Real Madrid vs Manchester City

We got this guys.

We usually do better when you are pessimistic

Doc wrote:We got this guys.

Stop putting your head in the sand. No Casemiro or Benzema and a not fully fit Ronaldo. I don't guys, I think this is the end of the road for us.

Now just need fake doc to come in and call City favourites because we scored against LaReal in the last 10 minutes and didnt manita them

PS: Just kidding

The reason I think Ramos works is that City play with two destroyer mids... no real CMs.  Ramos gets into trouble trying to track down the movements of CMs in the middle of the pitch.  But against destroyers, he should be ok.

Or we could move Marcelo into the midfield and put Nacho behind him. It's not like Marcelo defends anyhow so might as well free him up to do what he wants

Zidane isnt going go experiment now. He will go with the tried and trusted

Kroos as the pivot but in a 442 not 433 . Lucas on the right and Isco on the left

Kroos as the deep playing mid failed miserably though... so it's not tried and trusted. I have a feeling Zidane may go to something else there.

marcelo in midfield? lol his ball distribution eliminates him from that post i think. not to mention having either danilo or arbeloa at left back (i know both do reasonably well on the left channel, but having arbe or danilo in a must win game like this is a no-no for me). honestly i don't know who i want in that midfield; u make a good point about ramos, he has problems with ball playing midfielders, shouldn't have much problems with anchor men, but ramos is such a block head, he can decide to put in a double legged tackle 15 minutes into the game just to make things unnecessarily interesting. don't want pepe in that role either....

now that i think of it, we've spent so much money on players over the years and we really don't have a co-cf nor a proper defensive midfielder besides casemiro? wow

Kroos played deepest for all of last season and for most of this season so yh it is tried and trusted. We have played 442 plenty of times before. However, we have played Ramos in the midfield once and it failed miserably, Pepe a couple against Barca a team we defend with most of our players anyways, Marcelo in midfield never or not since Pellegrini, not to mention Danilo has not played LB for more than 2 games

i'm not sure i'd call kroos tried and trusted either, it's not his strongest position chasing people up and down the field. i just hope we can show enough commitment as a team and help out whoever is playing that role. i have a feeling its going to be a midfield trio of modric kroos and either james or isco. and this really really scares me

yeah no isco/james in midfield pls, that guaranteed loss either try kova or play 442

Kova is worse...  The bigger issue is that Casemiro allowed Modric and Kroos to take more risks and get closer to the attack.  Without a DM, they have to play more reservedly.  We will need to play more like the early part of Zidane's time as opposed to the style we're playing now.

It may not be a bad idea to have Pepe play DM.  Casemiro was no technical wizard anyhow so we're not losing a whole lot in that aspect. It also allows the rest of the midfield to keep the same dynamic.

hmm i dunno, i think i prefer pepe to isco/james, at least pepe's going to put in tackles. but seriously this crap of having 1 cf, 1 defensive mid, 1 left back has to stop. can't have one player in those positions and a million players who are basically attacking type midfielders

Flo doesn't value DMs... Makalele proved that. He won't spend big money on them. We only have Casemiro because we got him cheaply. So who can we get cheaply in the summer... not much. EPL clubs' new media deal money kicks in. Every EPL club will have at least 102 million euros to spend just by being in the EPL. After that, you get bonuses depending on where you finish. For example, the EPL winner next year gets a total of 250 million euros or something like that.

I think world football is going to get plundered by the EPL. Nothing of quality is going to be cheap anymore.

sportsczy wrote:Kova is worse...  The bigger issue is that Casemiro allowed Modric and Kroos to take more risks and get closer to the attack.  Without a DM, they have to play more reservedly.  We will need to play more like the early part of Zidane's time as opposed to the style we're playing now.

It may not be a bad idea to have Pepe play DM.  Casemiro was no technical wizard anyhow so we're not losing a whole lot in that aspect. It also allows the rest of the midfield to keep the same dynamic.

i know what casemiro does for the team, and yeah no to pepe/ramos/james/isco in the mid, put a true mid in like kova, i mean you guys were wanking about him no? when i said otherwise, but that besides the point, or modric-kroos who can handle themselves, other players need to do their job defensively and the team is good, but im sure zidane realizes this already.

this no time for experiments, go with the trusted tactics,consistent shape, with the players who are most suited and not who is the most hyped or what works in fifa.

i completely forgot about kova, yeah he won't be a bad piece, i just hope he doesn't lose his head and get reckless. @sports, nothing of quality in footy goes cheap these days. even players who aren't all that are commanding more prices than luis figo's transfer (economic cycles and fluctuations aside), you look at what guys like sterling, who isn't all that are going for, hell, even the players we sign, i won't mention any names. but that's the reality of football these days

#laundecima

----------------Navas------------------
Carvajal---Pepe---------Ramos------Marcelo
-----------------Varane----------------
---------Modric----------Kross-----------
Lucas--------Bale----------------Cristiano

Varane has more passing abilities than Pepe so i think we should try him there, i think Carlo did try him in practice.

It's always good to approach the game with a certain degree of caution. Meaning; even though I don't rate City particularly high, we should leave nothing to chance or luck. Scoring one or two goals and then dropping back is very risky and borderline suicidal. We should shower them with goals until we annihilate every single shred of hope left in them of getting back into the game.

I'm also glad that Z said this in his pre-game conference:

It will be a disaster if we don't make the final

We'll hold you to that, boss. If you don't reach it, you won't get my vote.

i admire the fact that he put that pressure on himself and on the players. better than hearing ramos brag about how we'll win/dominate like he did in that game against lyon many years ago. put pressure on yourself and live up to that pressure

This is Real Madrid's starting XI according to COPE:
Navas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Kroos, Isco; Bale, Jesé and Cristiano.

Sounds like it is Ronaldo on the wings rather than ST. Not happy. Wanted Lucas to start

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ChoR9_JUgAARyu8.jpg