meaningless la liga

Like sports said, some of these guys should really be fighting for their position as if it were a try-out. That's what they "should" be playing for.

If today's performance was a try-out I'd say almost everyone failed. The midfield was woeful especially Kroos, Vazquez is just not the level and should never start, Varane and Ramos are out of sync, the subs didn't change anything etc.. It must be difficult for ZZ to pick through the pile of sh*t to find the one salvageable player from these limited performances.

On the brightside I thought Benz had another decent game, and Marcelo was lively- not as sharp as he needs to be but at least the intent was there. Odri was equally not bad. Everyone else was either "meh" or awful.

Kroos was ok.

Casemiro and Modric were poor.

The midfield is to static. This team needs a real box to box midfielder. No wonder Pogba is been talked up by Zidane. Valverde could do this job too.

Vazquez is so limited. no real skill set. not fast, no vision, cant pass.

Marcelo we know already. But he wasnt bad today.

For all of his talent, Pogba blows hot and cold in terms of how he actually performs. He has tons of talent, but he's borderline useless when his mind is not in the game. He may be a good fit for us, but I'm personally not a big fan of these players who's performance level ranges from world class to sunday league grandad. Obviously, I won't complain if we get him, but when he doesn't feel like performing, he's an absolute waste of space.

I’ve said this  before, these last few games are not about the team nor results, it is essentially try outs or evaluations for next season. I won’t dwell on the negatives as that has aleady been done here.

I would like to talk about Benz (and this is coming from a guy who never has been a fan). I think Benz has played exceptionally well since Zidane has returned. No longer does he appear lazy. He is full of energy, enthusiasm, coming  back and playing a role in build up, passing, helping out with defense and scoring (un poco). What I’m thinking is that he really isn’t a 9, rather a SS or even a RW.  Given we will have an abundance of options on the left, perhaps the best option is to get a CF like Jovic and play Benz as a SS or RW.

What do you guys think (excluding DoC of course)?

Doc, he started out well, but there was a fairly long period were his old self was showing up, particularly in energy, enthusiasm and of course goal scoring. You can actually see the difference on his face the last few games. He is happier and full of enthusiasm. I think with the right partner up front, supported by a better midfield / AMs, we will see his production actually increase. Bottom line to me, is he is a better team player at this point.

He still isn’t very efficient with his scoring chances, but he’s gradually improved his performance level since the start of the season, not just since Zidane returned two matches ago. He performed well for a while under Lopetegui, and became more consistent under Solari. I hope he keeps it up. We still sorely need a goalscorer, though.

Thimmy wrote:For all of his talent, Pogba blows hot and cold in terms of how he actually performs. He has tons of talent, but he's borderline useless when his mind is not in the game. He may be a good fit for us, but I'm personally not a big fan of these players who's performance level ranges from world class to sunday league grandad. Obviously, I won't complain if we get him, but when he doesn't feel like performing, he's an absolute waste of space.

With Pogba, his form depends so much on the form of Herrera and Matic...  when those two aren't good, teams just send 2-3 players his way and gamble that the other two can't do anything.  He does really well when the other teams are forced to respect his partners.

With France NT, you just cannot focus on Pogba.  Too much talent.  He's absolutely playing like a goat as a result.

At Madrid, Pogba will have far better players around him and he can consistently do his thing.

Matic has been downright awful this season and that impacts a lot.  Herrera was on a great run and then he's gone south a bit.

sportsczy wrote:

At Madrid, Pogba will have far better players around him and he can consistently do his thing.

That remains to be seen. As it stands, I think he'd find it harder to play for Real Madrid than he does for Man United. Matic has been poor, and Herrera seems to have lost the momentum he had up until recently, but I've seen a lot of really poor performances from Pogba over the past couple of years, and it doesn't seem like it always has to do with his team mates. Maybe Mourinho carries some of the blame, but it just seems to me that when Pogba is not motivated, he regresses to the performance level of a tall and lanky pre-teen that's either not interested, or can't seem to concentrate enough to do anything right.

Navas and Bale need to be run right out of town

Varane can join Bale in packing his bags. Marcelo is a problem alright but Varane's passiveness in defense is a bigger problem. OUT

Bale I'd rather see Lucas lose the ball every other min than having to endure a second of him

Yeah Varane is absolutely woeful today, wow

Without Ramos they can't play from the ball, everyone is holding.

It's pretty clear everyone gave up on the season which is not what you expect from players that want to be in Madrid moving forward.

Weird positioning at times by Fede, who has been too passive for my liking.

That's because playing single pivot is not his natural position and he is struggling. Not to mention that Isco is shit and just floating around, 0 discipline.

This kind of midfield needs to die with this season, it doesn't work anymore and I hope Zidane can see that.

Varane is weak as hell good lord getting pushed around by some scrub

Isco has been a huge problem tactically, there's no link between the midfield and attack without benzema, and yet isco is supposed to be that lol

Bale is a completely different player on the left playing as a traditional winger. Thats his best position for sure.

Isco natural position is not in a 3 man midfield though it's playing behind the striker in the last 3rd of the pitch. Can't always expect guys to perform when they don't play to their strength

He's the most advanced midfielder, he's in his preferred zone a lot of the time he's just not doing much

its no secret that isco's never been a cmf. the attempt to force him to be iniesta or seedorf needs to stop. ever since it worked with di maria, it seems the cool thing to do is to force attacking mids become central mids. he'll never be that, and whilst he has his faults, i think that has completely ruined his game

I suspect Zidane instructed Valverde, Modric, and Isco to move around in a fluid 3 man midfield configuration reminiscent of what Lopetegui did in the beginning of the season. Regardless, they could all have done better individually, Fede for one has to be more loose and he has to do more 180 degree "giramientos".

I thought Valverde was okay. Modric is the one that needs to step it up. When Kroos came on we looked much better.

Anyone else rooting for Benz to get a hattrick at the end??? I was so gutted when his shot hit the post. Great game again. We should pair him with a number 9 preferably Cavani. That way we have to sources to rely on for goals. Bale can feck off

Thought Valverde was excellent. We played better when turnover master Modric went off. Asensio had a great game on the right. Lucas not too bad when he came on, tried desperately to get Benz his hattrick Nacho was great too. Solari was a terrible influence on this team. Slowly slowly we are starting to play the ZZ way

He got booed so many times it felt like a no brainer that he'd leave at the end of the season. Silver lining of yet another shit game

Bah gawd, Valverde starts again.