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Real Madrid deserve Messi and Casillas’s Ballon DOr dream almost over
The man pictured above is running for the job of president of Real Madrid against Ramon Calderon and he has something up his sleeve that is of extreme interest to everybody.
The impresario is set to stand for the top job at the Bernabéu against current incumbent, Ramón Calderón, and is planning to copy the plan laid down by previous chief Florentino Pérez.
Under Pérez, Madrid signed such star names as Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo and Villalonga believes that Madrid should once again be looking to sign stars of a similar stature.
“Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaká should be at Real Madrid,” he told COPE radio. “I will copy the model that Florentino used.
“I have called Florentino and I expressed my desire to stand and use his ideas, but it will be on my own terms.
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Florentino and I think we should continue the good work that he did.“
While Pérez coined the phrase Zidanes and Pavónes to describe his idea of combining star names with homegrown players, Villalonga has tweaked that idea.
“If I do win then I would like to introduce a system of Zidanes and Butragueños. We have to call upon the talent from the youth teams and combine them with world class players,” he added.
I think, what happened to Barcelona and the old Real Madrid under Perez is sufficient proof, that this policy cannot be put into practical situations, in today’s football world. Barcelona tried this, they bought the best for every position and thought, they would win everything and ended up winning nothing, co-incidence, I think not.
Real Madrid tried to do it about 5 years ago, though Real Madrid were successful, but that success was temporary. I am not totally against it, mind you. I ll let you know my suggestion in a bit but first, let me comment on something that many people are saying about this. Some people are saying that “look at what is happening with Milan, they are trying to copy the galacticos and thus they will fail”.
Yes, Ac Milan is most likely to fail, but not because they are adopting this GALACTICOS policy, but because they are doing it the wrong way, the cheap way. They are signing great players who have long gone past their best. All of them are more or less old. No young blood.
So I think AC Milan’s situation is different. As for Barcelona, their mistake was that they signed too many great players playing at their peak. That leads to dressing room problems with all the big egos sitting around. Also, it leads to team selection difficulties, the coach has to play a system in which all of the so calld SUPERSTARS can fit into and if one of them is left out, then problems arise between club, coach and the player.
What Barcelona did wrong was that they signd 3 best strikers, 4 best midfielders, 4 best defenders and a poor keeper, so there was no balance and too many egos.
Real Madrid 5 years ago made the mistake of not balancing their squad when they signed world’s best players. As we all know, BALANCE is the single most important thing in life, let alone football. If you don’t have balance, you won’t be at peace.
Real Madrid of 5 years ago, kept on signing attacking players, beautiful players and kept on neglecting the players who do all the dirty work at the back, defenders and defensive midfielders. Real Madrid bombed out Makelele and replaced him with Beckham, lolz on that. What a logic. Don’t know what Perez or coach Del Bosque was thinking when they let Makelele go.
So there you go, in the above 3 cases (which happen to be the only 3 cases), there was something majorly wrong in applying the GALACTICO policy. They didn’t do it the right way.
Therefore, my suggestion is, that GALACTICOS policy should be brought back, but with some limitations and the first and foremost is, that, only one “BEST” player for one particular area of the field. Like have 1 best striker, 1 best midfielder, 1 best defender, 1 best left or right back but not both and 1 best goal keeper.
Prime example of this system is Manchester United. They won the EPL and Champions League last season. Look at their squad, they Rooney (and Tevez too), the current best young striker in his own right. Doesn’t havee a big ego and both are prepared to fight for the ball.
There are other strikers like Henry and Eto, but they have attitude problems plus they are older. Manchester United have the best midfielder, in Ronaldo. They have the best defender in Rio Ferdinand and the Goal Keeper is one of the best in Van Der Saar. Not to mention best left back Evra, this guy has awesome speed.
Do bear in mind that in football, no single player for a position can be considered to be the absolute best, its always, one of the best or one of the top 5, depending on their weekly performances.
Now, I suggest that Real Madrid should buy one player, who is the best at his position for the 3 departments of attack, midfield and defence.
We have Van Nistelrooy, who is the “BEST”. But we don’t have a BEST midfielder. We do have very good players like Sneijder, Van Der Vaart and Guti but we don’t have a player who can change the game with a single stroke of brilliance.
I think Ramon Calderon should step down, let this guy take over and we’ll see where we go from here. Because Calderon hasn’t improved the economic condition of the club neither has be brought the Champions League and neither has made any good signings. He did sign good players, but gave away too much money for them.
Anyway, moving on to the SHOCK OF THE DAY news.
The editor of France Football magazine, Denis Chaumier, has committed a grave error by declaring that Iker Casillas will never win the Balon D’Or when he is the man responsible for delivering the award.
Sounds ridiculous?… you bet.
Casillas is certainly out of the race now
I know that, For a goalkeeper to win the Balon D’Or would be a major surprise but nevertheless, with the year that Iker Casillas has had, it is not totally impossible.
Real Madrid goalkeeper has won the La Liga title, the European Championships and the Zamora Trophy but he has been ruled out of the running for the illustrious Balon D’Or by the editor of France Football magazine.
Denis Chaumier is quoted as saying on French television that Casillas will ‘never be able to win the Balon D’Or’ and this comment is not without its repercussions. As the man who is responsible for handing out the award he is supposed to be prohibited to speak about candidates for fear of jeopardising any voting and swaying the poll.
Now, with this comment, it seems he has broken that rule and his words could change who wins the prize and who is voted for in the run up to it.
Casillas is one of five Real Madrid players in the 30 nominations for the Balon D’Or and it has been confirmed in the past day by Spanish daily Marca that he is competing well with Cristiano Ronaldo for the prize.
Very rude of the editor to say that in such a direct and blunt way. Well, as I mentioned in a previous post, that Casillas wasn’t going to win that award, now that has been OFFICIALLY confirmed, lolz.
Casillas does deserve it, but he is a goal keeper and for some reason, the authorities don’t like to give awards to goal keepers. It comes down to commercial value. Let me break it down for you all.
You are a Real Madrid fan. ok (lets just assume you are and why would you be on this blog, if you weren’t one). Ask yourself this? I like Real Madrid, but do I want to grow up and be Iker Casillas?
Casillas is an exceptional talent but how many times have you seen kids who say ” I want to Iker Casillas when I grow up or when I turn professional”. Answer is NONE. A Big Fat NONE. Everybody wants to be Ronaldo (either one), Ronaldinho, Eto, Deco, Messi (God, yes), Kaka but no one would want to be a goal keeper though everyone admires their roles.
If they give the award to a goal keeper, that will not go down well with all the huge advertising tycoons and the football audience as they want to see their heroes to be awarded the best player. Believe me or not, the media and the fans do make a difference.
How many times have you seen a goal keeper in a Nike ad?, I can’t remember. Or lets me more specific, how many times have you seen any ad in which the goal keeper is the protagonist?.
We all have seen solo ads starring Beckham or Ronaldo or Henry and many other names. Funny thing, Beckham wasn’t even the best player in the world at any stage of his career but he was the one who earned more than all the other players, it was because of his media image.
Goal keepers don’t have a particularly good media (or commercial image). I don’t know the reason myself but an amateur would say that goal keepers don’t have any tricks or smooth moves to show off or goal keepers just stand and watch the game , for most of the match.
A goal keeper is rarely given credit for a penalty save in a match. Remember Champions League final 2008. Manchester United vs Chelsea. How many of you remember that Terry missed the crucial penalty? answer is, all.
How many of you admit that fact that Van Der Saar might have done something which put off John Terry. Yeah yeah, Chelsea fans say he slipped. But rarely would goal keeper get the credit in a teams victory.
So I think, the france football remarks are somewhat justified as France Football want to maintain their reputation in the media by not giving the award to a goal keeper and getting their stock market rock bottomed lolz.
As I conclude this rather long post, I am going to ask you another question (I am doing that a lot in this post, but this is the only way to explain why goal keepers are so neglected).
How many times, have you seen a kid going to a store and asking for a goalie jersey? and how many times have you seen kids wearing a Goalie Jersey in you local park?. Observe and you’ll be surprised.
