Considering the tactical mayhem Zidane put his players through, can we really blame anyone of our midfielders for having lukewarm matches?

Morata does not exist for Zidane lol

Dog shit tactics, Benzema missing from 3 yards, Vasquez missing from 6 yards, midfield just all over the place, defenders all over the place, Morata a no show, Kovacic not getting enough minutes to continue his form yet we got that win.

How are we 1st place really...

It's one of those things where, in order for us to compete in CL, we really need both Ronaldo and Benzema to be on form considering Bale is MIA.  In theory, a 352 or 442 are the best formations to play with two central type strikers.  But the issue is that Marcelo and Danilo are idiots... so it's a fail from that standpoint.

It's a hard call.

Ideally, Bale comes back and we can play a quasi 442.  But unless we start Vasquez in his place, that doesn't work with James, Isco or Kova in place of Bale.

My personal opinion is that you bench Benzema.  No need to go through mental gymnastics for him.

Not to mention Ronaldo looks a lot better when he isn't crowded on top with another CF. If anything, he needs a targetman CF next to him.

We can play a 4-4-2, that is pretty normal for this team. No idea why Zidane in his infinite wisdom decided to try a 3 man defense in the middle of a season. You save that for pre-season or something, geez, swear I am watching West Indies play cricket...

This is the sort of performance you talk about with an embarrassing look on your face. Pathetic absolutely pathetic. Feel like ranting:

-I have never seen a player defend worse against a player with his back to him as Varane. All he does is just bounce off the attackers back and flail his legs about completely oblivious to where the ball is. If this guy was from our academy we would've chipped him off to Malaga or some crap like that many years ago
-Danilo makes the worst pass off the game that even an absent person could have forseen it being intercepted from a mile away yet runs up for a 1-2 and we get caught out on his side.
-Navas I love you, you had a fabulous game but man make your mind up, are you running up to clear or are you staying back on your line. His decision making improved as the game went on so hopefully he has understood the consequences of hesitancy
-Can we bin this formation for once and for all? When it makes you look bad against the bottom placed team in the league it's time to forget it even existed
-Zidane's decision making, ostracising Kovacic and Morata. Comes up with subs an inexperienced guy would make in fifa manager. The timing of the subs is something else. I'll never forget how he refused to make subs against Sevilla even after they scored the 1-1 to waste time. Even a rookie would.
-Our desperate defending in the second halves needs to stop. Seriously just stop ffs. We are not Osasuna
-Poor midfield, gets stretched left and right, are asked to do this and that and for what exactly? For our forwards to walk around and asking them to push up every 2 seconds?
-This obsession with trying to find Ronaldo is getting on my fecking nerves. Ronaldo isn't the be all end all you know.
-Benz Do we have the worst starting striker of all our rivals? I am pretty sure we do. Go ahead just renew his contract and make a laughing stock out of us. His dribbling for the Isco goal. I am crying here, please someone save us, Wenger, Lyon, China, anyone, please?

Onto the positives:

-Nacho ffs. Such a lovely player. As expected completely locked his side when he was put as a RB
-This is possibly the best season Ramos has played for us and I am not being sarcastic. Ever since that injury for Spain he has been a rock for us and he's even had to carry his CB partner for the whole ride

Isco joins Benzema on 5 goals in the league this season. At this rate even Navas is going to surpass him

Yeah, was going to mention Nacho's performance but I couldn't get over how we really were just f-ing awful for this match. He played, if I'm not too mistaken, RB, CB and LB in one match without any real issues and solid throughout the match. Real Madrid actually have themselves a proper defender which I'm sure they'll find a way to let it go to waste.

my sentiments exactly about this game....wasn't impressed. when the game ended i was surprised we actually won. the defending, the attacking, missing close range chances, making sirigu look better than he actually is; i've seen osasuna play, sirigu's nothing special....i just hope we can grind this out till the end of the season. happy about the 3 points, but once again the team just makes one nervous

This season is the death of BBC. It was a nice thought to think they would go toe to toe with MSN but there is no way. Benzema is a bit par player that doesn't deserve to start, CR is getting worse, bale plays every two months... I kinda hope that we throw some kind of monkey wrench in that mix this summer. I don't have an answer but I hope they do, we deserve a more consistent more creative attacker out there

And benzema doesn't deserve to renew his contract. I know AS three it out there out of nothing to make fun of Perez but they are actually right. Benzema is done and it's high time we do something about it. We don't even have to ask him to go he will get the message if we don't renew his deal this summer

I have a different view than most of you. I agree the formation was a problem. I don't fault the players except Benzema. Noone including the 3 CBs seemed to have any idea as to what they were supposed to do in this formation. I recall Nick asking a few months back why more coaches didn't try a 3 men back approach. I recall the one answer that stood out was it was very difficult to implement and in particular the coach had to be able to TEACH the entire team on what needed to be done by everyone on the field. It definitely doesn't sound like it can be successfully implemented mid season. I get that he wants something different with Bale out, but the one obvious observation, other than multiple players confused was the lack of offensive creativity, other than perhaps Isco.

And although this team makes us all nervous, I still am fairly confident of la liga title. I say this primarily based on remaining schedule, ours is easier than the closest opponents. And if I look at the others, I'm not that impressed. Look over the Barca squad compared to ours. Ours is vastly superior! Other than their front three (and I do agree with Nick that BBC is coming to an end), their lineup is mediocre except Iniesta when he plays. No longer are they a complete team. So bottom line, i think the liga is there for the taking.

I'm not so sure re CL. We'll get an idea this week, but I do believe the dominance of Spanish teams may be coming to an end. I hope not, but it's not like we can look at any of Atleti, Sevilla, Barca or Real and confidently think they will easily advance.

ebbs and flows. Every season for every team is like this. Lost rhythm and we'll get it back soon enough imo. It's not like players are overplayed and are just burned out. Have a few injuries... that's been the biggest issue with sustaining form. We're making too many changes to compensate for injuries and form.

Only real concern is Benzema's form since he's our only proper CF. Once he starts hitting the back of the net (hopefully), the rest will come.

Casemiro/Kroos/Modric with Carvajal/Varane/Ramos/Marcelo will carry us. As long as we have those 7 during the critical months, we'll do fine.

Once he starts, lol. We are in February Sports, February and he has yet to even reach 10 goals. 10 La Liga goals. Sergio Leon (7) and Pablo f-ing Piatti (7), a God damn midfielder, have more goals and one plays for dead last Osasuna and the other Espanyol.

Seriously, I adore Zidane and have always been a supporter of his very early managerial career but Benzema could actually get him fired. The man is clearly not fit to be our main striker anymore, I don't think he is fit period.

Zidane on whether starting the 352 couldve been a mistake:

It could be the case and we became bogged down in midfield. They played in a different way but in the end it came out well for us. The team were better in the second half. We had more balance with four defenders closing them down in the centre of the pitch. It made it more difficult for them.”

No shit

The guy is desperately trying to imitate Pep, it's just sad.

He smashed Sevilla to smithereens in the CDR first leg. The football he made Real Madrid play that day was simply glorious. Everything was tailored to inch-perfection, planned out carefully and meticulously down to the last detail. Every single player knew exactly what to do and where to position themselves. It was a football masterclass in every sense of the word.

I remember I applauded him that day and for the first time since he took charge, I genuinely started to reconsider my stance about him. And how could I not? He had always struck me as a clueless, albeit extremely lucky manager. A manager who wins unconvincingly through the individual brilliance of his players and their divine set-piece-winning goals.

So when he made us play that good that day, I started to have glimpses of hope. But it didn't take too long for him to completely wipe them off. He reverted back to his old self, resulting in a lackluster Madrid side struggling against everybody, anybody, and winning by the skin of their teeth.

For a man who witnessed, who I personally consider to be the greatest CF in the history of the game, I'm surprised he's content with Benzema.

I'm also baffled at how indifferent and apathetic he seems to be on the touchlines when our midfielders are killing themselves trying to win the ball back while Benzema and Ronaldo are standing still gazing at the night sky.

His indifference towards his lazy forwards is only matched by his unfair treatment to talented youngsters like Kova and Nacho, who impress every time they step into the pitch, and yet for some nonsensical reason, they rot on the bench and get only called when injuries take their toll. Meanwhile, Benzema has his starting position locked regardless of how mediocre or even amateurish he plays.

This treatment has resulted in an Isco refusing to renew, in a James as good as gone and, if nothing changes, it wouldn't surprise me if I started hearing rumors about Kova and Nacho also seeking pastures new.

Stick to Ronaldo and Benzema, Mr Zidane, your career will be fruitful by their side. As for me, a humble Madrid fan, I'll just sit back and watch you burn my favorite football club to the ground.

Look... he has 12 goals and 5 assists in 21 starts all comps.  And I actually see Benz moving a lot better the past few games.  I really get the feeling he'll start putting them away pretty soon here. Movement is how I gauge him first. If he's not moving well then there would be no hope.

For the season, he'll get his usual 20-25 goals all comps imo.  The only difference is that he typically started well recently and then faded late.  This time, it will probably be the opposite.  We shall see.

20-25 goals in League is what a real Madrid striker should do.. to get that in 55-60 games is what Mandzukic,Diego Costa etc do, not elite strikers.

5 goals in La Liga at this rate will he even go double digit?

He has mediocre goalscoring stats for what expected of a madrid CF Sports

scoring 5 goals in la liga is a disgrace, you ask that we wait for him to warm up but warm up to what? he cant score consistently.

CR is and has always been our goalscorer, that's why i said we need to move on from Benzema. that painfu transition of CR to CF needs to happen soon or at least, we need to find another way of playing upfront

Not disagreeing with anyone. His season has been shat. But until the summer, he's all we have. So I'm hoping he finds form pretty soon here. His movement has improved a lot so I hope it comes.

There's nobody to replace him until after the season so it's a moot discussion for the rest of this one in terms of talking about better options we could get.

Well, he only has 12 goals if one takes into consideration his 2 goals in the CWC but that is all about the technicalities. Only saving grace at this point is that Benzema has 4 UCL goals in 6 starts which is a good return and he usually does well in that competition.

La Liga, however, his tally is complete dog shit and I can't phantom why he still starts for a club as demanding as Real Madrid in the league. Pretty sure he'll start against Napoli too and I really hope he gets a hattrick or something.

Just anything at this point.

Benz hattrick don't be silly. He hasn't managed that in 7 seasons

halamadrid2 wrote:Benz hattrick don't be silly. He hasn't managed that in 7 seasons

Wednesday is the day he makes history damn it.

He has 4 hat tricks since joining Real Madrid FYI. Last one was in late 2015 so it's been a while though.

I miss the Benz from a couple seasons ago. He needs to go to a different club, his time here is up unless he turns it around