Real Madrid C.F. 2008/09

Torrente wrote:

Jaime wrote:

kas wrote:Or he feels alienated by how the press, fans, and maybe some of the board as well, didn't mind using him as Ronaldo bait.

There may be something to that but really he needs to grow up. There are always rumours about players going and coming, especially at Real Madrid, and if he cannot deal with it I'm sorry. For years there were rumours that Zanetti was coming to replace Salgado (when he was good). Michel didn't go and cry and he got down to work. Relative to his ability, Robinho has done very little in a Real Madrid shirt. Maybe the fans wouldn't have alienated himself if he didn't hide every time we went to Camp Nou or Vicente Calderon or played in the CL or any other time when it really mattered.

Let's not go too far. I'm very pissed off at Robinho as well, but we shouldn't downplay what he's done for the team. In our last 2 league titles, I would definitely place him as one of the top 5 players responsible for us winning them.

How can there be a top 5 when there were only 2 players (and the referees, golsud may add ) responsible for you winning the league - Van Nistelrooy and Casillas?

Casillas
Van Nistelrooy
Ramos
Robinho
Gago

Roger Hunt wrote:

Yeah I was just winding you up with the last bit. But your football is not as good to watch as it was 5 years ago.

I genuinely think that the Robinho deal only made sense for Chelsea if it gave you the funds to buy Ronaldo (i.e. Man U losing Ronaldo would give Chelsea more chance of winning the league than Chelsea getting Robinho).

Can't disagree with that. I give Schuster credit that we played great football on numerous games, such as the Villareal and Valencia matches. But we haven't played consistently great football since 2003. I think we might achieve it with Schuster, but only time will tell.

Chelsea will gain a lot with Robinho though. Right now Joe Cole is the only player who has the ability to dribble (Malouda is just an embarrassment). And while Premiership defenders are more physical, they're also quite clumsy on a technical level, which will surely favor Robinho. The way I've seen Ronaldo dribble past players in the Premiership at times is really ridiculous. I think that's also why Ronaldo tends to struggle against other teams in the top 4, since the quality of defenders is on a completely different level than the rest.

TM wrote:Casillas
Van Nistelrooy
Ramos
Robinho
Gago

TM wrote:Casillas
Van Nistelrooy
Ramos
Robinho
Gago

Though I would probably put Guti instead of Gago. Although Guti had his batches of inconsistency last season, I thought he did very well overall. 17 assists was very impressive on anyone's standards. Too bad that this season he seems to be going back to his "spoiled brat" act.

Baptista was your best player.

@ Torrente

Yeah Guti should be on the list, (Jaime wont be happy ), but when Bernd dropped Diarra for Gago the whole dynamic of the team changed, thats why i put him in.

@ BM

Baptista is another one of our rejects that Roma have purchased. Thanks

Salgado next?

Cicinho and Baps! Burning Conte!?

According to Real Madrid centre-back Pepe, the blancos could compensate for the potential loss of Robinho with pre-existing squad members...
Robinho announced today that he is looking to leave Madrid before the end of the transfer window, stating that he wishes to take up residence at Chelsea ahead of the new season.

This has caused much consternation in the Spanish capital, given that the attacker is one of the more prominent players at the Bernabéu.

But as far as Portuguese stopper Pepe is concerned Robinho is far from irreplacable.

"I think that we have substitutes who can match Robinho," said the former Porto man.

"We have enough players to occupy both the left and the right wing."

If Robinho doesn't take part this Sunday in the must-win Spanish Supercopa clash, Pepe still feels that his side will emerge victorious.

"(Coach Bernd) Schuster knows our options very well, and I hope that he puts out a competitive team on Sunday for us to win."

Mutual Benefit

Touching on the Robinho transfer saga itself, he added, "It's Robinho's own opinion that he wishes to leave Madrid, but it's a matter that he and the management must deal with together in order to find the best solution for both.

"To me the best solution is one that sees Madrid affected well.

"And as for Cristiano Ronaldo, I've already said many times that I spoke to him and that he wished to come to Madrid, but that's no longer an issue. We can't keep going on about it."

Black Magic wrote:Baptista was your best player.

He was our best cheerleader, just behind Raul. Raul is our "field" cheerleader, since he runs around clapping his teammates without doing much himself besides that.

Baptista does all that but from the bench. He will be a tough player to replace

TM wrote:According to Real Madrid centre-back Pepe, the blancos could compensate for the potential loss of Robinho with pre-existing squad members..

Even his team mates don't rate him then.

Torrente wrote:

Jaime wrote:

kas wrote:Or he feels alienated by how the press, fans, and maybe some of the board as well, didn't mind using him as Ronaldo bait.

There may be something to that but really he needs to grow up. There are always rumours about players going and coming, especially at Real Madrid, and if he cannot deal with it I'm sorry. For years there were rumours that Zanetti was coming to replace Salgado (when he was good). Michel didn't go and cry and he got down to work. Relative to his ability, Robinho has done very little in a Real Madrid shirt. Maybe the fans wouldn't have alienated himself if he didn't hide every time we went to Camp Nou or Vicente Calderon or played in the CL or any other time when it really mattered.

Let's not go too far. I'm very pissed off at Robinho as well, but we shouldn't downplay what he's done for the team. In our last 2 league titles, I would definitely place him as one of the top 5 players responsible for us winning them.

I don't think I'm that far off really. Last season, Robinho was probably the best player in the league from October to January or whenever he got injured. In the first month or two of the season, when we were building our lead at the top of the table it was Raul and Sneijder and Ruud that were doing the business. And at the end of the season, when it was time to finish the job it was Higuain and Sneijder and Robben that really carried us. And looking back at the results from last year, he only scored one match-winning goal in the league (away to Recreativo).

The year before in 06/07 he scored a late match winner against Celta down the stretch and he had goal in the match at home to Sevilla and the match away to Recreativo. But Guti was the architect in the Sevilla match and it was Higuain and Gago and Beckham and Roberto Carlos that led the charge in Huelva when we scored the late winner. But where was he in the match against Espanyol, Mallorca, Zaragoza?

Here are the only two big matches where Robinho came up with a truly world class performance. Home to Barcelona in 06/07 and away to Valencia in 07/08. IMO you need to do more than that to be one of the top players in the world. Maybe (Robinho thinks this is the case) he can do it at Chelsea. But he hasn't done it for us.

Torrente wrote:

Black Magic wrote:Baptista was your best player.

He was our best cheerleader, just behind Raul. Raul is our "field" cheerleader, since he runs around clapping his teammates without doing much himself besides that.

Baptista does all that but from the bench. He will be a tough player to replace

@ Jaime

Robinho scored away at Zaragoza in the 2-2 draw.

TM wrote:Didn't Robinho score away at Zaragoza in the 2-2 draw?

In 06/07 (when it mattered) Ruud scored twice. In 07/08 he scored...but we had already won the title.

If Robinho is sold who will be brought within a week?

Robben can only manage 15 games a season at best, so that leaves us lacking 2 wide players, even with Royston "WPOTY" Drenthe.

Robinho is just hype from the press and then by madridistas who beleived it. He's been good for a few months in the 3 years he's been at Madrit. At the start of this season the commentators were still taking about the Robinho at Cadiz...

Hype? Perhaps, just like Dos Santos and Bojan?

Dos Santos was hyped up but nothing compared to Robinho. Chelsea are offering around 30-40 million euros for a guy who has played well for 2/3 months!!!!

Barca need to invest in some decent PR reps!

golsud wrote:Dos Santos was hyped up but nothing compared to Robinho. Chelsea are offering around 30-40 million euros for a guy who has played well for 2/3 months!!!!

My thoughts exactly

Ribbon around him and I'd drive him to the airport myself

TM wrote:Hype? Perhaps, just like Dos Santos and Bojan?

Giovani was hyped up a lot but nobody called Dos Santos the "next Pele" (although to be fair he was called that before he got to Madrid).

TM wrote:

Barca need to invest in some decent PR reps!

Definately! Instead they only talk about the alcohol they drink, the parties they have and how many training session they skip.

TM wrote:If Robinho is sold who will be brought within a week?

Robben can only manage 15 games a season at best, so that leaves us lacking 2 wide players, even with Royston "WPOTY" Drenthe.

Should have kept Juanmi Callejon.

But aside from that, the simple thing to do would be to take Joaquin from Valencia for less than 15m.

Or save the money to get Cristiano next season

Marca was talking about Di Maria but apparently he's not moving.

Maybe we should pay the buyout clause for Messi.

Jaime wrote:

TM wrote:If Robinho is sold who will be brought within a week?

Robben can only manage 15 games a season at best, so that leaves us lacking 2 wide players, even with Royston "WPOTY" Drenthe.

Should have kept Juanmi Callejon.

But aside from that, the simple thing to do would be to take Joaquin from Valencia for less than 15m.

Jaime wrote:1. Rarely signing Spanish players even though they usually turn out best (e.g. Sergio Ramos)
2. Rarely giving our youth players a proper opportunity in the first team
3. Ramon Calderon
4. Pedja Mijatovic
5. Electoral promises

We already know that neither will happen

Another option (that obviously won't happen) would be to try and sign Santi Cazorla. He can play in both wings, can score, gives a lot of assists. But of course we won't possibly consider him because he's Spanish.

Now we have a reason to get Quaresma who would be perfect for our team as i see it. the problem with Robinho was that he never crossed the ball and we therefor werent able to use Raul and Ruud in the area as much as we could. Quaresma would do wonders here since he can use both feet and play on both wings.
hopefully this also means Drenthe will actually be used and not just rot on the bench. it would not be terrible if Robinho lost as long as we got sensible replacement(Quaresma,Joaquin). but then again Mijatovics strong side isnt sense.

EDIT: Regarding Carloza i think he would be a good buy and he offers versatility but i would like to go with someone who prefers to cross more.

But think about how much we would have to pay for Quaresma vs. Cazorla. For me they are quite comparable (although Cazorla doesn't have the stain on his past of playing for the Farza) but to get Quaresma you are going to have to pay 40m. euro. while Cazorla's buyout is only 13m. euro!