CL First Leg: Madrid v. Roma

That's how to play a Serie A side... other than Benz looking like an old man and Marcelo getting used by Salah like a 10 cent hooker.

Great job by the CBs. Ramos and Varane were absolutely marvelous... Ramos got caught a couple of times. But it's hard when you have to defend without a fullback.

Fabulous second half by Ronaldo. Thats how he should always play. Stick to the left, be unselfish and take on players. Kroos was absolutely tremendous today. Always the right pass everytime he was pressured. The defendwrs did well to defend agaknst Roma's fast wingers so well done to them. Any balls they didnt stop Navas was quick of his line to catch. Perfect performance imo

Benzema woke up after our goal. Still found it hard to find space in the box. James needs to get his shet together, he has been awful in every single game he has played for ys. Today he was dverwhere but the right. How about you keep your positioning and limit your moving around to when someone else swaps wth you

Anyways Zidane gets a 10/10 for me. This was a perfectly executed plan. We pobably would gave lost under Carlo

This was a flattering scoreline. The performance was not good. James and Benz were extremely poor. Great game by Varane and Ramos.

Despite the much-better 2nd half, I did not like how Roma was allowed so much time and space on the ball. Our forwards have to work harder when the team is not in possession. Great goals by Ronaldo and Jese.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbcnF4jW0AIfgH3.jpg

Not a good sight for Perez. Zizou prepare for the sack mate

i didn't like the performance either. once again, i didn't like the line up. i don't know what james and isco really do to be honest. i've always said i don't think both should start, cos they play the same position and we don't even play that position anymore, so they're not in their comfort zone. now i'm getting the feeling neither should even start. i liked how the defense toughed it out especially when roma were dominating position. cristiano didn't play well...BUT....that goal is what we want and expect from cristiano; take defenders on like a winger should.

i don't care what anyone says it was a good goal and the way a leader should play....you can't open up a defense with one touch passes, then grab the game by the scruff of its neck and attempt something crazy; ala modric against granada....you don't win these games with one touch, one-two football, because the defense is set on holding their position....good away win, two away goals. zidane's subs were well thought out too....good one to bring jese on

We have to remember we have not beaten an Italian team away for over a decade. They have always had a number on us. Conceding no goals and coming away with an away win should be praised not critisiced

Thought the defenders were fantastic despite occasional mishaps due to too much pace from Salah but that was expected and Ramos did a tenderness job one on one imo. Anything our defense leaked was picked up by Navas. Top marks for the defense, they defended single handedly.

Kroos and modric were immense. Game opened up after our first goal so hold your horses with Isco bashing Nick. Roma were going to get tired with the way they were playing we did just that, tire them out. No complaints on midfield for today.

James was really bad despite that one cross. Why is his first touch pass always bad? When he pass back on first touch it always leaves the ground.

Ronaldo picked it up in second half. Made great runs and scored a fantastic goal. Could improve the decision making though. Motm.

Benzema. What a joke. Even Ronaldo ran more than him. This is the kind of games he has to show up. No runs behind, can't pass, shit shots, ... Nothing to show for.

halamadrid2 wrote:We have to remember we have not beaten an Italian team away for over a decade. They have always had a number on us. Conceding no goals and coming away with an away win should be praised not critisiced

86-87 season was the last one we eliminated an italian team

Regarding ROnaldo, that was the best player in the world in the second half . more of the same please

well...i understand the history is important and the victory is huge; but let's not act like serie a is what it was in the times we got eliminated.....even the last time roma beat us, they weren't all that, but we were a damn crap side that year. and this team should have never lost to juve last season imo, never...that was a lack of mental fortitude. you know i think we played practically the same way we did juve, until cristiano decided to remind us what he's capable of doing

my understanding is that Zizou and staff are flogging them into shape in training... after a few weeks, it looks like the team looks physically beaten down a bit. That happens when you're trying to get into shape quickly with intensity. Just need to wait for peeps to get their second wind.

It will come around. You just hope you don't lose in the process.

Keep in mind guys that:
- Marcelo was slowed obviously and he got raped by Salah as a result. That doesn't happen if he's fit.
- Bale is a lot better than James and brings the speed to run behind the defense which we lack sorely right now
- We're still at the start of our transition to Zizou's project. The path is pretty clear... execution is spotty at times due to fitness and i don't think the squad is right for it.

If we avoid injuries and we get Bale back, we'll be a lot better come mid-March imo. Still good though. We show great sign and, most importantly, we're getting results.

dont forget kovacic >> Isco as a CM

yeah... but i don't know if Zizou can bench Isco. Not because of anything political... because Isco will likely completely check out mentally and then you basically have nothing on the bench. You'll tell me that Kova is a better player (and yes, he is fast Fennec. I think Inter made him slow down because that's Serie A lol).... but is it better to have a super-motivated Kova come in for the last 25-30 mins? Or do you start Kova and then you risk losing Isco mentally??

It's a hard choice. Personally, i don't make that choice unless i need to... namely the clasico and starting in CL semis. Matches like that.

i disagree. you make them compete, Kova starts one game, Isco starts the next one. When its time to play a CL final you want the best man on the pitch starting.

jese or lucas vazquez (especially jese) should play when bale is out...not james. i'm not just saying that because he scored today. if you guys remember during the decima season, there was a point where bale was injured (as usual; him getting injured is becoming normalcy) and jese was really performing, to the point where the media began going head over heels for him asking whether he should be a starter, till he suffered that tackle against schalke that laid him off.

the fact zizou was the assistant coach then, i hope he considers such a move. at least jese tries to beat defenders now and again. as i've said before, i'm not sure i see what isco does that warrants him starting. especially in close games where all we do is one-touch pass, and one-twos with little to no creativity. i think he needs freedom to play like how he did at malaga....but we can't provide such freedom when we r still trying to be a more disciplined unit....casemiro or kova instead of him. unless he wins his spot by giving better performances....same thing goes for james

sportsczy wrote: (and yes, he is fast Fennec.  I think Inter made him slow down because that's Serie A lol)  

You saw the light digging the avi btw

Unfortunately due to a fulltime job and 18 credits in college + partying a bit (lol) I could not watch the game. Was benz and james really that bad?

Also, Ronaldo's goal was fantastic. hoping he didn't have another selfish game

well, we all know James as well doesnt fit, but if Bale is out and Jese is benching him...

It makes sense with how we play, because Jese and even Lucas will provide more for our shape then James wide.

What do you guys think of Lucas playing as a fullback? when carvajal is injured and danilo is the next choice

i don't like it. i'm a bit old school, i don't like transforming players into positions they don't play. when carlo did it with di maria i did not like it one bit. i was surprised that di maria actually pulled it off and it worked. but to tell a winger to play right back? that's extreme, he's not a defender....i'm sorry, no matter how bad danilo is, i doubt lucas is a better defender. remember as a wing back he'd have to monitor his overlapping runs and know how to tackle. its okay to do it once in a random game against some scrub like las palmas, but it shouldn't be a regular thing

unless zidane alters the formation to 3 center backs, then have lucas play wide in a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3. and he won't do that, because, one, we have marcelo who isn't a cb; two, playing pepe varane and ramos together is risky, in terms of injuries and cards. danilo should be back up to carvajal; if the midfield does its job properly, and he gets help when needed, his lapses may just go unnoticed....a big 'may'. hell i don't think lucas would even like playing there. how many wingers would be happy to be transformed into a back up wing-back?

Is our RW cursed? I swear, James' performance yesterday was reminiscent of Bale's performance during the 14-15 season - wasting possession time and time again, and rarely doing anything productive. The highlights of his performance was him clutching his leg, then injuring his ear, then his shoulder. Oh.. and that one great cross. Hooray. I like James, but his recent performances are certainly no indication that he's the one most suited to start on the right during Bale's absence.

What I find extremely alarming is the fact that our frontline is still unable to break down defenses. I am yet to see us score one goal by stretching the opposition, opening lanes, and wriggling our way through them to the goal.

Roma got tired, and most importantly, they had to come at us after Ronaldo's goal. That's why we ended up having a lot more space. Our strikers are very, very good when they have space and very poor when they don't.

If we play like this against Atlético, we'll struggle. Unless somebody pulls out a golazo out of their bunny hat or score from set pieces forcing them to abandon their ultra defensive tactics and opening space for us, we won't do much.

And that's not all. Our front line is still insanely lazy defensively. You'd think they would at least up their work-rate defensively in the CL. But no, they prefer to stand still and wait for the ball to somehow reach them by wriggling its way through a big space of defenders. Every time I see Modric or Kroos forced to pass the ball back to our defenders because there's nobody to pass it to up front, my stomach turns. This is a big problem that we still haven't fixed yet, and from the looks of it, are unwilling to or totally indifferent.

Benzema yesterday was shockingly and extremely poor. Even Ronaldo ran more than him.

Like I said yesterday, the game, and most importantly your opinion, would've been much different hadn't Ramos and Varane had a great game. Their world class performances somehow covered up our weaknesses.

Truth is, Roma shouldn't have been allowed that much space. And they shouldn't have been able to reach our final third so easily. But I can't blame guys like Kroos, Modric, Carvajal or Isco, cause they're killing themselves covering for the laziness of our guys up front.

You guys are happy for the win, I am too, but as long as we're unable to vertically break defenses to pieces in offense, while defending as a unit, we will be eliminated from this competition the second we face a heavyweight.

In all fairness DoC, that is the beauty of team sports. When one unit is dragging the flag, the other can compensate by doing more. It does cause an imbalance but you would hope the unit that is dragging the flag to offer more later on in the match.

The problem is that that first half was rubbish from our front 3 and it really made our backline work way harder than it should especially since Marcelo essentially made us a back 3. Was surprisingly slow in attack and defense. Fortunately, Ronaldo really upped his game in the 2nd half which bothers me that he could have done this from the start. Benzema was a no show and James did his finest Hazard impression.

As for midfield, I find we coped well against a Roma side that clearly knew what they were doing. They pressed well and harassed with vigour and purpose. Kovacic replacing Isco helped a good bit but that is to be expected. Isco is not a CM while Kovacic is.

All in all, I was expecting the worse and end up seeing a 2-0 away win in Italy against a surprisingly competent Roma side. So I am a happy camper.

Tbh DoC Roma's pitch was very narrow. It makes it harder to break them down by stretching them. I know they are not even close to their level but we showed against Betis that we are capable of opening up teams when they play ultradefensive.

Malaga are one of those teams. Lets see how we deal with their tactics

halamadrid2 wrote:Tbh DoC Roma's pitch was very narrow. It makes it harder to break them down by stretching them. I know they are not even close to their level but we showed against Betis that we are capable of opening up teams when they play ultradefensive.

Malaga are one of those teams. Lets see how we deal with their tactics

Still don't think that excuses our forward line for being ridiculously incompetent for so long. Was really disappointed in them honestly.