Let's wait and see how Conte organizes us... he resurrected David Luiz lol. I think we'll be fine defensively assuming the hot rumors are true.

Benzema should get himself a good seat cushion for his days on the bench. Conte is a no nonsense type guy. Either you perform or you're out... doesn't matter who it is.

Kind of looking forward to it lol.

it's gonna be 3 at the back.

Mario Hermoso is going to return from Espanyol, he has been one of the best la liga CB so far. He is a left footed CB that will work well on the left

Just seen Ramos' post-game interview on Marca. No idea what that dude is trying to say, but clearly he didn't choose his words carefully.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Just seen Ramos' post-game interview on Marca. No idea what that dude is trying to say, but clearly he didn't choose his words carefully.

Remember how he got along with Mourinho? Expect the same with Conte.

Ramos thinks too much of himself.

well sadly for Ramos he is on the wrong side of his 30's and after giving the team some freedom with Lope, the players disappointed.

If he gets into an argument with Conte, he will be the one losing that fight, and fans wont complain if the team is winning.

He lost the right to talk that way after what we saw in the past 2 months.

So Ramos with the cryptic message about Conte. How long will he last now? 3 months?

halamadrid2 wrote:So Ramos with the cryptic message about Conte. How long will he last now? 3 months?

It was simply uncalled-for. I'm no fan of Conte, but he literally hasn't done anything to Ramos. Why would you say anything to unsettle the waters between you and a potential candidate for the Madrid job?

Ramos wrote:Conte? Respect is won, it's not imposed. We've won titles, and team management is more important than the knowledge of a coach.

It's like a pea-brained animal marking its territory with urine. What an idiot he can be sometimes.

I've been busy so i haven't been able to "take in" several of our recent matches, having said this, i watched a video analysis on the Madrid situation by Miguel Quintana and according to him, the problem has more to do with aptitude of players and coach than attitude.

Apparently the locker room supported Lopetegui, so i'd think that they followed his wishes, especially considering the relatively "good start." There have to be more nuanced ways of explaining what is happening than saying "players are lazy."

Alot of twitter people are saying "los jugadores le hacieron la cama a Lopetegui," which means the players conspired against Lopetegui, but that sounds like bs. And anyways, Perez should be able to stranglehold players and not let the dressing room take over and self destruct everything.

Apart from Marcelo and Courtois, not a single player was playing for Lopetegui in el clasico. It was obvious from the first minute of the match. This guy's job is on the line and Casemiro is casually jogging back to catch up to a wide open Coutinho for their first goal. All the things the players said in the media was BS imo. Either the dressing room is lost, or the players know he is gone and just don't care. Both come to the same conclusion honestly.

Well, hope you guys didn't do anything foolish after that result, ended up going beach and still argued over why that match (particularly the 1st half) was the worst match I ever saw. Way worse than the 4-0, the 6-2 or the 5-0. Not even gonna count the 5-0 back in the 90s either.

Anyway, I guess we cannot get any lower than this.

It was an awful performance. Imagine if we Messi had played or Dembele wasn't injured.

9-0 could have been possible... we were that far out of our depth other than first 20 mins of the 2nd half.

What a nightmare this season turned to be. but on the other hand we'll have a new start with another coach. looking forward to it.

Well that can't happen at the moment. and i still think we have a quality team.

We'll see. Conte DEMANDS maximum effort at all times. I don't think Ramos, Marcelo, Benzema and Bale are going to do well under him.

titosantill wrote:we don't just need another coach....more importantly, we need players.

oh yeah and badly, I might add.

titosantill wrote:we don't just need another coach....more importantly, we need players.

Yeah, I like Flo but he really shat the bed with this transfer policy of his. We didn't even need hindsight to tell this squad was in serious need of revamp.

Also, I actually am old enough to remember the bashing from the 90s, it was pretty bad but this one felt so awful. Like Barcelona could have really beaten us way worse.

Alas, we'll be alright, it's Real Madrid.

I still feel really sad for Lopetequi. I feel it is unfair to him to be accountable for Flo’s inactivity in transfer market as well as the poor play of several players.

However, I agree with Nick that he has to go, the players despite their verbal support for him, are just not responding to him. That second half against Barcelona was one of the worst ever!

I feel this squad is not good enough, at this point, to qualify for CL for next season. The blame lies squarely with Flo. I don’t blame him for not getting that superstar, given what wass available, but he definitely should have spent on a striker plus the 3 bench players that Lopetequi requested; a central, a left lateral and a midfielder. He also is at fault for too many youth, second year in a row were both coaches had no confidence in several of them. He also is responsible for sticking with injury prone players (Bale, Carvajal and Varane) with no suitable backup in place. Mind you there is in the right lateral position, but for some reason, despite Lopetequi selecting Odriozola in place of Carvajal with seleccion, he favoured Nacho and Lucas ahead of him?? That one is on Lopetequi.

And the players are also to blame, specifically Bale, Benz, Modric, Kroos and Marcelo. I would add Isco to the list as well, but it was obvious he was severely affected by appendicitis, and Varane over past couple of weeks, but again obvious that he hasn’t recovered from his injury. And finally Asensio. In his case, he just isn’t ready.

I don’t really favor Conte but he is best available and no doubt he will be fired come next summer. His job will be to try to right this ship and his target will be to get 4th spot in liga.

I used to think that next season would be an insertion of developing youth products and the elusive superstar, but it’s painfully obvious we need a complete make over (or as DoC would say a new president).

Very underwhelming performance from Isco who made countless of mistakes tonight. Gave up the ball, made wrong decisions and killed offensive plays etc. To be honest, I never rated him highly as some people does. Isco is good, but he very rarely is a difference maker when it counts.

Ability-wise, I don't think there's any objecting his quality, but his decision-making often leaves a lot to be desired. The same can be said about Asensio.

titosantill wrote:https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/opinion/2018/10/31/5bd9867a46163f99948b457e.html

Interesting....

Tito, you should take some pride for that article as it references several of the points you have been making for past couple of years.

I see today that Conte has taken himself out of running, that coupled with his demands and the board’s ugly statement emphasizes Flo only wants a yes man. So I assume we will be stuck with Solari for rest if season. Perhaps finishing out of CL spot and possibly even EL spot will be a good thing!!