"Nos llevamos un mal resultado y una mala impresión del
equipo"
“We take back a bad result & a very poor impression
of the team”
(Jorge Valdano Real Madrid Director General)
If yesterday was an indicator, REAL MADRID WILL NOT win this years
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, the prime objective seeing that the Final will
be played on their home ground; the mythical “Santiago Bernabeu
Stadium". The European Cup (now Champions League) is an obsession
for Real Madrid who has won 9 titles & has over the years fallen in
love with it to claim the tournament as their own. The Clubs global
strategy, both institutional & economical, has the European title as
the cornerstone & thus invests “astronomical” sums of money to
acquire the “Best players in the World” for such endeavour. This
year is extremely awkward as there exist certain “paranoia” at Real
about the hypothetical possibility of “arch-rival” FC Barcelona
winning their 4th Champions League on Madrid turf; a humiliating
experience that Real wishes to avoid for the record books. Last
nights Champions League Quarter- Final 1º leg match against Olympique
Lyon highlighted the continual team deficits & aroused once again
serious doubts on this seasons 300M€ project .
(photo: Real Madrid players after the Lyon goal_as.com)
There are many areas were one can begin to analyse in order to
attempt to come up with some logical responses, SFS will
concentrate on these mere observations:
1. Real Madrid has lost respect. The opponents quickly see that the
play does not respond to the image & reputation. Many teams begin
with a defensive & conservative line-up to transform themselves
into attacking & adventurous sides once they observe that Real is
not as dangerous as initially believed.
2. Real Madrid suffers from over confidence which causes them to
jump onto the field with a certain relaxation that is dangerous.
Yesterday, Real Madrid had already won the Lyon match in their
heads before it had started. The 0-3 victory the Saturday before
against last placed “Liga” side Xerez is not comparable against a
European Team in Champions League.
3. An apparent lack of understanding of what the Real Madrid
institution & history stands for & what it means to millions of
followers. The team can lose, but at least go down “dying”, giving
all your heart & soul. Perhaps so many new faces have yet to learn
for whom & where they are in reality actually playing. Where
is the professional & personal pride?
4. Surreal & difficult to understand Coaching decisions. Yesterday
Coach Pellegrini decided to put in the starting line-up Mahamadou
Diarra over Lass Diarra. The former has not played a full game in
a full year plus is a defensive midfielder when Lyon had already
shown their cards that their initial intention was to defend & not
attack. But there is more, indecision with Ramos if central or a
lateral defender, Arbeloa if right or left, Marcelo, Higuain or
Benzema, where to put Kaká…etc & etc. We are near done this
season & theses tactical issues have yet to be resolved.
5. Small team thinking & mentality, not too mention excuses. Sure
last nights pitch was terrible, yes there was a penalty on Ronaldo
in the 2ºhalf, but a Club of Madrid dimensions & history should
never need to resort to these issues, they need to win on the field
with goals & authority, something non-existent yesterday.
6. It was the perfect night for Captain Raul to have come on in the
2º half to pull his team forward, show his character & lead by
example. Instead Coach Pellegrini puts on Benzema who has just
come out of an injury & had his head more in smiling to his ex-team
mates, the crowd & camaras.
7. There is a serious dependence on Cristiano Ronaldo, the man is
good but alone he cannot win a game. The big signings have not
reached the level that most expect. Here there are mental &
physical limits that have not been worked & need to be taken care
of in the coming weeks.
(photo: Coach Pellegrini)
We could go on further, we can see that things are not going correctly
& hasn’t for sometime, which leads one to believe that Real Madrid
will not win this years Champions League if they continue this path.
Coach Pellegrini illustrates by his actions that he is not the man for this
ambitious project & will most likely find himself without work next
season if Real does not win the Champions &/or “La Liga”.
Allow SFS to finish with an optimistic tone & put faith in the idea
that Real Madrid (in the name of Spanish Football) , its Directives,
its players & coaching staff will reflect on last nights Lyon 1-0 loss &
poor performance to solve the errors with these thoughts:
(a)That everyone at Real Madrid prepare themselves correctly for
what will be the most important game of the season to date for the
Club & turn around this Quarter-Final with a convincing victory that
will send a message throughout Europe that Real Madrid is serious in
its aim for the title.
(b)To win back respect, pride & achieve a victory that causes a
tremor in the minds of opponents who themselves will be forced
back into fear & on the defensive.
(c)To finally find the stage for the “stars” to shine & show their
true worth with play, coordination & victories.
SFS is confident this will happen & that the 2º leg Quarter Final
against Lyon at the “Santiago Bernabeu” will be a different story.
If not, the earthquake will send tremors throughout Europe that
will cause many building to fall into rumble, the first being Coach
Pellegrini, & perhaps Club Director General Jorge Valdano, who
hired Pellegrini in the first place. Tweet
2 comments:
excellent post, i agree, but i also think the pressure is tooo high on these players to shine...the one who is most affected by this is not ronaldo who can handle anything, but KAKA...i feel we bought his twin brother...yesterday he was an open book to the lyon defenders, it was traumatizing to watch
Must be frustrating for Kaká if he is continually placed in a position which is not his natural one.
Again, the Coach has a part here.
Sure we will see him shine!
Post a Comment