Mbappe is more of a natural scorer though Nick and is also good in the air. Dembele doesn't have the box presence that Mbappe also brings... but yeah, that 1% speed is hard to find. Depends what you're looking for.

We need some youthful enthusiasm and the hunger to reach elite status. There's a mix we need to find. Too many super ego stars doesn't work well imo.

Yeah he is a more of a natural scorer but again Dembele has that 1% speed and is two footed lol, like he can literally cut in from the right with his left foot and go the other way around with on the left. I would say that his upside is higher but his bust potential is also higher

Apparently, Isco has become discontent with the meager number of minutes he's had so far, and has hinted at the possibility of seeking pastures new at the end of the season:

I am calm though I am worried about getting more minutes.

I am very happy here but a player's career is small.

We'll make a decision at the end of the season - it's my future at stake.

You know, I cannot stress this enough: Real Madrid is blessed with a very strong bench. Our benchwarmers would become instant starters at many top clubs if they left.

I would advise the board to hold on to them and not let them go, especially now where elite talent is very scarce and people are paying Ronaldo-money for players who in reality aren't even worth half of their transfer fee.

I look around and I don't see the next Messi or Ronaldo coming through the ranks. It seems to me that the level overall is dropping exponentially, and world football seems to be slowly but steadily settling towards mediocrity, and pretty soon, all the rich clubs would stand in confusion with big piles of cash and nobody to spend it on. And then, they would have to settle for players who, 6 years ago wouldn't even make their bench.

Real Madrid are lucky to have Isco, James, Kovacic and Nacho. Players who are almost as good as the starters. Imagine if we didn't have them? Knowing our history with injuries, we would be fielding a bunch of scrubs every time our starters get injured. You don't want that.

So what am I asking here? To give those guys a special treatment? Actually, quite the opposite. I want Z to treat everybody equally and fairly. He should make sure to let everybody know that nobody is untouchable.

If you play those players only when your starters get injured, they'll grow dissatisfied and feel undervalued. Your rotation policy should revolve around merit, not injuries.

If you instruct certain players to run their hearts out while exempting others from it, pretty soon they will grow a certain resentment. "Why should I kill myself while the other guy is taking a leisurely walk up front?"

We all saw how good we looked when everybody started pulling their own weight, when Ronaldo started playing like a proper winger and creating a gazillion chances, when Benzema shook off his laziness for once and started playing like a proper CF.

Your job as a manager is to make sure that happens every week. And you won't be able to have that if you make those players untouchable and condemn the others to a lifetime of bench warming.

So the next time, if you see somebody being lazy, sub their lazy ass off and introduce a player who's willing to die for the shirt. And give those players enough time so they won't feel underappreciated. Play them even when the BBC is fit and when Modric, Case and Kroos are fit.

To quote the great Negan from the Walking Dead:

Funny how a little, 'Holy s**t! Somebody's gonna die!' lights a fire under everybody's ass!"

So the next time you see someone being lazy, sub them off. Don't settle for mediocrity.

It would be a monumental mistake to let go of those players. Z must learn how to manage his squad properly.

DoC, while I agree with almost everything you have said, this Isco news is old, by about 2 weeks when he refused to take the renewal offer, although his little speech yesterday was his first public statement about it.

We now have three players; Isco, Pepe and Morata (actually 4 if you count James) looking squarely at Zidane to see how much they are used the rest of season to determine if they stay or go. And to be fair, Zidane has done better than any of his predecessors with using entire squad. But none of these guys are happy with how much they get played. I know most of you don't care about Morata, but he does have offers out there and yesterday when he finally got a start, he shows poor finishing, I take for game rust, and then as he was getting better and better as game went on, he was the first one subbed. I think Lucas would have been a better choice to bring Bale on (although it was obvious Zidane wanted to give Bale a shot at his natural position (LW).

These guys are well paid so it is not a question of money (and therefore little board can do), it really up to Zidane. We did well earlier in the season when most of these guys were playing fairly regularly when we were swamped with injuries and it was their energy level, hunger that made the difference. Compare that with the energy levels consistently displayed by Ronaldo and Benz! So I agree with you. However it is a difficult task when it comes to Isco, Kova and James as we really can't complain too much about efforts of Kroos, Modric or Casemiro.

Given these statements made by these players (and include Kova, Nacho, James) in the list and the very full schedule for next 2 months, Zidane would do well to regularly rotate so that he does use his entire squad (except of course Danilo and Coentrao).

Well now we have Varane out for 5 weeks. This is Pepe's opportunity to win back his starting role and hopefully enough for Perez and co to get him to sign a renewal. but club also should think about how Varane has not developed into the starter we all thought he would become. maybe it's time to accept he isn't going to and maybe we should look at other options. Nacho did have offers last season and club has responded with giving him more time (both at CB and lateral) than he has ever had on 1st team and he has played extremely well. I personally don't think he is a starter, but he is an excellent defensive bench strength. maybe it's time to give him the #3 spot and bring in Vallejo as the #4 (and see if he can be the future starter).

Well there's nobody better out there to get at CB tbh.  City has tried for years.  He's only 23 and the truth of the matter is that CBs normally don't become really good until they hit 26-27 imo.  That's just how it is.

Look at Pepe.  He was god awful until he turned 29.  Ramos is still an open question although he has gotten better.  Remember those two at 23?  They were trainwrecks (Ramos at fullback).  If Ramos didn't score, he still is a defensive liability fairly often imo.

Varane has been decent with some poor performances.  Best thing for Madrid to do is show him love and confidence.  He'll come good as long as injuries don't sidetrack him.

First thing is (as Nick has said) is to restore Pepe to starter position and resign him. Let Varane start next year, needing to legitimately earn either the starter role or the 3rd spot. I would say Nacho has been more reliable this season than Varane.

No more of this bullshit, I'll leave if I'm not starter. Let him earn it. And if he pulls that stunt again let him go and give Vallejo a shot.

Vallejo

And with Nacho... it's one thing to come in against weaker teams mostly when the manager is trying to rest the normal regulars. Also, no opposition scouts or prepares for you. Once you play against better sides and teams scout you for weaknesses, things changes drastically.

When I look at players to potentially be regulars, I'm looking for ++ attributes that they can use against anyone. They have to possess something that the opposition cannot negate. That may be size, speed, positioning, etc. If you don't have something that's transcendent, you're never going to be a regular on an elite team imo.

21 goles en contra del Madrid en 1.400 minutos con Sergio Ramos en esta Liga.
4 goles en contra en 740 minutos sin Sergio Ramos.

— Pedro Martin (@pedritonumeros) March 1, 2017

Yet Varane is the biggest problem no coincidence that our best defensive displays this season have been when Nacho was paired up with Varane.

Zees wrote:

21 goles en contra del Madrid en 1.400 minutos con Sergio Ramos en esta Liga.
4 goles en contra en 740 minutos sin Sergio Ramos.

— Pedro Martin (@pedritonumeros) March 1, 2017

Yet Varane is the biggest problem no coincidence that our best defensive displays this season have been when Nacho was paired up with Varane.

That stat wouldn't surprise anyone who has eyes.

Freeza wrote:

Zees wrote:

21 goles en contra del Madrid en 1.400 minutos con Sergio Ramos en esta Liga.
4 goles en contra en 740 minutos sin Sergio Ramos.

— Pedro Martin (@pedritonumeros) March 1, 2017

Yet Varane is the biggest problem no coincidence that our best defensive displays this season have been when Nacho was paired up with Varane.

That stat wouldn't surprise anyone who has eyes.

Tbf conceding around 2.5 goals more on average did surprise me a bit, like i knew it was bad but not this bad.

Remember my point about CR needing someone that that ply in and out with? Would be good in 1v1 wide and goood finisher inside? Mbappe fits that mild although he has like 1 dribble that seems to work all the time and he isn't much of a playmaker.

We would still have issues with our forwards not creating enough though not to mention that Mbappe is a kid and would struggle not playing consistently for us

Would be one hell of a signing if Madrid are really interested. Would also be a very risky, almost to a point of unnecessary, move for Mbappe considering Zidane would start Benzema regardless (assuming Zidane would still be our manager).

It would be nice if CR had someone like Neymar next to him to extend his career while he focuses on socring goals. Bale is not that

According to Canal Sur Perez wants to sign Monchi for his next presidential run

Mr Nick09 wrote:According to Canal Sur Perez wants to sign Monchi for his next presidential run

Sounds nice but how long would a sports director last under Flo?
Wouldn't​ mind monchi at all but our club isn't what I'd call stable.

I think it's been stable for a good 3 years now. But nearly every year they are booting out someone we should keep. This season it's Pepe. If Monchi can keep the good players and convince the management to sell the useless ones then he gets my vote.

Exactly what the club needs!!!

But when is the next presidential run? I think it's at least a year away.

As things stand now, we are likely going to lose Pepe, Isco, James, Morata plus club will likely try to buy out Coentrao and loan out Mariano. Then there is the buying (attempting) of De Gea or Courtois and the transfer (selling) of Navas.

Incoming is likely
- Llorente (return from loan at Alaves) to backup Casemiro
- Vallejo (return from loan in Germany) to backup Varane (ie Pepe replacement)
- a LB to replace Coentrao and backup Marcelo

and probably a new forward. No indication if it will be to replace Benz, more likely it will be to replace Morata.

So we end up with no changes to starting lineup other than keeper, filling the backup vacancies that we have and yet we won't be dealing with BBC issues and have only Kovacic and Llorente as MF backups.

In sum, looks like they plan to stay with current set of starters and as a result are loosing what decent subs we have had. And if the new forward has to come in to sit behind Benz etc, we can't expect anything better than what we got from Morata.

IMO, the only way this changes is if Zidane manages to win nothing this season!!

halamadrid2 wrote:I think it's been stable for a good 3 years now. But nearly every year they are booting out someone we should keep. This season it's Pepe. If Monchi can keep the good players and convince the management to sell the useless ones then he gets my vote.

You call this stable? Kek.

Meh we'll see. monchi is a good idea but Flo is the wild card who can potentially change everything in mere moments if he feels unsatisfied for w/e reason.

There hasn't been any major changes in our team. You have James and Danilo who came in expecting to be starters but lost their spots. There has only been 3 changes in the XI from the team that won the LaDecima. I definitely call that stable

Fair enough hala.

It has been relatively quiet for us by our own standards.

I question when will the next wave of galactico fever will hit though. We're overdue one imo. Especially with rumored departures.

I just hope in the event monchi gets signed , Flo will have a diminished say on transfer matters but that's wishful thinking on my part.

Turok_TTZ wrote:Fair enough hala.

It has been relatively quiet for us by our own standards.

I question when will the next wave of galactico fever will hit though. We're overdue one imo. Especially with rumored departures.

I just hope in the event monchi gets signed , Flo will have a diminished say on transfer matters but that's wishful thinking on my part.

There are any galactico who we could sign left in the market, the only one who i consider a galactico is Neymar and Barcelona won't sell him

Claudio, it's not a case of star players being on the market. It took 2 years to get both Ronaldo and Bale. But I think your point is the days of Real being able to buy anyone they want have long since disappeared.

As to Flo being crazy again, I do think he has learned. Last season was heavily influenced by Zidane (despite what Sports says on this subject) and the possibility of the signing ban. Zidane kept saying it was difficult to improve the team, meaning primarily the starters and they wanted to go with known players rather than take the risk of a new star player not working out with a possible transfer ban coming up.

Club also changed its philosophy about young players both in signings and in house development. They have reduced players in house over 18 and are electing to loan players out to continue development rather than keeping them in house, particularly when Castilla is in 3rd level futbol.

Although most of these are good developments, we still have the issue of no sporting director and therefore too much reliance on Flo's tendencies and / or coach plus the player issues we all complain about.

Monchi is a very proven sporting director and would be a tremendous asset. I don't take Turok's concern seriously as the only real sporting director issue we had in recent memory was Valdano and that was simply a feud between him and Mourinho. Flo didn't really have much choice as he was sold on Mourinho and gave him all the power he requested. The one piece of advice I would give Flo re Monchi is to be very clear on roles and responsibilities between Sporting Director and Coach and ensure both are acceptable to those conditions.

I raised a question earlier about when were the next presidential elections, thinking it was a couple of years away. But I have found out the constitution calls for a new election this calendar year. However with the rule changes (20 year socio and financially rich), there likely won't be many candidates!!!

My conclusion therefore is this Monchi rumor may well be valid and likely he would be on board in time for summer market. All very good news IMO.

http://www.marca.com/futbol/real-madrid/2017/03/10/58c1afce268e3e3f148b4585.html

http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/perez-wants-sevilla-chief-monchi-real-madrid-234525

Just found these articles re Monchi which means Marca and AS are also reporting this in addition to Canal Sur.