2018 / 2019 season prediction

Nice to see Higuain still loved by our players

Loved the second half. Ceballos is amazing to watch. I hope we don't make it impossible for these kids by playing them without first teamers in CDR

Is Lope trying to turn Llorente into a CB

At least we dont have a trophyless season. Kudos on the win Lope

AC Milan players kicking Vinicious like he is Neymar. Vini proving he's not by getting straight up. Good lad

That's one odd looking trophy.

Mr Nick09 wrote:no offense but if Juve want to swap Alex Sandro for Marcelo and cash im down

That is a pathetic proposition

Marcelo is just fat from the off season. It happens every summer. He will be fine.

vanDEEZ wrote:Marcelo is just fat from the off season. It happens every summer. He will be fine.

Yeah but it's when he'll be fine is my actual worry.

I wonder if Marcelo, Modric, Casemiro and Varane will start vs Atleti. Don't think Modric will start. But the rest

It takes time for Marcelo to burn his summer fact and to get in game shape lol.

Those guys should not start I would go with the team that started vs Roma. They are just ticking better and have more minutes in their legs

Couple of questions;

When is Thiago coming.

Is Vinicius good enough at this point to be on 1st team, and if so does combination of Asensio, Vinicius, Bale and part time Benz and Lucas, good enough assuming Perez doesn’t get us a CF?

The key is Bale staying fit because he is an incredible player when he is fit and playing with confidence, top 5 player.

Personally, I think Vinicius is good enough for the first team. As Nick said though, Bale staying fit is the bigger worry for me. Vazquez isn't exactly a world beater as a replacement.

And I really doubt Thiago is coming.

I like to think that you're right, but I honestly believe it's far too early to say that Vinicius is good enough for the first team, although he has looked bright in these pre-season matches. He has qualities that are exciting to watch, but I expect consistency from a first teamer, and you can't tell from a few friendly matches whether or not someone will be able to provide that throughout an entire season. It's especially hard to tell with younger players, who tend to burn themselves out with fewer, but more intensive performances.

Mr Nick09 wrote:The key is Bale staying fit because he is an incredible player when he is fit and playing with confidence, top 5 player.

Is he even a top 5 player in our team ?

The more I see Vinicius, the more I am convinced that putting him on the bench or castilla is an absolute waste.
Vinicius has been put to the preseason fire and has come out with barely any burns. Lopetegui would be wise to trust the boy.

I'm getting concermed Benzema has been scoring more with his head than his feet. well he is a proper aerial threat but he needs to be sharp with his feet too.

Has to be said that ever since he came out of the exile imposed by Zidane late last season, Bale has done very well. Now his work ethic, positioning, and decision making is all as good as i thought it could be, well done.

Turok_TTZ wrote:The more I see Vinicius, the more I am convinced that putting him on the bench or castilla is an absolute waste.
Vinicius has been put to the preseason fire and has come out with barely any burns. Lopetegui would be wise to trust the boy.

I'm getting concermed Benzema has been scoring more with his head than his feet. well he is a proper aerial threat but he needs to be sharp with his feet too.

I think I've seen enough young, pre-season wonders at top clubs, to warrant some degree of scepticism

As for Benzema's aerial threat, I'm quite sceptical about that as well. He's missed quite a few headers over the past few seasons where he simply had to steer it towards the goal. I still remember CR's expression of bafflement when he missed one of them. I want Benzema to have a cracking season. I think we all do. I'll withold my excitement for now, though. My only worry in regards to Bale, is his fitness.

The Madrid One wrote:Has to be said that ever since he came out of the exile imposed by Zidane late last season, Bale has done very well. Now his work ethic, positioning, and decision making is all as good as i thought it could be, well done.

He was injured all the time. ZZ played him automatically when healthy until mid last season... then he just got tired of it. Not to mention Bale looked awful when he played and, as soon as he had one good game, got injured.

Had nothing to do with ZZ. It's health.

Prediction:

I believe the only remaining possibilities re squad are Thiago and slight (very) possibility of a CF.
With Thiago, there are likely some discussions with Bayern and I’m optimistic but also realize it’s at best a 50-50 chance. Re CF, I keep hearing possibility of a last minute deal for Rodrigo, but given it will cost 110M and Rodrigo not being the ultimate solution, I doubt if Perez will pay that much.

So for my prediction, I assume Thiago but no new CF.

So here’s my prediction re squad:

Courtois, Navas

Ramos, Varane, Nacho, Vallejo (assume Nacho also being cover for both lateral positions plus assume Llorente and Casemiro will be emergency CB cover while Vallejo is out plus Sabchez as call up from Castilla)

Carvajal, Odriozola
Marcelo, Reguilon

Kroos, Thiago, Casemiro, Llorente
Modric, Isco, Asensio, Ceballos

Benzema, Bale, Lucas, Vinicius and/or Mayoral (I’m completely in the dark re this spot. Seems Mayoral has beaten De Tomas out as there are discussions re loan arrangements for both de Tomas and Odegaard and yet Vinicius has been impressive. With him of course there is the option of having him on Castilla with callups, but given Castilla is 3rd level, I think that might not be a good option for him. It will work on 1st if they give him sufficient minutes (i.e. use him much more than Mayoral).

So that’s 22 or 23 depending upon Vinicius / Mayoral. Actually that’s 23 or 24 counting the practice GK, unless they use Castilla GKs for that practice role.

I think there's less chance of us buying Thiago than Rodrigo. Like we did with Hazard I think we'll choose to nurture Ceballos instead of buying someone else. Not that Bayern will sell him anyhow.

Regarding the squad, I think we'll see something like this:


And then Vinicious to gp back and forth. Think we loan out Odegaard again (not a fan) along with RDT and Lunin

They are already working on loan deals for De Tomas, Odegaard, Lunin and Valverde!

The Thiago stories have been long gone since Vidal left. I really doubt it happens.

Vinicius has been given number 16, seems like he'll solely be part of the first team.

So the numbers 7, 15, and 23 are still available. I wonder who will go for those- or who we will get.

Given the AS article today and the fact that Thiago option appears gone, the following looks like it might be the squad.

Courtois, Navas

Ramos, Varane, Nacho, New CB

Carvajal, Odriozola
Marcelo, Reguilon

Kroos, Casemiro, Valverde
Modric, Isco, Asensio, Ceballos

Benzema, new CF, Mayoral
Bale, Vinicius, Lucas, Vinicius

That’s a 25 sized squad including the practice portero.

While the size is more than we were hoping for, I hope it means Mayoral is theone not getting a lot of minutes as opposed to Vinicius. I expect both Casemiro and Lucas will get far less minutes this year as opposed to last.

If there us any truth to the AS story, we should this week be hearing about the recruitment of the CF and CM!

Think the 7 will remain vacant until we see if Asensio can establish himself next season imo. Then next summer he gets it and Rodrygo probably gets his number. Regiillon will probably get a number. Most possible Theo's old one. That leaves one number + Kiko's number too for 2 players. Hopefully Odegaard and a striker