Sunday 28 February 2016

THIS IS MY TAKE ON THE MADRID DERBY .

yesterday real madrid played their local rivals ath mad at their home . this is one of the biggest test that zidane has to face after becoming real madrid manager and this was the game where on he had to show as what he can do with the team and what does he offers as a manager . this game offered him to stake the claim to be a permanent real madrid manager someone who wont be questioned for his credentials . i think the game answered the question as whether zidane has the ability to be a permanent madrid manager .
madrid started the game with the 4-2-4 formation . people may be saying that while showing on tv it was 4-4-2 but i am saying 4-2-4 because madrid had pushed 4 players up the field  and only had 2 in the middle . madrid started with ronaldo and benzema in the attack with james and isco wide . modric and kross were in the middle in front of the back four . the back four consisted of carvajal,varane,ramos and danillo who was on the left because marcelo was absent . ath played with their usual 4-6-0 formation or in other words you can call it 4-4-2 but those front two also come inside to squeeze space  in the middle and help the midfield . they had torres and griezman up front . the middle four consisted of koke,gabi,agusto and saul . while the back four consisted of juanfran,godin,gimenez and felipe luis .
 the game started with the usual note with ath mad sitting deep with two banks of four and trying to absorb real's pressure and hit them on the counter . to be honest ath mad team are the best counter attacking team in europe . real may had superstars but they are of no use since none  of them cant get better of his opposite number in one on one situation . ath mad have better player in my opinion . the cohesion between players on the counter is very good . they play better counter than most of the team in europe .
real madrid were the offensive team . here was a chance for zidane to show as to what does he offers as  a manager . he has a very talented squad in terms of isco,james,modric and kroos . now the difference between zidane madrid and other's is that zidane has got ronaldo more on the ball . he has brought him deep . he is playing him more as  winger than as an out an out forward .even though in the earlier teams ronaldo was wide but he would eventually end up in the middle . ronaldo here is getting more on the ball he is coming late in the box .he is out wide delivering crosses to others and has more touches in the game than any other player in the game . now madrid started with a lop sided offense and i am saying this because on the left they had ronaldo,isco and even benzema . but the right side had only james. so even though madrid had numbers superiority on the left flank they didnt had too much joy with penetration . instead of trying to take the ball deeper madrid were happy to deliver crosses in the box . they didnt had the usual threat of ronaldo in the box in the first half who was out wide . the game was going according to ath mad plans since they didnt to deal with ronaldo's threat in the box .
REAL MADRID AND ATH.MADRID STARTING LINEUP
zidane had pulled ronaldo out wide but to be honest ronaldo is very inside the box . he is one of the best headers of the ball .his threat alone in the box creates space for others . zidane had pulled him wide and that meant that ath didnt had to deal with a good threat in the box . ath mad likes to have all their players behind the ball trying to squeeze the space for the opposition . they let the opposition ( good teams like barca and real ) come beyond the half line and then try to press them up . real madrid were offered quite a bit of space by athletico . ath mad had numbers in the middle so madrid were trying to play balls from flank to flank in an attempt to stretch the play . but the trouble with real is that they are much dependent on players abilities to open opposition defense rather than having good interplay between them . in trying to get ronaldo on the ball players like isco,james and benzema have very little of the ball and dont have too many touches on the ball .
ATH MADRID ON DEFENSE .
the main problem with real madrid is that they had not been able to bring benzema into the game . ath mad were never ever going to give benzema time and space on the ball . they marked him tightly . plus zidane hadnt been able to create that cohesion between benzema and ronaldo or others . the inter play in real team is just not good their are certain players who spent too much time on the ball and slow the game. zidane likes to get the ball moving from back to front very quickly but these players like james ,isco and at times modrid spent time on the ball and lets the opposition settle and take shape .
ATH MADRID GOAL AND WHY FELIPE WOULD REACH FIRST BEFORE JAMES
to be honest i think zidane got the defensive tactics right but were let down by his players . ath mad likes to have all the players behind the ball . mostly they have all their players in their own half . so instead trying to squeeze them high up the pitch and offering the space behind the back four real madrid receded backwards towards their own goal trying to draw them in . ath madrid had to cover that much grass in order to have a shot at the goal . plus real's had their back four always on the goal side .  the trouble with real madrid was that both isco and james were pushed high up the pitch with benzema and ronaldo so kroos and modric had too many players to deal with in the middle . real's back line were receding deep in their own half so there was a space between back four and midfield. griezman was using this space excellently and he had a first warning shot before the goal from the same space .
now james rodriguez was termed guilty for the goal since his opposite number felipe luis had time and space  plus he trodded scott free in the box . but the real culprits had been modric and kroos . it was their job to take their proper place in front of the back four and try to protect it . they were played out of the game since they tried to close down the ath mad players and were played around . if you look closely then they were coming jogging around rather than coming fast and trying to close down ath . mad players or atleast numbers in front of the back four . plus if you look at james and luis positioning then on the break luis will always be on the front of james since he will have less distance to travel to real goal than james . the best chance that madrid had was on the counter . i think real mad are better counter attacking than being offensive team with time on the ball .
in the second half zidane tried to change things by changing personal. he bought ronaldo in the middle but the story remained the same instead real madrid were seen content to cross ball in the box rather than trying to seek penetration or try to open opposition with good inter play . i think zidane has to go to the drawing board and most of all get good inter play going on the training pitch and teach his players about positioning and his ideas .
last but not the least about ronaldo i think he is stupid . he really should look after his perfromances . he is looked upon as if he is one who will create something special . ronaldo looks more like an ordinary player he expects special from his team players but fails to deliver when required . he cannot beat players in one on one situation . he is more of a box poacher than anything else . he is a finisher now rather than a creator . his comments are stupid and arrogant and he does that when he wants to leave the club making the club to get rid of him . 

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