Looks like Asensio is allergic to passing the ball to Mariano

I have been really impressed with Llorente and Odriozola. I hope they get enough playing time to keep their development going.

What an excruciating last 15 mins. Can't believe Modric didn't get subbed. He was practically walking before Ceballos went out. It was the wrong sub again. Lucas came on and contributed to the waves of attacks Espanyol had.

91st minute, long ball to Asensio. The man cuts inside to Mariano, Mariano dribbles a bit and lo and behold, Sergio Ramos has joined the attack. Why, why in God's name did he join the attack? We have the lead, it's the 91st minute and he leaves his position. He is back to his cancerous best.

Anyway, good win, if it were last season, we would have lost this one. Pretty sure of it. Isco is lovely and Modric is getting back to form. Also, Lucas is fking useless.

Thank god Llorente was subbed in, we would've conceded otherwise.

we won. that was the only good part.

Other than that, a lot of useless possession as our decision-making in the attacking zone was horrible. we didn't create enough chances. I honestly feel that both Isco and Asensio make a lot of bad choices and we lose a lot of opportunities as a result.

If you want to see out a result and have players that get stuck in, Asensio is the absolute last player you keep on. Weak, lazy, selfish

I actually didn't mind Isco's game, was nice for the most part. Asensio, besides the goal, really was poor throughout. And people (me) give Dembele grief, Asensio really ain't that different with his decision making.

Llorente, in the Madrid freezer all year, comes on and looks good against an Espanyol side that really was up for it. Hopefully Lope recognises this and stops wasting a sub on Lucas.

Seriously, the minutes Lucas continues to get could have been used for Thimmy's little brother. I rather see him than this "winger".

Ceballos came out at the 60th minute, ran 8.5 km
Isco came out at the 89th minute, ran 8.8 km



Ceballos was working very hard and was fresher than both Isco and Modric combined. Lopetegui made some bad subs in the second half.

It's not the first time, not having a sure thing back up holding mid is hurting us.

and Lucas

I want Llorente to start rotating with Casemiro. He has the quality, just needs a manager who believes in him

I usually don't agree with you guys re-Lucas but good God almighty, thats the 2nd LL game he's come on and we've lost total control of the game. He needs to improve massively ffs. He's been a turnover machine so far. Oh and Courtois and his terrible footwork is hurting my eyes

I also did not understand the sub. Ceballos looked the freshest of them all. And he was playing excellent so it didn't maake sense to sub him out. After that we had Isco and Modric flanking Casemiro who were both dead tired. Not to mention Asensio. Terrible subs yet again bar Llorente for Isco and Mariano for Benz

I think Lucas feels at odd in this team with Lopetegui's coaching, and he can see that it's the end of the road for him in madrid. Lopetegui went out of his way to get him play time today, even in spite of our balance on the pitch, and he barely performed.

I won't be disingenuous, Lucas really had legit usefulness before. He provided defensive coverage, width and a bit of speed when needed. Worked hard and chipped in with some much needed plays/goals. Bang average footballer but he did his job as best as he could with his talent.

Ever since Zidane's final season, it really started to go downhill for him pretty fast. Now, he is really a wasted sub. Not a single redeemable quality I can pin point and that's just with 2 games.

Marca finally calling out Ramos' indiscipline. Hopefully Lope does something now

Ramos and Varane both of them were atrocious on the ball today.

I loved how ceballos played today.. One of the only few players who could match the intensity by Eapanyol.

Nacho was also pretty bad on the ball.

Isco played his role again well however lack of pace in the front three was evident. We really don't have a Bale replacement.

halamadrid2 wrote:Marca finally calling out Ramos' indiscipline. Hopefully Lope does something now

Even Marca has had enough of his cancerous defending. If that were, let's say Costa or Suarez and not Iglesias (decent player btw) who hit the bar, that was a goal. If it were Messi or Griezmann instead of Perez (also a decent footballer) who shot straight at Conetois, that was a goal. Both were from Ramos' shoddy defending.

No doubt Vasquez had usefulness under Zidane, specially when we were playing 442. Zidane also gave him so many minutes that he felt like a starter at times, even over Bale. But that's over now, i dont know if he told himself he was that good but Lopetegui seems to have other priorities this season, and CR is not here to head his crosses anymore.

He is the type of player that i think his performance will be impacted by how little he is used by Lopetegui, and thus he will look much worse. A game like this one, he would have started last season, but now Ceballos does. Id he going to accept that?

Not to mention, unless Bale is injured, if Vinicius comes into the team, he is the one that goes out.

its almost too late to start controlling ramos, the guy is in his 30s and bosses the locker room. if lopetegui can pull that off it will be a miracle in itself. look at who he has had as coaches and they've not been able to curtail him, even mourinho who had spats with him couldn't control him. its too late for an old dog to learn new tricks, we might just have to learn to tolerate these 'ramos time' moments....it goes against my desire for defensive discipline , but i don't know if it can be curtailed

The Ramos thing isn't moments.

It's every part of his playstyle, and it's why he isn't a good defender. His goals has masked his inefficiencies his entire career, which is why the casual fan thinks he's the best. That, and his FIFA rating.

Tbh I think his positioning to RB after he joined us hurt his development immensely. His most important years were spent as a RB going forward and back, when he was a natural CB.

The attempted side pass and the 91st minute bomb forwarding are just two plays that illustrate perfectly what is hilariously wrong with Ramos.

Also, glad for Ceballos. After a full year of legit ostracizing by his supposed idol, he is playing well and putting legit effort. Really glad for him.

Ceballos definitely has some dog in him. He's so aggressive and he can run for 90 minutes straight.

Not often a player like that comes along where he also has elite technique to go with that.

I'm so sold on him as a future star.

Clearly, Ceballos needs to be playing an advanced CM role.  He is very poor at winning back balls (similar to Kroos)...  so it's a waste putting him low and he also doesn't have long range passing. I still need to see if he does better when he gets pushed around and pressured as in the Bilbao game.

Issue is that kroos and modric are untouchable and rightly so.  So he's going to get rotation time until one of those two leave.

I like Llorente a lot.  I actually think he's the best of the lot.  His practice habits are questionable, which put him in the dog house with manager.  But I hope he can turn that around like Ceballos has.  You need to come in with the attitude that you will be given nothing and everything needs to be earned.  Sometimes that's hard for young players who have been starlets coming up.

Benzema, as bad as a night he can have, when he leaves the pitch we lose control of the game.

Mamad wrote:Benzema, as bad as a night he can have, when he leaves the pitch we lose control of the game.

What?

Seriously Benzema fans

A player who was barely involved in the game and a position which barely determines who controls the game is the reason we lost control of the game?.

If we are keeping scores, Benzema was very good in the first 3 games and then poor in the following 3.