Real Madrid Thread 11/12 (transfer, match discussions, fixtures, etc)

CorkMan

This is the 2011/12 thread for Real Madrid. The club have retained all of their important players and have added to the squad, giving Mourinho almost 2 legit players for every position. The club have added Callejon, Varane, Nuri Sahin, Coentrao (for €30 mill) and Altintop to their ranks.

I wonder if C.Ronaldo will have another stellar season. 53 goals, with 40 in the league last season! Unbelievable! I'd be happy if he only hits the 40 mark Plus of course Casillas, 573 appearances for the club, 420 in the league. He is 30 now, I hope he can keep going for at least another 6/7 years. I expect him to have a solid season, and keep cementing his place in Football history.

I hope Kaká can light up the Football world again, he is only 29 still, he should be far from past it. Zidane was 29 when he moved to Madrid, and was superb for 3/4 years. I look forward to the season with optimism though, and I look forward to the moments on the edge of my seat too!

HALA MADRID!!!

tolosenc

Kaka will have a tough time! Ozil is absolutely stellar. More assists than anyone else in La Liga last year, and it only looks like there's more to come. Ronaldo is Ronaldo. Di Maria doesn't look like losing his place.

Would have liked to have seen a new centre back or two. And Essien. Is Adán the only backup keeper now that Dudek is gone?

CorkMan

tolosenc wrote: »

Kaka will have a tough time! Ozil is absolutely stellar. More assists than anyone else in La Liga last year, and it only looks like there's more to come. Ronaldo is Ronaldo. Di Maria doesn't look like losing his place.

Would have liked to have seen a new centre back or two. And Essien. Is Adán the only backup keeper now that Dudek is gone?

I assume Adán is the only back up keeper. I'm not sure. Of course there'd be a keeper in Castilla if it came to that.

CorkMan

2nd leg of the Spanish Supercup tonight. I hope C.Ronaldo turns in a good performance, he is capable of one. The match looks very hard to predict. Barca did not outplay Real in the 1st leg, but got 2 away goals in breakaway chances. Real passed the ball around better and got 2 goals.

It will be hard to see which way the match will sway tonight. It is essential Real don't concede an early goal though IMO.

gimmick

Noticed the other night that Khedira and Ozil have been given number 6 and 10 respectively. They were 22 and 23 last season I think.

Who wore 6 and 10 last for Madrid? I assume its an obvious answer but I just cannt think.

Ta

Ush1

gimmick wrote: »

Noticed the other night that Khedira and Ozil have been given number 6 and 10 respectively. They were 22 and 23 last season I think.

Who wore 6 and 10 last for Madrid? I assume its an obvious answer but I just cannt think.

Ta

Think 10 was Lass Diarra. Could be wrong.

eZe^

10 was Lass anyway.

tolosenc

Adebayor had 6 last year. Lass was 6 before he got the 10 shirt, Mahamadou Diarra had it before him.

Helguera is one name that sticks out as a big name who wore it in the past. Maybe Fernando Redondo or Manuel Sanchis wore it at some point?

eZe^

Could be bullsh*t, as there have been many of these already, but this seems to have a little more punch to it;

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/23082011/58/la-liga-mourinho-ponders-real-future.html

Jose Mourinho's spokesman Eladio Parames has said that the Portuguese coach is considering leaving Real Madrid.

Parames told Canal Plus: “Jose does not feel the support of the board and is thinking about leaving the club.”

Mourinho has faced a fresh wave of criticism following last week's explosive Spanish Super Cup second leg at the Nou Camp where red cards were flashed and Mourinho jabbed Barca assistant coach Tito Vilanova in the eye.

Marcelo's lunging tackle on Barca newboy Cesc Fabregas sparked a melee on the touchline and led to red cards being shown to the Brazilian, his German team-mate Mesut Ozil and Barca striker David Villa.
The most controversial incident, however, was when Mourinho walked up behind Vilanova in the middle of the fracas and poked him in the eye, before strolling away as the Barca man cuffed him on the back of the head.
Mourinho denied the incident had happened after the match and Parames told daily El Mundo last week: "Jose doesn't ask for forgiveness.
"He is very clear that he is defending Madrid. All he is interested in is his work and to make sure that the club where he works wins as many titles as possible.

"But if his rivals work with the dark arts, he is absolutely clear he will not remain impassive."

European champions Barcelona have refrained from making an official complaint against Mourinho and have called for an easing of tensions with their arch-rivals.

"We have decided not to (make an official complaint against Mourinho)" Barca president Sandro Rosell on Monday told a meeting of supporters groups, who had called for the club to act.

"The public have give their opinion. They are very clear that what this person did wasn't right. The (Spanish football) federation will act if they want to.

"We have to act sensibly, reduce the levels of tension and try not to stir it up or we'll end up killing each other in the street. The problem isn't ours, it is theirs."

Last season's four Clasicos in under a month were characterised by an increasingly poisonous atmosphere between the sides, which reappeared in the second-half of last Wednesday's match.

Johner

Don't think he will leave, this is the season they could really put it up to Barca so can't see him going.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

The rumours are growing on Twitter, have mixed feelings about this tbh, the Clásicos certainly wouldn't be as exciting:pac:

AstonMartin

Madrid have become one of the most dislikeable teams of the current season and i blame the arrogant ones tactics. I think almost every neutral is rooting for barca.

tolosenc

https://twitter.com/#!/realmadrid/status/106017283767418881

Rumours are untrue, thankfully.

Blatter

Mourinho; ''There is no way I'm leaving, no way. I would also like to apologise to Madridistas, and only to them, for my attitude in our last game.

flahavaj

A booooy Jose, I hope he keeps rattling everyone's cage for many years to come.

Davaeo09

Blatter wrote: »

Mourinho; ''There is no way I'm leaving, no way. I would also like to apologise to Madridistas, and only to them, for my attitude in our last game.

He so loves to hate Barca :pac:

flahavaj

Davaeo09 wrote: »

He so loves to hate Barca :pac:

And vice versa tbh.

CorkMan

I'm glad he is staying. I hope he does and what done at Chelsea and stay for 3+ years. It was the board that sacked him in the end obviously, but similar to Chelsea in that he won't stay in Madrid for 2 years and move on after winning titles.

It would be good if he could stay for many years. The mans previous career achievements are impeccable, he is a winner.

I hope he doesn't move to Barca if Guardiola leaves

HalloweenJack

CorkMan wrote: »

I wonder if C.Ronaldo will have another stellar season. 53 goals, with 40 in the league last season!

I'm surprised you're not following Marca's lead and claiming he scored 41 league goals last season.

CorkMan

HalloweenJack wrote: »

I'm surprised you're not following Marca's lead and claiming he scored 41 league goals last season.

I just went with the flow, who knows if it was a goal or not. We could spent another whole season arguing whether Sergio Ramos or C.Ronaldo scored the goal at the Camp Nou last week, but we'll call a spade a spade.

CorkMan

Hat-trick from C.Ronaldo to open his La Liga account, 'Nuff Said.

Kaká looked very promising, a goal an an assist. I am a big advocate of him playing, hopefully Mourinho will take notice and start him in the next game. Kaká had an entire summer off, he has to be fit.

tolosenc

Kaka, Ronaldo, Ozil and Benzema as the front 4?

I still think we need to bring in another defensive player.

CorkMan

tolosenc wrote: »

Kaka, Ronaldo, Ozil and Benzema as the front 4?

I still think we need to bring in another defensive player.

As a back up, yes. When Alonso, Diarra and Khedeira are fit and rearing to go, it is cool, but as we saw from tonight there can be gaps.

tolosenc

Lass is expected to be on his way out before the close of the window, but we need a centre back. Pepe and Carvalho are solid but not the best, and with Albiol also expected to leave, the only cover is Varane, who is only 18.

Blatter

I can never understand why Real Madrid rarely go out and spend big money on a quality centre back.

It is quite clear they could improve on Carvalho, who is past his best at this stage.

TheRedDevil10

did marcelo play alongside alonso in central midfield ?

CorkMan

TheRedDevil10 wrote: »

did marcelo play alongside alonso in central midfield ?

Hard to decide. Coentrao was theoretically supposed to be Alonso's partner, and Marcelo left back, but they switched positions sometimes. Coentrao was a full back at times and Marcelo was in midfield.

Regards Carvalho, he still does the job! He doesn't seem to be too slow, he stays injury free and he is consistent.

CorkMan

Casillas has 124 caps now for Spain, superb record. He is only 1 behind Zubizaretta now for the record.

Imagine if Casillas plays for another 6-7 years, even more if he chooses to, he would beat Cafu who has 147 caps for Brazil.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

He should be getting ~200 barr a serious injury. By this time next year he should be very near Cafu's tally(which is only 142 according to wiki). Isn't he only 30?

tolosenc

We should sign Richard Dunne. Better than Carvalho and Pepe.

CorkMan

THFC wrote: »

He should be getting ~200 barr a serious injury. By this time next year he should be very near Cafu's tally(which is only 142 according to wiki). Isn't he only 30?

Sorry, I was only recollecting 147 caps from a distant memory, wasn't 100% sure on it. Yep, Casillas is only 30. He was born in the month of May.

@tolosenc, I think Dunne would be a good signing, but I really doubt it'd go through The move would be good though.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/953794/enzo-zidane-trains-with-real-madrid-first-team?utm_source=bleacherreport.com&utm_medium=referral&cc=5739

Wonder if he'll ever make it? Don't think many sons of players actually do, only one's i can think of off the top of my head are Maldini & Reina.

G.K.

Eidur Gudjonsen, Tamir Cohen, Jack Cork, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin, Vladimir Weiss are others, off the top of my head.

Casillas and Donovan could both hit a huge number of caps, imo. Maybe Rooney too.

tolosenc

The kid (who actually goes by Enzo Fernandez) is like the second coming. It's scary.

CorkMan

Let's hope he plays just like his Father!!

I'd be good if they were similar, bald patch on top of head and all.

CorkMan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7vYfKfI87U

Superb show on Ronaldo. Went very indepth on how he plays.

Hopefully he will get some goals tonight!

CorkMan

With Barca drawing in their last 2 games, I think the onus might be on Madrid to prove they gonna keep winning. I think there will be a victory tonight, but the atmosphere could be hostile

It will be important not to concede early.

jcf

Was that John hartson I saw in the DZ box ??

Mars Bar

Ronaldo looks good in red.

CorkMan

I hope C.Ronaldo isn't out too long. If he doesn't come on against Levante I hope he is fully healed for the game midweek.