Re: Copa Del rey Thread

[Thimmy]

I think I have a realistic outlook on what Ødegaard is capable of, but I honestly believe he'd offer more than what Asensio is offering currently. He's still being forced to play on the wings, as opposed to AM, but his productivity is better and his work rate is far superior. Last match for Vitesse:

Either way, we definitely need to give Asensio some competition. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to ease Vinicius into the first team? It's better than using Isco or one of our other midfielders as a makeshift, backup LW. Hell, even Asensio is a damn midfielder. He doesn't have the qualities to play on the left wing on a consistent basis. Even if we're not chasing Hazard, surely we can bring in a more reasonable backup for competition's sake? That's, of course, if Vinicius is out of the question.

Asensio is in the worst form of his life, it's not hard to offer more than that. But we have all seen what Asensio can do. It's only fair that we see if a coaching change fixes his form, because this season is night and day differences from last season.

Sure, but I still think he's in a bit too much of a safe position right now, and that's never helped anyone improve. As much as some people like to think that Benzema was world class up until just recently, he went through extended periods of poor form after Higuaín left the club - and I don't think he looked truly world class until that one season under Ancelotii. Asensio doesn't look like a natural winger, to me, but that's where he's playing at the moment, so it can't hurt to keep him on his toes. We do need a backup winger, anyway.

[halamadrid2]

I take Odegaard 10/10 over Asensio eyes closed. The latter has no fight in him, constantly chickens out from duels, plays 1 good through every 10 games. Odegaard is the Ozil with more energy in his tank. If his name Sergio or Alvaro, Asensio wouldn't even get a look in. Perez is desperate for him to turn into a superstar but no offense even Jese was better at his besr than Asensio at his best

[VanDeezNuts]

@Thimmy- well that’s the thing right, at least Asensio is an inside forward, pseudo winger. Odegaard has no place currently because we don’t play with a CAM. If Odegaard can transition to the midfield he might have a chance but I haven’t seen that move yet.

@Hala- that’s exactly my point, let’s see if the fight comes back under a new coach. Comparing this season to last it looks like he was mismanaged. I don’t think we should throw him under the bus just yet.

[The Madrid One]

Thing with Asensio is that he has misleading attributes. He's Spanish, has good looks, great left shot, good speed, and an aesthetic that would mislead the uninitiated to think he is a winger.

In reality, he can't really beat players 1 on 1 consistently with his pace, and he isn't a play maker with great passing either. He also doesn't really have note worthy dribbling or ball handling imo. Kinda reminds me of Kaka and Jese, take their speed away and they don't seem exceptional.

I'm not a huge odegaard fan, not yet atleast, but he clearly has better passing, dribbling, and ball handling than asensio. He's not a physical specimen in terms of height, speed, or strength though, so i doubt Odegaard will be able to advance into playing more CM type roles, which is something i personally like to see in attacking midfield players.

[futbol_bill]

I think the problem is this club doesn’t use AMs. Despite having some of the best AMs out there, they all struggle to fit in with this club. Look at them with Isco, asking him to play CM, wing, false forward, none of which are his natural role. They put Asensio in Ronaldo’s spot where the expectation is clearly for a good oal scorer. Asensio is not a goal scorer, the ones he does make are usually from outside the box. His problem, while I will agree his form is definitely off from last year or even from his seleccion performances, is the other two forwards are not scoring and thus the expectation for him to score has increased even more.

And if the club does revamp entire squad, they will likely get wingers and Proper CFs, so that adds to the dilemma for Isco, Asensio and Odegaard. I would add Ceballos, however his natural role is an advanced CM.

The other problem for Odegaard is how little opportunity he was given this past summer. He was just in training camp to fill out the numbers. He wasn’t given a proper opportunity to demonstrate how much he had developed.

I will agree with you Deez, as Tito has harped on many times, we need competition on the bench for ALL positions.

A proper way of looking at it, is noone should be guaranteed starter!

[Thimmy]

@Thimmy- well that’s the thing right, at least Asensio is an inside forward, pseudo winger. Odegaard has no place currently because we don’t play with a CAM. If Odegaard can transition to the midfield he might have a chance but I haven’t seen that move yet.

@Hala- that’s exactly my point, let’s see if the fight comes back under a new coach. Comparing this season to last it looks like he was mismanaged. I don’t think we should throw him under the bus just yet.

My point was that we lack backups, and since we don't seem willing to spend more than necessary these days, we might as well use what we technically already have, or find reasonable alternatives elsewhere. Odegaard is a natural CAM, but he's been playing mostly on the wings since he joined our Castilla. I threw his name out there as an example, but I genuinely think he's looked like a more capable player, based on current form. Obviously, it would be best if we can use a natural winger to compete with Asensio. We already have Vinicius, but it remains to be seen whether we'll actually use him more frequently. Like Bill says, no one should be a guaranteed starter. They all need to be kept on their toes.

[sportsczy]

You know...  it surprised me that Odegaard wasn't kept after seeing him this summer.  He looked like a proper CAM.  Asensio and Isco look like they're in no man's land...  neither is a CAM nor a scorer.  They're trying to be like David Silva or Iniesta while being nowhere near as good.  The issue is that they have bad decision-making while Silva and Iniesta were supreme decision-makers.

If we're going to kiddy route, Odegaard deserves as big a shot as any imo.

[Mamad]

Ramos is annoying as hell.

[Mamad]

Ordiozola and Lucas 100% effort 0% brain.

[Mamad]

That wasn't penalty

[Mamad]

Benzema wanted to take it but no Ramos has to be the one

[Mamad]

Lucas you brainless fart.

[halamadrid2]

After spending weeks ignorng any legit penalty claims, they give us a bogus one now

I am positive we wanr to walk the ball into the net. Players trying to 1-2 eachother in a crowded penalty box like wtf shoot ffs

Much better effort this game, i am just glad we dont have to suffer because of Marcelo this game

I feel morecomfortable with Navas in goal. 10x better than Courtois

[The Demon of Carthage]

Benzema wanted to take it but no Ramos has to be the one

Benzema doesn't have the composure or confidence to be our penalty taker. I don't like Ramos either even though he's way more confident than Benzema, and I have always thought that Kroos should be the one to take those after Ronaldo left.

[The Madrid One]

Fede appearing a little stiff at the waist.

[FennecFox7]

Fede appearing a little stiff at the waist.

This midfield is playing much more positively then kroos/modric. There's so much movement and workrate with valverde and ceballos. We've missed lots of chances.. but we're playing better with no marcelo + kroos modric

[Mamad]

Benzema wanted to take it but no Ramos has to be the one

Benzema doesn't have the composure or confidence to be our penalty taker. I don't like Ramos either even though he's way more confident than Benzema, and I have always thought that Kroos should be the one to take those after Ronaldo left.

In most of the teams the striker is the penalty taker. and Benzema is a better penalty taker than Ramos. and he has the confidence otherwise he wouldn't ask for it.

Ramos should stick to his job. seems he wants to cover his shit performances as a CB just by scoring goals.

[Doc]

Hala, as much as I HATE it, Courtois has gotten a lot better since the start of the season. Not sure what is taking place in this match but I'm actually happy to read Navas is starting a match. Good on him.

[FennecFox7]

beginning to love valverde. He needs a chance to start more games. The guy has a kante like workrate

[halamadrid2]

Wonderful second half. And what a goal by Vini to cap off a tireless game. He is a must in this timid frontline imo

As others have observed, the midfield was much more dynamic this game. I don't think we should lump Kroos together with Modric. Kroos still works hard, especially when he plays with midfielders with high workrates like Ceballos. Modric is 34 and on his last legs

[titosantill]

an okay game, was boring at times. but i'll take the win. wish i was the league though

[Valkyrja]

I want to see Fede in midfield with Isco and Llorente. I love Ceballos and I think he's going to be our next cult hero but he's not starting material and will most probably never be. Modric and Kroos have been so weak this season that the latter's injury seems like a blessing in disguise. Our defense hasn't been good but from my pov they've been exposed hard by MK's poor form.

In attack Vini and Brahim should prove in no time that they are superior to scrubs Bale and Vasquez, and I think they will complement each other brilliantly on the wings.

Our squad is not that bad we just need a capable manager not someone like Solari, the guy is so colorless and uninspiring. A few smart done tweaks to the personnel and a manager in the ilk of Poch and we're set imo.

[Valkyrja]

So good to see Keylord in goal and not Lurch btw

[titosantill]

that an 18 year old, who is still rough around the edges, is the one making things happen , should bring shame to many

[Valkyrja]

that an 18 year old, who is still rough around the edges, is the one making things happen , should bring shame to many

Legends r born in tough times my friend

Just as a hopeful sidenote: Mbappe started to get noticed exactly 2 years ago.

[halamadrid2]

Vini has 2 goals and 7 assissts this season

Puts Asensio to shame imo

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