Real Madrid (old thread)

[Barcafan 2304]

My heart bleeds for Pepe

 

[soarq]

MARCA claims it's both hamstring tears so they would be out for at least 2-3 weeks.

 

[Kinlejus]

Pepe suffered a tear in his left thigh muscle, Coentrao has some calf problems. It's getting from good to great. Arbeloa to jump in into starting lineup, Ramos to center, Lass probably CM.

Karma is watching you.

 

[Clockwise]

Wonder if they're being 'punished' for something.

Don't think a punishment would take a month really...

Probably happened in training.

 

[Catalonian Devil]

Pepe suffered a tear in his left thigh muscle, Coentrao has some calf problems. It's getting from good to great. Arbeloa to jump in into starting lineup, Ramos to center, Lass probably CM.

With the way Carvallo is playing losing Pepe can have a huge impact on you guys...

Real should be grateful for how the fixture list looks for the upcoming weeks.

 

[Metaphysical]

Ramos at CB. fuckyeah!

 

[diegomessi]

Pepe tore his brain a few seasons ago vs getafe... it has never healed

 

[gingerless]

My heart bleeds for Pepe

only because he kicked you in the chest and caused severe internal organ haemorrhage

 

[Barcafan 2304]

only because he kicked you in the chest and caused severe internal organ haemorrhage

 

[barcelonista]

I'm somewhat confused. Real Madrid's defence is pretty mediocre for a Mourinho team, no? Now that Pepe's injured, I just realised:

- 33 year old Carvalho already past his best. Especially at the end of last season he was extremely bad. Got sent off against Sporting when they lost in the Bernabeu. Seems to be always a bit late with his tackles nowadays. Was at fault for Iniesta's goal in the Supercopa when totally off his position and got beaten by Messi on 1 vs. 1 pretty easily (ok, that's not a shame tbf ).

Then they have:

- Ramos + Marcelo. BOTH stronger in offense than in defense (even we don't use 2 offensive fullbacks but a very defensive minded Abidal as LB to compensate for Alves). Especially Marcelo looked pretty much off form lately (the guy is still a midfielder and not a defender for me). None of them is a rock like Maicon used to be as a fullback.

Plus:

- Albiol and Arbeloa. 2 rather mediocre defenders.

And an 18 year old talent: Varane.

All in all, that's hardly a world class defence to me.

 

[El Gato]

You have to be mad to say Ramos is stronger in offense than defence. Plus what is the bloody point of breaking it down to each player and to say they are crappy on their own? Team always defends as a collective, not just 4 players with occasional help of CMs.

As for Carvalho, he has one more season left in him and then probably we'll have Albiol/Varane rotation starting off, if not Ramos moving to center again.

 

[FCBarca]

Still early but Varane looks like he has good promise

 

[Barcafan 2304]

Agreed to a large extent Wolfe but given these injuries, the opposition should have more of a go because it is looking flimsy

 

[barcelonista]

You have to be mad to say Ramos is stronger in offense than defence.

Excuse me, but if his strenghts lie in defensive work, he is pretty shit. In all the Clasicos of recent years most of our goals came from his side, ALTHOUGH our strong side is actually the Dani Alves flank. Just what I remember spontaneously:

- lost the battle in the air after a corner kick against Puyol in 2008 which gave us the lead in Camp Nou.
- in the same match Messi scored that goal where Cannavaro jumped into the post from Ramos' side. Ramos was nowhere to be seen.
- weird "invisible bicycle kick" when Henry equalised in the Bernabeu in 2009.
- another Henry goal in the same match when Ramos didn't time the offside trap properly against Henry. Henry ate him alive in that match.
- Messi goal from his side in the Bernabeu in 2010. Ramos was only busy raising his hand for offside, got totally wrong-footed by the Xavi chip.
- Villa beat him on 1 vs. 1 in the 5-0 clasico for the Pedro goal.
- got beaten for Villa's second goal (4-0) by the Messi throughball.
- didn't block the "wonderstrike" from Villa in the Supercopa in the Bernabeu.

He's anything but a solid defender. I like his offensive abilities for the Spanish national team though.

Plus what is the bloody point of breaking it down to each player and to say they are crappy on their own? Team always defends as a collective, not just 4 players with occasional help of CMs.

I'm talking about the quality of your defense. That's the point. The fact that a team has to defend as a unit doesn't make up for mediocre individuals. If this was the case, you could just put anyone in your back 4 (to a certain extend this works for Barcelona, for example the 3-4-3 with Mascherano-Busquets-Abidal against Villarreal, but that only works because we have > 70 % ball possession in midfield and still putting Busquets in there is a major drop of quality).

 

[xaviniesta]

- weird "invisible bicycle kick" when Henry equalised in the Bernabeu in 2009.
- another Henry goal in the same match when Ramos didn't time the offside trap properly against Henry. Henry ate him alive in that match.
- Messi goal from his side in the Bernabeu in 2010. Ramos was only busy raising his hand for offside, got totally wrong-footed by the Xavi chip.
- Villa beat him on 1 vs. 1 in the 5-0 clasico for the Pedro goal.
- got beaten for Villa's second goal (4-0) by the Messi throughball.
- didn't block the "wonderstrike" from Villa in the Supercopa in the Bernabeu.

+
- couldn't mark messi's first goal in the CL semi final after afellay's cross
- couldn't mark ibra and left him alone to score that volley
- messed up the offside trap when iniesta scored in the supercopa final


now thats some list