Real Madrid Galacticos

Real Madrid a club in turmoil? Sounds Familiar

Posted on 22. Nov, 2009 by Borris Becker in General

This weak alone has caused enough havoc already than the past whole month and I had trouble catching up with all the news and updates after my long brake (actually I was having my mid terms and you know, if you don’t study for them, you get in trouble). Nevertheless, Real Madrid has been the centre of all the rumours football has to offer today which has been the case probably since Zidane scored that Champions League goal against Bayern Leverkusen.

Despite all the talk of ‘CRISIS’ at Real Madrid, we are still 2nd in the league and only 2 points behind Barcelona. Yes we did spend a lot and have not been getting the returns but that does not been that Perez has failed again though I do think that if there is one mistake Perez has made during his second run then that’s the hiring of Pelligrini.

With the squad that is at his disposal, he should be doing a lot better than he is doing right now but that in no way undermines what Real Madrid have been able to do this season so far, we have a derby tomorrow and I think, this will be the game that will either put Pelligrini on the verge on a sack or will buy him some more time to show his worth.

Real Madrid have not been enjoying their best form for the past two months. It all started with the AC Milan game (if not the Sevilla game). A struggling Milan side against a 250 million euro galactic squad of Real Madrid at the Bernebeau. What did we get?

I tell you that what did we get in a moment but before that I am going to tell you what we did not get. First, we did not get a win, second we did not play well and third, we did not get home support, which obviously Real Madrid players do not get whenever they aren’t playing to their potential. Now to the ‘what did we get ‘ part. What we did get was a defeat at home to an Italian side (a little research will show you that credit should go to Italy and Italian league as a whole not to Ac Milan alone for defeating Real Madrid as Real Madrid’s record against Italian sides is about as worse as it gets.

Then what? After the disappointing game against Milan in the Champions League where we conceded some really silly goals.I could not believe that the man standing between the two goal posts of Real Madrid’s penalty box was Casillas, specially given that he had performed so well in the game against Sevilla which Real Madrid lost 2-1 but we were away from home and without Ronaldo, so one could give Real Madrid some latitude there.

Pirlo’s goal was pure misjudgement on part of Casillas. Pirlo should not have been allowed to have that much space in the first place but Casillas complenented this mistake of Real Madrid’s defence by letting the ball pass him by at the near post.

Pato’s goal had a nice finish to it but in the build up play, Real Madrid made too many mistakes. Our defense looked lethargic and nobody really wanted to dig deep in that game. Anyway, I though that would have been enough for Real Madrid and Pelligrini to start working with real focus as fans wanted them to take their anger out on Gijon. Instead o f a 5-0 thrashing away from home, Real Madrid couild only conjure up a 0-0 draw and then followed what must be described as the worst day I have seen as a Real Madrid fan.

0-4 thrashing at the hands of a side which plays in the Spanish Segunda B division and I still do not remember its name, what is it? Was it alcorcon?. Add to that, Real Madrid had put up a pretty decent side so it was not like Real Madrid played their Castilla players (they might have performed better I feel).

On the pitch there was not single Real Madrid player who worked off the ball, nobody wanted to make some committed challenges and hardly any one of our attackers tracked back. For heavens sake, Real Madrid’s spending for the season 2009-2010 season would have alone been enough to run the whole of Alcorcon football club for at least 3 years (yeah, I read some stats the other day and Alcorcon did not have the biggest of budgets for running a football club) It was just a mess and I do not think that I need to say more on that game than what already has been said.

All I can say is that, I do not know what happened out there and I think no one does or did. Thankfully, Real Madrid were able to get a win under their belt before the end of the month against Getafe, we won a home game thanks to Higuains two goals and there was some more good news that weekend as Barcelona drew their game 1-1. Barcelona were actually winning till the 90th minute but had to put up with a single point after an own goal was scored by Pique I think.

Now, from most of what I have read, C.Ronaldo will not be able to play for another month because of his ongoing ankle problems. This was exactly what I was afraid of at the start of the season what Real Madrid bought Ronaldo and this is basically the risk of putting all your eggs in one basket.

The type of game that C.Ronaldo likes to play involving a lot of running with ball and a lot of dribbles which involve sudden and quick change of directions which obviously put a lot of strain on the joints. Add to that, the defenders also do not like to get harassed by a 23 year old running wild on a football field, so they give Ronaldo what THEY think he deserves and that’s, some good old kicking instead of tackling with the intention to regain possession not to kill the opponent.

Now Ronaldo is injured and our attacking options have again been restricted to 2 or 3 players and one of those players is Raul. Who does work hard and performs well in almost every game but that’s the problem. He only performs WELL in every game. When you are wearing a Real Madrid shirt, performing well means sitting on the bench. Every player has to make a difference and Raul cannot be relied upon to get Real Madrid goals week in, week out.

There are a lot of other problems relating to specific players in this Real Madrid squad (take Guti and Benzema for example) and I will make a post on that in the coming days plus a post about how I feel Perez and Pelligrini tried their best to unbalance the core components (as in players in certain positions) of this Real Madrid squad (by Real Madrid squad, I mean the squad that Juande Ramos left last season).

See you guys later and don’t forget to watch the La Liga Derby, Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid as the game itself is not as important as its aftermath could or WOULD be.