Dont Believe Everything You Read
By: Corey | January 13th, 2009Winter Signing Intrigue!?!
With the winter market upon us, and it being less then eventful, except for the purchase of Hunter and Lass which actually both took place before the window opened, lets have a look at some of the players Real Madrid could use, some the press seems to want Real Madrid to get, and some of the useless garbage that borders on slander in the papers.
We had a nice little discussion on classic rock the other day, so I thought I would put one of my favorite songs up for you to listen to while you read. Or not, thats fine by me, but just know that David Bowie is immune to criticism in my eyes so dont bother.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo:
No one provokes more debate on male styling tips, or slavery, then good old CR7. No one has a bigger fan base with gay men either, but that is neither here nor there for our sake. I am gonna put this one down as the press wants Real Madrid to have him more then the club needs him. Sure Calderon walked around town with CR7 tattooed on his chub last summer, and the said chub made several media appearance declaring his affection for the lad. But Calderon and his crack negotiating team of Pedja and Arroyo (supposedly Portugal is a persona non grate these days) got short thrift when they went to Manchester United. Trying to sign the CL holders best player before a European tournament? Never gonna work. Bad timing as they won the CL and now think of themselves as invincible, but still, where was the planning there?
Now its more of an issue for the upcoming summer, and ohhh how I loathe the summer. Not because of the great weather, copious amount of time spent at the beach or ability to play soccer outdoors (yay!), but because the rumors are just unbearable. Do we need Ronaldo? No, short and simple.
2. Antonio Valencia:
I just dont rate this guy. At all. Goal.com, a pillar of sports journalism, has supposedly dug up an article from an Ecuadorian newspaper about an official Real bid of 12 million pounds plus Saviola. That I have yet to see an English paper with this story, or even more telling, a Spanish one, means its utter rubbish. So this guy also goes down as someone the press wants Real to sign more then the team needs him. Its all a game of convenience for the “gossip gurus”. Ramos had a shortlist when he was coaching Tottenham, made up of EPL players he was interested in. Tottenham did not need most of the players when he first got there, but Juande was planning for the future. Well he was sacked, and the list somehow became public knowledge so now everyone on it is a target for Real. Even though all of the EPL right wingers the press has touted lack the needed quality for Real Madrid.
3. Frank Ribery:
Real could use Frank, but we must wait until the end of the season to see if this one will actually happen. Did anyone seem a little surprised when he signed for Bayern from Marseille? I was, considering he could have went to any club he wanted to. But then again, is anyone surprised that after two seasons he has seen and done it all with Bayern? No. Frank is a mercenary. He can kiss the badge all he wants, but he does not spend to much time in one place. So while he is a good player and would be our right wing solution, I am still leaning towards saying no thanks. A little more on that:
“For me it would be much better (if no-one was signed) because it could mean I’d be in the team more.
“Although, whatever happens, I am available to the club and if they have to sign someone, I’ll take it in the best possible way.”
“In the past few weeks my life has changed, but I have my feet on the ground. Whether I’m playing with the first team or if I am called back by the Castilla, I’ll stay the same.
I like Palanca alot and although he is not as dynamic a player as Ribery, he is a partial-Castilla graduate. And he has looked good in a way that Balboa looked good last year, but was never given a shot. Juande seems to have a more sensible head on him, not always needing a big name signing to placate his fears of a hole in the squad, and he works better with youth, so lets hope for the best there. Plus the use of Robben on the right from time to time, the ability for Sneijder to play shallow left, and the substitute appearances of Drenthe (ineffectie and probably looking to be on his way out) and Van der Vaart should see us through to til the summer. But give Palanca a chance before we think about Ribery, Ronaldo or the fun time party squad of EPL wingers.
4. The rest of those EPL Right Wingers:
The fun time party squad, of Aaron Lennon, Adam Johnson, Jermaine Pennant, Ashley Young etc. etc. is really just ridiculous. See above about Juande shortlist from time as Tottenham coach.
5. Where Are The Left Back Rumors?:
With the exclusion of Marcelo from the match day squads and Heinze still no one’s favorite left back, where are the left back rumors? I would love to see Chema Anton succeed at left back, but even so, there has been no rumors of us being interested in any left back. Which is disturbing not just because Id like to see a fresh face brought in but because the media’s perversion with big name, flashy attacking signings has meant that the focus is so strong on Ronaldo that little attention is being paid to other needs of the team.
6. Carlos Tevez:
Another subtle association, this time because Tevez is out of contract and supposedly frustrated with his lack of playing time at Manchester United. Seems obvious to link him to a team that currently has 4 fit first team strikers and 1 youth striker. And another striker who is on the road to recovery and will be fit next season. Raul of course will be on the bench a little more in the coming seasons, while Ruud of course has to rehab the major injury he had but I think he will be fine and should be in fighting form for another two years. Hunter just signed so he isnt going anywhere and Higuain is out start prospect for the future. Bueno may get loaned out next year, while Saviola is gone even if he still trains every day.
Unless there is serious movement this summer, dont expect to see Tevez playing for Real. But then again, I really didnt think Micheal Owen was gonna sign for us either.
7. Karim Benzema:
I cant really call this an easy association. The press will link big clubs with big name players, its the nature of the beast. When a big name player declares his interest in playing for a team numerous times, it seems almost logical that he will pursue a move there. But Real simply is full of strikers right now, so like Tevez, I dont see it happening this summer. Benzema has stated he will look to move if Lyon does not progress in the Champions League. Well they play Barcelona first off, so there is little hope there. Then again, he is a hometown lad and would not hesitate to stay on with Lyon for one more year, and has even said as much. Its also the club presidents objective to hold on to Benzema til 2010.
My verdict is that he should stay with Lyon next year, and then he should move to Real. Thats one more year of tread on the tire with Raul and Ruud, meaning a Higuain, Hunter and Benzema strike force with backup from to willy veterans really seems mouth watering. It could work next year, but Raul and Ruud still have atleast another season of starting.
So tell me what you think of all of this. I had more to write but I cant take the awful conversation that is going on in the room next to me (ex-girlfriend) so I am gonna take flight. HALA MADRID!
Category: Team News
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Comments
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” Antonio Valencia :
I just dont rate this guy. At All.”
Booooooo
Posted from
United States
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maybe we need to look down south. lots of talent in south america. somedays back there were a hell lot of reports linking us with douglas costa. maybe we should go for him.
and don’t we have any explosive talents in the castilla ??? barca has had bojan and messi. surely we have someone too. opare is a defender. and i know of one else , that the damn scousers stole from us, gerardo bruna.
so ,how many positions need to be sorted out ???
1 high quality right-winger. ribery or david silva.
1 left-back.lahm,maxwell,vargas,evra ???
these two are critical. also a new zidane. marek hamsik. man , imagine that.two great fullbacks( ramos & ___),a quality centre-back pairing(pepe & garay), a not unshort on attacking prowess double pivot(gago & lass), and then hamsik,silva,robben and higuain. man , i am already dreaming about whipping barca’s ass.
ofcourse knowing twiddledee and twiddledum , we are more likely to get pennant as winger and christian molinaro as left-back. we need a emergency petition.
Posted from
United States -
I know Corey is a huge fan of Mahamadou, but look at these figures from Lassana. Lassana, in the past two games has been averaging 9 recovered balls per game (incredible numbers for any defensive mid) and his passing percentage is really good. Now, comparing it to Gago’s and Diarra’s numbers from last season, the two of them average 5-7 recovered balls. These are huge numbers for any defensive mid, Claude was averaging I think about 7 – 8 recovered balls.
There will also be some nice news about Calderon tomorrow, he will not resign but he intends not to run in the next election.
Posted from
United States -
I hope we buy no one else in this winter transfer window IMO we’re good to go for the rest of the season
But come the summer we have got to buy a super star right winger which hopefully would be ribery instead of the overrated hairgel7 seriously he AINT that good sure he had a great season last year but when it comes to real talent ribery has more in his nose than CR has in his whole body
Also raul and ruud even though they both have one more season or two in their legs need to make way for benzema we need to get that kid or else barca or man utd will
Posted from
United States -
Julien G., I’d like to point out that your stats of “recovered balls” are subjective. If any of you frequent my space across the way, you’ll know that I love statistics and quote them freely, but always with the caveat that soccer does not have a good method of collecting stats — my biggest complaint is what counts as an assist, for example. A reader at my site linked this article which discusses why that is the case (second part).
It’s not just what is or what isn’t a ball recovered, but it’s a function of who is playing in front of you. If you have someone like, say, Maradona in his prime, it’s likely that you’ll have fewer opportunities to get “recovered balls” — what does that even mean? — but if you have someone, like, say, me in front of you you’ll have a ton more opportunities.
Are Lassana’s stats therefore a function of his team compared to that of Claude and company? What if the Mahamadou-Gago combo was more capable of man-marking players out of existence so there were fewer balls that needed to be “recovered” by them? Also, when you said “…Gago’s and Diarra’s numbers from last season, the two of them average 5-7 recovered balls,” did you mean their combined numbers or their individual numbers? If it’s individual, as I suspect, how many balls does Gago now recover as a partner to Lassana?
I’m not saying Lassana isn’t better than Diarra 1, I’m just saying that using one statistic to justify an opinion of him is inaccurate at best. Juande’s tactics obviously differ from Schuster’s, so perhaps it’s where Juande is playing Gago that is giving Lassana a larger proportion of the “recovered balls”.
Posted from
United States -
If benzama comes to barca, it would be the biggest embarassment for madrid. And it would highlight the jokes they have running the club. After benzama said he WANTS to go to madrid, they BETTER get him, or else they r just plain dumb.
Posted from
Kuwait -
Looks like Pedja and Calderon are once again wrong with their sweeping assumption that we’d pick up a new winger immediately. How much more can these idiots get away with? For a while, it looked like Di Maria. Then it moved to incredibly average EPL wingers, now I guess it’s on to Valencia. Whatever, tweedledee and tweedledum will find a way to royally fuck this one up and probably won’t end up signing any wingers. Why they make promises in the first place, I will never understand. It could have been easily averted by saying “We’re looking at wingers, but if they aren’t of Madrid quality, we’ll be patient.” Instead it’s “We’re only a few days from signing a quality winger”.
Can we just put the whole entire hair gel speculation on hold until summer? Everyone knows he’s not leaving until the end of the season, why does this still get brought up everyday by the great bastians of Spanish journalism (ASs and FARCE-A)? Put it away until it actually matters.
Posted from
United States -
Statistics in football are difficult, and often are arbitrary numbers. Thats why debates over who is a better player are often down to opinion. A comparison of the two Diarra’s statistically would be difficult because of their positioning, the game’s they have played-in and the tactics associated, and the opponent and all of those variables. While it is easy to compare batting averages of third baseman or catches for wide receivers, its not so easy to compare defensive midfielders.
Posted from
United States -
Lol heard calderon called a press conference tonight , we all know why that is , he just wants to plead his innocense once again ( he’s been accused of rigging the assembly ) , is someone trying to drive dumb and dumber out of the club throught marca ? I hope so
And if he had any pride left in him he would resignPosted from
United States -
Marca = Florentino
AS = Calderon but a little more moderateLet the games begin.
Posted from
United States -
He should not resign. He is not great, but its better then further destabilizing the club after showing promising signs of recovery under Juande. When oh when will people understand that we need to not be in the press constantly for all of the wrong reasons.
Posted from
United States -
Corey I see the point you’re trying to make but I disagree I mean if calderon stays and win something like say the champions league that will result to him staying for another year im not for that him resigning even if it meant we don’t win jack this season will be good for our beloved madrid in the long this guy has turned us to the laughing stock of europe and quite frankly I can’t stand it I mean hell because of this man’s doing even pennant turned us down freaking steve pennant ahahhahaah wtf ?
Posted from
United States -
Just on the EPL guys… i don’t know why people think Valencia or Pennant could be Real-quality, but Ashley Young… he just might be. Unlike Robben, he’s actually quite adept with both feet, so he could play a little left wing too.
Posted from
United Kingdom
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