CSKA Moscow vs Real Madrid

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

Thimmy wrote:I just missed the game, due to other matters I had to take care of. I'm not surprised to see that it ended without us scoring any goals. How did we perform apart from the lack of goals, though?

Well, how can I put this. There are bad performances, Thimmy. Then there's 50 feet of crap. Then there's another 50 feet of crap. Then there's our performance tonight.

Similar to the Sevilla match then? It was probably fortunate that I missed it, in that case. I don't sleep well when I'm angry

Well, another cancerous defeat despite actually having chances.

Lopetegui out?

The spanish media has been really soft on him since.

Three terrible performances in a row.

Looks to be a terrible manager, garbage tactics.

halamadrid2 wrote:Mariano breath of fresh air. Won nearly every header against 5 defenders. Step aside catzema. We need a fighter in there

How much time did he get on the pitch? I really don't understand how he doesn't start at this point. I think it's become beyond evident enough already, that Benzema doesn't provide an offensive threat, and neither does Asensio.

Thimmy wrote:

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

Thimmy wrote:I just missed the game, due to other matters I had to take care of. I'm not surprised to see that it ended without us scoring any goals. How did we perform apart from the lack of goals, though?

Well, how can I put this. There are bad performances, Thimmy. Then there's 50 feet of crap. Then there's another 50 feet of crap. Then there's our performance tonight.

Similar to the Sevilla match then? It was probably fortunate that I missed it, in that case. I don't sleep well when I'm angry

yep, you were definitely lucky to miss it. The whole team was in a shambles.

We are sh*t at the moment. but better be sh*t now than in the second half of the season.

our LB and RB in this game were shat. nothing special.
Asensio's decision making is awful. and people wanted him to start over Isco

we are shat at the back, we are shat in the middle and we are shat in front of the goal.

we need a proper dribbler in the final third as much as we need a striker.

Looks like Lopetuigi has really no plans other than keeping possession. His players are very congested together in midfield and none really takes any risk. It is just so easy for opposition defences.

Cyborg wrote:Lopetegui out?

The spanish media has been really soft on him since.

Three terrible performances in a row.

Looks to be a terrible manager, garbage tactics.

I've been genuinely impressed by how he's made us play when we actually play well. The Roma game was fantastic, and I hope to see more performances like that. I don't think we have a winning team right now, though. It doesn't matter how good our overall play is, if we don't have anyone who can score or make attacking runs, and Ramos/Cristiano don't bail us out when nothing else works. The aging squad and injuries to key players don't help either.

These results in the fall, as long as we are not eliminated on points from any competition, dont really matter.

The team needs to find itself, and that always take time. A lot of young player trying to assert themselves in the team, etc... in the long run we will be fine

Mariano got 40 minutes to try and do something, to which, he honestly tried. However, when your more creative players are putting in garbage crosses and not actually being creative (Asensio being the main culprit), it was really difficult for him to get any proper service.

I had a proper giggle when Kroos gave the ball away at the end. Fitting end for the man that gave away the ball at the beginning. Thank goodness Lope deleted his twitter account, it's gonna be brutal reading later on.

What exactly is Benzema trying to do by coming deep into midfield. We already have too many players in midfield. He lost every ball he received in the hole as well. Just not good enough to start for real... support player for Ronaldo at best.

Cyborg wrote:Lopetegui out?

The spanish media has been really soft on him since.

Three terrible performances in a row.

Looks to be a terrible manager, garbage tactics.

If he had Ronaldo and was not delivering, I would be tearing him to shreds. But It's really difficult for me to blame him for not roflstomping teams with the laughable attack he has been given.

This is capitalism where money is god. You spend or you die.

Mr Nick09 wrote:These results in the fall, as long as we are not eliminated on points from any competition, dont really matter.

The team needs to find itself, and that always take time. A lot of young player trying to assert themselves in the team, etc... in the long run we will be fine

Wholeheartedly agree to this, we'll be fine. But the growing pains are quite painful, uff, no tactics in the world can stop Kroos from trying a half volley to his teammate in his own half. No tactics can stop Lucas from being absolute shit or Benzema for coming into the midfield every fking time.

Actually, the last part is not true, pretty sure Lope instructs him to do that.

Lopetegui needs to be courageous and bench Benzema a little bit, just to see what we look like with Mariano, why not?

We need both on the pitch.  Asensio and Lucas are useless.  Let Benz dezone and put Mariano in the box.

We can't just play with only 1 player capable (or rumored to be capable) of scoring.  Benzema as the lone striker was always doomed for failure.

You guys are being nice to Lope.  He's making some pretty massive tactical mistakes here. We've gone scoreless in 3 straight games now. When's the last time that happened? Pretty big double standard going on.

Embarrassing performance, no initiative at all. I was told Lopetegui was flexible tactically, hope he can showcase that soon because over 300 minutes without a goal is unacceptable. Not sure what exactly, maybe try something similar to how he implemented Costa for Spain NT with Mariano cuz Benz as ST ain't doing it. Man hasn't had a shot on target in 6 games

Mamad wrote:We are sh*t at the moment. but better be sh*t now than in the second half of the season.

This is how we lost the league last season, how about not being shit in either halves?

Lucas cemented his place as a starter this game

I always believed that when you play a system like the 433 then you need wingers who can take players on 1v1 at will. It's true that we dont have that and it's a problem.

that being said, we should be able to do more in terms of runs and combinations. Our crossing was poor today.

Also, the goal we conceded from Kroos missed pass in the 2nd minute is not acceptable.

I think Vinicius has qualities as an attacker that we are missing in the team. So i hope he will be ready to be thrown in there more often.

Freeza wrote:Lucas cemented his place as a starter this game

That was the worse performance of the year by far and we've had some really good contenders early only. It'll be tough to beat for someone else.

Mr Nick09 wrote:I think Vinicius has qualities as an attacker that we are missing in the team. So i hope he will be ready to be thrown in there more often.

He's not ready at all. That's hoping for fool's gold.

We've been a counter attacking team for over a decade. Our midfield isn't equipped to create gaps and opportunities in really tight spaces... and frankly, other than Isco, none of our forwards are equipped for it either.

Although I like the style, I think it's going to be difficult to implement with this group. Interested to see if Lope is a 1 tactic guy or if he'll see the writing on the wall and adapt.

I disagree actually, it's the player's behaviour that needs to change and they need to become more effective to play this style. It's normal because they have been doing something different for years.

No... technically, we lack the skillset other than very few players.  Kroos, Modric and Casemiro aren't going to break any lines.  Benzema is what he is today.  Bale is a very direct player.  

The strength of our midfield isn't tight spaces but taking advantage of open spaces.  If you're going to play to the advantage of your strength (the midfield), then you should tactically create situations that plays to their strengths.

None of them can shoot or score either.  

Lope MUST build the attack around Bale and the game around our midfielders' talents.

Regardless of CR being gone, we're still an elite team in terms of talent.  Lope has little to no equity to fall back on either.  He can't stubbornly stick to a style if it isn't working. And it's drastically different from the way we played to win all those titles... so you can't say that it's worked once and it's going to work again.

Zees wrote:
This is how we lost the league last season, how about not being shit in either halves?

And won CL. i'm all for being on form all the time but right now here we are.