Real Madrid Vs Manchester City CL Pre Match Thread

[another generation]

[bigimg]http://www.footballuser.com/formations/2012/09/527093_Manchester_City.jpg[/bigimg]

Have you given the forward Silva an extra shirt, so he can remove one when he scores?

 

[hertsblue]

Re: Hyped up to Fall?

Even if we lose and fail to qaulify we can look forward to the group stage next year with Barcelona, Juventus and Kiev in our group....:)

 

[Airbags Optional]

This going to be a very hard game. I am not going to 2nd guess Bobby's selection as he could go 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1 or even 4-1-3-2. If we get a point I will be over the moon, these are the types of games I have been dreaming of for 37 yrs . So proud to be a Blue at the moment.

 

[StanGibsonspitchfork]

This going to be a very hard game. I am not going to 2nd guess Bobby's selection as he could go 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1 or even 4-1-3-2. If we get a point I will be over the moon, these are the types of games I have been dreaming of for 37 yrs . So proud to be a Blue at the moment.

You and me, and all those who attended the main road academy of footballing excellence. All hail!

 

[HolisticJim]

Re: Your team for madrid?

Hart

Maicon Kompany Lescott Clichy

Yaya Garcia

Silva Tevez Nasri

Aguerro


If Aguero isn't 90mn fit then


Hart

Maicon Kompany Lescott Clichy

Garcia Barry

Silva Yaya Nasri

Tevez

Seems about right to me.
We signed Maicon for games like this. He will start.

 

[Airbags Optional]

This going to be a very hard game. I am not going to 2nd guess Bobby's selection as he could go 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1 or even 4-1-3-2. If we get a point I will be over the moon, these are the types of games I have been dreaming of for 37 yrs . So proud to be a Blue at the moment.

You and me, and all those who attended the main road academy of footballing excellence. All hail!

Hail! I used to love the Kippax surge when we scored, you would end up 100m away from where you started (wipes away a tear)

 

[BlueGun]

Re: Your team for madrid?

----------------Hart
---------Kompany-Lescott
Maicon---------------------Clichy
-----------Barry-Rodwell
------Silva-------------Nasri
-------------Yaya
----------------Tevez

Rodwell ahead of Garcia?

 

[varun0042]

Madrid are absolutely ruthless on the counter and in quick transitions. And after their horrendous league start, they will have a point to prove infront of their own crowd.

What Madrid aren't good at is proactively creating something against teams which keep it tight at the back and don't afford them space. Madrid's main weakness: Xabi Alonso. He is horrendous when getting pressed but he's also the only player who dictates their whole game structure. In the Sevilla game Rakitic constantly harrassed him and they were all over the place. They are a counter attacking automaton. They lack the flair to break teams down without running into space. Which is why they bought another central playmaker: Modric.

Ronaldo is harmless 1 on 1. Forget the media hype. With the ball at his feet he creates absolutely nothing. It's Özil, Di Maria and Benzema who are dragging defenders out of shape with their movement for Ronaldo to cut inside and tap-in the chances they create. So rather concentrate on the suppliers further back. Alonso and most likely Modric in this game.

Another weakness will be Ronaldo's lack of backtracking. Silva and Tevez drifting and overloading Coentrao's side would cause them all sorts of problems.

You should also put pressure on their centrebacks. They are prone to hoofing it up. Is Agüero match fit?

Maicon would be a desaster. Mourinho knows him inside out.

------------------------------------------

Sorry but don't agree with some of the points mentioned above.

If there is one thing Real Madrid is good at its in breaking open their opposition - they struggled last season only when their starting XI was being used extensively and thus struggled with lack of rest (don't look at the present season's matches - check what they did last season). Unlike barca who tends to play the tiki-taka (pass and hold the ball), Real tends to use different modes of attack against their opposition (they don't have a definite plan of attack - Mou's teams historically have been built around a strong defensive plan but no attacking plans - attacks purely based on player movements, their positioning and instincts and thus they have more variety players in their XI than most team has :-

Alonso can play long and diagonal balls, Modric can break-up plays and hold onto the ball but also come forward and play AM and play swift passes, Ozil is gud at crossing as well at finding the open spaces, Ronaldo and Di Maria are gud at crossing, on 1-on-1 situations and also are good at shooting from a range, Higuain is perfect for their counter-attacking strategy, while Benzema can play as an target man and is better at closing down defenders).

Though with all this in the attacking front still their defense can be rattled and thus we need people upfront all the time - and thus shouldn't go too defensive and like u said Ronaldo and even Di Maria doesn't track back that often giving us space to exploit.

Lastly, not sure why people still doesn't rate Ronaldo for his game and what he can single handedly do to any opposition is beyond question - yes the guy is arrogant and a nut-crack but unlike our players like Ballotelli and Tevez (to certain extent) never lets his ego affect his performances on the pitch or in training - you should probably watch in youtube ronaldo's goals against Atletico, Valencia, Vallecano, Betis, Sevilla, Osasuna and many more last season - and none are tap-ins : free-kicks, long-range, headers and even superb back-heel goals... He scored from absolute nothing (no help whatsoever) and most of these were defenses barcelona struggled against. He along with Messi are the only guys in world football who deserves a maximum Pay-check...!!!

Ronaldo is the only player in the history of the game to score against all the opposition he played against in La Liga and UCL and he did that just last season and I know Mancini wouldn't be that stupid to under-estimate Ronaldo's worth to Real Madrid like you do (RM said in his recent press conference that its better for city if ronaldo stays at home and defending him is a team effort) - the guy has scored 150 goals in 149 matches for Real (can't see that many tap-ins) and most importantly when Ronaldo plays Real wins 70% of their matches - without him they win only 40%.


I certainly like City's chances of victory tonight and it has only improved due to madrid's recent struggles (we haven't been much better either - winning against only bottom-tier clubs), but still lets not nor our team under-estimate Ronaldo or any other madrid player and gives them space to run at, then rest assured it will be at our Peril.

 

[lionheart]

Re: Your team for madrid?

----------------Hart
---------Kompany-Lescott
Maicon---------------------Clichy
-----------Barry-Rodwell
------Silva-------------Nasri
-------------Yaya
----------------Tevez

Rodwell ahead of Garcia?

No way will that happen. Tonight is not the occasion to expose inexperienced youngsters like Rodwell and Sinclair. Their time will come later. Tonight we need players used to the Champions League...and by the way I still think that Kolarov will play on the left side of midfield with Clichy behind him.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Maicon-----Kompany-----Lescott-----Clichy
---------------------Garcia--------------------
--------Nasri-------Touré-------Silva--------
----------------Aguero----Tevez-------------