Penal Madrid
- Thread starter PearLBLacK
- Start date
Would absolutely buy him again, no regrets, but, it steel feels like he wasted his potential.
Especially once Ronaldo left, he had a great opportunity to become the main man of this team, but apart from a few decent games at the begining of 18/19 season, he has been a non-factor.
Andrew M
New member
I think buying him was definitely the right choice. Overall he's been a success. But perhaps giving him that juicy contract was a mistake?
El Gato
Villarato!
Giving him as much as we did was a mistake for sure. Someone definitely made the wrong judgement call.
Sat down briefly to think how we'll most often line up. Isco is out for the start of season which makes things easy for predictions - we'll play wingers in 100% of cases. At worst we'll put Odegaard on the side, which is not even a problem.
If Zidane approaches the season without grudges over not getting the pieces he may want to improve us, he will start thinking ahead about how we'll score goals and keep balance. I'm assuming no transfer moves are going to be made anymore. Rodrygo or Vini haven't given a slightest indication of leaving, meaning nobody signalled to them they won't get as much time as they'd like. Only thing left is probably to resolve the futures of Reguilon and Mariano. I'm happy with both staying, but it's not likely. Which means Lucas or Bale, or both, are out of rotation for good to accommodate the Brazillians. I envisage we may have Lucas serve as 2nd or 3rd option at RB, which I'm ok with as long as we do it vs Getafe, Bilbao and not vs Villarreal, Celta or someone else who LOVES to give us a game with a good left winger.
On the condition of fitness (where I think the only questionable players are Hazard and Asensio, maybe others like Benz or Carva if they start slacking after winning last Liga) and form, I think we'll play this in most difficult cases*:
* realised I took Ramos off, lol
On paper the lineup is very good at controlling the middle and looking for openings after a cross, but severely lacks flair. The only player remotely capable of winning duels is Hazard and has to be on it physically. Otherwise a lot of the time it'll be very dire offensively.
To unlock our offense and really threaten offensively, I think we need to somehow involve a #10 or get Jović next to Benzema. I've no idea how you can accomplish the latter without sacrificing most of the squad's wingers' minutes. So 4-2-3-1 is the only alternative, assuming Reguilon is leaving and we can't use him in a diamond. We could try it anyway with Mendy TBH but I don't think he'd cope on his own on the flank.
I'd play this in easier games, with some leeway as to who plays ST LCM/DM (take Kroos out, slot Case in and move Fede up)
Playing Odegaard and two kids on both sides would unlock all of the flair we could ever need and help any of them break into the side permanently ahead of the washed up options. Hazard ankle needs to be coddled anyway so leave him out as often as you can and take advantage of Vinicius. The only way we'd take advantage of everything Odegaard can offer us with slick release of the ball is if we give him a mobile winger on either side to drive unpredictability. This can be Vini, Rodry or Asensio. If we play Jović (as we should), even better. Modrić could be that player at RCM as well, but I don't trust him defensively; would definitely be a good utility vet in some games and some situations when we're really struggling and need a leader to help pull it back.
The biggest and obvious need is a finisher. The only players capable of doing it have spent the last season in the hospital or on the bench. If we get this unlucky again, we'll struggle as we did, but if all goes well, Asensio could really really thrive again from that RW position. He and Rodrygo looked excellent together against Osasuna(?) in July. Should be just as good with Vini.
Also think Jović really has a chance with the new boys getting more time. It's been difficult watching him get dropped just because Zidane really prioritised league and wanted a guarantee of result rather than time investment in future. With Odegaard and Lunin he gets friendly non-western souls to mingle with behind the scenes that are roughly the same age as him and roughly at the same stage of their careers, so hopefully he won't sulk nearly as much as he did last year.
Meritocracy please ZZ. Please boss. Don't go playing Bale or Lucas for no reason... Don't shoehorn Isco in, unless a specific situation really demands it.
Sat down briefly to think how we'll most often line up. Isco is out for the start of season which makes things easy for predictions - we'll play wingers in 100% of cases. At worst we'll put Odegaard on the side, which is not even a problem.
If Zidane approaches the season without grudges over not getting the pieces he may want to improve us, he will start thinking ahead about how we'll score goals and keep balance. I'm assuming no transfer moves are going to be made anymore. Rodrygo or Vini haven't given a slightest indication of leaving, meaning nobody signalled to them they won't get as much time as they'd like. Only thing left is probably to resolve the futures of Reguilon and Mariano. I'm happy with both staying, but it's not likely. Which means Lucas or Bale, or both, are out of rotation for good to accommodate the Brazillians. I envisage we may have Lucas serve as 2nd or 3rd option at RB, which I'm ok with as long as we do it vs Getafe, Bilbao and not vs Villarreal, Celta or someone else who LOVES to give us a game with a good left winger.
On the condition of fitness (where I think the only questionable players are Hazard and Asensio, maybe others like Benz or Carva if they start slacking after winning last Liga) and form, I think we'll play this in most difficult cases*:
* realised I took Ramos off, lol
On paper the lineup is very good at controlling the middle and looking for openings after a cross, but severely lacks flair. The only player remotely capable of winning duels is Hazard and has to be on it physically. Otherwise a lot of the time it'll be very dire offensively.
To unlock our offense and really threaten offensively, I think we need to somehow involve a #10 or get Jović next to Benzema. I've no idea how you can accomplish the latter without sacrificing most of the squad's wingers' minutes. So 4-2-3-1 is the only alternative, assuming Reguilon is leaving and we can't use him in a diamond. We could try it anyway with Mendy TBH but I don't think he'd cope on his own on the flank.
I'd play this in easier games, with some leeway as to who plays ST LCM/DM (take Kroos out, slot Case in and move Fede up)
Playing Odegaard and two kids on both sides would unlock all of the flair we could ever need and help any of them break into the side permanently ahead of the washed up options. Hazard ankle needs to be coddled anyway so leave him out as often as you can and take advantage of Vinicius. The only way we'd take advantage of everything Odegaard can offer us with slick release of the ball is if we give him a mobile winger on either side to drive unpredictability. This can be Vini, Rodry or Asensio. If we play Jović (as we should), even better. Modrić could be that player at RCM as well, but I don't trust him defensively; would definitely be a good utility vet in some games and some situations when we're really struggling and need a leader to help pull it back.
The biggest and obvious need is a finisher. The only players capable of doing it have spent the last season in the hospital or on the bench. If we get this unlucky again, we'll struggle as we did, but if all goes well, Asensio could really really thrive again from that RW position. He and Rodrygo looked excellent together against Osasuna(?) in July. Should be just as good with Vini.
Also think Jović really has a chance with the new boys getting more time. It's been difficult watching him get dropped just because Zidane really prioritised league and wanted a guarantee of result rather than time investment in future. With Odegaard and Lunin he gets friendly non-western souls to mingle with behind the scenes that are roughly the same age as him and roughly at the same stage of their careers, so hopefully he won't sulk nearly as much as he did last year.
Meritocracy please ZZ. Please boss. Don't go playing Bale or Lucas for no reason... Don't shoehorn Isco in, unless a specific situation really demands it.
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Haaland is a more realistic, and significantly cheaper target than Mbappe, but i know which one of the two Perez and Zidane wants.
KingLeo10
Senior Member
Even before clicking, I knew the "we" couldn't be Barcelona.
Florentino is an astute businessman. Barto, by comparison, is a circus clown.
Even before clicking, I knew the "we" couldn't be Barcelona.
Florentino is an astute businessman. Barto, by comparison, is a circus clown.
This is the article, anyway : https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2020/09/13/5f5dee66ca4741623f8b45af.html
I said apparently, because you know they can get creative with the numbers, but either way its good news in these times i would say.
El Gato
Villarato!
Bit on RM financial state for this summer
Real Madrid’s strange summer: 16 departures and no new signings
by Dermot Corrigan (The Athletic)
https://theathletic.com/2071254/2020/09/21/real-madrid-summer-transfers/
Real Madrid’s strange summer: 16 departures and no new signings
by Dermot Corrigan (The Athletic)
https://theathletic.com/2071254/2020/09/21/real-madrid-summer-transfers/
KingLeo10
Senior Member
Actual president at the helm.
They also don't cater to veterans for the most part (aside from ZZ apparently).
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El Gato
Villarato!
BTW the wages dropped from having Bale and James are also into next season's accounts. Not this summer's. Not necessarily for Mbappe, just for financial health. But obviously in part it would be for Mbappe since there'd be no need to cut costs of these contracts with players needing offloading if it was business as usual and everyone performed as expected.
Conservatism and living within your means obviously does come at a cost. That being actual football played out on the pitch...
Conservatism and living within your means obviously does come at a cost. That being actual football played out on the pitch...
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