Because of Benzema and Bale for God's sake, these 2 are shit footballers and with no upside at 30 years old

We also sold Morata and replaced him with Borja Majoral who played 3 games last season so our only players capable of scoring goals are CR, Ramos and Asensio

Yeah Mbappe didn't look like missed a beat tonight with France.  Looked better than last year in fact. The transfer being finally done made him really go 100% as opposed to playing while trying not to get hurt for Monaco previously.

Best deal for RM would have been to sell Bale to Man U , promote Asensio to a starting position and then buy Mbappe with Bale's money and made him rotate. Well if real life was Fifa that would have been easy.

Mbappe made it clear he wouldn't rotate. That was one of the big issues.

Super Asensio will make the hurting go away

I don't know why it came as such a surprise to you. After the interview that Florentino had with Marca 3 months ago, I immediately knew he wasn't going to sign him.

All you need to do is read between the lines when Florentino gives his take on some player. You get your answer right away when you do that.

In Mbappé's case, here's what he said:

He is a very good player, it reminds me of last year of when they said that we would sign Pogba. But very few players play at Real Madrid at the age of 18.

He should have patience, the coach has it in his mind. It's not worth saying if we are going to bring in players who could be on the bench.

The above direct quote from the man himself is code for "The only possibility for him to play for Madrid is from the bench, and I spoke to him and he wasn't okay with that, so we moved on".

You can always tell when Florentino isn't going to sign somebody, and you can also tell when he's going to come for you with all his might.

You say "We missed on Mbappé" Valky. I say the whole thing was over before it even begun. Madrid pulled out of the race 2 seconds after they knew Mbappé wasn't going to settle for a bench role...and that was 3 months ago.

It seemed more like a wage issue for me. RM weren't willing to break the wage structure in place for a kid. Especially with multiple contract renewals that happened this summer and will happen

Yeah we missed out on Mbappe but I'm sure Madrid would be fine. We "missed" out on Paul and that didn't have much effect. Anyway, I do believe the whole wage thing was very much a deterrent. Unlike PSG to an extent, Madrid actually does need to budget their shit properly.

That wage structure is antiquated... it's not just PSG, all of EPL pay more than Madrid does.

And Madrid budgeting stuff is a very recent occurrence lol. VERY recent.

We both know this is a very recent thing lol but it is what it is. I cannot say if it is antiquated due to not actually being an accountant of Real Madrid but it's clearly working for them.

Needless to say, Madrid would be fine. They'll always be a wonderkid popping up every so often, we just missed out on this one. Not the first time, not the last.

It's been fine imo because, since it became antiquated, we really haven't bought anyone major.  Bale was the last major signing we made and that was years ago.  Anything of consequence since has been for kids and/or spanish players (who obviously want to stay in Spain to play for Madrid or Barca).  Kroos is the only other one; but he wasn't considered a WC superstar or a wunderkid when we got him.  He was having his issues at Bayern and had a release clause to boot.

Our star players are getting older/ineffective in some cases and we will need to replace them.  If we're lucky, our kids can take over or there's a Spanish replacement out there.  But as soon as we'll need to go for a non-Spanish galactico type signing, we're going to have to catch up with the times... which i think we will.

Just wish we were more proactive as opposed to waiting for a crisis to happen... and we're asking for it with taking a chance with both Bale and Benzema.  I also have this bad feeling that one of Varane and Ramos is going to go down for significant period of time.

If CR ever gets injured or loses form, we're in trouble.

Replacing Ronaldo would be improbable as he is a legend of the game, these guys aren't replaceable immediately (or sometimes never). Bale and Benzema can be replaced as forwards as there is more of a chance that a wonderkid forward pops up than, let's say, another Iniesta or Xavi (for Barcelona). Modric has a ready made replacement in, shit, pick one of the CMs at this point. Ramos has some time remaining, Varane is young, Marcelo is in his prime and Dani is also young. Navas' position is definitely something we need to look into.

Of course, I just brushed over a key position in our forward line up but I would be more in panic if he our midfield or back line was in dire straits. And Madrid need to find a way to preserve Ronaldo. I don't know, horse placenta, black magic, anything at this point.

sportsczy wrote:It's been fine imo because, since it became antiquated, we really haven't bought anyone major.  Bale was the last major signing we made and that was years ago.  Anything of consequence since has been for kids and/or spanish players (who obviously want to stay in Spain to play for Madrid or Barca).  Kroos is the only other one; but he wasn't considered a WC superstar or a wunderkid when we got him.  He was having his issues at Bayern and had a release clause to boot.

Our star players are getting older/ineffective in some cases and we will need to replace them.  If we're lucky, our kids can take over or there's a Spanish replacement out there.  But as soon as we'll need to go for a non-Spanish galactico type signing, we're going to have to catch up with the times... which i think we will.

Just wish we were more proactive as opposed to waiting for a crisis to happen... and we're asking for it with taking a chance with both Bale and Benzema.  I also have this bad feeling that one of Varane and Ramos is going to go down for significant period of time.

If CR ever gets injured or loses form, we're in trouble.

I couldn't agree more with this.

Aside from our midfield which is pretty stacked, our defense and attack are pretty shaky and in desperate need for strengthening.

Losing Pepe and not replacing him with a proven WC defender was our first mistake. Not replacing Morata was the second.

I still don't get why the club is satisfied with Benzema and Bale, nor do I (or ever will) understand the club's rationale behind their refusal to replace Morata. But you can't possibly convince me that you're serious about gunning for all titles when you're one injury away from total collapse in your attack and defense.

This is absolutely unacceptable.

sportsczy wrote:That wage structure is antiquated... it's not just PSG, all of EPL pay more than Madrid does.

And Madrid budgeting stuff is a very recent occurrence lol. VERY recent.

Nonsense, they very much adhere to the salary ladder. The overall budget amount has increased significantly, but it's the pecking order of the ladder that is diligently adhered to. No way can an 18 year old with only 6 months of performance to speak of will get the top of the salary ladder. It doesn't make futbol nor business sense. Show me in any sport were a talented youngster gets to be top of a salary ladder.

It was the exact same situation last year with Pogba.

I agree we will have a problem if Ronaldo goes down. Plus I don't like the idea of Bale or Benz still on club. I don't agree with Pepe going but I've accepted the rationale behind it.

It's not all glum out there. The insertion of Asensio and Isco into lineup is very very positive and hopefully leads to minor roles for Bale and Benz most of this year.

As to replacing aging players, most of the replacements are already on squad. Ronaldo is really the only one that will be an issue.

Apparently Myles Garrett, NFL no. 1 draft pick, is collecting a nice pay check. And I quote from Forbes...

The NFL's No. 1 overall draft pick pocketed a $20.3 million signing bonus in May for his deal with the Cleveland Browns. The total pact is worth $30.4 million over four years. Adidas also signed signed a multiyear deal with Garrett, who had 31 sacks in 34 games at Texas A&M.

That is the best I can do. He is 21 though (nowhere close to 18) and I'm not sure if he is the highest paid in the Browns. Article I got it from was dated in June 2017 btw.

Anyway, EPL business model can only be copied by fellow EPL teams as no other league has that lucrative SKY deal. None.

futbol_bill wrote:The insertion of Asensio and Isco into lineup is very very positive and hopefully leads to minor roles for Bale and Benz most of this year.

I really hope so, but unfortunately, that will only happen when hell freezes over.

Those two will be the downfall of Madrid.

Maybe I want to believe this would happen but I actually could see Bale having a minor role this season (one way or the other). That boy from Palma, Majorca is just too good to bench.

I heard yesterday, that club is mostly going with a 4-4-2 formation, with Isco as the prime 4th midfielder. The two forward spots are

Striker - Ronaldo, Benz, Mayoral
SS - Asensio, Bale, Lucas

God I hope this is correct!

What we really need is for chad's statements to come true with Benz getting some form back, when Ronaldo can't go.

You have to hope that one of Bale or Benz can make a sitter or two a game lol.  I mean, just the law of averages should kick in sooner or later.... no? They should be able to score 20 goals by accident mostly.

We still have the best squad in the world even without Mbappe though, because ideally we'd have a bench formed of Benzema, Bale, Lucas, Ceballos, Kovacic, Llorente, Theo, Vallejo, Nacho, Hakimi and Kiko. I mean, Benzema and Bale, as bad as they are, can still make an impact of the bench.



Common sense ...

Well let's just hope that ZZ agrees because Isco and definitely Asensio are too good to bench, meanwhile Benz and Bale are in too poor form to start.

It makes sense and seems pretty obvious, but management may not see it that way.

It's a damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Isco and Asensio deserve to start no doubt. But what does CR think? Sure he has a little say. Also, if you bench Bale and Benz, have you lost them mentally for the year? At their stage in their careers, I'm sure they have a sense of entitlement. They're not up-and-comers.

That's why I wanted them sold. There isn't a good solution here.

Losing Bale mentally would be such a gift.
We played our best last year when he was injured and it was no accident.

Hoping for another injury soon.

Ronaldo doesn't have a say in lineup (under Zidane).

We are going to see a lot of rotation this year, both in terms of front line, but also in easing the talented youngsters into productive contributions. Zidane's main strength is man management and using his entire squad. Yes that does mean a large number of starts for Benz and Bale and sure we have to hope that they can contribute, but I expect for big games, it will be Asensio, Isco and Ronaldo.

Heck even Spanish seleccion is taking advantage of Asensio and Isco form with both starting today against Italy (the biggest game for both countries in these WC qualifiers).

You guys seem to be throwing in the towel because of one game and the horible performance by both Bale and Benz. Better to examine how team performed in supercups, where we were clearly at another level that both Man U and Barca. I know PSG has greatly improved their lineup, but there still are questions there and a complete revamped lineup takes time to be effective. Other than them, there isn't a team out there that gives us much concern. So bottom line, we have a lot more reasons to be positive than negative about this season.