Valkyrja wrote:Rather have Lucas Vasquez against City than DMzema. Can't stand that guy's lax attitude anymore. Lucas at least puts a fight in there.

Are you one of those 'butthurt that he beat out Higuain' guys?

If you are, just let it go bro

We technically did not have an anchor unless you think Kroos was it. It was a really unbalanced midfield but other than Casemiro, no one could have filled that role properly so Zidane can't get blamed for that one. Hands tied and all that...

Benz getting injured too often is a result of Zidane not being smart enough to rest the guy. For some reason he doesn't like mayoral but this is the time to rely on youth. Mayoral should have seen much more minutes. And Nacho is being ignored for whatever reason. I do not understand why Zidane is ignoring Nacho.

Meanwhile I see more drivel from the incompetents of the madrid fanbase in regards to Benz... I'm embarrassed the lot of ye are fellow madrid supporters. absolutely disgusting.

though I am no longer Benz fan (dude is a criminal), I will at least appreciate what he has given to the team. Benz is under appreciated. (even though he is scumbag off the pitch.)

Big problem for me is the full backs. Maybe bill was right a long time ago that I didn't like or appreciate Brazilian style fullbacks but I dont remember Roberto Carlo being shit in all areas at any point that I saw him play.

Marcelo has a great game 10/10. Roberto Carlos equivalent would be a 6/10 on a sunday. lets not get into danilo, i will rage.

I don't get it. Is Marcelo lazy? why is he so shit defensively? If I could clone carjaval and replace marcelo with said clone, i'd do it in a heartbeat. watching him play his current form pisses me off especially when I know he can do so much better. what is wrong with marcelo that he doesnt defend?

Yeah let's blame Zidane for Benzemas injury. Let's also blame Rafa Benitez because Benzema was just as much injured under Benitez as well. Don't forget Carlo too, last season juventus,Atletico match etc etc.

Dude is just injured frequently. Nothing to do with managers.

I hope we never play Kroos as an anchor again. Look at the first goal where the f is Kroos. Thats supposed to be his area. Casemiro wouldnt have allowed Bebe to get into our box. Then Marcelo, are you serious? Go and mark your man not the bloody goal. That Rayo guy was free for a tap in because Marcelo decided to ignore him. The second goal is not on Varane. Its on Danilo. Firstly if Varane hadnt got a head on the ball Miku would have volleyed the ball in. He was infront of Danilo throughout that whole corner process. He needed to be infront of him or at least unbalance him with a nudge. What he was doing only God knows.

Adit wrote:Yeah let's blame Zidane for Benzemas injury. Let's also blame Rafa Benitez because Benzema was just as much injured under Benitez as well. Don't forget Carlo too, last season juventus,Atletico match etc etc.

Dude is just injured frequently. Nothing to do with managers.

Benz is usually fit unless something weird happens or if he is overplayed. this season is the first since his first year that he is getting hurt too often, too frequent.
Carlo year well he was getting overplayed. practically injury waiting to happen.

Plus with the increasing incompetence of the madrid medical staff, I have little confidence not just benz but a good amount of our boys actually getting proper treatment. Ramos who never gets injured, is getting injured, bale had a relapse to an injury earlier in the season. Very concerned whoever heads into infirmary. sanitas is utter garbage. wouldn't be suprised if benz carrying an injury that they didnt pick up on. again. wouldnt be the first time and certainly wont be the last.

This is not the time to rely on youth, this is the time for your experienced men to step up. That being said, I would agree that Mayoral should have been used more, for the very least to help with Benzema's resting period. Now is not the time for that unfortunately.

Also, Zidane can't be blamed for Benzema's injuries because that guy has been injury prone since, well, for a good while.

@Hala
Kroos is not an anchor or an holding mid. What exactly you expected from a guy who does not have the physicality or the skill set to pull off the role? But who else is Zidane gonna put there in place of Casemiro. Pepe? He is cancer at CB, he would be double that at DM.

Can someone please prove to me when Benz has been injury-prone other than this season and his first one at Madrid?....  hint, you can't.  Number of games per season the last 5 years before this...  48, 52, 50, 52 and 46. Don't ask me to compare that with other elite CFs in the past 5 seasons because you will be proven wrong.

So I can safely say he has been injury prone this season then? I know anything French can be a sensitive issue in these parts so I wanna make sure I have my ducks in a row.

@Doc, 4 man midfield like the one we played against Bilbao away?

Its not that he cant, he is just soooo lazy tracking players. That Bebe curled shot for example. Kroos slips he literally jogs back while Pepe and Varane are busy covering runs Bebe is just drifting inwards and if Kroos had been alert he would have cut off the pass to Bebe but he is just standing there and pretends like he wants to block the shot when its too late anyways.

halamadrid2 wrote:I hope we never play Kroos as an anchor again. Look at the first goal where the f is Kroos. Thats supposed to be his area. Casemiro wouldnt have allowed Bebe to get into our box. Then Marcelo, are you serious? Go and mark your man not the bloody goal. That Rayo guy was free for a tap in because Marcelo decided to ignore him. The second goal is not on Varane. Its on Danilo. Firstly if Varane hadnt got a head on the ball Miku would have volleyed the ball in. He was infront of Danilo throughout that whole corner process. He needed to be infront of him or at least unbalance him with a nudge. What he was doing only God knows.

this is why i say some of you guys are clueless to what happen on the pitch, kroos at anchor with isco in midfield is very bad cause isco is useless, just like against las palmas isco-casemiro-modric, even casemiro can't cover for flopsco, stop trying to blame kroos for flopsco you guys have been doing it all season.

Doc wrote:This is not the time to rely on youth, this is the time for your experienced men to step up. That being said, I would agree that Mayoral should have been used more, for the very least to help with Benzema's resting period. Now is not the time for that unfortunately.

Also, Zidane can't be blamed for Benzema's injuries because that guy has been injury prone since, well, for a good while.

@Hala
Kroos is not an anchor or an holding mid. What exactly you expected from a guy who does not have the physicality or the skill set to pull off the role? But who else is Zidane gonna put there in place of Casemiro. Pepe? He is cancer at CB, he would be double that at DM.

Injury prone is being a glass man when taking a tackle or a knock from an opposing player. You're not injury prone if you're being overplayed. This year is the first season for Benzema that he is getting injured but not because he is being overplayed. Zidane is taking too many risks with Benz. Throws him into the fire the moment he is available. one needs to be eased into the fire just coming back from an injury. not thrown into it every 3-4 days with little rest. Benz is not like Ramos or CR7 who are physical monsters. same with a lot of our guys. cant be rushed into the pitch. and we have been rushing him all season. ofc he will get a knock here and there eventually.


Mayoral isnt experienced but so as long as he puts in good work rate that wont matter. now is the time for everyone to step up but not by doing so blindly. not at rushing our top players back into the pitch fresh off the infirmary. that is why we have backups and reserves. yes its critical time but you dont want to go into an important match with some of your top guns unavailable. and that is what we're risking just like ramos playing with a shoulder injury going into the clasico. we playing with fire.

This season, he has.  You can usually tell if a player is going to have a tough year if he gets one of those nagging injuries early on in the season and it lingers (hamstring, calf, etc.).  What happens is that you start compensating and injure something else...  Bale and Varane are perfect examples of that.

Carvajal, Ramos, Pepe, Modric, Varane, Marcelo, etc. are injured far more often.  But since we have proper backups there, it's less visible.  We don't have a backup CF so it really emphasizes things when Benz is missing.

I can't understand why we don't have a proper backup CF.

@Chad, lol Isco was the best player on the bloody pitch against Las Palmas. We lost it when Kovacic came on for him. But I dont expect you to know that because you hardly watch our games anyways. I bet you turned it off at the 42nd minute today

sportsczy wrote:Can someone please prove to me when Benz has been injury-prone other than this season and his first one at Madrid?....  hint, you can't.  Number of games per season the last 5 years before this...  48, 52, 50, 52 and 46. Don't ask me to compare that with other elite CFs in the past 5 seasons because you will be proven wrong.

madrid fans exaggerating to seem knowledgeable seems about right, anyway some posters on here are disgusting, clearly ungrateful, and clueless, if the team wins the 11th CL with benz hope some of you guys don't cut your wrists over your higs pictures.

halamadrid2 wrote:@Chad, lol Isco was the best player on the bloody pitch against Las Palmas. We lost it when Kovacic came on for him. But I dont expect you to know that because you hardly watch our games anyways. I bet you turned it off at the 42nd minute today

best player my arse its already proven even today alone, you guys have no problem lying about isco performances, just for the sake of it, isco is hella useless.

every time he flops in midfield you,adit, val and the rest immediately start blaming kroos nonstop, you guys don't know crap outside of dribbling, carlo,rafa and now zidane, isco can't hold down a starting spot is because he is useless, and you guys can't tell because your clueless.

look at marcelo does exactly the same thing as danilo, yet you guys have completely 2 different reaction because marcelo is popular, and over looking the fact that if coentrao could stay fit marcelo would be perma benched stop talking footy and still hyping flopsco.

halamadrid2 wrote:@Doc, 4 man midfield like the one we played against Bilbao away?

Its not that he cant, he is just soooo lazy tracking players. That Bebe curled shot for example. Kroos slips he literally jogs back while Pepe and Varane are busy covering runs Bebe is just drifting inwards and if Kroos had been alert he would have cut off the pass to Bebe but he is just standing there and pretends like he wants to block the shot when its too late anyways.

Away to Athletic was the 2-1 victory back in September right? Because that was under Rafa and I have totally disregarded most of what he did or the lack there of. Also that was in September under Rafa. If you mean the 4-2 win Madrid, that was a 3 man mid with Kovacic, Modric and Kroos and Kroos still did not look that good as an holding mid.

I also reserve the right to see the same match as you and have a complete different perspective. We are good like that.

a couple of things; benzema isn't injury prone- bale, james, marcelo, pepe are our usual suspects when it comes to injuries. injury prone players are guys like saha, deisler, robben, recoba, etc

benzema's injuries are a fault of administration than anything else. he plays many minutes and as season closes (especially in the last 3 seasons), he's drained out. because the powers that be insist on having only one striker, or one striker and a sub who is not expected to get any minutes unless the main cf gets suspended or injured.

when you have only one guy, even if he is tired, the pride players have will see them insist that they're all right and knocks become aggravating injuries. i'm all for a co-cf (not a back up whose job will be to lounge on the bench, then we expect them to play A plus football, when they haven't even kicked a ball in an official match); it will keep both competing and hungry, then in the case of injuries, shoes can easily be filled.....i'm not cool with cristiano jese bale or any other winger playing as a backup cf. i've reached the conclusion jese isn't a striker

Isco was very good in the second half I thought. Played with a lot of sharpness. He is definitely a threat when he's on his game.

Kroos never was and never will be a proper holding mid... namely because he can't tackle and people run past him like he's not even there.

co-CF doesn't work.  Never has in any team.  You just need a good backup CF who's a little older and doesn't expect to start regularly but put him in there in cup games early on and the easier La Liga ones.  Who?  I'd see if Totti wants to come over at the end of the season.  I actually wanted Mandzukic as a backup but Atleti would never sell to us.  There are others...  I'd even take a shot at Diego Costa.  Kevin Gameiro also.

@Doc, The away win at Bilbao was what I was meant to say. That 4 man midfield was just I know we all want to get Rafa out of our heads but you cant deny that 4 man midfield was a damn good experiment. I dont expect formation experiments with Zidane though. He has a set formation and fits everyone in that can play in said position. But the lack of CDMs have hurt us. We could have loaned one in the winter market but we didnt which was rather poor of us.

@Chad, you want to discuss Isco not being able to play as a CM next to Casemiro. Watch the games that has occured in (there havent been many, thought id get you started) then explain to me when and where he showed this. That way we could have a proper discussion. Until dont quote me if i mention Benzema, Isco or Carvajal please. Anything you write is hardly discussion material

isco did a grand total of bleep all you kidding me? just because he sucked less than the first half?

its doesn't matter what you think of kroos, if dudes aren't doing their jobs he can't cover everybody, just like casemiro against las palmas with isco in midfield, this is a fact.

Nah Isco was good in the 2nd half... he was making differences in the middle.  I actually think he scores 1-2 goals if Modric could hit the broad side of a barn with his passes.  He also played Marcelo on really well but Marcelo's final ball is really poor.

I definitely agree that we need a quality back up striker. He doesnt need to be old just needs to content on the bench and do his best when he is called upon. Chicha was that guy but he was too expensive. And I dont understand why we never went for Llorente when we had the chance to. Considering our play is pretty wing based he would have been excellent to have in the box and as a plan b

Jese has to be the most tactically inept player on our team.
He has never performed well whenever he is a starter.

Good win
Freaking atletico played 1-0

i do not want back ups content with sitting on the bench, neither do i want guys who when called upon can't do anything right. the term 'co-cf' is in the name alone; i avoid using the term 'backup' because i know we'll sign some guy who if we are thinking straight, we'll be too scared to give minutes to, because it will be a major major downgrade, so such player sits on the bench, and when benz gets injured and the backup player gets his chance, we start coming on here confused and asking ourselves "why the hell did we sign such a scrub as backup"