Any thoughts on what you would do if you were Zizu/Perez?

Hypothetically if we could make transfers- should we sign anyone? Who would you sign (realistically)?

Should we not sign anyone and just use a different formation, or is it just a matter of time before BB start scoring again and we will be back to normal?

This is not meant to be a doom and glum thread, just curious what people think on this issue, because wether we like it or not our front line is aging and we will need to address it at some point.

Honestly, I would make auto rotation for whoever isn't playing well.  If Benz is shit, bring on Asensio, Isco or Mayoral.  Same with Bale.  Same goes for the kids too btw.

Make it a meritocracy.  

No point in having strikers... who don't strike.

If they all suck, put Ramos as the CF.

this is the first time since 2008/09 that i'm looking forward to the winter window. you cannot downplay competition in sports, i thought after ancelotti's second season we'll learn. i mean, every position has a back up except the cf position. maybe i'm confused but can someone explain why? its not like we're getting 40 goals a year from benzema. playing bale as a cf is just ridiculous, why even bank on bale if he can't stay fit. he better stay fit this season so at least we can make some loot if we are to sell

as far as the question, whoever plays well should start. it sends a wrong message to the rest of the squad if guys who are not playing well keep starting. that's one thing i don't like with our club, i've seen us do this same crap in the past. its not that hard, if you suck, sit on the bench till u get your form back

There's no "BBC" problem, there's a "BB" problem.

We have two strikers who aren't physically, mentally and technically good enough to play let alone start for Madrid.

All they do is take away two valuable spots in the starting eleven, spots that otherwise could be filled with much more talented and deserving players.

The board's first grave mistake was giving our depth a serious dent by selling Morata, Danilo and Pepe without replacing them. That resulted in Carvajal and Benzema roaming free with no competition in sight, and a Vallejo who's not even as good as a drunk Pepe.

Their second grave mistake was putting all of their eggs in the BB basket. When their plan to sign Mbappé fell through, they didn't seek to look for reinforcement elsewhere. They were simply content to leave everything as it is, knowing fully well that our depth is no longer as strong as last season's.

Why didn't they buy a CF? Why didn't they buy a RB to keep Carvajal from getting complacent? Why did they let Pepe go and why did they replace him with an inferior CB? And most importantly, why in the hell are Benzema and Bale still wearing the white of Madrid?

To circle back to your main question, if it were up to me, Benzema and Bale wouldn't last another second in the capital. I would've kept Morata and bought another CF. I wouldn't even replace Bale because we already have great players to fill his position. I wouldn't have let Pepe go and I would've bought another RB to compete with Carvajal. I would go for a winger only if Ronaldo would be ok to move centrally.

That's it.

This was a terrible, dreadful transfer window and the club is going to reap the harvest of their bad decisions and their blind faith in Benzema and Bale.

This is Real Madrid, a club I thought to be relentless in trying to reach perfection and stay at the top for as long as humanly possible. Never in a million years would I have thought that we would turn into a selling club - selling key bench players and not replacing them.

I hope those 110m you hoarded from the sale of Morata and Danilo are keeping you warm at night, because soon enough you're going to feel the wrath of the most demanding crowd in world football. May god help you.

to be fair its not a grave mistake....yet. we are just two games in, my fear is that the success of the last two seasons has been blinding. yes you want to maintain a successful squad, but we have been successful despite the form of bb. i'm not even asking for replacements, cos that will just end up being another player with no competition. i'm asking for competition; if they can't put up chunks of goals, they need rivals to push them for that same position.....that's useful especially in the league. ucl can be down to a host of other factors

I pretty much subscribe to what sports and tito mentioned. It should be a given that the best players/ most inform players should be playing no matter what.

I'm curious to see what is going to happen next match with Benz out, Ronaldo still suspended (no?), and Bale continuing to perform horribly. Maybe we should be strikerless.

Anyway- Who would you guys sign? Tito and Demon you guys seem pretty opinionated on getting fresh blood in. Given we have already made the mistake of letting Morata go, who should we be looking at? At the very least it sounds like you agree Benz should be out and a new forward should be in.

its too early to mention signings. for now we go in with the crop we have. and wait till january maybe dolberg, but it won't be easy in jan. that said, i actually don't agree benzema should be out. if he goes then you sign another forward with no competition and its a single striker all over again. i actually think he can be very impactful off the bench. he has had some nice appearances off the bench e.g. against barcelona, dortmund in 2013, i believe against city too if i'm not mistaken. he can be good off the bench or when he is under threat

he blows hot and cold too often to be considered a sure starter, which is risky in the league. bale's problem is fitness first, confidence second; but at this point flo needs to realize he's not the next cristiano. he doesn't have the mental strength cristiano does and is m.i.a too often. bale isn't as worrying cos we've got back up if (or rather when) he gets injured

Pepe's contribution was 0 last season. How do you guys know that Vallejo isn't good ? He was the best young CB in Bundi last season. He is a top tier talent.

Danilo was shit and didn't pose any competition to Carvajal, and we replaced him with a talented RB from the academy. Carvajal was bad for 2 games for god's sake, he will recover no doubt about that, he's the best in the world in his position and 2 weak performances don't change that.

Thinking about it, if Bale and Benzema hit some form and prove to be reliable backups our squad is more than okay even without Morata. Just play Ronaldo as CF with Isco and Asensio on the sides and we have a better first XI than last season.


Kiko, Hakimi, Nacho, Vallejo, Theo, Casemiro, Llorente, Ceballos, Lucas, Bale, Benzema

That's one hell of a squad. Just put the 2 scrubs on the sidelines. I believe they are good enough to make an impact off the bench.

Bury the the double B's so far down the ground they'll never see the light of day.

you can't just bury them, at the end of the day we want to win titles. make them know they've got to compete like almost everybody else, whilst at the same time making them feel useful. carrot and stick approach; if u ignore them totally, what happens when the people playing in their places get injured or lose form. what happens if we want to sell at the end of the season? we'll end up doing a foolish deal like the one with james and bayern simply cos their stock will hit the rocks.

the middle ground is the best option for now, until the summer, then we can assess their contributions to the project going forward

Kovacic isn't a holding mid nor does he tackle well enough to be considered in that position there Valk. That being said, put Casemiro in there and that line up is lovely.

Anyway, Benzema is injured and Bale is completely useless...again. I hate, hate, HATE this tactic but I would have gone with the no striker formation till Ronaldo is back. What's the point in Bale when he contributes nothing and it's essentially playing with 10 men. Mind you, he'll be back for the UCL match so we'll see if it is anything but a striker issue.

When he does resume La Liga duties, 4-5-1. Drop Bale and Benzema and have them do sub duties. If their egos can't take it, well, better tough it out then.

Kova did alright against Messi and Co a few times already and in a 5 men mid Case is not needed imo

While the op clearly states what would you do, as in future, I first would like to respond to the comments about this past summer.

Our only issue is with the BB portion of the front line. Although I would have preferred Pepe to stay one more year and keep Vallejo developing on loan, it is what it is and it doesn't weaken up as stated above. Varane is the #2 and likely would have been even if Pepe has stayed on. Nacho is not bad at all as #3. So in fact Vallejo is #4, a prospect. And he sure is much better than the comments above suggested. This move was made in replacing older players and in no way weakens team overall.
Carvajal has had some defensive errors in the last two games, but his overall game was great, especially the offensive side of his game. You guys are making a bigger deal of his errors than needs to be (the problem in these two games wasn't the goals against, it was the lack of goals by BB). These defensive errors can be resolved and in no way is that the result of no internal challenge.
The biggest issue re summer was keeping Bale and Benz and letting Morata go. But he left because of Zidane's insistence on Benz and the lack of confidence Zidane had in Morata. It's a shame really since Morata is already showing he is a elite striker. He already has 3G, 2A with Chelsea and the best avg goal per playing time in EPL. Adding in his 3G, 1A with Spanish NT, he is on a pace of a goal per game and .5 assist.
Compare those stats with Benz!!!!

However that is what was done and therefore in answer to the op, we have to deal with what we have. Obviously the first thing that needs to be done is for Zidane to accept what we all see. The front line should be Ronaldo, Asensio, Isco with the backups being Lucas, Benz, Bale and Mayoral. Definitely there has to be rotations, but make it be merit and fitness!! (I sure hope Zidane recognizes the problem and pushes hard on these 2). Our season really hangs on those two!! Not playing them is not an option as it will  make them more useless than now and of course zero resale value which we will need next summer. They also have to play Majoral to at least see if he can't help!

I would try to find a temporary option in January and at that point loan out Majoral.

Next summer they have to sell both of BB and we need 2 replacements, possibly a third (re Mayoral).

Valkyrja wrote:Kova did alright against Messi and Co a few times already and in a 5 men mid Case is not needed imo

Barcelona in a Super Cup isn't exactly a proper test but it is an example I suppose and yes, he did alright. Casemiro is always needed in that midfield though. The man has become a world class holding mid.

Barcelona in the league last year is though

The defending of Carvajal's defense is really fun to me. Goes to show how much people are willing to forget as long as players are from the academy. He has been absolutely awful this season so far. He's also way too aggressive a lot of times. Seems like his head is not in the game.


As for the BB, we just need to survive until January and buy an attacker for league matches, since Benzema actually shows up for CL games.

Could be any young striker really. My Danish bias says Dolberg should come, he's also not Europe locked. Any striker would do though. I don't trust Mayoral in any way. I don't really trust any player on our team to score consistenyl except Ronaldo.

Just because he is from the academy doesnt mean he is immune to a dip in form. Though people moaning about his poor two games goes to show the massive standards he set. Further testament to him being the best RB in the world

halamadrid2 wrote:Just because he is from the academy doesnt mean he is immune to a dip in form. Though people moaning about his poor two games goes to show the massive standards he set. Further testament to him being the best RB in the world

It's more than two games though. He hasn't looked himself in all 5 games so far. I still believe 100% in him, but it seems like he needs a wake-up call of some sort. His temperament might be bad for him when he plays badly, because he often gets too heated and makes stupid mistakes.

Its embarassing that we paid 100 million euros for a 24 years a Gareth Sale in 2013 and we are still uber reliant în 2017 on 33 years old Ronaldo as our only capable attacker

He played great in both supercup games, against Italy and against Depor. Looked off in the last 2 games

I dont care much for poverty friendlies in the states and neither should you. I have no doubt in my mind that he'll bounce back any time now. I just find it funny how much people are bitching about his two poor games when the season has barely started as if he was playing like this for a whole year. Even bringing up Danilo

Danilo. Ugh. Sure, criticise Dani's performance heavily, I think that is alright but Danilo was an absolute pos player for us. Like as bad as one can get as a full back (and footballer). I am so glad the club sold him and hope to God we stop with those sort of transfers.

If he is doing good at City, great. Hope City never gets to see that version of Danilo. Dani would come good, he always comes good. He spent an entire season (and half of 2015-2016) being a very consistent performer and I would like to think he earned a certain level of trust from us fans.

Not like he been Bale-ing up the place...

First off, I question whether some of you guys watched the two liga ties!! Dani was great offensively. Yes he did make at least three defensive errors, but IMO it is stretching to say he was awful in those two games let alone in all 5 games. Those other games were 1st liga game, 2 super cups and the NT game against Italy. If you say awful, I say you haven't watched the games!!!

However it's off topic for this thread, as I said earlier the problem in last two ties was not the goals we allowed, it was the lack of goals particularly by BB.

Offensively, yea Dani was his usual lovely self. Unfortunately (and fortunately), fullbacks are judged on both sides of the coin (offensive and defensive) and he was very much at fault for both goals vs Valencia and Levante's only goal though I can give a little leeway with respect to the Sun being in one's eye. Like, really little.

Still, Dani would come through. Just a little early season mishaps (costly mishaps too).

i'm not disputing he was at fault for all 3 goals, but that is three mistakes in 180 minutes of futbol. What I am saying is there was at least 170 minutes of good futbol by him and therefore I challenge the statement he was awful for 5 games.