Real Madrid's CWC Campaign

No surprises in the line up

Hopefully, we don't let this drag to the last minutes like the Al Jazira game.

Gremio are so dirty, they are targeting Ronaldo so clearly. Have they even had a card yet?

We are playing well. The goal will come. Modric with one hell of a half. Ronaldo though is a blackhole in possession

AlJazira and Gremio together have had a grandtotal of 2 shots on target against us. I don't even know why we bother with this cup

Does anyone have a link to a stream for the match?

http://www.yallasport.net/real-madrid-vs-gremio-live-stream-live-stream

Thanks a bunch!

Casemiro is great on the ball. I never want to hear that he can't pass ffs

I love that our midfield shoot like crazy these days. Made Modric a better shot imo

Casemiro is alright, calm yourself. He is not the type of DM that can direct the play, a mediocentro in spanish, that's what i usually mean when i say he is poor on the ball.

Another successful game in the odyssey of our number 9 to become the perfect modern striker...

Mr Nick09 wrote:Casemiro is alright, calm yourself. He is not the type of DM that can direct the play, a mediocentro in spanish, that's what i usually mean when i say he is poor on the ball.

Well you are not giving him enough credit. Casemiro combines both long a short passes wonderfully and more often than not does not even need to control the ball before passing it

If ever you wondered what the hell ZZ has done for this team, look no further than Casemiro, ZZ has made him a unique player, the complete package that literally does it all. You will never see him pass like Xavi or Kroos but he is as good as other CMs at passing. Never mind all his other qualities that make him untouchable on top of the best DM list

Anyways I am happy that for once Fifa have recognised one of our midfielders, it would have been unfair had Ronaldo been voted the best player over Modric. Would be nice for Kroos to have some recognition too as he's as excellent

I hope we go in with the same energy in the clasico. We really need the win. We need Varane to not be injured as he's been great lately and we need to take our chances......yeah won't happen

I missed this game! I heard Bale was excellent in a relief role and Benz his usual mr. modern CF (where is Turok by the way!).

Does anyone feel there is a chance Zidane would play Bale instead of Benz for el clasico? Oops whom am I kidding, with this coach it will be BBC with Isco benched!!

No Bale is not for enough to start so he will come off the bench. And Casemiro is suspended too I think

futbol_bill wrote:
Does anyone feel there is a chance Zidane would play Bale instead of Benz for el clasico? Oops whom am I kidding, with this coach it will be BBC with Isco benched!!

Let's put it this way: you could bring God in human form and give him R9's shirt and Messi's haircut and Z would still choose Benzema over him.

Benzema will outlast everyone at Madrid and he won't leave before he makes sure Real Madrid is irreversibly ruined.

I can’t tell any more Nick when you are being serious or trolling. I didn’t see the game, but it’s been reported Bale was very good, certainly better than Benz!

Are you trollling?

Na Bale got 20mins in total in these two games. I don't think he starts until after the break

Na Casemiro sat out against Sevilla, got a clean slate for the CWC. It's very odd that yellows and reds count towards LaLiga

halamadrid2 wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:Casemiro is alright, calm yourself. He is not the type of DM that can direct the play, a mediocentro in spanish, that's what i usually mean when i say he is poor on the ball.

Well you are not giving him enough credit. Casemiro combines both long a short passes wonderfully and more often than not does not even need to control the ball before passing it

If ever you wondered what the hell ZZ has done for this team, look no further than Casemiro, ZZ has made him a unique player, the complete package that literally does it all. You will never see him pass like Xavi or Kroos but he is as good as other CMs at passing. Never mind all his other qualities that make him untouchable on top of the best DM list

Anyways I am happy that for once Fifa have recognised one of our midfielders, it would have been unfair had Ronaldo been voted the best player over Modric. Would be nice for Kroos to have some recognition too as he's as excellent

I hope we go in with the same energy in the clasico. We really need the win. We need Varane to not be injured as he's been great lately and we need to take our chances......yeah won't happen

Hala, i understand that you like Casemiro a lot and you want him to be recognized a bit more, but you also need to understand that my comments are more so about the "type" of player that he is, than the "quality" of he has.

As far as DM in europe, he is easily top 3 to me, he is definitely a skilled player that can pull off some impressive passes. That's technique, he has more than most players in his position. What i dont think he has, and wish he had, is the vision and talent to run the midfield. Sadly, most players who have that are nowhere near as good defenders as he is. you always trade off something right?

Now if you want to credit his progression down to Zidane? lol stop. He owes a lot more to Lopetegui during the time they spent in Portugal where he started week in and out, and had a great CL campaign. I still remember Zidane benching him when he started coaching Madrid because he wanted Kroos to be the mediocentro like his master Carlo thought him, it's only when that flopped that he called on Casemiro to protect the back. Please let's not change history please...

What Casemiro has improved the most over the last couple of years, is the mental approach to the game.

this is a short clip of Casemiro way before Zidane entered in his life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiShpUOyRow

check that pass at 1:37...beauty

if you ask me this is the "same" guy we are seeing, difference is that he does it week in and week out, from CL finals to CWC finals. Obviously he does a lot of things better, natural progression and all, but he is also more consistent, he has more control of himself and he takes less risk, makes right decisions with the ball more often.

Zidane has not "made him" into anything, that's ridiculous.

I get the euphoria of a win but let's calm down with the big statements lol

Casemiro also has that Xabi Alonso esque getting away with legit yellows. Just putting that out there.

Anyway, nice win and we did the Super Cup treble. Great accomplishment.

Mr Nick09 wrote:
Hala, i understand that you like Casemiro a lot and you want him to be recognized a bit more, but you also need to understand that my comments are more so about the "type" of player that he is, than the "quality" of he has.

As far as DM in europe, he is easily top 3 to me, he is definitely a skilled player that can pull off some impressive passes. That's technique, he has more than most players in his position. What i dont think he has, and wish he had, is the vision and talent to run the midfield. Sadly, most players who have that are nowhere near as good defenders as he is. you always trade off something right?

Now if you want to credit his progression down to Zidane? lol stop. He owes a lot more to Lopetegui during the time they spent in Portugal where he started week in and out, and had a great CL campaign. I still remember Zidane benching him when he started coaching Madrid because he wanted Kroos to be the mediocentro like his master Carlo thought him, it's only when that flopped that he called on Casemiro to protect the back. Please let's not change history please...

What Casemiro has improved the most over the last couple of years, is the mental approach to the game.

this is a short clip of Casemiro way before Zidane entered in his life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiShpUOyRow

check that pass at 1:37...beauty

if you ask me this is the "same" guy we are seeing, difference is that he does it week in and week out, from CL finals to CWC finals. Obviously he does a lot of things better, natural progression and all, but he is also more consistent, he has more control of himself and he takes less risk, makes right decisions with the ball more often.

Zidane has not "made him" into anything, that's ridiculous.

I get the euphoria of a win but let's calm down with the big statements lol

I love how everytime a player improves unddr Pep it's because he is a genious but when a player improves under ZZ it's all on them and ZZ is just riding on their coat tails under his infinite luck finally runs out

Casemiro went from average passes of around 20 to 40 per game under ZZ. 49 is the average passes Modric has per game. His passing accurace also improved from 76% to 84% and he makes considerably more passes in the opponents half now than before all this under Zidane. Remember when everyone wonderdd why Casemiro would play ahead of Kroos/Modric, well it's become so normal and ingenious we've started to see that as the norm. All this was started under Zidane.

The goals he scored against Juve and Utd you really think you'd have seen that under Lopetegui or his 1-2s with Ronaldo that nearly led to a goal against Sevilla? Please give credit where credit is due. Zidane has totally transformed Casemiro into a complete beast. Modern DMs from now on will be expected to do what he does.

Long gone are the days of Motta and Xabi where all they need to do is pass well and defend sort of good. Casemiro will be an example for all. And full credit to ZZ for trusting him, making him a main fixture in the line up and improving all aspects to his game to make hik the player he is today

i don't credit every player getting better to Guardiola, i credit the way he has them thinking about the game differently because his teams play different, and there are extreme cases of guys like Sterling lol. De Bruyne for example, owes nothing to Pep, the guy is a beast regardless.

no comments about your made up stats lol

The goals he scored against Juve and Utd you really think you'd have seen that under Lopetegui

yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pe7KhckaKA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3aTxFnGyiw at 0:20

his goals in brazil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaxUZOUPraw

some of his passes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w54Ibdhd2yo at Sao Paulo

i understand that you are just waking up to how talented overall Casemiro is, he actually played a lot higher the pitch in his youth. I have known about him since he was a youth player in Brazil touted to lead the next gen with Neymar and Lucas. I dont think you realize how hyped he was when he was coming out, before he completely screwed up his career at sao paulo being immature. that's why he took the chance in coming to Madrid.

Casemiro is realizing his potential, everything i see from him now is consistent to the way he was being talked about as a youth player in Brazil, and what he has showed in castilla, and porto. Zidane has not transformed him into anything.

This would be like saying that Pep made De Bruyne into the best passer in the world lol, that would be ridiculous. If if you think Motta and Xabi are good because they "only pass" then there is a lot you dont understand about football

I dont get it why are you showing me goals that he has scored from corners and freekicks, they are nice but pointless in this discussion. I am talking about his movements, coming up to the edge of the box to participate in play to score against Juve, his movements to find himself on the shoulder of the defence to tuck the ball in from a nice cross against Utd. He is doing all that because ZZ has improved that aspect of his game and his passing ability to the point you wouldn't find a difference between himself and CMs around Europe. Let me just point out that he is a DM and does the job of CMs and DMs.

I have already showed you the passing stats that shows how much he has improved under ZZ (check sofascore if you dont 'trust' the information). He is almost like 'false DM' at the start of his Madrid career and during the LaDecima he was basically just a destroyer, somebody that stayed back to mop up loose balls, then came ZZ and he started turning Casemiro into somebody that participates in one touch passes much to the dismay of a lot of fans because supposedly he was a blackhole in possession, now he can be surrounded by 4/5 players and still make a nice pass to escape pressure.

Ypu can trust him on the ball like you would our other mids now, were you able to say that 3 seasons ago? I know I couldn't. All credit goes to ZZ. I don't credit ZZ for making Casemiro a great destroyer because you could see he always had the ability to clear balls and stop attacks but he wasn't a good passer, but now he is so I just want people to recognise that he is a good passer and that ZZ isnt a useless coach

When Pep won the 6 trophies he was the best coach in history who has revolutionised football when ZZ won 5 trophies along with winning the CL back to back, he is just lucky and just sits by while the players improve themselves. I don't even know why he bothers to turn up to training tbh

Re-Motta and Xabi, playmaking from deep is all they were/are good for. They weren't physical, couldn't tackle, were slow and never tracked runners. Remember how we wished Xabi would get benched because he was an obstacle. I welcome any points that would prove me wrong

DeBruyne situation can be compared with ADM. Not Casemiro, the complete player Casemiro is today is because of ZZ. I understand you don't like him and think any success he has is due to luck but at some point you have to admit you were way off in your assessment no?

I never wish Xabi got benched. Never. And yes, Zidane winning 5 trophies in one year should be given way more attention but it is what it is.

As for Casemiro, why don't you guys just share the credit. His time at Porto made him into a player Madrid could use. Zidane got him to a level in which a club like Madrid need. And to all we know, Casemiro could go to another club and develop into another type of midfielder under another manager. Players have different developmental stages. Come on, we all know this.

you said he was not able to score long shots before, there are plenty of long range goals in those clips, if you care to watch, but who likes to be proven wrong right?

you showed some made up stats you just thought off, why would i care to reply to that? "from 20 to 40 passes per game" horse ass stat, stop inventing stuff. we can all see that Casemiro is having a natural progression, he is better year after year. but that's the result of a player in full maturity, playing with guys that are world class week in and week out. This is not the result of some special intervention of Zidane to turn him from scrub to genius. Casemiro proved himself at Porto, coming from Castilla, he made it look effortless, in the league as in champions league, specially in that 3-0 win at home vs Bayern.

He was never just a destroyer, ever since he was a youth player in Brazil, he was considered a full package type of player, able to do it all. So in the past couple of years, with maturity, he is realizing his potential more and more, feeling more and more comfortable on the pitch, doing more things.

again, that line of thinking is the result of someone who never payed attention to Casemiro before.

You want to credit Zidane for the environment that allow him to mature? fine, but we are not talking about Granero turning into Xavi here.

if your argument is to say that Zidane "made" casemiro into a complete player, then why was he so damn good at Porto? could you please explain that?

anyhow, i wish Zidane would spend less time making Casemiro into the most complete DM in football, and focus a bit more on Benzema.

and you want to compare Guardiola to Zdiane? i dont know why some of you watch this much football, you are better off checking highlights to see goals and drawing conclusions based off the results.

look what i found, an article talking about Casemiro as a prospect in 2011, read how they talk about him lmao

Brazil had a couple of nutbrained defensive midfielders in the last World Cup – thanks again, Mr. Dunga. They were incapable of giving through balls, scoring from long distance or even avoiding unnecessary fouls and cards. But truth be told: there weren’t any really brilliant players in that position to be part of the Seleção at that time. Since then, things have changed. Amongst the good sambaboys coming along is Tottenham Hotspur's Sandro, who is now a frequent bearer of the yellow T-shirt. Though White Hart Lane is surely proud of their Brazilian wonder, another rising star is now a strong bet to make it to the first team both at the Spurs and at the hosts of the 2014 World Cup. That is São Paulo FC’s Carlos Casemiro.

At 19 years of age, he is stylish enough to make some people remember Falcão – a hero in his own country as well as in Italy, due to the Serie A title he gave AS Roma in 1983. Casemiro surely has skills that remind Brazilians of the so called “King of Rome”: he has strong defensive abilities, can shoot long distance and is also a qualified passer. He could provide good protection in the midfield, as long as he has more freedom than Sandro. That could make him an important surprise element up forward, whenever Modric is heavily marked, so Bale’s speed is better used by Spurs - who are said to have offered 13 million euros for the Brazilian starlet.

Casemiro started at the youth camp in São Paulo FC and made his debut amongst the pros last year. That qualified him to be in Brazil's U20 team for the South American championship this year. He dominated the midfield, was key to the Brazilian title and scored three goals in nine matches, which made Barcelona FC set sights on him. Since then, he never left São Paulo FC’s first team. So far, he has scored eight goals for his club and given more than 10 assists. He's likely to play for Brazil in the London Olympics next year. Tottenham had better step up to Sign him, otherwise he’ll be in Britain in 2012 as someone else’s Falcão.

Zidane made him into a complete DM

https://sabotagetimes.com/football/carlos-casemiro-the-midfield-ace-who-can-bring-some-steel-to-tottenham-hotspur

you all are revisionist historians

Forgive me if I don't take that article serious when I just read this:

Amongst the good sambaboys coming along is Tottenham Hotspur's Sandro, who is now a frequent bearer of the yellow T-shirt. Though White Hart Lane is surely proud of their Brazilian wonder, another rising star is now a strong bet to make it to the first team both at the Spurs and at the hosts of the 2014 World Cup.

Anyone can call a young player "the next something". That is not a sure fire indicator of him being anything. If you wanna tell yourself it was just the "environment" Zidane "created" to send him to the next level, sure, whatever. That is probably the best credit you can give the Frenchman really.

The fact is though, under Zidane's Madrid, Casemiro became a more complete midfielder. Maybe he would have reached there with any other manager, maybe not. But Zidane is here though and is coaching/managing him so...