Real Madrid post match thread

[SWPISHOME]

He’s fucking mint. A real character. His ‘freakness’ has defined that.

Seriously good player too, Very underrated.

 

[Tolmie scores]

Shit, that.

We were OK for the last 25 minutes of the first half but other than that, we were dominated. How they only scored 3 is beyond me.

A comedy of errors from so many players. Kovacic’s fucking back heeled flick - just clear the fucking thing! Lewis should be cleaning Vinicius out as soon as he knew he wasn’t getting there. Ederson with another error - just a shock this time it was with his feet. Should he be palming their second goal out into the danger area too? Not so sure, personally. Shame because he was mint up until the error for the second goal and saved our arses a few times.

It’s just a massive concern how weak we are mentally whenever we concede. When they got their second, you knew a third was coming. There’s no composure (again, fucking Kovacic) and game management to spot danger and know when to clear and when to play.

Stones, Gvardiol, Savinho, Haaland, Foden, Akanji and Dias all played alright. Stones and Akanji being the stand outs, but other than that. Too many passengers. Again. Namely Bernie (was he on?) and Kev, unfortunately. Same old story.

I wouldn’t have been comfortable with a 2 goal lead going to their place, never mind a 1 goal deficit.

Shame. Onto the FA Cup and top 4 in my eyes. Not good enough this season to win this competition, too many teams better than us.

Not sure whether these two tough extra games help our cause this season. Only advantage - if we keep it competitive v RM looks like were still seen as a big boy in Europe, when in reality it papers over huge cracks...

 

[ayrshire_blue]

Barcelona has ripped this real apart twice this season ,which coild have scored 5 or 5 past us..we are so far off the best teams.

Agree. We've lost that "presence".

 

[HolisticJim]

Just think
Palmer,
Lavia,
Olise

We sold them but kept Lewis.

I don’t even know what lewis is.
Is he a full back, a central midfielder, a holding midfielder?

He's a boxer isn't he? Not a fukin footballer that's for certain.

Needs to be removed from the squad permanently. Sold, moved on, contract terminated, given cleaning duties - as far from the field as humanly possible.

I cannot remember a player looking so out of place in a top class football team for many a year.

 

[M Gaudino]

Best attack in the world???

There are 7 teams in Europe that have scored more goals than Madrid.

With our defence, attacks don't need to be that good sadly.

it was really a front 2 and yes they are probably the best attacking two in world football.

what now for Jack? a great cameo and who knows if we'd have dominated with him staying on.

 

[NQCitizen]

We line up for a press with a front 4 who then dont really press and just stamd in no man’s land leaving the midfield wide open. We do this every fucking game. Pep man, we either press or we sit back. This half and half shit is a shit show.

Kev can't press, his man his always free... either we should sit deep or he shouldn't start games. Savio, Marmoush, Foden would be a nightmare pressing teams and maybe even encourage Haaland to get about a bit.

The worry is Pep did exactly the same thing with David Silva in a 4-4-2 press in his last season here.

 

[ysmsa]

Newcastle aren't Tottenham, United, Brighton, Bournemouth, Sporting, Villa and we've already lost to all of them.

Madrid had almost twice as many shots as us away from home. They will batter us at the Bernabeu

We arguably played better tonight than in those game you mentioned, that would be enough to beat Newcastle.

The much fabled front 4 of Madrid mustered a fluke mishit goal between them until our 2 late errors.

 

[RayCTID]

Which makes it all the more disappointing that I never felt we had any real go at them. Scored a lovely goal and obviously the penalty but just felt over the piece that we never looked to put and keep them under pressure.

Cast back to the 1-1 last season against them. We completely dominated the game, just couldn't take chances. Tonight felt and looked different, felt like Madrid could have scored a few more and we rarely threatened their goalie from open play.

Still missing the Ballon d'Or winner.

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

I said exactly that before the game.
Questions should be asked if we throw it away again.

The definition of madness, keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

SOOOOO agree with this

 

[Ajm1985]

Which makes it all the more disappointing that I never felt we had any real go at them. Scored a lovely goal and obviously the penalty but just felt over the piece that we never looked to put and keep them under pressure.

Cast back to the 1-1 last season against them. We completely dominated the game, just couldn't take chances. Tonight felt and looked different, felt like Madrid could have scored a few more and we rarely threatened their goalie from open play.

To be honest, we had enough opportunities and possession around the box but a lot of our passing was poor in the final third.

 

[blue whippet]

Frustrating to lose the game in the last 5 mins due to errors -yet again. They had a number of chances that they messed up whereas we didn't really create a great deal. we were better than I thought we would be. Probably just as well they had all their defence out injured or we may not have scored at all! Pity about Grealish and Akanji, they were doing well up to their injuries.

 

[ayrshire_blue]

The most annoying thing for me tonight was not the fact they scored 3 (I expected that with our leaking defence). It was the fact that we didn't take the opportunity to go after their makeshift defence all evening. I would expect ANY manager to be telling his players to take every opportunity to have a go at them. Either Pep didn't, or they didn't listen. It was a complete missed opportunity for me. Very frustrating

Agree. Actually felt to stand a chance of going through we needed a 2 goal lead after tonight's game. Thought with the new signings, we'd at least set up to take the game to Madrid. Easier said than done, of course, but those new signings on the bench and Grealish chosen to start felt too cautious.

 

[Lee the Blue]

We cant be surprised by what happened this evening; in the last month alone weve collapsed in the last 15 mins vs Brentford, PSG, Arsenal and now Real. Our old men and tired squad run out of steam, we cant keep the ball at all and once 1 goal goes in, everyone looks like their dogs died and another soon follows.

Whatevers happened to our Goalkeepers, god knows. Both have shit the bed this season and neither can be replied upon. Edersons comedy hour of utter idiocy tonight was just another occasion where you look at the last line of defence and simply shake your head.

Gvardiol is the only member of the defense who can stay fit. The rest of them shuffle in and out on a conveyor belt - injured...get fit...come back and play 4-5 games...then break down injured again. Akanji, Dias, Stones and Ake continually getting injured all the time means we are forever shuffling the back 4 ahead of 2 goalkeepers who have both gone to pieces.

Im sure in the summer we'll read again about how Grealish hasnt played much; maybe if he didnt keep breaking down injured that wouldnt be the case, but this is 2 seasons now where Jack just cant stay fit even when he does get back in the team. He plays 2 games, looks more like his old self and then breaks down again and by the time hes fit another 6 weeks have passed.

Aside from Foden being on the bench which I thought was plain daft, the other baffling thing tonight was the new £50M hold midfielder being sat on his arse for 90 mins. If hes on the bench and was seen warming up, why isnt he on the field? We keep rolling with players playing the hold who arent hold midfielders - Kovacic, Gundo and tonights guest star John Stones who did OK but doesnt have the passing range to play that spot. I love John Stones as a centre half which is where he should be alongside Ruben Dias - apparently the 2 of them have played 1 game alongside each other in the past 10 months.

If we are brutally honest with ourselves we will get absolutely rolled in Madrid next week; you cant field Rico or one man car crash Nunes at Right Back vs Vinicius and expect to get away with it. Im not too fussed about the CL as weve been awful in Europe this season and have zero chance of winning it - exiting it now might save some legs and give us a chance in the Cup and League. Meanwhile Kyle Walkers excellence at right back should be even more appreciated as time passes. Weve only beaten 1 half decent side all year - Chelsea and bizarrely twice - every other half decent side has beaten us, as have a few shite ones as well.

The FA Cup should be targeted as something we can genuinely win - you dont have to be good to win it as Utd demonstrated last year. However top 4 looks problematic unless we learn how to defend again and stop doing stupid things in the final third of the field. Next 4 in the Prem - Newcastle, Liverpool, Spurs, Forest; defending as we are at the moment Id be amazed if we won 1 of those games sadly.

Saturday will be a time for our squad to man up - lets see if they can rise to the occasion as in many ways its a much bigger game than tonight was looking at the league table.

 

[East Level 2]

every time they got the ball in our half theyd turn and run at us with pace and end up in the box. we couldnt handle it at times and eddy for once kept us in it. we eeekd out 2 goals but stuggled for other chances?

their players just have so much more athletisicism and pace - the only ones we have who look like matching it is haaland and savinho.

Is that even within the laws of the game? I thought there had to be at least a dozen sideways or backwards passes before going forward. And never, ever go forward at pace. No, no, no, no no. It's not fair on opposing defenders is it? Got to give them time to get back.
But the sideways and backwards stuff has won us a lot of trophies. What's the energetic, quick style ever won for Real Madrid?

 

[AndyP68]

No way should Rico have come on, also Gundog is a shell of himself, as soon as Rico, Kova and Gundog came on we just looked weaker and weaker as the game got into the final minutes. Why did we buy almost 200m quids worth of defensive players to leave them on the bench and bring on players that lose us games?

Gundo and Kova are blameless tonight.

We didn’t suddenly look weaker, we gave them two goals.

 

[Fordyboy46]

The most annoying thing for me tonight was not the fact they scored 3 (I expected that with our leaking defence). It was the fact that we didn't take the opportunity to go after their makeshift defence all evening. I would expect ANY manager to be telling his players to take every opportunity to have a go at them. Either Pep didn't, or they didn't listen. It was a complete missed opportunity for me. Very frustrating

Yep, imagine if that was Liverpool playing Real tonight it would've been relentless from them and they probably would've smashed them. Totally there for the taking tonight but we played at a snails pace and didn't penetrate their makeshift defence nowhere near enough

 

[ayrshire_blue]

To be honest, we had enough opportunities and possession around the box but a lot of our passing was poor in the final third.

How many chipped forward passes did we attempt in the second half? Most of them ran through to their keeper. Agree it seemed a bit rushed at times. All for playing it quick if we can get through but never felt we had them in danger.

 

[bluegaz13]

Some strange tactics/decisions from Pep.

Against potentially the worlds best forward line…..why would you bring Kovacic on as the defensive midfielder (it’s not worked against any decent opposition ) and have both Gvardiol and Lewis both inverting at times.

De Bruyne was done for after about 60 mins….so why not bring the 6 foot plus new midfield signing on to give us some much need legs.. if he’s on the bench then surely he’s fit enough…..but he leaves it until late and brings on Gundogan instead.

Why not just bring on the new centre half as a straight swap for Ake instead of changing the formation and taking Stones out of the middle.

It’s been said so many times that a midfield of Silva, Gundogan and Kovacic doesn’t work….but all three of them were on the field at the end!


If Pep is not prepared to be ruthless and continues to show far too much loyalty to his ‘old guard’ then questions need to be asked about Pep’s ability to change things around…..he has credit in the bank but I’m not sure many teams have fallen from grace so quickly.

 

[half & half derby scarf]

I get that. But why buy him and show him that you've not got confidence in him? Maybe it's yet, but still, not there.
And why buy him if you think Rico Lewis is more capable of doing the job than him?
I don't get it
I don't have to live with the risk that Khush could've done worse than Rico though.
Hey, I imagine they'd have targeted him in the same manner as they Rico, it's just that the eventual mistake feels so much like an inevitability with Lewis.

I get it, I just think it's the wrong decision.

Khusanov would have put vino in row z

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Very disappointing. Second best throughout, no idea how we took the lead in that game twice, if they'd have won that by 4 I wouldn't have complained. ederson and some poor finishing kept us in it for the majority of the game. 2 late goals to turn a win into a defeat probably won't matter much in truth, even had we taken a 1 goal lead over there it wouldn't be enough. Expect to get comfortably beaten in the second leg.

Their back 4 was there to be exploited and we barely troubled them, what was peps plan? Didn't seem to have one. A top team puts them under immense pressure tonight. We're miles away from being a top team right now with these tactics. His subs were just awful too. why is Lewis coming on ahead of khusanov or Nunes? Why was kdb kept on for 20 minutes after he was completely spent? Why did we not see doku?

How have they come away without a single booking?

Similar feeling to when pellegrini took us to the bernabeu and all we needed was a goal to reach the final and we couldn't even muster any efforts at goal and went put with a whimper. Don't mind going out to a better side as long as we gave it a go, can't say we did tonight.

On yhe bright side, I'd sooner go out now than dump madrid out, go out to somebody inferior in the next round anyway and pave a clearer path for the dippers or arsenal.

All eggs in the fa cup and top 5 basket now to salvage some success and respectability from a dreadful season.

To be honest even with a defensive set up we struggled to contain them. I think they would have ripped us a new one if we had been more attack minded.

I thought they were much better than us and deserved to win but the manner of the defeat is hard to swallow. Not unsurprising though given what we have seen this season. I fear more to come in the next couple of games too. Injuries don’t help either and we seem to get them every game.

The midfield is so slow now. De Bruyne was blowing out of his arse in the 15 mins before he went off, Bernado is running around like a headless chicken with no one supporting his press so it’s completely ineffective and Kovacic and then Gundogan are brought on to shore it up! Combined age of about 125! The engine room is fucked unfortunately and that’s not going to improve as their legs have gone. When teams break or pass the ball quickly, these players can’t get back and we are in trouble.

Madrid were very good though I thought. I think they will win the second leg fairly comfortably from what I saw tonight and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them win it.