Real Madrid vs RCD Espanyol

Pretty good... They are training hard to play a certain way and they can't sustain it physically yet. You can see that we have moments where we're hurting to sustain the style. It will come. Not easy to press all the time.

Only complaints is that Isco is losing his position too often and James isn't staying wide enough at least at the start of the action. Those two need to pay attention to spacing and positioning more.

iker got hate because he sucked, he knew he sucked and got rid of lopez and made navas sit on the bench, he got hate because he had to rely on politics to keep place in the team, even if means making the team lose, iker was a pos in the end.

Not bad awesome first half

Benzema is on absolute fire and this game has turned into joga bonito advertisement lol. Put Kova and Jese in now. This game is over

Just when I thought that James might not impress me again, he comes with a fine performance to shut me up. Him and Isco were insane!

Everybody played well bar Ronaldo, but his second goal was stunningly beautiful. El Komander

The intensity sort of fizzled out alittle bit in the 2nd half but picked up again after the subs. I cant believe Rafa froze out Isco Disco. He is sizzling on the ball. One of my favourite players

Jese has also woken up. Loving watching us atm. Lets see how we do in away and tougher games. Espanyol were too easy

Okay, I have already said this three times, but I feel the need, after watching tonight's game to say it again: Ronaldo's crosses are insanely accurate and he should really cross more. Also, in the second half, he played very well, pressed, tracked back a few times and improved his work rate considerably. Must be because Zidane said he "must work a little bit more" in his pregame conference. If he keeps playing like this, I'll support him.

Everybody else was brilliant too. This was a footballing lesson of the highest order.

Now Z needs to prove himself against the tougher opponents as well. We're scoring more than any other team in the league and that's a good thing. But what matters the most is winning the big games. Let's see how Z does in that department.

Great win!

chad4401 wrote:iker got hate because he sucked, he knew he sucked and got rid of lopez and made navas sit on the bench, he got hate because he had to rely on politics to keep place in the team, even if means making the team lose, iker was a pos in the end.

This. He dropped form and was not the same Iker and it was obvious to see week in and week out.

I don't call it hating but more being realistic. Lopez was in better form and Navas came from an amazing season from Levante plus WC and still didn't play due to politics.

Jese is twice the player on the left. Should never ever play on the right again. he's a LW/SS.

Sad not to see Kovacic in action, but on the other hand Modric and Isco were immense, and everyone played great.

StrugaRock wrote:The problem all started when we bought him, we needed a backup for Carvajal, instead we got a player to compete with him, and Carvajal is beating him with ease, case closed.

i'm not a big fan of signing players as back ups rather than promoting competition; especially when the starter isn't necessarily at all time great standards. i enjoy signing him to compete, but if we're competing then the better player should start not the more expensive. @sportczy, yeah i remember them days...guys like uche, pandiani torching our defense. it was a good game, i had my issues with the line up as you all probably know, but i expected us to handle them with ease....they've been having a rough season

Z on Cristiano:

Defensively, he did a magnificent job tonight

Now, we're talking. Kick the lazy out of him.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Z on Cristiano:

Defensively, he did a magnificent job tonight

Now, we're talking. Kick the lazy out of him.

Damn, he should play like this every game!
He was much better today. Not just because it was espanyol. he actually played for the team tonight

That goal was vintage Cristiano

Looks like we are ack to square one again. Bale injured, Hames, Kroos, Modric and Isco all play behind CR and Benz and Madrid look free scoring once again. CR was excellent, ran, pressed etc Bale needs to clearly stay injured.

Said this before and I'll say it again, if Madrid line up like this they can win the cl. Isco was incredible, everyone pulled their weights. It's a shame Bale will recover soon and unbalance the team.

It's clear to everyone with eyes that Isco and James are both superior to Bale. It's a shame that the Welshman is Perez's golden boy. Last season we played the best football in Europe with this 442

I'm not as sure as you. I used to think that 442 is our best formation. But then, ever since Z took over, 4-3-3 had been playing godly football prior to Bale's injury. They also won both of their games while this 442 struggled against 15-placed Betis and destroyed modest Espanyol.

I really need to see more of this Bale-less 442 before I can accurately judge whether we'd be better off without Bale, cause the latter had been playing insanely well prior to picking up that injury. In the meantime, if Z could alternate between BBC-ed Madrid and Isco-Kroos-Modric-James-ed Madrid that would be glorious. Both formations can be useful depending on whom we're playing against. Not to mention that this approach would keep everybody happy. So if Z is smart and has decent man management skills, he will use both formations regularly.

The reason they struggled last week was because of James (well danilo helped as well ). James took a while to get used to playing as an AM as well as his form was off. Difference in this game was the result of practice. He was in much better shape and other than a few times he (and Isco) wandered a bit too much from team shape, they all played well.

So now Zidane has a delimma. Play 4-3-3 with Bale and Isco, play 4-4-2 without Bale or play 4-3-3 with Bale and James. I'd say we are going to see all 3. The other good thing about Zidane and practice is all subs (Jese, Lucas, Casemiro) all fit in well with the formation / tactics. He has the entire team thinking about team shape. And for those of you saying Jese can only play the one position, you are wrong. His entire career has seen him play multiple positions. At his point he is a squad player and is doing well recovering his form from 2 years ago. Looks like he is going to be Zidane's 13th player (after James / Isco/ Bale).

bale this season>both isco and james, can't wait until he returns , cr wasn't even that great outside the goals either .

CR was MOTM yesterday. His best performance this season yet

For a guy that proclaims he knows futbol much better than all of us, you sure have a narrow view of the game. Zidane is really accomplishing a lot in just a few weeks with the same players that most of us were writing off just a month ago. Other than Danilo all are playing well, but the credit goes to Zidane. He has accomplished several things in this short timeframe. He has them in much better physical shape, He has resolved team tactics (with and without Bale) and most important of all, he has the team (including Ronaldo) believing in the team shape and adhering to it. So rather than focus on your usual rants of trying to knock every poster here, maybe it's time you got with the team and support the excellent efforts of Zidane.

bill i don't care about your opinion in the slightest, so you can ignore my posts, anyway cr wasn't that great but as usual when it comes to hyping certain players on the team, you guys excel far beyond where i can follow, so im gonna watch you lot flip the script the next time something goes wrong.

Chad, do you realize that you're the only discourteous member of the Real Madrid section? Couldn't you just state your opinion in a civil way?

Don't you get tired of writing the same thing over and over again? Like, seriously, I can sum up your 3471 posts in 4 points:

1. Insulting and belittling CR regardless of whether he plays well or not.
2. Insulting and belitting Isco regardless of whether he plays well or not.
3. Defending Benzema regardless of whether he deserves it or not.
4. Insulting anybody who disagrees with you.

This is basically your legacy at Goal Legacy. Seriously, dude, show more class and be more respectful to those around you. We want our section to be spotless with only well-behaved members.

Meh, it was a dud game anyways but CRs overall performance was good. My motm were Isco and Modric.

@Chad, it's not flip flopping, CR has been awful all season and he had a good game yesterday. Who here has denied he hasn't been a cancer at Madrid?

jibers wrote:Meh, it was a dud game anyways but CRs overall performance was good. My motm were Isco and Modric.

@Chad, it's not flip flopping, CR has been awful all season and he had a good game yesterday. Who here has denied he hasn't been a cancer at Madrid?

Are you implying that he has been a cancer his entire time here?

Valkyrja wrote:

jibers wrote:Meh, it was a dud game anyways but CRs overall performance was good. My motm were Isco and Modric.

@Chad, it's not flip flopping, CR has been awful all season and he had a good game yesterday. Who here has denied he hasn't been a cancer at Madrid?

Are you implying that he has been a cancer his entire time here?

A bulk of his time in Madrid yes.

@carth firstly likes not talk about respect or disrespect, with mob attitude on this forum, im usually consistent with whatever im saying, you guys when you can't win the debate goes off fanboy this or that and laughing off solid arguments/insight just to come to the same conclusion later, then act like i didn't called it months ago.

cr plays ok and scores he is motm, you guys keep proving that your more interested in hyping cr, than actually looking at his overall play, save it.

isco does nothing most games and is always motm, why because he was super hyped before he got here, if plays well i say it and if he's holding onto the ball killing plays and dribbling for the sake of it, i will say that too instead of glorifying every move he makes.

benzema>higs the sooner you guys get over it, the sooner you will realize how silly your lot posts were about him, no matter how you look at it, the tactic were always against him and in favor of cr, now their on a more balanced playing field who is carrying who? its going as i said it would .

its funny how not hyping cr and isco at every turn is belittling them, but hating on benzema nonstop every season is cool, he is always worse than every player, he never does anything good or great, always posting stupid line up, when we all know he is a key players, always been top 3 performers for the team most seasons, yet act like he is scrub, again im not a sheep sue me

do i insult jibs? or a lot of other posters who reply to me with respect than trying to show off, just to get salty and call for reinforcement, this forum