Real Madrid vs Barcelona - El Classico

[Jaci4Real]

We lost. Sigh. Oh well. We still have a little advantage being a game behind.

Anyway, u can always learn from ur mistakes, and what I learned from this game were:

Cristiano shouldn't take the free kicks.
Out the ?how many? free kicks he took, only one was really on target. I was disappointed that he didn't let Alonzo take the last one. He would have passed it for a Ramos header or something.

Use Kaka
After he came in, the game was better. He started making more and more chances, even more than Cr7. Sorry Patrick, I-I mean Ozil, you didn't play well today LOL

Better defense
I was actually pleased with Coentrao's performance considering this is like 'the biggest game' he has played for Madrid. Marcelo made up for his error and played better after that. Ramos too. But what they all lacked was

Composure
Thank GOD we didn't get a red, which would make some think we had better composer in this game, but we didn't. We had the ref on our side and we didn't take advantage. Sigh.

Man of the match? Idk. Maybe Iniesta. The game ended when he left. Our best man would be between Kaka and Iker (ironically lol) Flop of the match. Well, I think you can already infer...

As Basit would say, Bloody Hell!! LOL

Any more things we needed to learn. Come on guys Add on.

[Jaci4Real]

Here is a comment from eurosport

Real Madrid were well in control and pressed extremely well as a team for the first 50 minutes. After Xavi scored (by a massive deflection i must add), Real Madrid went back to their usual selves, all trying to win the game by themselves and lost their collective discipline and group mentality. Mourinho should have grown some ***** and replaced C.Ronaldo with Kaka as Ronaldo was a complete liability and done absolutely nothing for the team. In the end, Barcelona deserved to win the game as they were clinical unlike Real Madrid, who missed on some major chances which ended up costing them dearly.

Sad but true.

[Ozil_22]

Hm, that was a disappointing turnaround but the positives are the things learnt from that defeat, like you already went through (although at some points uncalled for! =P) Jaci.

I sort of can't help but disagree with the Cristiano freekicks thing, he's definitely the best in the world at them. I'd only let Alonso take them from tight angles, but tonight just wasn't Cristiano's night at all. One of his worst in fact.
This needs to be addressed from Mourinho because it isn't the first time vs. Barcelona either, his work rate I thought had improved recently but tonight I felt he was back to his old self. He seems to struggle with teamwork at crucial points, e.g. shoots when he shouldn't, and passes when he should shoot. How he missed the header? Only God knows.

Yup, Kaka helped. I'd have liked to have seen Higuain on earlier too, for Ozil and well.. Di Maria. I couldn't take Ronaldo off unless it was special circumstances like an injury. Move him to upfront alongside Benzema to try and get him more involved, anything.
Not Ozil's greatest night either (I thought he still had a few nice moments first half).. but when it came to attack, nobody's was. I feel he should become a sub against them from now on, as he never seems to last the full 90. He'd be a good impact.

Overall, Carvalho out. Arbeloa out (I still don't think he'd have changed much). Sahin obviously not enough match fitness yet. Barcelona have Puyol/Fabregas/Iniesta/Sanchez. They were extremely lucky, I thought Puyol was definitely going to be out tonight. They've only had Sanchez back recently for sure, its timed really nicely for them.
Sanchez, who I thought by the way bossed the first half. He caused you problems, winding up your players in the process and then the fantastic finish with the first glance on goal he had.
First 10 minutes = all you. The rest was all what I've seen before, Barcelona slowly make their way back into it once the pressuring lowers. Champions league final this year is a perfect example. Barca wanted it more, they knew how much it meant.

Sorry for this crazy long post.

[Basit-B]

Can't believe we lost. I literally thought there was no chance of us losing. Oh well we still have a game in hand and i dunno why though our home record is dreadful. I thought we played very welll in the first half and i felt as though they were lucky to get that goal (great goal though).

As much as it pains me to say it, i think the only way for us to defeat them is by defending deep an playing the counter. Barca have a knack of finishing off their chances against us...they never bloody miss

I hope we park the bus full on in our next clash. I'm tired of losing and i wouldnt mind a draw tbh. Iker had a great game today imo. MOTM for me was also Inniesta. All his runs are deadly. Messi didnt look all that dangerous as well. Valdes was horrible in this game and he was lucky only one slipped past him.

[Jaci4Real]

I sort of can't help but disagree with the Cristiano freekicks thing, he's definitely the best in the world at them.

True, but the other night he wasn't. After he missed like 4 or 5, Mou should have instructed someone else to take them. I mean, even a short freekick would have been 'mucho mejor'.

I couldn't take Ronaldo off unless it was special circumstances like an injury. Move him to upfront alongside Benzema to try and get him more involved, anything.

Mmmm, If u don't mind, I have to disagree with you on that. It would have been a risk, but it should have been taken. Di Maria come off in what, the 68 min. I think (?). That wouldn't have a bad time to sub in Cr7. But yes Di Maria wasn't contributing much either.

Moving him upfront would have been disastrous. In the games were he is upfront, for the most part, he just stands there waiting for a ball to be passed (which frustrated him greatly last year). But what more can you expect from a striker? The problem is, when Ronnie is given the ball, he needs three or four (usually) before it's even close to a goal. Someone like Pipita would have put it in a long time ago. Yes, Cris is a good player. Yes, he can play both striker and winger, BUT, I think he's better in the midfield. There, he can make his own chances.

Sorry for this crazy long post.

Sorry for this crazy long reply

[Ozil_22]

Hm, the free kick thing will remain a difference of opinion. :P

I understand the whole having guts to taking off your priciest player, or just not to play them at all. Over here, Torres moved to Chelsea for 50million in January 2010 and hasn't even reached 10 goals so isn't being played. This isn't the case with Ronaldo. He's an 80million player who has done everything possible to fulfill that price tag.

Something happens to him against Barcelona, the only time he's shown up was in the Copa Del Rey final. He had good patience in that final still getting himself into that goalscoring position as late as he did. Fair enough, I now understand the concerns about moving him upfront- however are you totally sure Ronaldo wouldn't be capable of biding his time? Understandably vs. Barcelona for his chance? I understand the frustration against lesser sides where he would play better on the wing. The way I see it though, he hardly gets a touch of the ball on the wing against Barcelona. The one time he was a threat was when he made that diagonal run to the centre but hit his shot wide.

Now, if you still disagree then I understand. I do think something has to be done though and he should no longer be played on the wing. He doesn't help you out with defensive responsibilities for a start unlike Di Maria. Also, I've considered other options such as making him play behind the striker (such as Messi, sort of) and getting him more on the ball that way in a deeper position. This wouldn't work either though, as you need a solid 3 man midfield with 2 wingers of which, I repeat, one currently isn't doing their job defensively properly.

Finally, if not then he should just be dropped. You should go for more goal threats such as Kaka for Ozil, and play Benzema/Higuain on the wing whoever would fit better. I heard Benzema can and he apparently works harder than Higuain now. There are many options, but I honestly do believe moving Ronaldo upfront is one of them.

-None of this I'm stating as fact, just my opinion. :P Sorry for this even crazier longer reply.

[Jaci4Real]

Hm, the free kick thing will remain a difference of opinion. :P

O.K. so be it

I understand the whole having guts to taking off your priciest player, or just not to play them at all.

Good, so I won't have to go over that.

Something happens to him against Barcelona, the only time he's shown up was in the Copa Del Rey final.

It's called being under a spell. Fox Soccer did a documentary on the Copa final and you should have seen all the spells they were putting on him. Mou too. They must have worn off by Xtra time lol. Call me superstitious...

Fair enough, I now understand the concerns about moving him upfront- however are you totally sure Ronaldo wouldn't be capable of biding his time?

Yes. The problem isn't whether or not he would be affective, but how quickly he would be. Fine, I'll sink my thought. He wasn't scoring on the wing either. But putting him on top would be a 'waste' of a striker. A striker must strike not dribble and juke and add flair. This nearly cost him with Portugal. But oh well. Only time will tell. Maybe he'll evolve.

Also, I've considered other options such as making him play behind the striker (such as Messi, sort of) and getting him more on the ball that way in a deeper position.

Yeah. I thought of that too. But you already mentioned the problem with that.

Finally, if not then he should just be dropped. You should go for more goal threats such as Kaka for Ozil, and play Benzema/Higuain on the wing whoever would fit better. I heard Benzema can and he apparently works harder than Higuain now. There are many options, but I honestly do believe moving Ronaldo upfront is one of them.

Dropping him will threaten his time at Madrid. You should have seen him against Zagreb. At the start of the second half, Mou made three subs. Cris wanted to be on of them. Seeing the third substitution being made, he angrily dropped his shoes and stomped back to the bench.

-None of this I'm stating as fact, just my opinion. :P Sorry for this even crazier longer reply.

Yeah. That's fine. In the end, we both want the best for Madrid... and Cristiano. Like Ramos said "Here [at Real] we all win and lose together," "It's not fair to single out the guilty or blame the defeat on one player," "Cristiano is a great player and he always helps us."

I appreciate you taking the time to use constructive criticism. If you search on other Real forums, you'll see ppl discussing a few things we went over (Ronnie's freekicks, Real vs Barca, formations...) and going as far as to insult each other when in disagreement. I mean like cussing each other. It's hilarious just going through and seeing how far they can go. lol

[Basit-B]

Personally, i would give Ronaldo all the realistic freekick chances and let Alonso take the longer range ones. Yea he didn't do good with the FK chances in the Clasico but there honestly is none like him.

Also, i understand where you may be coming from in subbing Cr7 off...i however would also not go with it. He is just too good of a player to not play. He may be inconsistent in showing up for big games but he still does have enormous potential to show up. Higuain has also been under par in the big games and he is alot more risky imo.

Overall, we played an amazing game up until the 50th minute. How many sides do you see actually take it to Barca and dominate the tempo of a game? I think Sanchez' goal was lucky and gave Barca enormous confidence. The Xavi goal was also extremely lucky and that really killed us. We have this unfortunate curse against them. Even in the Super cups we outperformed them but they managed to strike in all of their chances. Lady luck always favours them for some reason. Honestly i think the only way for us to defeat them is by playing the defensive game. If we had switched into the defensive mode after going one up in this game we would have won. Putting Pepe in the midfield stops Messi and it has been proven before. Heck i believe we would have gone to the final of the CL had Pepe not been red carded.

I will be quite furious if we employ any other tactic in our next clash agains them.

Talk about a long post