Real Madrid's CWC Campaign

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...

Let's remember that Sandro looked phenomenal at spurs for a short time before a series of injuries derailed his career. everytime he would come back, he was less and less the player we initially were marvelled by.

I think there are very very very rare instance where you see a professional player making drastic improvements to his skill level or technique from 20 and on. I mean, the base skillset can be refined, yes, but if you dont have the base you will never have it.

And i insist i am talking about technique, because arguing that Casemiro is a complete player, is very much arguing that he is able to do it all from passing, shooting, holding up the ball, to reading passing lanes, tackling etc...

Casemiro from an early age was already seen as this complete prospect, yes he is a more refined player today, but that's only normal. But a lot of people could see the skillset.

We marvel at how brilliant Isco is technically, but he has always been that way. the same can be said about a lot of players. Neymar since Brazil was a monster, Thiago Alcantara from early in barca was brilliant, i can go on.

So no, under Zidane he has not become a more complete player. He was already a complete midfielder, he has become a more polished football, more consistent, more controlled, more disciplined. The mental aspect of the game, which is what matters over technique  and differentiate good from great, has gotten better. That's the mental Guru that Zidane is, i will never take credit away from him for being a world class man manager.

Maybe we are saying the same thing but differently. But more specifically with Casemiro, i saw him make a jump from Madrid to Porto, and that's why i wanted to credit Lopetegui more so than Zidane.

@Turok, he needed to go because having that one season where you play week in and week out, is very important. you have to get to know who you are before you can compete with other guys, having fully realized what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Mr Nick09 wrote: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?

Where did I say long shot? If I wanted to make reference to a long shot dont you thonk I'd have chosen his goal against Napoli instead? His goal against Juve wasn't even nice I just wanted to highlight the role he had and how he found himself at the edge of their box to be able to make that shot that's all

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,

The stats difference fom Sofascore from when he came back to now

Spoiler:

Go ahead though just wear those rose tinted glasses, and cover you ears with your hands so that you can refuse to give ZZ credit

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.

Yeah, alright if only it was that simple

This is not the result of some special intervention of Zidane to turn him from scrub to genius.

Dramatization, this went from me giving credit to ZZ for help make Casemiro complete by improving his pass and movements to you thinking that I believe he turned him from a Khedira to a Casemiro. Casemiro has always been a great destroyer, ever since he came to us but that's not what I am talking about. I am talking about how complete he's become. How ZZ has him participate in play like all our other midfielders instead of just staying back like he used to. Even on the RM website you can see the pass and move drills that ZZ uses to improve his passing.

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.

I agree, he is the best DM in the world

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.

Ok, he was always the complete package I wonder why everyone thought he was poor on the ball including yourself when he was here

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.

Environment? No I'd rather credit his trainings that have allowed him and others to improve

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?

I don't think you're understanding me here, I've always thought he was excellent ever since the game against Dortmund all those seasons ago. ZZ has added one/two more facets to his game that has made him this complete player he is now

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

I don't blame him, Benz is a lost cause

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.

I don't need to because by the end of next year ZZ will have left him well behind. He'll be on a cloud on his own. I am just waiting for us to win the CL again this season. Hopefully we get City along the way. Most overrated manager today. Even more so than Pochetino

The thing with Zidane is he deflects attention, credit...  and pretty much anything other than crisis/failures to the players.  He's the anti-Mourinho.  

Because his public personality is so humble and self-deprecating...  people underestimate him and think that's how he truly is.  People made the same mistake when he was a player... and then suddenly he became the best player in the world. He was a tireless worker and competitor on and off the pitch. His coaching methods are similar... he and his staff coach and drill the living daylights out of our team.

There's a quiet elegance about him that is a complete antithesis of the stereotype of the modern over-achiever.

i still feel cwc is a complete waste of time, didn't watch it and haven't even caught the highlights. the only advantage from this imo was for bale to get a brief run around/cameo games to prepare him for more important league football. congrats to the team obviously, a good confidence booster is always necessary for going into the second half of the season. btw how was bale? did he play well?

Didn't watch the games... concerning Bale.... every time he plays well, he gets injured. I just hope he can play well against Barca and then take his mandatory 2 month sabbatical.

titosantill wrote:i still feel cwc is a complete waste of time, didn't watch it and haven't even caught the highlights. the only advantage from this imo was for bale to get a brief run around/cameo games to prepare him for more important league football. congrats to the team obviously, a good confidence booster is always necessary for going into the second half of the season. btw how was bale? did he play well?

I feel the same way. The tournament is a waste of time and more importantly energy. However, I will never say no to adding another trophy to our cabinet. The tournament is worthless but it's quite nice to have that badge adorning our shirt for the second year running.

About Bale, he has looked okay ever since he came back from injury. But given his injury-plagued history, it would be a mistake to count on him to stay healthy until the end of the season.

All I'm hoping for at this point is for him to contribute with something and ultimately help us win the game against Barcelona when he comes on from the bench. After that, he can go back to getting injured again for all I care.

CWC is obviously only important for everyone else except the European club. Just how it is. In theory, it's a good competition to have, all the winners of the respective regions' tournaments playing in a one off match to see who is the "best in the world". Don't mind the UCL is the premier club competition in the world but whatever, semantics.