TBH when you sub on Raul and guti two washed up superstars in the biggest match of the season it makes you look somewhat foolish (manu that is) a team with as much money as real surely should have some better options? ya know what i mean? idk maybe that is not manu's fault i dont know who all was on the bench.. but i gotta say when u introduce those two players we are not exactly shaking in our boots..prolly the opposite actually.. feeling a little mroe relaxed
Oh someone been reading Eduardo Alvarez article
I've been saying this for months. Pelegrini is not the type of manager who can deliver instant results. It took him 2 seasons for Villarreal to shine under his command, an unacceptable time-frame when the money spent on transfer demanded instant results.
Pelegrini's shown that he can beat the average teams, but on big nights, when important wins were needed, he lacked the tactical genius to pull it through. Not only did he, for the most part, fail to take advantage of the weaknesses presented by the rival in turn, but he also failed when it came to subbing in a "revolutionary" player, more-so in the barcelona game, where subbing in Guti was a decent move that was completely undone when he subbed in Raul instead of Benzema.
In his defense, Madrid did not sign what the team needed most. Cristiano and Kaka were only "improved" versions of Robben and Sneijder, Xabi Alonso is not a playmaker (think on-form Guti, Xavi, Iniesta,etc) and Benzema is not as big of a finisher as Ruud once was. The end-result was a team who has a lot of individuality and lacks the midfield leadership and creativity that wins the tough matches.
There are still a lot of matches to be played, the league is far from over, but Madrid needs a lot of fast reflecting to do for the season not to be a complete fiasco.
Agreed on most accounts although my man Irv take credit for being the first to call Manu out here a long time ago and advocated a Mourinho/Capello one .
I disagree with the bold part , Cristiano and Kaka are not an improved version of Robben & Sneijder they are way better players with a much more impressive career .
Xabi was not brought to be a playmaker the Guti-Iniesta-Xavi are the Sneijder- Kaka so on paper and in principle Real did buy the required playmaker ala Xavi-Iniesta-Guti the problem lies in using Kaka/guiding kaka/slamming kaka
Ruud career was as good as finished , his injuries wouldn't allow him to be as reliable as he once was considering he spent the last 1.5 years in the treatment room and he is not young anymore , i may disagree with the choice of replacement but i don't disagree with the direction of a more speedy younger forward in any case Higuain was the main goal scorer last year and this year
Beast, if you thrash your opponents next week 10-0, do you think the press will still write negative stuff?
Negativity will remain hanging around Pellegrini , there is no turning back
U cannot lose games that matter and expect to stay , Manu (sadly i like him ) is not the man to lead this group , they need a much more powerful figure to guide them on the pitch .
punishing crap players is good but not good enough you need in game guidance which he failed to do several times
Is Pellegrini gone in summer ?
u can bet your left nut on this , Rafa is leading the polls though (Backed by Perez ) but Mourinho is catching up fast (backed by Valdano ) less than 2 % separate them
agreed...however - sticking with your example – one crap muscian playing wrong can ruin the whole harmony of the music. therefore it requires/implies a certain standard of quality from each musician. a standard of quality that is up to the standard the maestro wants them to sound. otherwise, if you have crap musicians, all the maestro can do is make them sound as less crap as possible. but that doesn't necessarly mean the end product is worth listening.
another example...put michael schumacher in a fiat cinquecento. he'll certainly drive that thing better than most other drivers and get the best possible results out of that car. but he won't be able to perform with it or drive as quick as he could with a ferrari. so, if you want him to deliver "ferrari-like" results, give him a ferrari instead of a fiat cinquecento.
i'm not saying pellegrini is not at all at fault!!! but these examples show that in order to work, there must be a certain balance in quality between the quality of the coach - maestro/driver - and the players - musicians/car. that balance is what's missing and what should be worked on IMO.
The conductor job is to correct the crap musician in rehearsals , if he allow the crap musician to keep playing the same way in the concert it's the conductor mistake not the musician
One of Real's problems is that (with the exception of an in-form Kaka) they don't have a world class midfielder. Alonso is good but no at the top level, Gago is crap, L Diarra is a destructive player and van der Vaart is OK but Sneijder and Robben are lots better.
It's how u use the players Viva , the best times was the 4-2-3-1 when Marcel-Kaka-CR were behind Higuain that's the most balanced formation and most effective to the players he got .
he kept tinkering , started with 4-3-3 in pre-season switched to 4-2-2-2 than switched to 4-2-3-1 in the first classico and beyond it than switched to 4-3-3 till the classico .. he don't have the players for 4-3-3
in the 4-2-3-1 he has the best use of his team cause even Higuain can drop to the right winger position and play Benzema upfront (he did that couple of times ) ..
but it seems sensible to form a team that will follow pellagrini's style but i do agree with you beast that you need a strong coach who can manage and demand the players properly. but the article is correct in saying you should allow the team to grow instead of firing a coach every single failure