Real Madrid vs RCD Espanyol

@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

Are you done?!

Anyways some positives:

- Zidane has made us win the ball back quickly after we lose it and circle players in order to not give them any space to manoeuvre or pass. That left side is especially solid in this respect when they dont have to chase after a diagonal ball with Marcelo, Isco and Kroos being quick to win the ball back after we lose it
-Navas is left with alot less to do and when he does he is always quick and sharp off his line
-Zidane has made our fullbacks an important cog in the way he wants us to play which helps our wingers
-Isco is finally back 4th straight awesome game from him since Zidane took over. It also helps that his role is exactly identical to his role under Carlo. When Marcelo has the ball he runs behind him and Marcelo cuts in so Isco does the job of a CM and LW like he did with Carlo
-Benzema continues to take no prisoners shooting ambitiously, coming out of the box to fill the void left by Ronaldo and running into the box when our wingers/fullbacks have the ball so he can turn in a cross. Lewa can stay where he is
-Jese has an important role in the team and it shows in his progression from game to game. Well done to Zidane for believing in him
-The players have become very unselfish. Bale, Benz, Isco, James etc always looking for someone in better position unlike before when they used to shoot or give the wrong pass

Negatives
-it might not show but i dont feel like James is putting enough effort in defence. Alot of the times it is just Carvajal and Modric against players because James does not follow through with tracking back. It might not be apparent because how good Carvajal is but it would have been very clear with other RBs. Also alot of the times he stayed up linear with Benzema and Ronaldo when one of our CBs have the ball, Benz would then run back and help the midfield. The last thing we need is a big gap between our midfield and forward line. Bale did excellently in this department under Zidane before his injury. You'd never see him level with Benz and Ronaldo, hus starting position would always be just in front of Modric so that he and Carvajal would have better passing options. I get he has not been in very good shape and is atarting to improve now but i still see cracks in his performances. If i had to choose between Bale and James based on this season i know who I'd choose
-Marcelo really really really needs to improve his final ball. Its so annoying to see him dribble past a whole team and then give the worst pass/cross right infront of the goalie. He has played too many games and needs rest which brings me to my next point
-Nacho and Kovacic and recently Lucas and Casemiro keep getting ignored despite how good they have been this season. Marcelo needs rest and so do Modric and Kroos. It wouldn't hurt to sub in Kovacic for Modric and Casemiro for Kroos once in a while especially when we blow away teams in the first 20 minutes

That said i am very happy with how we play. Some of the football and ball circulation we have seen in the past 4 games have been mesmerising. Pathetico won't know what hit them. I still remember our first half against them under Rafa. They couldn't keep up imagine with this team

And unlike the Rayo game, we actually played good yet again. Hope springs eternal and Zidane has definitely bring some hope in us...until we lose a big game and we start to panic

spot on! @halamadrid2
I noticed James being linear with ronaldo and Benzema at times, but to be fair to him, he was everywhere on Sunday. I hope Zidane does not make the mistake of benching isco for james when the Bale returns. That will just take us back to the period where isco performed so well filling up for Modric and Bale, just to lose his spot immediately they returned. He lost his morale and his performance dropped considerably because he realized that no matter how well he performed, he was always going to be the 12th man.

Isco and James are competing for the same position when Bale returns... so one of them is going to have to sit. Zidane has made that perfectly clear unless that's changed over the past 10 days.

Agreed and for once i will have no complaints. As has been stated before i feel James will be the odd one out. When all the tough games start to roll out i dont think he is going to see much pitch time unless it is in the second half to rest someone or to help us score a goal.

People will probably call me a hater or whatever but i dont particularly see anything special in James that we cant see from say Bale or anyone else. He isnt a VERY good creator or VERY good goalscorer that would make him easy to miss when he isnt playing. He is just a regular guy with a hefty pricetag.

However, i do recognise his improvements from previous games but there is still something there that is missing

When Bale gets back the line up is probably going to pick itself barring probably Pepe/Varane

James has been the odd man out and it was pretty clear Zidane was saying he was out of shape and had to compete with Isco. Last game was the first good performance from him apparently after several weeks of dedicated program to get in shape and understand exactly what he was being asked to do. Despite last week's good performance there were times when he was out of position, so there is still work to be done. Meanwhile Isco is playing very well. So bottom line is one good outing does not win the competition. I say we are going to see 3 variations in the future with James or Isco or Bale not starting. But you can also assume that all 3 of them will play in virtually every game as the first sub will likely be the one not starting.

Zidane never said James was out of shape in terms of being physically unfit... he clearly meant that he hadn't been in games for so long that he needed to find a rhythm and re-dedicate himself as if we was a starter.

When you're in the manager's dog house, like James, Isco and Carvajal were... it's not easy psychologically. Some guys fight harder. Other guys, like James, can drift.

The worst thing you can do is immediately throw them in there 90 mins in every game because the likelihood of injury would be high. You have to build them up. Regardless of your fitness regiment off the pitch, nothing resembles the intensity of competitive games.

James was clearly not fat. If you look at his x-mas vacation pics, he looks in tip top shape in terms of physical appearance. Endurance? Like the rest of team... likely not where he should have been.