the most stubborn, egocentric, psychopathic outdated manager working today.

[halamadrid2]

And there is that. But he did well under Mou

Also what's your guy's opinion on Morata?? is he good enough to come back and start for us??

Personally I believe Morata is the sort of player that needs to play 90 mins week in week out to be effective, he is the sort of guy that gives you 70 mins of meh but then a goal at the end of the game. Dont think we will have that sort of patience with him I am afraid. So in my opinion he should stay with Juve, they are a great team that will always challenge for trophies and he won't have as much pressure there

EPL might actually lose a CL spot if they do worse than Serie A this season who would've thought eh

[futbol_bill]

I don't think we know yet what kind of player will be yet. his time with us, he was just developing, actually still is and he wasn't given a lot of playing time, which you need to develop. At Juventus, he wasn't regular starter until late in season, but he certainly did develop. This year he has been injured so bottom line it's to soon to tell. He did look good on NT when he played there a few months back. But here's the problem from my perspective, we have Benz and he isn't going anywhere, and even though he missed 2 sitters yesterday, he still played well. And they are treating Jese as a backup striker, when he should be a backup winger. Then there are Ronaldo and Bale, who also aren't going anywhere. So where does Morata fit in?

[halamadrid2]

Morata would come to give Benz some competition I believe. He scores many goals for Juve especially in the big games something we've lacked from Bale/Benz but I am not sure, I guess you are right, it's still too soon to tell. We will probably know better at the end of the season

[chad4401]

everybody would give benzema competition even a tree or a cone, remember jese having better workrate,movement, runs and rafa prefers and liked him more, now that crashed and burn now its morata again , who will be the one to rid us of the horrible benzema, can't wait for dat

[futbol_bill]

Chad, I don't think anyone is suggesting Benz is going anywhere. We don't have a second striker ( it's pretty obvious neither Ronaldo nor Bale can play that position and Jese is a winger not a striker). Every big team has a second striker. And we have seen Benz burnt out by February last two seasons under "play only 12" Carlo.

The question was raised in a socio meeting this week, what about Morata. Keep in mind the Morata we saw at Madrid was very much a work in progress. He has developed significantly at Juve and club does have an option on him next summer.

IMO, i'm not sure it is worth it as long as they continue with BBC unless they do enough rotations to give backups (currently Jese, Lucas and Denis, let alone a Morata) enough playing time.

[Valkyrja]

everybody would give benzema competition even a tree or a cone, remember jese having better workrate,movement, runs and rafa prefers and liked him more, now that crashed and burn now its morata again , who will be the one to rid us of the horrible benzema, can't wait for dat

Jese didn't bench Benzema because they don't play the same position.

[chad4401]

i guess imagined all those comments from nick, hala and the rest, along cr being a better 9 too how did that pan out?

you all got a whole month without benzema and the team looked meh like always, yet when the team is functioning and playing well primarily thanks to benzema, all of sudden every striker and their mother could give him competition.

every summer, every season good or bad, benzema always has to be the one who should be pushed out or needs real competition, for the most made up rubbish.

3 goals in 3 games and only thing on your minds, is any player not name benzema doing it, so you all can actually feel good about it.

[halamadrid2]

Ronaldo scored all his recent goals from a number 9 position. When he played as solely a winger (Gijon) he didn't score any and was generally very bad. Ronaldo is a better number 9 than Benz and Benz is a better number 10 than Ronaldo. If you look at their heatmaps those are the positions they occupy

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