Official lineup

Thibu
Carvajal Varane Ramos Mendy
Fede Casemiro Kroos
Odegaard
Benzema Jovic

Interesting to suddenly see Jovic in the starting lineup. I'm hoping to see some defense-splitting passes from Covid- free Ødegaard today

If Jovic picks up steam and starts playing well this is probs our best line up maybe isco for Ode or modric but its more or less our best starting 11 from the players we have right now.

Pretty sure Ode will be the AM and Jovic and Benz up top.

Vinicius can’t score goals to save his life. Would like to see him tried out in the side midfield role.. he can carry the ball well and plays defense. That’s why ZZ likes him in general.just keep him away from the final third


Really happy to see jovic start. I think with odegaard this formation can work, there’s much more physicality in this line up too

Thibu is elite

Oh god..

Carvajal and Casemiro are getting rekt out there

Casemiro can't handle constant pressure. He always buckles.

It's not his game.

Odegaard not tracking back properly, he just watched William waltz into the box

Jovic has been a spectator

I tuned in late. Is Ødegaard playing as a DM? He seems to be playing quite deep

We are in time warp the Benzema of the present switched to 2014-15 Benzema

Perucho21 wrote:We are in time warp the Benzema of the present switched to 2014-15 Benzema

He's been one of, if not our most productive player since I started watching this match. No one else on our team has looked above average.

He's been great. But he's had some chances I would have expected him to put away

Has Isco been stranded on an island recently?

Valverde... no words, what a player.

Mayoral should play more. I like him more then jovic

halamadrid2 wrote:Benz terrible in front of goal today. He is dead, we have 2 other strikers. Put them on once in a while

Yeah, his end product leaves a lot to be desired sometimes. Despite his great form during these inglamorous, post-CL relevance times, I'm past expecting him to score goals. I do appreciate how he contributes to our build-up of attacks, though. We don't have a reliable, clinical finisher. That's something we'll just have to live with until we get one.

halamadrid2 wrote:Benz terrible in front of goal today. He is dead, we have 2 other strikers. Put them on once in a while

You’ve got to be kidding. He was the only one that was in the game with chances or setting up chances for the full 90 minutes.

It seems most of you are expecting team in full throttle in just 2nd game of season. Not only is this only the third game (there was one practice game) after a very short vacation.

I thought it was a good game against a surprising good Betis team.

Plus Zidane is doing what we should expect for all of this season. Experimenting and Evaluating. He has played all of his 6 midfielders, 2 of them (Odegaard and Isco) just coming off injuries, played 4 of his forwards plus the 3rd striker. The other two still out with injuries. Plus he changed formation from striker between two wingers in one game to two strikers in front of an Am in the other.

If you don’t like this experimentation, then you look for other things this year as IMO, you’re going to see this all season long. And if you think he can’t afford to do this, take a look at the bigger picture? Do you really think there is competition for la liga. Pathetic and rudderless Barca or over the hill Atleti, I don’t think so.

futbol_bill wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:Benz terrible in front of goal today. He is dead, we have 2 other strikers. Put them on once in a while

It seems most of you are expecting team in full throttle in just 2nd game of season. Not only is this only the third game (there was one practice game) after a very short vacation.

I never expected them to have a flying start. We've started our seasons poor for quite a while now, and we haven't even had a pre-season this time around. I do think our finishing problem is well established by now, though. Aside from Isco and Ødegaard coming off injuries, there's also the absence of Hazard, and I won't be surprised if he looks more oval once he returns to action.

Things can only improve from here on out, but we definitely need a goalscorer. I don't have much faith in Jovic at this point, but I've observed that he performs quite well when he doesn't have to interact with the rest of the team. When all he has to do is to sprint towards the goal and beat the goalkeeper, his ball control, decision-making and physical attributes shine, and it's almost a bit tragi-comical that he's even missed 2-3 of those rare chances due to various circumstances.

As much as I doubt it will happen, I hope he'll find some degree of good form this season, because I'd rather see Ramos moved further up the pitch than to expect Mayoral to decide our matches.