Carlo and Benitez, and pretty much every single top coach, share a common ground: some players don't get to play unless a first-teamer is injured. I'm pretty sure, hadn't Khedira been injured, Carlo wouldn't have thought about playing Di Maria in midfield. In the same way, Benitez tonight wouldn't have played Jesé and Vasquez from the jump had Bale, Benzema, James and Kovacic been available. But let's take a look at what our Plan B brought tonight:

1. Killer workrate : Jesé and Vasquez took a massive load off Kroos and Casemiro tonight and allowed them to focus mainly on dictating the build-up play and controlling the midfield. The picture would've been entirely different with BBC.

2. Teamwork: We were a joy to watch tonight. Everybody knew exactly where their teammates were. The new faces had little egos and played to impress the coach instead of going for glory.

3. Top-notch defensive proficiency: Except Ronaldo who was instructed otherwise, the rest did participate in defense. With Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo, we were defending with seven men basically.

4. Incessant waves of high pressing: The new faces demonstrated tonight that they can press and throughout the entire match. They clearly have the stamina and heart for it. Again this wouldn't have been possible with BBC.


Problem is, I'm sure Benitez will go back to playing the stars once everybody is fit. But tonight should give you something to think about; a lingering question: Can plan B be more efficient than plan A sometimes? Shouldn't plan B be deployed at least once every three games? Of course when I say Plan B, I mean playing the Vasquezs, the Jesés, the Iscos..ahead of Plan A players: The Bales, the Modrics, The James,...

benzema defends and run more than you lot give him credit for, but oh well nothing new.

When I saw who had the last post in this thread I already knew the answer

What's even more funny is that he didn't talk about the topic of this thread. He just defended Benzema and went on his way

So basically, more team rotation?

Well, I wouldn't put my head on a block to say "plan B" is more efficient but it does provide Rafa with more options to go with if certain situation arises. I personally like that Vasquez is not letting his stinker he had earlier in the season get to him.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:What's even more funny is that he didn't talk about the topic of this thread. He just defended Benzema and went on his way

discussion things with you lot is a waste half the time, cause you needs a month or 2 before seeing the light, and your clearly following nick trying to paint benzema is a negative light just to do it.

look at stats in the higs thread he has more tackles than suarez does, yet im sure you guys would notice and wank to 1 tackle suarez and overlook a dozen from benzema to keep up the narative that he is lazy,slow,bad runs,bad movement and a terrible finisher, you clearly don't know crap just fall in line and repeat everything else.

Plan B happened only because of injuries. Our defense would have never looked the same with Benzema and Bale instead.

That's a shame though, Benitez actually has a great pressing game as showed by last match but our super stars are not willing to do as he say.

Benzema is shit at defending... Only CR is worse than him. Him jogging towards defenders is an inspiration for my evening wallks.

matter of fact benzema ran second to di maria in the team and im sure you lot couldn't tell the difference, cause you needs a bunch of commentators wanking over every little detail, cause some of you only see hype and are very sheepish.

And CR puts 10km, Balotelli puts 11,Ozil puts 13

Stats are meaningless with out context. You can jog all game and make a nice distance covered stats.... I have seen plenty of examples.

The only fact I could see from watching matches is Benzema sucks at defending.

Lol at the Benzema having more tackle than Suarez as a proof for him defending more...Any one who watches both teams matches can see difference in attitude of both players when tracking back. Like I said meaningless stats are meaningless.

chad4401 wrote:

The Demon of Carthage wrote:What's even more funny is that he didn't talk about the topic of this thread. He just defended Benzema and went on his way

discussion things with you lot is a waste half the time, cause you  needs a month or 2 before seeing the light, and your clearly following nick trying to paint benzema is a negative light just to do it.

look at stats in the higs thread he has more tackles than suarez does, yet im sure you guys would notice and wank to 1 tackle suarez and overlook a dozen from benzema to keep up the narative that he is lazy,slow,bad runs,bad movement and a terrible finisher, you clearly don't know crap just fall in line and repeat everything else.

@Mr Nick09

I get the feeling that with a team A, we could have score at least, one goal, but also conceded. Its easier for squad players to execute defensive tactics than first team players. With benzema on the pitch, we could have done better tho.

I support @chad4401's defense of benzema.
Some people just follow the media sheeplishly and dont actually face reality. It is true that meaningless joggin around the field could provide false statistics in terms of distance covered, but some people equate Benzema's calm demeanor to his actual input. Benzema presses! and he presses hard. He regains possession, he hassles opponents to make mistakes.

Those same sheepish fans would say Ronaldo is the best player in our squad and would turn to the number of goals he has scored this season but would not take cognizance of the calibre of team he scored them against and the ease of those goals. They would not recognize the fact that in all the difficult games this season - atletico bilbao, atletico madrid, malaga and psg, ronaldo failed to score. They will not realize that according to statistics Ronaldo loses the ball about 80% of the time and kills of attacking moves.

Watch a match for once with your eyes and head and not with your heart and recognize the actual impact of each player

shadexticos wrote:Blah Blah Blah

TL;DR

Benzema is our best player, Ronaldo is not good, You guys don't watch games because your opinion is different from mine.

Blah Blah Blah

Anyway, back to what this thread is ACTUALLY about;

I think Rafa is going to very hesitant on the rotations very soon if we are still just doing enough to win these games, especially with the constant criticism he seems to receive after every game.

The best we can hope for is that Rafa has the confidence and belief that the fringe players can make a decent contribution. The PSG game should have him pleased with what he saw.

Benzema presses hard

If that is called pressing then Suarez if pressing machine and Pedro is pressing tornado and Di Maria is ..errr bench press.

One of the big reason we struggle defensively is because both Benzema and CR offers next to nothing to protect the midfield... A team can have one player not doing anything but not two.

I judge with my eyes, which media tells you Benzema doesnt press any way? I have never seen any media talking about individual pressing about Benzema, Bale or even CR. They just don't care about that aspect.

@ izzy, i see you analyzing Rafa's possible rotation strategy. going by your previous post, u shudnt even be making an analysis about the team until the end of the season. I remember you saying it is too early to make any analysis; it is still october ffs.

Our fellow chad once again inserting a Benzema argument into another thread : )

Anyways, yeah i really liked the work rate provided by Lucas and Jese, but lets not beat around the bush, had we had our starters we would've won the game.

I read some news somewhere blaming our injuries on the medical team. Heard they fired some of the physios that had been working with us for more than a decade and now the club is beginning to reconsider their position.
Its sort of a blessing the injuries are coming this early and luckily for us, we have been maneuvering our way through matches. Credit to Benitez on that. But i hope they solve these constant-injuries conundrum and plan A is ready come the business end of the season.

No you got that wrong. It's all about the club appointed doctor. The dispute has been going on for a couple of years. The players couldn't stop his renewal, but they do own the dressing room and have now barred him from entering their santuary

Here is one link. Cant remember where i saw mine tho....
http://as.com/diarioas/2015/10/22/english/1445517127_967332.html