LLiga: Athletic Bilbao vs Real Madrid

NZonzi is massively overrated. He only looks good when the team does. That team runs around like crazy winning the ball back. When Leicester were countering against Sevilla Nzonzi was nowhere to be seen because he is slower than a wounded elephant. Look at who tops defensive stats in the league, I'll give you a hint he is Brazilian and plays in the midfield for us.

Not sure who's become more overrated these past 2 seasons between Nzonzi and Rabiot. Above average players at best. Llorente dominated this guy last time they met and he plays for a team that's just been promoted

Nacho IS WC. He is our 2nd best CB after Pepe. Notice how few mistakes our defence has done since that french git got injured. Lucas is excellent whenever he plays, never looks out of place when starting, he doesn't score enough for me but he does everything else really well

Valkyrja wrote:excellent one touch passing ? maybe when hitting a wall in his back yard

casemiro is utter mediocre on the ball, literally useless in tight spaces. can't wait for llorente to come back.

Llorente is not some kind of genius on the ball you know? i think there is a lot of overrating being done by the Madrid press right now, and personally, he is not all that. He works a lot off the phone to win interceptions and tackles, but he is not somekind of young xabi Alonso.

@Hala, you talk about overrated but i am also wondering whether Llorente isnt overrated this season. they all go through the same process. I respect N'zonzi, specially for the game he had against us, and Rabiot was pretty good vs barca too. But they are not consistent performer and N'zonzi getting to this level at 30 is what i have a problem with

Rabiot is very consistent this season. Probably the best player on PSG behind Cavani.

I have nothing against french player myself, specially because a lot of them are superior black athletes (yes i said it, go suck on your thumb if you have a problem with that) and clearly some are brought up with outstanding technical qualities.

There are a bunch of french players i would love to have like Mbappe, or Dembele who are fantastic youngsters.

Generally, the Sevilla style was going to burn out players early.  I knew that as soon as the coach was announced.  You can do that if you have a very deep squad or only play 35-40 games in a season.  But when you're thin in terms of squad and you're pushing 50-60 games, it's impossible.

It's especially hard for midfielders who are asked to cover a lot of ground.

N'Zonzi and everyone else on that squad have hit a physical wall imo.

@valk, Casemiro's average accurate passes per game is 86% for comparison Modric's is 87%, Rakitic's is 84%, Nzonzi's is 87%, Koke's is 80%, Marchiso's is 86% as I said him being not good on the ball is one of the biggest myths I've ever come across

More proof or being a massive poser where is Marcelo criticism? Funny how clowns can crucify coentrao for a that one goal against buyern all those years ago, while Marcelo struggles defensively every season every other game , as said I don't know how posers can rip danilo with straight face after praising marcelo who is no better, oh wait forgot danilo is competing against carvajal that add tons of fuel to hate him, just like with coentrao with Marcelo, illarra/James with isco, super sub aka morata with benzema, etc similar performances but whoever got marca/as backing is the better players cause certain posters are clueless sheep.

Depends what kind of passes you're attempting. Raw percentages like that mean very little. For example, Marchisio is asked to really thread the ball vertically and play killer passes. He's the best passer of the bunch you mentioned by a very very wide margin. I personally think he's the best in the world at what he does right now.

@Nick i see alot of people speaking of Llorente like he'll come to us and be the second coming of Mesiah. He won't, just like Casemiro he has his flaws but he'll be a great rotational player. His journey has been amazing though which is heartening to hear

halamadrid2 wrote:@Nick i see alot of people speaking of Llorente like he'll come to us and be the second coming of Mesiah. He won't, just like Casemiro he has his flaws but he'll be a great rotational player. His journey has been amazing though which is heartening to hear

I personally dont care about heart lol, i think we should be signing the most complete players out there, regardless of who they are, and not obsessed with academy players because they are doing "well"

halamadrid2 wrote:@valk, Casemiro's average accurate passes per game is 86% for comparison Modric's is 87%, Rakitic's is 84%, Nzonzi's is 87%, Koke's is 80%, Marchiso's is 86% as I said him being not good on the ball is one of the biggest myths I've ever come across

you can't use pass % to rate how good a player is on the ball, that's garbage, i can find you a bunch a jobbers in EPL who have that level of accuracy

@sport, I think very few midfielders in the world are expected to do as much as we expect our midfielders to. Casemiro won't give you playmaking because he can't but he'll give you beautiful crossfield balls which is the perfect height, trajectory, speed for our fullbacks and attackers. I won't pretend like I've watched Marchisio so I don't know his style I just mentioned a few players that people rate high when it comes to passing

@Nick, but when you sign these complete players, what becomes of them when they are given 5 minutes at the end of every game because the coach refuses to rotate certain players?

When they don't have instant impact we'll call them average and because they have no affiliation to our club besides playing for it we'll see another James type situation. If Morata wasnot from our academy you really think he'd be running his heart out trying to save us despite getting disrespectful minutes? I don't think so. There are obviously a bunch of wingers better than Lucas out there but I think he fits into our team and our club ethos

Also I tell a lie, I dont think all French are overrated I really like Dembele and Lloris.

sportsczy wrote:French players overrated

This coming from a fan who thinks Nacho is WC, Vasquez is a great player, Morata should start, etc.  I won't even go through previous years' statements (i.e. Callejon, etc.).

When France becomes WC champs, which they will in Russia or should at the very least end up in the semis, we'll see what you say.  Chelsea's best player is French.  The young French are carrying Monaco.  Griezmann.  Ousmane Dembele.  Umtiti.  Heck, i could ramble about 10 players Madrid would love to have who are French.

And Pogba is fantastic... just pleb fans like most expect him to score 20 goals and give 20 assists, which was never what he was about.  And he's being played out of position by Mourinho.

Not to mention the best central defender in the world. France have a wonderful group of players that makes it super easy to expect them win something in the next 10 years.

halamadrid2 wrote:@Nick, but when you sign these complete players, what becomes of them when they are given 5 minutes at the end of every game because the coach refuses to rotate certain players?

When they don't have instant impact we'll call them average and because they have no affiliation to our club besides playing for it we'll see another James type situation. If Morata wasnot from our academy you really think he'd be running his heart out trying to save us despite getting disrespectful minutes? I don't think so. There are obviously a bunch of wingers better than Lucas out there but I think he fits into our team and our club ethos

Also I tell a lie, I dont think all French are overrated I really like Dembele and Lloris.

Obviously a player not given opportunity to show his quality will never succeed for your team yet if you decide to sign personel, i think you still want to find the overral best prospect around, specially in midfield where we have a deficiency i would say at back up DM and where we risk to lose Isco as well.

If we go into the summer losing Isco, James, then how do you replace them?

i think we have a good core with Kroos, Modric, Casemiro, Kovacic (who needs more minutes), and yes we need depth, but from a rotation point of view, having AMs like James and ISco has been valuable to us. how do you replace them?

James can go really, we really should try our best to keep Isco though. Also, I do love Sports' confidence in France's supposed win the next World Cup. He had that same confidence in Euros as well so maybe it would have the same effect.

N'zonzi is actually 27? i thought he was 2closer to 30. i would not mind sending Llorente on loan to Sevilla while we pick up Nzonzi

Doc wrote:James can go really, we really should try our best to keep Isco though. Also, I do love Sports' confidence in France's supposed win the next World Cup. He had that same confidence in Euros as well so maybe it would have the same effect.

James will go clearly, he doesnt fit the wide and he needs to be a n10. He will find success at Inter Milan or something.

As for Isco, i remember him joking around on the bench with Morata and thinking, these guys will not be there next season. I continue to believe so, he looks like a gonner.

All and all, two important players for our depth are on their way out. we might have a team next year with no natural 10, not that we need one but from a technical perspective, having those guys off the bench was very productive for us in many ways

Whoever we sign it better not be an AM. We have no use for them (James and Asensio) in our team. Like Doc said I hope we hold onto Isco. He is going to be invaluable when Modric regresses/retires. He is one of those player every team in Europe needs. If we lose James, nothing changes, he's hardly had a part in any of the 3 competitions but I hope to God we don't lose Isco

James always has these interviews where he praises Colombia and has thinly veiled digs at us. I mean the latest one was abit ironic given the fact that he has the first touch of a brickwall, kills countless of attacks by moving the ball to his left not trusting his right, can't get past a lamp post and whose passes are mostly backward because of his deficiencies. He can go to Barca for all I care

Yeah, he does have the look of someone who really is already planning life elsewhere which, honestly, is unfortunate as I genuinely believe he is gonna only get better and more reassured as a footballer.

I'm quite bias with my admiration for Isco so this is all personal and not "what is best for the team" vibe. Still though, I'm sure Zidane and Madrid would try to convince him to stay.