Solutions to next generation Real Madrid

if possible, i hope we revamp the whole forward line in 1 shot.
really grateful for what ronaldo had done for us, but i feel that he need a fresh start, if so, prefer we parting in good term and memory.

this is *bleep* madrid, why are we acting like juventus transfer window. it's time for uncle flo to show zidane whos da boss.

I mean, that's a bit incredulous to have so much of our starting 11 off form for so long at the same time.

@Nick
I like Griezemann, always did. And since I put Icardi there who is a CF, let him play behind him or whatever. Look, do you not see our options currently?!

@guest
If you wanna live in the past, that's fine. I do enjoy the past, hell, I still take in the highlights when I'm bored but clearly teams have caught up to how we play (not like we were absolutely outstanding but whatever, semantics). Change must take place either with personnel, strategy or bit of both.

@Doc, it’s ok if you play a 2 man attack and will never change until he retires... I don’t like players that force you to play a certain way. If I knew that playing him as a winger he would still be elite then ok, but that’s not the case.

To play at the elite level you see at Atlético he needs to be behind a CF or next one. He can’t play wide, he can’t dribble, he is not a playmaker so he specializes in a counter attacking scheme... he is too one dimensional for my liking

Has anyone noticed we're going for more latin american/spanish targets probably because of the language barrier?

This seems to be our n1 priority for the new generation

Pretty clear we're going to buy a striker... hopefully two... but it looks like one is pretty much in the bag.

They want Icardi, which is a great idea.  I just HOPE they have a plan B this time ffs.  If Icardi doesn't come, don't get caught with your pants down again.

Of course, unless there is a release clause on Icardi, Inter ain't selling. Well, more of a huge doubt they'll be selling but as Sports mentioned, at least they are looking to reinforce. Good on them, doing what every normal (curse word) club does in Europe.

sportsczy wrote:Pretty clear we're going to buy a striker... hopefully two... but it looks like one is pretty much in the bag.

They want Icardi, which is a great idea.  I just HOPE they have a plan B this time ffs.  If Icardi doesn't come, don't get caught with your pants down again.

Timo Werner seems to be the plan B but he is cup tied and personally I hope they splash the cash for Icardi (since he is not cuptied)

Timo werner that couldn’t handle playing vs galasataray because it was too loud?

The most difficult part is signing Icardi, how do you convince him to quit a club he is captain of midsession? Good luck

And RB Leipzig are a tough club to negotiate with

I think Icardi would be open to a move, probably not mid season, though.

If money, and being cup-tied was not an issue who would you sign?

A name that hasn't really been mentioned is Gabriel Jesus. If Sanchez goes to City they will have Sanchez, Jesus, and Aguero. Surely one has to go, and if there was any option to pick, I'd take Gabriel Jesus all day.

i wouldn't mind having sanchez, not a priority right now though. icardi i like, it would be good to have him in jan. city will not let gabriel jesus go, he's the youngest out of them all, i think they want to build around him

I dont think City will sell Jesus, he is too good, and Aguero is looking at the wrong side of his 30s, they are more likely to sell Aguero than Jesus.

Sanchez i feel has too much of a connection with City, and Arsenal will just not sell,  specially if Wenger has his way.

Based on the players i assume would be available, there is no better option than Icardi, but i dont think we will convince him to drop Inter midseason. Werner? Seeing how tough RB Leipzig were negotiating with pool, and how much we rate him, i doubt we meet their asking price (and they have no incentive to sell when he is gonna play the WC as starter with Germany, his price can go up).

I would actually be shocked if we come out of this winter with a CF. This current regime that failed at closing De Gea and Mbappe worries me.

I usually try to refrain from beating a dead horse in adding to an already quite negative discussion surrounding the coach and the team's recent performances, but I'm curious as to if anyone else have noticed that not even the bottom fodder in the league show any respect towards Real Madrid these days, despite all that they achieved last season. Even in pre and post-match interviews, opposing players keep insisting that they are confident that they can produce something against Real Madrid, or that they simply think we aren't all that great. One could argue that they're just giving shallow answers to journalists, but that confidence against us is really showing on the pitch. In all my time of supporting this club, and watching football on a consistent basis for that matter, it's become pretty clear to me that top teams have a clear advantage in routinely playing against teams that are nervous and hesitant before the first whistle blows. Confidence is such a substantial part of success in football.

As a supporter, I obviously appreciate Real Madrid's recent success as much as everyone else, but they don't impose an aura of dominance that you typically associate with elite teams in football, the ability to sub-consciously affect the confidence and morale of lower tier teams. The lack of that luxury is a problem for any top team. Apart from the hogging of talent, this type of momentum is a key component that has traditionally separated title-winning teams from the rest. It's often what allows them to ease past opponent teams and save their energy for the more high-profile matches. The lack of this quality is especially troublesome for RM right now, when key players are out of form and they aren't clutching their way past the fodder teams like they proved to be so ridiculously exceptional at last season. Superior possession matters little when scoring is an arduous task and the opposing team are confident that they can beat you at it.

From what I've seen of them, I don't think Barcelona have looked that great this season. Just like us, they have their moments where everything seems to be clicking, but their overall performances have been sub-par to their past standards in my opinion. It's no secret that they're not the same team that they were a few seasons ago. Yet, other teams still respect them, and their consistent results have allowed them to find a flow that effectively masks their weaknesses. I don't believe this will matter when we play against them, but it generally gives them an edge and it helps build morale within their team.

We won more than we could've ever hoped for last season, we made history. However, the situation regarding our status as a dominant force domestically didn't seem to be very different then. Assumed inferior teams were facing us as if we were equals, and if it wasn't for the under-appreciated contributions from our ex- fringe players, our hope of winning anything would've looked really bleak early on. I've been trying to figure out when the Granadas and Betis' decided that we're 'not that special' anymore. Quality-gap aside, these teams used to piss their pants when they were up against us and it made finding form substantially easier.

I understand very much what you are describing. On one hand, we achieved a historical feat, winning 2 CLs in a row, 3 in 4 years, which is a behaviour you would associate with dominant teams, and on the other hand our performances have been sub standard in the league, where we should have been ruthlessly skewering teams.

In many ways, 2 of our last 3 CLs were not a reflection of our week to week performances: La decima and la undecima. In many ways, we have behaved like a cup team, struggling to display consistent performances and maximizing our talents in the Champions. The rate at which we did it in the past couple of years was frightening, we made history, and it would not be shocking if we achieve the same thing again this year.

But you talk about an "aura" of dominance, which is not tangible, and because i had the same thought as you, my only conclusion is the way we play football. Because if i want to compare to the most recent teams that gave me that feeling, we have Barcelona, and to lesser extent Bayern from Jupp to Pep.

I think if you want to give off that aura you describe, it has to come in the way you play football, not just the stars you have aligned on your pitch. I think we have learned that the hard way, it doesn't work. I think you either have to be a pressing machine, and/or a possession machine. Those are teams that give so little room to their opponents to play that their players are on a constant stress when in possession, rushing to decisions, and turning over the ball. That is what has defined barca in the past 10 years in a way that even now, even when they aren't even close to their peak under pep, they still give off little chances to other teams.

If you beat most teams, they have no choice but to respect you, but the more they create chances against you, the more that respect goes away. Remember All after that game at wembley? they won and he talked trash. I look at the amount of chances we gave Dortmund today, and i am sure they feel like they had a great shot at winning. It's that footballing aspect in my opinion that we are missing. If we were squeezing the life of our teams week to week in europe, and demolishing teams in the league without scoring late winners, then we would have more respect.

And i am saying this not to blame Zidane, but more an hiring policy we have ran for the past years. Of course it has gotten infinitely better, but things can and should get better. There are higher highs this team can reach.

When we went on that unbeaten streak we had that aura of dominance.

Other than the first 5 weeks of last season (where we didn't lose a game in fact) and a 2 week period in in the second half of the season...  we had an aura of complete dominance AND we were completely dominant factually.

When Zidane took over and starting in late Feb...  we were completely dominant to end the season which got us within 1 point of Barca.

In fact, the CL final last year was the most dominant performance by a team other than the Barca win over Man U in the modern era for such a final.

The only reason people are complaining is that our current form pales in comparison to the dominance we consistently exhibited during Zidane's first 18 months.  It's that contrast that has a segment of Madrid fans needing a diaper change.

Nope, completely wrong. Last season, Z's Madrid played horribly bad at the beginning of the season BUT they still managed to win those games. Those points were fundamental in us winning the league last year.

This year though, and even though we're playing horribly bad, we're not winning. I'm afraid those dropped points will turn out to be deciding factor in Barcelona winning the league.

Z has always won unconvincingly (either it's down to a Ramos' header or through individual brilliance from one of our players). Rarely did we score from open play.

So yeah, Z is still Z of last year, the only difference is that Ramos and Ronaldo aren't bailing him out this time.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Nope, completely wrong. Last season, Z's Madrid played horribly bad at the beginning of the season BUT they still managed to win those games. Those points were fundamental in us winning the league last year.

This year though, and even though we're playing horribly bad, we're not winning. I'm afraid those dropped points will turn out to be deciding factor in Barcelona winning the league.

Z has always won unconvincingly (either it's down to a Ramos' header or through individual brilliance from one of our players). Rarely did we score from open play.

So yeah, Z is still Z of last year, the only difference is that Ramos and Ronaldo aren't bailing him out this time.

I swear to God I've never seen you in 3 years have something good to say about this team, not even after we dominated the football world last season. Always complaining, do you ever have something positive to say?

1. I have said plenty of positive things about Madrid, it's just that you either weren't around to read them or purposely ignoring them and solely focusing on my criticism.

2. Saying that we "dominated the football world last season" is mildly misleading. We won countless games at the last min thanks to luck, Ramos and the individual talent of some other players. If you go back right now to last season threads, you'll realize that the striking majority were not happy with the way things were going at the time and were visibly worried about what would happen if Ramos and Ronaldo stopped bailing us out.

3. If you have problems with criticism, no one is forcing you to read my posts or any criticism of the other posters, and if you think what I said is factually incorrect, please come forward with arguments and I'll be happy to apologize if I'm wrong or retaliate back with other arguments.

4. If you feel the team in its current sorry state should not be criticized, then I'm sorry there's nothing to debate here.

Mr Nick09 wrote:Timo werner that couldn’t handle playing vs galasataray because it was too loud?

The most difficult part is signing Icardi, how do you convince him to quit a club he is captain of midsession? Good luck

And RB Leipzig are a tough club to negotiate with

I don't think what happened in Istanbul actually was due to Werner not being able to handle loud stadiums generally. Was some kind of circulation issue.

Mr Nick09 wrote:I understand very much what you are describing. On one hand, we achieved a historical feat, winning 2 CLs in a row, 3 in 4 years, which is a behaviour you would associate with dominant teams, and on the other hand our performances have been sub standard in the league, where we should have been ruthlessly skewering teams.

In many ways, 2 of our last 3 CLs were not a reflection of our week to week performances: La decima and la undecima. In many ways, we have behaved like a cup team, struggling to display consistent performances and maximizing our talents in the Champions. The rate at which we did it in the past couple of years was frightening, we made history, and it would not be shocking if we achieve the same thing again this year.

But you talk about an "aura" of dominance, which is not tangible, and because i had the same thought as you, my only conclusion is the way we play football. Because if i want to compare to the most recent teams that gave me that feeling, we have Barcelona, and to lesser extent Bayern from Jupp to Pep.

I think if you want to give off that aura you describe, it has to come in the way you play football, not just the stars you have aligned on your pitch. I think we have learned that the hard way, it doesn't work. I think you either have to be a pressing machine, and/or a possession machine. Those are teams that give so little room to their opponents to play that their players are on a constant stress when in possession, rushing to decisions, and turning over the ball. That is what has defined barca in the past 10 years in a way that even now, even when they aren't even close to their peak under pep, they still give off little chances to other teams.

If you beat most teams, they have no choice but to respect you, but the more they create chances against you, the more that respect goes away. Remember All after that game at wembley? they won and he talked trash. I look at the amount of chances we gave Dortmund today, and i am sure they feel like they had a great shot at winning. It's that footballing aspect in my opinion that we are missing. If we were squeezing the life of our teams week to week in europe, and demolishing teams in the league without scoring late winners, then we would have more respect.

And i am saying this not to blame Zidane, but more an hiring policy we have ran for the past years. Of course it has gotten infinitely better, but things can and should get better. There are higher highs this team can reach.

I completely agree with your assessment on how top teams overwhelm their opponent teams morally. I think it's very much based on rep and consistency, and to some extent playing style. We were playing some really crappy football during the latter half of Ancelotti's last season at the club, with Bale for the most part being a liability with constant turnovers and lack of general efficiency, Modric being out injured, and the rest of the team performing far below their expected standard. Yet, we won and drew a relatively large amount of games despite performing depressingly awful in the league after the winter break. I remember our performances from some of those games, where a substantial amount of our opponent teams seemed about as jaded and uninspired as we were, and we managed to salvage more draws and wins than we deserved, thanks to that shared complacency or respect towards us.

We don't seem to have that luxury anymore. The team that Ancelotti parted with, did not perform up to par during the latter half of the season, but the team was still widely respected for it's ruthless efficiency and winning streak that ended just before the winter break. Many of us singled out Bale as a scapegoat and reason for our drop in performance, or Ancelotti for not resting any of our starters. Regardless of who was to blame, the entire team was performing below par, not only one or two individuals. Despite our performance issues, we eventually placed 2nd in the league. In hindsight, that's damn impressive considering we didn't particularly rely on our more recent ability to settle matches late with clutch goals.

Florentino Perez: Neymar would be more likely to win the Ballon d'Or at Real Madrid

LOOOL

Btw. Can we sign mbappe in summer after we crush his team in cl. I mean is it legally possible.