Real Madrid CF 2013/14

Made in Spain

KHEDIRA  

38 Million, he surely has to play

ISCO too

there is simply no space for him  

Kroos wrote:KHEDIRA  

38 Million, he surely has to play

ISCO too

there is simply no space for him  

 

I sure know I'm out of touch with football when players I've never heard of cost 30m+. happened about three times this summer!

Do you have any money left over for Suarez now? And can we have Xabi back please, ta.

Luis wrote:Do you have any money left over for Suarez now? And can we have Xabi back please, ta.

No and no!!!

debaser wrote:I sure know I'm out of touch with football when players I've never heard of cost 30m+. happened about three times this summer!

Who are the other two?

James Rodriguez, who went to Monaco for €45m. And pretty sure I'd not heard of Fernandinho till Man City were signing him.

debaser wrote:James Rodriguez, who went to Monaco for €45m. And pretty sure I'd not heard of Fernandinho till Man City were signing him.

Oh right, I knew their names from CL fantasy football but that's the only reason.

Luis wrote:Do you have any money left over for Suarez now? And can we have Xabi back please, ta.

You'll have to sell Higuain now, right?

TheCrazy58 wrote:

Luis wrote:Do you have any money left over for Suarez now? And can we have Xabi back please, ta.

You'll have to sell Higuain now, right?

I would have thought Di Maria and Coentrao will be the ones to go. At the moment there is not a suitable replacement for Higuain. And no offers either, apparently. I think he is closer to staying than going at the moment.

Have a go madridistas:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Freddie/UCLRealMadrid

I got 186/187. Livid over the one I missed.

Sell us Modric please.

Glen Folds' Five wrote:Sell us Modric please.

NO.

He will be a beast next season.

Jaime wrote:Have a go madridistas:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Freddie/UCLRealMadrid

I got 186/187. Livid over the one I missed.

I got 175, I missed some obvious ones like Kaka and Carvalho  

 
32M for somebody who has never played Cl football and who will surely sit on the bench and doesn't really solve any problems in midfield and might in fact add some. 

We hardly tried for any other midfielder and then went all out for Illarra. He better be good and even then it will be at the expense of Modric or Alonso unless he fits 3 in which means less room for one of Ozil or Isco. Now we have to sell Di Maria and most importanntly it looks like we will be without a new striker striker when the club promised 2!!!

Perez seems to have lost the plot and concluded that the problem with Mourinho era was that we didn't have enough Spanish players.

More likely it was that we had too many:whistle: 


Not even sure this is the best for Illarra unless Ancelotti gives him a lot of playing time because he could probably benefit from a year of Cl football if the alternative is sitting the bench as he starting to develop.

Cristiano wrote:

Jaime wrote:Have a go madridistas:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Freddie/UCLRealMadrid

I got 186/187. Livid over the one I missed.

I got 175, I missed some obvious ones like Kaka and Carvalho  

Super Mourinho wrote: 
32M for somebody who has never played Cl football and who will surely sit on the bench and doesn't really solve any problems in midfield and might in fact add some. 

We hardly tried for any other midfielder and then went all out for Illarra. He better be good and even then it will be at the expense of Modric or Alonso unless he fits 3 in which means less room for one of Ozil or Isco. Now we have to sell Di Maria and most importanntly it looks like we will be without a new striker striker when the club promised 2!!!

Perez seems to have lost the plot and concluded that the problem with Mourinho era was that we didn't have enough Spanish players.

More likely it was that we had too many:whistle: 


Not even sure this is the best for Illarra unless Ancelotti gives him a lot of playing time because he could probably benefit from a year of Cl football if the alternative is sitting the bench as he starting to develop.

I didn't realise that Champions League experience was a prerequisite for all RM signings. But Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane hadn't played a minute of CL football before coming to Real Madrid and they both turned out ok. Paulinho who we both liked has never played in CL. Meanwhile Khedira and Kaka (more CL experience than almost anyone!) both had plenty of CL games under their belt and they are probably the two shittest players in the team.

The midfield has been overlooked for years going back to the days of Diarra x 2! So to add another talented footballing midfielder is not such a bad thing. For one, I think he will get lots of chances to play in a three man midfield. Ancelotti is known for employing that system. Second, even in a two man midfield, how long have we all been saying that there is no suitable replacement for Xabi Alonso and how physically depleted he is by the time he gets to the end of the season because he plays every minute of every game? How long have we been saying "We will be really f*cked if we lose Alonso for this important match"? We've been saying it since he arrived! So I think there are plenty of opportunities when we could see Illarra+Alonso or Modric-Illarra in a two man midfield. The one who stands to lose out in all of this is Khedira which is a most welcome development for almost every madridista I know.

Di Maria was almost certainly going to be sold this summer any way. I don't see what he has to do with Illarra.

Ancelotti will give him minutes. Illarra wouldn't have come if the new boss didn't want to use him. This is not the sort of signing that Florentino would make unilaterally. It is not a "strategic" signing.

Look we tried PROGRESS and it failed, for the most part. It's time to try something different. Maybe it will fail too but there is no sense in bitching about it until we see it on the pitch.

Cristiano wrote:

Kroos wrote:Zidane and FAT Ronaldo are overrated, they wouldn`t have been stand out players who could define a decade would they play at the present

both were far too inconsistent

BTW and look at the AGE, only sky is the limit for özil


sometimes i sound i wouldn`t rate the current ronaldo, but his work ethic  and consistency put`s him ahead of the fat ronaldo ( ok he had injurys, but he hardly scored so many goals)

100% disagree with everything, how can you even bring up consistency when talking about Ozil(and i'm big Ozil fan). Further more IMO the quality of defenders those two were playing against were better than present. And what has fat Ronaldo got to do with anything. I won't be drawn into some petty agenda based debates. You would be hard pressed to ever see me here having some long debate with anyone. So kindly fuck off now.

sry totally overlooked it

özils starts into the season are questionable, but after a while he comes with a peng, i can`t name 3 more consistent AM`s in the last 3 years who play in the Top 4 leagues, he is key player for madrid, delivering key passes on regular basis where no player in world football comes close (in 6 games against bayern or dortmund, how many assists or goals has he made [2 goals 4 assists]  the problem is, he is the only creative spark for madrid, in a time in football where you have no space and no time on the ball in midfield, given that mous limited gameplan  was very hindering for özil, especially in big matches, where he has been tactically exposed from barca, bvb and bayern, in terms of skill, vision and passing he is the best 10 in the world right now


so you say that in 38 games in la liga, and in 6-13 games in the CL, the CB were better  10 years ago, silly comment; it`s hard to compare two generations of football, but back then the midfield game was not that important, now midfield is everything;  the standard that fat ronaldo or zidane set are already matched, when you watch players like messi, ronaldo, xavi or özil, who deliver performances on a consistent level, while the old stars basically built there whole repuation on 2-3 key performances, but it was not really all that shiny when you look closer at it

zidane was not a top performer for madrid, he won them the cl, but he hardly had great performances until the stunner goal in the final, the years after the final, what has madrid won? 1 spanish title, and failed in the cl

given that the midfield game is right now the key to everything, zidanes 2-3 tricks wouldn`t work today

Jaime wrote:

TheCrazy58 wrote:

Luis wrote:Do you have any money left over for Suarez now? And can we have Xabi back please, ta.

You'll have to sell Higuain now, right?

I would have thought Di Maria and Coentrao will be the ones to go. At the moment there is not a suitable replacement for Higuain. And no offers either, apparently. I think he is closer to staying than going at the moment.

 

We are doomed.

TheCrazy58 wrote:

Jaime wrote:

TheCrazy58 wrote:

Luis wrote:Do you have any money left over for Suarez now? And can we have Xabi back please, ta.

You'll have to sell Higuain now, right?

I would have thought Di Maria and Coentrao will be the ones to go. At the moment there is not a suitable replacement for Higuain. And no offers either, apparently. I think he is closer to staying than going at the moment.

 

We are doomed.

INDEED

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2362144/Arsene-Wenger-set-extend-deal-Arsenal.html

Kroos wrote:

TheCrazy58 wrote:

Jaime wrote:

TheCrazy58 wrote:

Luis wrote:Do you have any money left over for Suarez now? And can we have Xabi back please, ta.

You'll have to sell Higuain now, right?

I would have thought Di Maria and Coentrao will be the ones to go. At the moment there is not a suitable replacement for Higuain. And no offers either, apparently. I think he is closer to staying than going at the moment.

 

We are doomed.

INDEED

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2362144/Arsene-Wenger-set-extend-deal-Arsenal.html

I know:doh: Only Arsenal would extended and improve the contract of a manager who's underperformed last 8 years. I suppose Mourinho is likely the best paid manager in PL now, but AW would not be too far behind.

Jaime wrote:

Super Mourinho wrote: 
32M for somebody who has never played Cl football and who will surely sit on the bench and doesn't really solve any problems in midfield and might in fact add some. 

We hardly tried for any other midfielder and then went all out for Illarra. He better be good and even then it will be at the expense of Modric or Alonso unless he fits 3 in which means less room for one of Ozil or Isco. Now we have to sell Di Maria and most importanntly it looks like we will be without a new striker striker when the club promised 2!!!

Perez seems to have lost the plot and concluded that the problem with Mourinho era was that we didn't have enough Spanish players.

More likely it was that we had too many:whistle: 


Not even sure this is the best for Illarra unless Ancelotti gives him a lot of playing time because he could probably benefit from a year of Cl football if the alternative is sitting the bench as he starting to develop.

I didn't realise that Champions League experience was a prerequisite for all RM signings. But Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane hadn't played a minute of CL football before coming to Real Madrid and they both turned out ok. Paulinho who we both liked has never played in CL. Meanwhile Khedira and Kaka (more CL experience than almost anyone!) both had plenty of CL games under their belt and they are probably the two shittest players in the team.

The midfield has been overlooked for years going back to the days of Diarra x 2! So to add another talented footballing midfielder is not such a bad thing. For one, I think he will get lots of chances to play in a three man midfield. Ancelotti is known for employing that system. Second, even in a two man midfield, how long have we all been saying that there is no suitable replacement for Xabi Alonso and how physically depleted he is by the time he gets to the end of the season because he plays every minute of every game? How long have we been saying "We will be really f*cked if we lose Alonso for this important match"? We've been saying it since he arrived! So I think there are plenty of opportunities when we could see Illarra+Alonso or Modric-Illarra in a two man midfield. The one who stands to lose out in all of this is Khedira which is a most welcome development for almost every madridista I know.

Di Maria was almost certainly going to be sold this summer any way. I don't see what he has to do with Illarra.

Ancelotti will give him minutes. Illarra wouldn't have come if the new boss didn't want to use him. This is not the sort of signing that Florentino would make unilaterally. It is not a "strategic" signing.

Look we tried PROGRESS and it failed, for the most part. It's time to try something different. Maybe it will fail too but there is no sense in bitching about it until we see it on the pitch.

My point with Di Maria is that we will have to offload him now while before it might not have happened. And now we in a position where we have to sell him and there might not be too many clubs who are willing to buy him. All the talks of him leaving seemed to have died down so I was starting to think he might stay.

You're correct on Alonso dependencia but buying a Paulinho/Matic and even Javi Garica would have been fine for me because then Modric can take the playmaking mantle but also he would have a partner who was capable on the ball like those mentioned before. Ultimately sidelining Khedira is great although I still he has his uses since we aren't buying a physical midfielder to replace him. In other words I think we could solved the Alonso problem without having to buy him somebody who was a great passer.

The way this transfer was handled was poor imo although Sociedad seemed pretty stubborn and unwilling to negotiate but every time we go out on the market we set a precedent for the club and this was a bad one. Perhaps we could have traded a player or two.

The only positive with the way this transfer was handled is that Ancelotti will have time now to build the team. My biggest annoyance is that we have solved most of the problems from last season

1)Getting a new coach to resettle the squad after Mourinho-Which I was for
2)An alternative or replacement for Arbeloa-Also for and we solved that perfectly with Carvajal
3)Getting an creative alternative to Ozil-We have all been for since Ozil's first season
4)Fixing the dependence on Alonso-I'm for but I argue we could have done it with a Paulinho or Matic

On top of that we will promote Jese to the team which I'm also for and I can live with Morata up front

BUT

we didn't solve the biggest problem from last season which was our misfiring strikers. This is what I wanted more than anything and now it looks like Zidane has pushed this item out of the picture! It is not impossible or even unlikely that Benzema will get back to form with a more creative team behind him and a different style as well as a coach and Zidane near him to provide the confidence he needs. But we're taking a chance on Benzema that I don't think he deserves and our alternative at the moment is Morata. I don't understand how the club can go from proclaiming the need of 2 strikers to not pursuing anybody. This is ultimately what is frustrating when I see how they handled all the other transfers and how Illarra was pushed through with such speed which our striker situation is self unresolved. Now it looks like Cavani is going to PSG which is a big shame because I think he would have been an instant succes.  

At least we didn't buy half of Neymar for 60M   

Super Mourinho wrote:
we didn't solve the biggest problem from last season which was our misfiring strikers. This is what I wanted more than anything and now it looks like Zidane has pushed this item out of the picture! It is not impossible or even unlikely that Benzema will get back to form with a more creative team behind him and a different style as well as a coach and Zidane near him to provide the confidence he needs. But we're taking a chance on Benzema that I don't think he deserves and our alternative at the moment is Morata. I don't understand how the club can go from proclaiming the need of 2 strikers to not pursuing anybody. This is ultimately what is frustrating when I see how they handled all the other transfers and how Illarra was pushed through with such speed which our striker situation is self unresolved. Now it looks like Cavani is going to PSG which is a big shame because I think he would have been an instant succes.  

At least we didn't buy half of Neymar for 60M   

PSG to buy Cavani. Ibra already made some noises about wanting to leave. Ancelotti joining Real. Hmmm... could it happen?

Then I would just prefer having Benzema and Morata to be honest. We don't need another lazy ego and if Perez is really desperate to win La Decima and not just hobbling up Spanish players then he should take an extra look at Zlatan in Cl. I'm afraid the club might go down that road since Ancelotti is already on good terms with Zlatan and he is a big name but he is not what we need. We need a box striker and getting him would be a repeat of Pep's blunder in 2009 when he thought that he could get a technical but also a box striker all in one. Although in our case we still have Ronaldo so we could certainly make it work but I still don't want him.

Super Mourinho wrote:Then I would just prefer having Benzema and Morata to be honest. We don't need another lazy ego and if Perez is really desperate to win La Decima and not just hobbling up Spanish players then he should take an extra look at Zlatan in Cl. I'm afraid the club might go down that road since Ancelotti is already on good terms with Zlatan and he is a big name but he is not what we need. We need a box striker and getting him would be a repeat of Pep's blunder in 2009 when he thought that he could get a technical but also a box striker all in one. Although in our case we still have Ronaldo so we could certainly make it work but I still don't want him.

Screw La Decima, dude, do you want to win La Liga or not?

Why cut our chances off in CL:wink:

Must say, dude, in these times of Arab money when we are seeing some crazy valuations, Real Madrid and Barca still hand out some of the craziest ones.... £34m for Illarra? That's just crazy!

Thaigo will probably cost half that!

Did he actually cost £34m or £27.6m, RM website says €32m. In any case it's way too much money. Although time will tell it could go either way. When we signed Ramos people where saying how we paid too much etc and now 8 years later it was a good price.

It's not £34m. We paid his buyout which was 30m euro and there are about 2m additional based on certain objectives. Thiago will go for half that (actually 18m) because his father inserted a clause in his contract that if he didn't play a certain number of matches, his buyout clause would automatically be lowered (to 18m). Otherwise, Thiago would be sold for a lot more.