No...if you just base his deserving of the number 1 spot on youtube videos.
as history proves, if based on youtube videos, stewart downing should have been a world beater

i have said di maria was a better player than ozil and between the two of them, ozil should be the one shipped out and he was. i am appreciative of di maria's work rate and i would not go as far as to slate him as rubbish in the first half of the season.

but with the arrivals of kroos and james, he had to go. no player is irreplaceable. he wanted to go and his refusal of a contract offer from real madrid indicates this. 75m for him is a good business, even better than the ozil business. so by all means, i think he should go.

i am more perplexed and astounded by the sheer "comments for comments" sake arguments like falcao should be backup to benzema stuffs. absolutely amazing.

xabi alonso to joing bayern munich. if it was true, i am shocked that xabi is phased out so fast.

Alonso's leaving would not be as high impact as di maria, I guess. Kroos is a natural replacement.
Di maria offers penetration, and his best role was found in the later stages of last season. The onus is on james to replicate that now. The pity is on isco.
It makes sense for ancelotti to say khedira is staying. If things dont go well with james, modric and kroos, khedira can slot in to beef up the midfield.

of course it is easy to be reminded of makelele. to just simply link these 2 incidences is utter bull. i cant help but think your thoughts were stimulated by the piece from gab marcotti.
football has got to move on. alonso is aging. good for bayern if they can find a role for him, with the injuries to their midfielders martinez, alcantara and whatnot. real madrid has kroos, modric, james and not forgetting the illaramendis and iscos. there is more than enough cover and yes, they are different players to alonso. remember illaramendi? he does what xabi does for madrid when he was as sociedad, albeit with shorter passing range from that of xabi. kroos and modric are also here. there are solutions, and a different brand of football will have to be played. my preference would be a more mobile madrid midfield with kroos and modric plus another be it isco or james. time to move on from alonso who despite his mastery in dictating and reading play, is a tad too slow to turn and clumsy in my opinion.

you would have thought that maintaining the core players like xabi would damage the chances for madrid to retain the titles but staying stagnant without much change does not help to retain the title. no teams in the modern era could retain the champions league even though you can steamroll your way in the league. changes are needed.

but yes, the squad is a bit thin but only in the striker department. javier hernandez gives a different dimension to karim benzema.

and falcao again, you think real madrid can afford him? with the pay he takes? talk is easy.

that is if you are looking at the transfer fees paid. the players sold are offset by the incoming of james. even if there is surplus, it does not mean you can get a player who earns a lot. there are wage structures to abide by. and with the astronomical wage for a striker of falcao's ilk, you want him to be a backup for benzema and this is what i dont get.

i do not have a liking for javier hernandez but his signing makes sense. he is a poacher and sometimes real madrid needs that. and he takes a much lower wage. a good bench signing.

Higuain: cant help you with the kit identification dude. i always get the fakes. makes more sense to me lol.

crunch time this weekend.

This post has been edited by kevraul: Sep 12 2014, 01:46 PM

5-1 and the team does not perform up to expectations?
the boos i believe are for benzema who is experiencing a dry return of goals recently and to add to that, he looks a little disinterested at times but that is the way he plays. still, he is still not as bad as ozil when it comes to slacking.
casillas got some boos too because he has been unconvincing in goal lately.

and no, it is not as common as you think in spain. there are teams where the fans are like a fortress, cauldron in support of their teams no matter the performance. it is the real madrid fans who are tough to please.

you must be a tough lot to please. goals galore but casillas let in 2 while benz did not score, not up to expectation again i suppose. 2 man makes a real madrid team for you?

anyway, real madrid looked like machine when isco hasnt yet played but when he did, real became smooth and silky. i really hope ancelotti can play him with either him or james doing the false 9. but with the squad situation now, i should be hoping that he doesnt leave.

This post has been edited by kevraul: Sep 21 2014, 05:15 AM

My apologies. I misinterpreted your statement as for yourself when you were talking from the fans' perspective.

quite a good observation. kroos and modric tend to move forwards a little bit more than you would have imagined, especially kroos. modric can be forgiven because that is his gameplay and he is good in possession. kroos with his passing range, i would have thought, would be like xabi but he moves forward quite often. and with james up at the tip, there is little cover for the center backs even with 2 slightly lower in positioning midfielders of kroos and modric. they tend to cover the spaces left by marcelo and carvajal/arbeloa/nacho. big openings in the center.

i am wondering what will happen if both james and isco plays together in place of benzema, 1 as a false 9 the other as a attacking midfielder?

missed the game but james AND isco actually played together? i like that.

are you sure real madrid lost the league because of ronaldo and jese's injuries?
for me, jese is overrated. he is a good cover though. i'd rate him to be the same level as callejon at the moment.
real madrid certainly dont need sterling, though he may be a prospect. a good prospect at that.

and we should hold a protest if real madrid want to bring in ramirez. now, he IS certainly overrated, that good for nothing diver, jack of all trades but master of none bar one, diving.

cr7 is one of a kind specimen in football world today. there wont be any like for like replacement for him.
but if cr7 really goes, someone like eden hazard would be nice. but if eden hazard is the choice, why not just go with isco? i am really in awe of his skills and i think he should be kept at real madrid no matter what because he is a gem. kinda like a hybrid of zidane and figo's grace, and efficiency of ronaldo (his first few games where he scored many goals in the first season), but of course still not at their level.
i should apologize for always singing his praises, but he is one of a few at real madrid who captured my heart along with raul, the magnificent redondo and magical zidane.

but then again, i am not a real madrid coach so i do not see the day to day progress of isco. i could be wrong about him, but i sure hope not.

This post has been edited by kevraul: Sep 27 2014, 02:15 AM

Its on Monday morning 3am. Dont be mistaken

Isco is a dream.......
on next to liverpool and then barcelona

Isco looked to be a little conservative today but still a lot better than james.
james looked a bit nervous and apart from that brilliant dinked assist, was an offday for him. Should he play in el classico? I think he shouldn't but for that bale injury.

great game despite the early setback. i thought, before the game, that barca were there for the taking. maybe it was a hunch, i dont know. despite barcelona's early season domination, they were not really tested yet until psg came along. and psg didnt really play that well on that night, minus a zlatan as well, one may add. i thought real could really thump them although my thoughts were a little far fetched. classico being a classico, these games were almost always dominated by barca. so even though i thought real could thump them, i had reservations too especially after neymar's goal. i thought, well, here we go again. but as the game wore on, you could clearly see barcelona were not what they once were. madrid too, in the sense that you can see the mourinho imprint was all gone.

i thought isco, contrary to viewers here, was nervous in this game. his neat touches were there, but that is his game. the 3rd goal, he did really well pressing iniesta but when he got to the ball, his pass to ronaldo was short. that is nerves. but it turned out well, sort of like a blessing in disguise.

the standout tonight for me was kroos, pepe and carvajal. kroos was majestic in the passing department. alongside modric, both had been brilliant but kroos stood out tonight. pepe and ramos were solid. i havent seen them so disciplined for a while. and carvajal, wonder how mathieu would fit in his pocket because apart from that rasping shot, mathieu's efforts was always blocked by carvajal. simply brilliant. and that casillas save from messi!! benzema was fantastic. see his dribbles and comparing to ronaldo's tonight, benzema wins hands down. ron really didnt do much.

this barca side is not what it used to be. had it been guardiola, tito, or tata this game would have been different. luis enrique, i wont be ashamed to admit that he is one of the person i hate most in barcelona alongside xavi, has got deeper issues than just this defeat. iniesta and xavi looks disinterested. cant help but think this is due to luis enrique's appointment.

i havent felt so good for a while now.

wow that is long, sorry.

sorry for missing out marcelo. he was superb. beyond words