sportsczy wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Stability is good.  But stability with known flaws...  not so much.  The formulas that work against setups with certain players are set and proven.  Unless you address some of the flaws with new players, you're not really doing yourself much good with stability imo.

Better than changing the whole team for no reason.  But there's a happy medium.

as in we need attackers that are better 1v1

i dont think we can change much from the middle to the back, but wingers that can consistently pin a team back and that can't be stopped 1v1 would be appreciated.

I'm not really sure that Kroos/Modric/Casemiro works.  Namely...  I said it all offseason... we need a CM that is an athlete and can break lines when pressed.  Our midfield as constructed is very easy to press.

Would you consider N'Zonzi for Kroos?

No i would not, mainly because i dont know that Nzonzi is a elite player. Kroos has many faults, but he does things that are elite

If despite playing Kroos-Modric-,Isco we couldn't get out of their pressing means that there are clear structural issues. Why didn't we hoof more to the striker? Betis played a high line and we didn't really took advantage of that.

Right, as Tito said, this match really had no real rhyme or reason to be this interesting but whatever.

James is lacking some serious football fundamentals like off the ball running, using one's weaker foot, decision making. Clearly talented with the ball but that's about it really. Totally enjoyed the 1st 30 minutes before Navas shat the bed and would have been a comfortable win if it weren't for some odd decision making and just bad first touches.

Now, last bit, I cannot blame Zidane for the last 10 minutes. I think the players, after Ramos scored the winner, switched off completely and allowed Betis to look like they were the ones who were up a man. Speaking of which, we had no business being with 11 men, that was a red card as plain as day.

Uncle Flo already buying a new fax machine as I type too.

So what exactly is the reason why morata needs to start again? Always looks super average as a starter , Spanish media and its brainwashing... The team is too wing reliant and cf is isolated tactical problem not a benzema problem crazy right?

Adit wrote:If despite playing Kroos-Modric-,Isco we couldn't get out of their pressing means that there are clear structural issues. Why didn't we hoof more to the striker? Betis played a high line and we didn't really took advantage of that.

All 3 are slow and non-athletes. They can dribble you and you can recover pretty easily. They're not going to run away from anyone. And more importantly, when if the press works, they're not going to get the ball back.

It's completely flawed. You need some athleticism and physical impact in the middle of the pitch. Only teams who don't are those who play total football... which we never will with Bale and Ronaldo.

That's if you want to be elite obviously.

The other option is to have wingers who can support the midfield... but we don't have those either.

With an isolated midfield with no support, it almost needs to be perfect at the elite level.

Oh sorry forgot to highlight isco super garbage positioning, just runs around aimlessly looking to do some tricks, needs to stick to the bench tbh.

Isco was great dude. What are you going on about.

chad4401 wrote:Oh sorry forgot to highlight isco super garbage positioning, just runs around aimlessly looking to do some tricks, needs to stick to the bench tbh.

...You still trashing on isco?

Some things never change...

Just to give an example... our team looks immediately more balance with Vasquez on the pitch. He's not as talented as any of the people he replaces... but he fulfills that role that requires work rate. He supports all 3 lines tirelessly. You need these guys.

Vasquez does provide that balance but you watch him try to dribble past players and it hurts the soul. Imagine if we had a talented winger who had really good control, really good work rate, some decent consistency and could provide both a wide outlet and psuedo-central midfielder. I wonder where we can find one of those.

@Hala
Pls respond.

The point Sports make about having an athetic mid that can dominate the middle is a valid one. Remember the way Nzonzi dominated our midfield? it's always useful

How about Ceballos?

NZonzi takes 2 hours to get go a ball right next to him. Our midfield is absolutely fine. You can't get anyone better than Modric/Kroos. Everyone has their flaws and the flaws of those 2 are so miniscule you could easily overlook it. I agree with those saying we need better winger (s). James isn't cut out for our team. Lucas I don't mind starting but he doesn't score enough goals for me. If we had a reliable ST he would be irreplaceable but with how inconsistent our attackers are we are probably better off with a winger who can score

Ceballos is all hype no substance. Apart from fouling our players this guy did nothing of note all game

My name is Zinedine Zidane. I'm clueless but extremely lucky. I have no game plan whatsoever, but I do have elite players to bail me out every single time.

I have turned my players into mental midgets and instilled a losing mentality into the team. Now, we wait until we concede to score, and retreat to protect narrow leads, even at the Bernabeu and against weak opposition.

We don't score goals from open play. I just instruct my players to cross the living crap out of the ball until one of them miraculously lands on Ramos' or Ronaldo's head.

But please don't say that I don't have any plans because I do plan on selling Isco and letting Pepe go for free.

My name is Zinedine Zidane and I'm clueless.

halamadrid2 wrote:Ceballos is all hype no substance. Apart from fouling our players this guy did nothing of note all game

was much better vs BArca though, he is a good player but i agree, he would have no business playing for us, we dont need his kind

Our equaliser came from open play though, just a minor correction in your rant there DoC. Zidane ain't that bad. Not that good but not that bad.

Ceballos will be a Madrid player soon

Has a history of being anti catalan/basque and a proud SpaniaRd. Perez can't resist

Bill respond if true

i'm not the least bit interested in ceballos, at least not right now. he's still 20, madrid isn't the place to nurture kids. he'll need to do something significant with betis to spark my interest and show he can be elite....'elite' being the buzz word. he's good for betis level though

perez has never been the guy to sign players based on political affiliations or anti-catalan/basque rhetoric. perez will sign a catalan born and raised if he feels the money makes sense and if he really likes that player....whilst flo might have his political affiliations, i doubt he'll stoop so low as to sign players because of who they hate....btw flo has signed very few high profile spanish players compared to foreign stars

Ceballos has potential but he is nowhere near ready for Madrid. Should stay where he is at. Not like we signing him anytime soon.

The only Spanish player I can see coming is de gea but that's a stretch.

Perucho21 wrote:Ceballos will be a Madrid player soon

Has a history of being anti catalan/basque and a proud SpaniaRd. Perez can't resist

Bill respond if true

all true! but Just to clarify though, Madrid has had an interest in him for two years now. However it was to sign another promising youth player, as they did with Asensio and Vallejo, not to make the 1st team. The offer was to buy him but keep him at Betis (as they did with Asensio at Espanyol and Vallejo at Zaragoza). These are talented kids but need development. There is no quarantee they will ever make first team (or in Asensio's case that he will remain). It's all about stockpiling talent particularly when our own factory is not over flowing with talent.

I threw out his name in jest re next season, but I sure wouldn't discount him as quickly as several of you have.

By the way Hala, why were you calling him a midget, he's 1.76 m (about 5'10"). Not as tall as Ramos at 6', but certainly a lot taller than the Barca midgets.