Real Madrid - Barca. What's gonna happen?

@ Kasnani

Broadly agree though I would mark Iniesta higher (was quite effective in 1H) and Deco lower. Saviola - yes not much to show but difficult to do much when given 15 minutes or whatever in a match you're already losing.

Tweedledum wrote:I said Madrid would win - they have Chelsea to thank for this.

From a tactics-copying perspective, or our morale being down perspective?

All I have to say is...

TOMA!

Tweedledum wrote:I said Madrid would win - they have Chelsea to thank for this.

Emerson should have been sent off.. Penalty for Gudjohnsen was not given.. The first goal, started from a foul on Ronaldinho that wasn't given....




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SOUR GRAPES... but I have to get it out of my system

lol funny cos i didnt like the ref either

Emerson should have been sent off...he is a dirty player, only in there to kick people. But since he is OUR dirty player, I won't chastize him too much.

So how would people rate the Madrid players performances?

Calidad wrote:So how would people rate the Madrid players performances?

They have been posted on the Real Madrid thread.

kasnani wrote:

Tweedledum wrote:I said Madrid would win - they have Chelsea to thank for this.

From a tactics-copying perspective, or our morale being down perspective?

Morale down perspective

And yet, with the benefit of hindsight, if this midfield had worked and we had completely overrun Madrid everyone would call Rijkaard a brave genius.

You've acknowledged it yourself, so let's not overreact and overanalyse. Calls for Rijkaard's head are just ridiculous. Ideally I would have liked us not to have the cup game on Wednesday, and for him to take the squad to a resort somewhere remote for a couple of days of closed training sessions, so that the players can calm down, get away from the hype, and "realign" themselves. But hopefully the game in midweek will be a comfortable win and be the first step in a back to basics approach of the qualities that we displayed last season - hard work, ball pressure, and self-belief.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHA


Gutted Messiah.

Well We Won....

Well done Real - that was the 1st performance that displayed true Hunger, and desire that I've seen from them in a long, long time.

They wanted it more than Barcelona - that's the long & short of it.

Great displays by Raul (looking vaguely like his old self), Guti, Diarra & Ramos. And with Zidane gone - Robinho is truly now the biggest shining diamond in this team.

Can Capello acheive the consistency though
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As for Barcelona - let's just say that they are the benchmark - every team they come across will treat it like a cup final, or in Madrid & Chelsea's case a grudge match.

Rijkaard has out-foxed himself twice in a week. Only good thing is that Lionel Messi is still putting in very impressive performances. There was no way that you can go up against Emerson & in particular M.Diarra with that Midfield. Play Edmilson if needs be at DM.

As for the Ronaldinho & Gudjohnsen Bashers... like many new signings Guddy his still adjusting to Barca's unique brand of football, but he's gifted & intelligent enough to become a hit.

Ronaldinho, will regain his form eventually - no-one was compaining about his lack of tracking-back when he was applaudewd at the Bernabau last season, or for any of the other great performances he's put in over the last 2-3 years.

great win for the madrid boys!

I agree with Rijkaard in that I am not worried, only disappointed. It is not a great deal to lose. After all, we had this coming after last year's recital. But then also the result made everyone forget about the game. In the first half last year, Barça didn't dominate that much either.
This year, we played RM off the park in the second part of the first half. Again, the old problems resurface:
- chaos at the back
- no end product up front
- not being awake at the beginning of each half
- not being aggressive
- only doing rondos in midfield without a clear purpose
- good results against small teams, but not convincing against quality, well organized opponents that hit you on the break (Atletico, Zaragoza, Chelsea, Madrid...)

We have to work on it, but the league is not won or lost in a game like this. We should still win the league, and it depends on RM's consistency whether they are going to challenge us.

I think the decision to play Emerson was an excellent one, even if he should've been sent off.

He disrupted Barca's attacking flow, and basically stopped the likes of Deco from playing. I thought he had a very good match

Messiah wrote:Oh ten cate i miss you so, it is now clear that you were the brains behind the operation because this barca team(and i don't just been this game) is nothing like the barca while you were their.

we have played 4 Good teams since season has started and have only collected 1 point.

Supercup-0
Valencia-1
Chelsea-0
RM-0

Typical Knee jerk...

Ok i need to remind u, barca are still league leaders.

In the 2004/2005 season; barca lost to valencia, madrid, seville and chelsea with both Rijkaard and Ten cate on the bench. You have lost or dropped points against those teams this season without two of your best players and maybe the most influential - eto'o and dinho(cos i don't think u can say ronaldihno is playing at the moment). Rijkaard might still be an inexperience coach but u have to give him respect for the things he has won. Yes he didn't do well at Sparta but it's hard to find a coach that has been a succes everywhere. Don't forget, he took tthe Dutch to the semis of the euros and went out undersevedly after completely outplaying Italy.

Agooner wrote:

Messiah wrote:Oh ten cate i miss you so, it is now clear that you were the brains behind the operation because this barca team(and i don't just been this game) is nothing like the barca while you were their.

we have played 4 Good teams since season has started and have only collected 1 point.

Supercup-0
Valencia-1
Chelsea-0
RM-0

Typical Knee jerk...

Ok i need to remind u, barca are still league leaders.

In the 2004/2005 season; barca lost to valencia, madrid, seville and chelsea with both Rijkaard and Ten cate on the bench. You have lost or dropped points against those teams this season without two of your best players and maybe the most influential - eto'o and dinho(cos i don't think u can say ronaldihno is playing at the moment). Rijkaard might still be an inexperience coach but u have to give him respect for the things he has won. Yes he didn't do well at Sparta but it's hard to find a coach that has been a succes everywhere. Don't forget, he took tthe Dutch to the semis of the euros and went out undersevedly after completely outplaying Italy.

Messiah's statement is also incorrect. We beat Sevilla at home in the league. And we are top despite having played Valencia, RM and Sevilla already.

We lost 2 games against 2 V.good teams and thats not what i'm really pissed about.

what i'm pissed about is that our coach was made to look like a 5 year old when it came to his tactics, now teams have figured out how to play us and i don't see him coming up with a decent plan B.

I DO think, Messiah, you are overreacting. Surely if Rijkaard were really such a minnow-brained coach, he would have never achieved what he has done?

Besides, the first half Barça played RM practically off the park. We weren't all that bad.

It will only be even the sweeter to win the league this year, having to win it against some proper opposition this time around.

@ messiah

I also need to remind u it's far difficult for barca to do well now than say 2 years ago. Many factors contribute to that:

- Teams know u better now.

-Your players have won almost everything, they have nothing more to prove. It's human nature that they won't be as motivated as they were when they had a lot to prove( having won nothing).

- You are the team everyone wants to beat these days because u are seen as the best. Teams get extra motivated when they play u.

As for his tactics, fans or pundits always have the benefit of hindsights. Just after the chelsea match, some barca fans were saying iniesta should have played instead of edmilson, he played that against madrid and lost, now u are bringing up your own formation. The coach cannot just keep changing formations in every match, he has to stick to what has brought him succes. We also had problems at the start of the season, everyone was saying should look for a plan b , wenger refused and stuck to what he believed in. Now our players are performing better and we are winning, is anyone talking about tactics?

BTW: the worst u can do now is drop dinho, he is your best player and has done alot for u in the past . As a football fan, i hope he and your team start playing better as u are a joy to watch.