Real Madrid 4 – 2 Valladolid, aka Raul, Raul, always Raul…

By: Cesar | October 18th, 2009

Liga_BBVA_Jornada. realmadrid.valladolid

Hello everybody, Corey asked me to do the Match review, so it’s nice to write again and share my thoughts about the match with all of my fellow madridistas.

First, let’s get the match facts out of the way:

REAL MADRID:
Iker Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Albiol, Marcelo; Granero, ”Lass”, Xabi Alonso, Van der Vaart (Kaká, m.72); Raúl (Drenthe, m.82) y Benzema (Higuaín, m.72).

VALLADOLID: Jacobo; Pedro López, Luis Prieto, Nivaldo, Arzo; Nauzet (Manucho, m.58), Borja (Pelé, m.79), Rubio, Marquitos, Héctor Font (Bueno, m,.78); y Diego Costa.

GOALS:1-0, m.13: Raúl. 2-0, m.18: Raúl. 2-1, m.29: Nauzet. 3-1, m.45: Marcelo. 3-2, m.53: Marquitos. 4-2, m.79: Higuaín.

MATCH STATS
Real Madrid Valladolid
Shots on Goal 6 8
Fouls 11 16
Corner Kicks 6 12
Time of Possession 54% 46%
Yellow Cards 2 2
Red Cards 0 0

This match had been under scrutiny, from the press and the fans for the last couple of weeks; the defeat in Sevilla,the poor performances of certain players (and coach), the international break, and Raul, were all part of an explosive mix, a mix that resulted in all the expectation regarding this match.

The game started well for Madrid, with Raul scoring twice in the span of 5 min: the first one after a great play from Granero on the right wing, which Raul put past the keeper with a clever touch from his heel; the second one, came on a play from the left, where the much-maligned-for two weeks Marcelo provided Raul with a beautiful ball that the Captain put in the back of the net with right foot, you heard that right, HIS RIGHT FOOT!!!!. Don’t worry, this is not the first time in this review where you’ll see the words RIGHT FOOT in capital letters, just bear with me….

After the two goals, Madrid’s level of play was really low, giving Valladolid the chance to score in the 29th minute, courtesy of a BEAUTIFUL free kick goal from Neuzet. The FK was a result of Lass’s STUPID AND CLUMSY foul right in the edge of our penalty box. More on Lass later.

It was after this goal, when the figure of Valladolid’s Diego Costa started to emerge; for me, he was MOTM, he had our team in shambles, and was easily the best player on the field yesterday. His pace, skill and reading of the game were a thing of beauty. The game continued with Valladolid putting more and more pressure on our team, specially on Lass and Xabi, who were having a really tough time building the plays. And so it was that in stoppage time, Marcelo started a run down the left, then drifted inside, went past two Valladolid players, and scored a goal with a cannon from the edge of the area, with once again, HIS RIGHT FOOT!!!!. Valladolid were right to protest the goal, because it happened after stoppage time had already ended, tough luck for them.

The second half started, and after 7 min, Valladolid reduced the difference to one goal: Marquitos scored a superb goal, after a great pass from Diego Costa, who caught Pepe and Albiol off guard. The play that made this goal possible was a Xabi Alonso lost ball, who up to this point was having a terrible game. Madrid’s play was stagnant, and as result of that Pellegrini brought in Kaka and Higuain (with the fans chanting their names while they were warming up) for Benzema and Van der Vaart, both of whom had average games in my opinion.

And so it was, that fresh from his debut with Argentina, with a great goal I might add, that in the 79th minute, Pipita scored a cracker of a goal: Xabi gave him an in between the lines pass, Gonzalo let the ball ran, and once he saw the keeper coming up, he scored with a delicate touch over him, resulting in the beautiful “Vaselina”. Beautiful goal indeed.

But Valladolid weren’t done; they still created more chances, and came really close to making it 4-3 near the end, after a great individual play from who else, Diego Costa, who took the ball in the right flank, got rid of Sergio Ramos, and shot softly past Iker, with Albiol saving the goal right on the line.

I wanted to come back to Lass’s performance: HE WAS JUST PLAIN TERRIBLE!!!!. I really don’t know what’s wrong with him, but many of us who were doing live comments during the match were screaming at him to “KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!!!”; he lost countless balls, made poor decisions, gave away stupid fouls, like the one that resulted on Valladolid’s first goal. He’s really not the same player from last year, and i don’t know if it’s a result of him wearing the number 10 shirt, and ASSUMING that he’s now an attacking midfielder. Lass, my boy, GET YOUR SHIT STRAIGHT!!!

As for the Raul part of the title, well, we see it once again: the captain comes through whenever his doubters start asking for his head, and to me, it’s a pretty difficult situation for the club and the coach, because I think that deep inside they both know the team would be better with him contributing from the bench, but you just can’t overlook his contributions, professionalism and commitment to the cause. So, for now, until he has a bad game once again, we won’t be hearing much about him. Benzema, on the other hand, get ready to read your name on the press a lot during the coming days…, and not in a good way….

CONCLUSIONS:

In the end, we got the three points, but we did it only because of our “pegada”, and not because of our team play.

There were many subplots leading up to this match: should Marcelo start???; what about Benzema???; should Raul start from the bench???, etc, etc, etc. To me, they all add up to one: Pellegrini.

For me, he must get his act together, or he won’t last long in this team. It’s the coach’s duty to make adjustments and make the tough decisions, whatever they might be. If they mean no wing play, well, make sure there’s support from the midfielders when the full backs attack; if Benzema starts, make sure he understands his role, and pair him up with somebody who complements him; if Raul has to sit, well, DO IT. But have the cojones man!!!!

It’s really worrying to me to watch this team and see the lack of fundamental plays that you expect from a world class football team: two against one in the wings; runs to the hole without the ball; runs at the back of the defense; defensive support, etc, and sorry if I sound like a broken record, but it’s Pellegrini’s fault.

Thanks for your time everybody, I’ll be in San Francisco from Tuesday to Sunday, so if you know of a good place where I can watch the Madrid-Milan game, please let me know.

HALA MADRID!!!, and Corey, count with me anytime.