Tuesday Morning Links
By: Steve | April 22nd, 2008Hala Madrid! Well, i haven’t done one of these in a while, and in light of Corey’s recently busy schedule, I thought I’d take the time to post up some links for y’all to enjoy. Holla back in the comments!
Phil Ball’s latest column on Soccernet - The old master writes his latest masterpiece. His take on Spanish press officers is revealing, especially when you consider that Real are the only “big” team in his top 5 - might that be due to the frequency of our appearance in his columns? Phil also reveals his opinions of Pepe and Diarra, and I can’t help but agree. Just based on recent matches I’ve seen, both players have overcome early-season difficulties to round into form. Especially Diarra, who has pulled out some moves over the last month or so which I did not expect and which seemed to go unnoticed until now.
Madrid to replace Diarra with Essien - The rest of these links are from Goal.com, so take it as just a talking piece, but I know this will definitely spur some interest amongst readers. I’m a huge fan of Essien - I think he’d be perfect for us, because he’s tenacious in the tackle, extremely versatile, and rather menacing going forward. Corey thinks he’s a central midfielder rather than a defensive midfielder, and I think the Ghanaian has the skills to do so, but on a team like Chelsea, he’s relegated to primarily defensive duties because of guys like Michael Ballack and Fat Frank Lampard. I could see Essien displacing both Gago and Diarra in a combined defensive/distributor role, but as Phil Ball mentions in the previous link, Diarra is a great player to have, especially in away matches when you need the backfield protection.
Sampdoria chasing after Higuain - I’m not surprised to see Samp thinking they can grab another striker from Madrid, but I doubt even knee-jerk reactivists like Mijatovic and Calderon would sell such a young player on the ascendancy. Maybe we can offload Saviola instead? He’s Argentinian too!
There’s a couple more links laying around, but I don’t think they’re worth my effort, so chew on that cud for a while…
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Comments
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Hooray, I have a co-blogger once again! I saw the Essien-Diarra swap which looked interesting, i would prefer to have them both alongside each other, reliving the glory days over at Lyon together. And the Higuain thing is rubbish, he is a club favorite and wont be moving anytime soon.
Posted from
United States
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Haha… Corey, the only reason I don’t write more is because you’re so damn fast at writing your posts. I don’t nearly have as much time as you seem to have, and there’s no way I could match your prodigious output or your man-crush on Balboa anyway.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Phil Ball’s column is required reading every Monday - I just wish it would come out a little earlier, so I could compare it with my impressions of the weekend’s games by the time I generally post on my blog.
On the Diarra/Essien thing - I think the defensive midfield is finally starting to click for Schuster, especially seeing as he seems to have found his preferred back four behind them. I would question whether we need a swap, or whether it needs reinforcing instead. On the Higuaín thing I´m with Coreyñ it sounds like a load of hot air.
Posted from
Germany -
Haha. Noone can beat Corey for the Balboa crush thing. Speed on writing posts, maybe. But not the crush..
By the way, I heard that Ronnie is moving to Liverpool. I know this kinda out of our thing, but a rival top player moving out is always a good thing.. Why dont you try to catch the news?
Posted from
Australia -
I care so little about the Ronaldinho saga that I never report on it. Likewise any other long standing transfer saga’s, they are annoying. My man crush for Babloa is easy to see, and I am not ashamed of it, I have other man crushes on players that I wont name.
And the speed at which I write posts is dependent on if we are doing anything in class or not, which usually we arent. Or if I got really drunk the night before, whihc usually is the case. But next year I am only taking two night classes and probably working for GE during the day so I my speed is gonna go down as I get more integrated into the ‘real world’.
Posted from
United States -
surikell, the reason I don’t write about Ronaldinho is because I don’t care. This is a Real Madrid blog, not a Barca blog, and insofar as Ronnie leaving Barca, it matters not whether he goes to Liverpool, Man City, Milan, etc, so until it happens, I’m not going to speculate on other players, unless it relates directly to our team.
Posted from
United States -
Uuu… I kinda change the whole mood with my post, eh? Sorry to brought it up.
I understand you (Corey) about the crush thing. I always seen Zidane as my idol (though I can never play football like him, even like Zidane on a poor day) and almost cried when I learnt that he going to retire and boiled up big time when he was sent off in his last game.
Anyway, the work you guys doing here is great. I do not have access to TV and i can’t watch the game online due to poor Internet access. So I rely heavily on your page. And comparing your blog with others (I went and looked for liverpool.offside, barcelona.offside, and the like) and you guys are the best one. Most professional I would say. Big, big thanks! I may have a crush on Corey then. Hahaha..
p/s:Im from Malaysia, not from Australia….Posted from
Australia -
I’d be sad to see Higuain go despite his dodgy barnet.
Not sure about Diarra and Essien. I rate Diarra highly and think we do need a player like him. Certainly Essien is better on the ball, but not sure he’s had a great season this year and not sure about his ability to win the ball in the air compared to Diarra.
Inevitably players like Diarra are always going to get a rough ride from the spainish press - maybe Essien’s reputation for scoring from distance would make him more popular, but the most important thing is how they perform defensively.
Posted from
United States -
Bring back Essien! I remember talking about how much I’d love to have him in an earlier post (the one where we picked 3 players…). He’s going to come at some price though, and I would love to be able to keep Diarra in some capacity. Diarra is still so young and full of potential, I think we’d be giving another squad quite a steal. It would be great to have the luxury of 3 defending mids (Gags, MamaDO, Essien) because inevitably players get injured. Plus Essien has mad skills.
All I know is that it should be a very interesting offseason. I don’t forsee any monumental signings unless C.Ronaldo decides he doesn’t want to play in the EPL anymore. Even as a bigger Liga fan, I think the EPL is the best, most-competitive league in the world with the most exposure. And we all know how much that douchebag loves the camera. True, we are Madrid, but ManU is certainly on par with what we can offer. I think the whole Ronaldo discussion is moot.
I think we’ll probably be paying much more attention to who leaves the squad than who is joining it. I think we’ve got a nice stockpile of young talent (thanks Corey for keeping us informed about it), and remember, we’re still going to be back-to-back Liga champions. This is a side that does know how to win, regardless of style or grace. I’m thinking it would be very stupid of us to let go of too many current players. I’m a big Balboa fan, I’ve written about him a bunch of times this season. He’s got tons of untapped potential, why let a guy like that get away if you have plenty of dough to sign him? I’ve already said it would be a poor decision to let go of Diarra. Soldado might stay, might go…I’m not sure about this one. I know he wants to play more, but is there any opportunity? My take: I think it would be nice for him to stay. He’s a tough Spanish bastard, and I like more native representation from the league’s champion. PooDeck (Dudek) can leave, see ya. We can find another keeper cheaper. I think Canna will stay, although there are rumblings that he wishes to return to Italy to finish his career. Robben has to stay because we’re stupid as hell and paid $50 mil for a track and field athlete, not a football player. He should go. Higs reluctantly will stay, but I’m still not convinced on him quite yet. I’d like to see a few more solid performances and some more efficient finishing. If we get a really nice offer for him, I could see us letting him slide, but I doubt that.
Who’s this Saviola guy? Why hasn’t he seen the pitch more often? Oh yeah, because he’s worthless. See ya dude. I think everyone else stays…when will Raul retire? Does anyone know?
Huge victory on the road this past weekend, Hala Madrid! Next weekend could be the title, but I’d love to see us clinch against Barca! Can you really believe we are up 10 points?!?!
Posted from
United States -
Good topic, James - who goes?
First and foremost: Goodbye Saviola. No second thoughts. Next.
As much as I hate to write this, it might be in Baptista’s best interest to find another club. I love the player, have followed him since Sevilla, but with Sneijder on the squad and figuring out La Liga football quickly, it makes the beast a bit of a redundancy. They’re essentially the same player - the only difference that Sneijder can play defense, and Baptista’s a better marksman outside the box.
I wish Salgado would retire so we don’t have to axe him. That said, are Valencia looking for a right back?
Metzelder? Shrug.
It does seem kind of silly to have Robben, Robinho and Drenthe all lined up for left wing, so maybe it would be best to loan out the younger of the two dutchies, provided he stays in Spain.
As for Balboa - why, when the one position of the field where Madrid is left wanting is the right wing, hasn’t Balboa gotten more starts? All man crushes are justified, in my opinion. And just food for thought: what a dramatically different approach los Blancos would have with Drenthe and Balboa on the wings, as opposed to Robinho and Sneijder/Guti/Higuain/Robben. They would certainly be able to service a player like Soldado, by tearing into the corners and then crossing in. The target being Soldado’s head.
And finally. RAMOS MUST STAY. He’s (reportedly) a bit unsettled by the way the team failed to stand behind him and support him on his last sending off (which was overturned). Someone, everyone needs to settle him down. Mind he’s not yet renewed his contract.
I’d hate to see Gago or Diarra go, and if Canna is to leave, then Garay becomes ABSOLUTE top priority, if he isn’t already. Those are my thoughts, anyhow.
Posted from
United States
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