Zidane is getting owned tactically. He changed formation to 5 at back to a team that is trained to play 5 at back. We now have no attacking outlet and midfielders have no idea where the players are.

He should play 433 instead of wholesale changes in a match like this.

Adit, you haven’t been watching lately! They have played this formation several times in past few weeks. It’s 3 back with 2 wing backs. It came down to a choice between Marcelo or Asensio.

On a normal day I'd have been worried by the away goal, but with no fans, this isnt a bad result. We just need to score early away from home and theyll have a tough time breaking our defense I feel. And yeah bill's right, we have consistently been employing 3 at the back for quite some time now, especially when Marcelo plays

one more step to the final. any thoughts? i reckon we are favorites; obviously an away goal isnt a good look, but with no fans nerves should be settled.

I don’t think there is such a thing as favorites in remaining futbol games this season! But that also means we are not underdogs. We could end up winning all remaining games (and capture 2 trophies), but just as easily lose all remaining games.

I do like our chances though, we are as good as even with Chelsea and in a 1 game final, we have a decent shot at either city or Psg. Similarly, if we beat Sevilla next weekend, and a tie or Barca win against Atleti, puts us in lead and control with just 3 games left.

A lot depends on what lineup is available. Hazard apparently is ready for Wed’s game as is Valverde. Ramos and Mendy are possibilities. But Varane is out of lineup.

That means we are close to getting our best possible lineup, but will it be too late! Bottom line (to me) is it too unpredictable, but it seems a similar situation with the other teams.

No Varane for tomorrow but Ramos, Mendy and Valverde are expected to be back.

I expect this lineup

Thibu
Nacho Militao Ramos Mendy
Modric Casemiro Kroos
Asensio Benzema Hazard

I think Zidane will take the safe side and use Nacho instead of Odriozola, and use Asensio instead of either Vini/Rodrygo.

It is imperative that we score first and early to put pressure on Chelsea and open them up through counters.

Im not confident, but im not concerned. Our guys have been here before, lets see if they can do it again.

Hala Madrid

I'm not confident, but we are Real Madrid after all, we can surprise everyone and snatch a victory.
I think Zidane will go with 3-5-2 again and play it safe with Nacho Ramos and Militao as CB, Odriozola/Valverde as RWB and Mendy on the other side, usual three at the middle and Hazard partnering Benzema upfront.

But after that City performance in the semis I think we have no chance even if we progress, so I'm not really concerned about it, after all if we are honest we are overachieving.

Well, this was a real fucking shit performance.

Terrible performance and a waste of time. We spent 90% of the time in the back just passing.

The squad is obviously very tired. Squad is too thin.

Yeah, watching Modric get out run by everyone was painful.

i know this didnt cause the loss....but i absolutely hate that we wore black socks....looking like sevilla or something

Benzema needs help man, he's great but he has no help in offense. We are going nowhere with kids like Vinicius and Asensio and flops like Hazard. I hope Zidane and Perez quickly realize that.

Talent is looking slim out there. I dont see how upgrade the squad when we cant compete financially with the epl and oil money teams

Perucho21 wrote:Benzema needs help man, he's great but he has no help in offense. We are going nowhere with kids like Vinicius and Asensio and flops like Hazard. I hope Zidane and Perez quickly realize that.

Don’t expect much this summer. Recent financial disclosure reveals much higher debt than we thought plus the return of Bales means whatever funds that might have been available will be taken with Bale’s salary or buyout!

in addition to bill's comment, the stadium construction is still going on and eating loads of cash. lol the super league was flo's attempt to make some quick cash, with that flopping even before it got started, i dont think the club have funds for what @perucho21 is looking for

Zidane and this formation.

He didn't have a choice, but in hindsight. I would play Odrizola and Mendy. With Militao and Nacho as center backs in a four.

The middle trio with Valverde wide right. Benz and Vini up top.

Hazard didn't deserve to start after being out for weeks.

The decisions made in the transfer market in the summer came back to haunt the club

Without the finances to force transfers, a really clever transfer market is needed.

How do you suggest they have a clever transfer market with very limited funds, the returning Bale dilemma, and practically no players to sell that have any real value?

Honestly at this point I'd just sign chupo moting

futbol_bill wrote:How do you suggest they have a clever transfer market with very limited funds, the returning Bale dilemma, and practically no players to sell that have any real value?

Limited funds, so you have to be very clever in the transfer market.

Searching for quality who won't break the bank.

The recruitment team has their work cut out.

There is not way this team can go another season without adding fresh energy to the team.

I agree with Cyborg, I'm not asking for an superstar transfer like Haaland and I'm well aware that of our low funds (which only got worse now with the UEFA punishment) but it doesn't mean we can't a secure a sensible cheap transfer that will enforce the squad. Our defense and midfield are fine imo (although we need to renew Varane quickly) it's the forwards outside Benzema that have really let us down, and I guarantee there are players available either on free or a cheap price that are better goalscorers than Vinicius, Asensio and Hazard (Aguero comes to mind, same with Cavani).

It's all being smart with what we have not spending 100s of millions for a player. Spend wisely and not expensively as we have learned from spending 100 million on this hazard buffoon

Cyborg wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:How do you suggest they have a clever transfer market with very limited funds, the returning Bale dilemma, and practically no players to sell that have any real value?

Limited funds, so you have to be very clever in the transfer market.

Searching for quality who won't break the bank.

The recruitment team has their work cut out.

There is not way this team can go another season without adding fresh energy to the team.

The bank is already broken, the so called limited funds are going to be taken up by Bale, either salary or buy out. Your so called clever in transfer market totally ignores club’s publicly disclosed dire financial situation and current market. The days of finding talent for 15M disappeared 10 years ago. You can find unproven talent for 40 to 50M, but that’s what Asensio, Vinicius, Rodrygo were and look at how they have turned out. And club will be lucky if they can afford one 50M signing.and @ Perucho - do you seriously think you could get an Aquero or Cavani for 50M? Take a look at the financial disclosure, club will be lucky to have 50M, after Bale is dealt with, for entire squad change.

For the past 4 years, it seems all of GL was all over Perez for not spending enough, statements that most of current squad was not Madrid quality or getting too old. And when Flo led an initiative to get out of this mess, seems everyone except Hala and me were ashamed of the idea. I still think it has to come in some form with some obvious revisions, but today’s UEFA news suggest  we are no where close to any resolution and thus the dire financial shape for almost all clubs will continue except for the oil money clubs and EPL with their large tv contract.

Aguero is available to move for free, why would he cost 50 million? And I'd take him in heartbeat over our current forwards besides Benzema. Cavani is also in the same category which is why I mentioned them.

Either we stick with the mediocrity Vini, Asensio and Hazard have given us for 2+ years or we get some actual help for now until our finances get back up and we can proceed with actual replacements

So let me get this straight Bill.

Madrid, followed later by Barca, is the one who created and drove the galactico player pricing era... outspending everyone and making it impossible for anyone to keep their best players or compete for any player they wanted, using the free markets.  Heck, the Spanish government even chipped in by making player wages tax-free for a while.

Now that EPL, Bundi, and some other clubs, have caught up and Barca/Madrid are no longer the top spender in a market THEY CREATED...  Europe needs to literally bend over and help?  Europe should end the free market that Madrid and Barca exploited for two decades because it longer serves them?

Really?  GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE.  That's my only response to this hypocrisy.

This is even more shameful when you consider the Barca and Madrid are #1 and #2 in terms of club revenue in the world.  How about these clubs run on the money they make, which is actually more than anyone else (although the gap is tightening).

Madrid, Barca and Atleti can go fuck themselves.

Madrid nor Barcelona created the Galactico spending as you're totally ignoring the times when Serie A teams used to own the world record transfers but whatever.

That being said, neither can pretend they didn't partake in such things nor can they stop the inevitable i.e PL clubs eclipsing their spending power. Also, Bundesliga clubs bar Bayern still cannot compete with either clubs even in their current state and the only Ligue 1 club can only compete as long as the Qatar Family sticks around.