Friday Quicklinks
By: Steve | October 3rd, 2008Hala Madrid! Well, we have Sunday’s match v Espanyol to look forward to, and I think Corey’s writing up a preview for that… but first, let’s hit the newswire and see what comes up…
Real wants Liverpool’s Daniel Agger in the winter transfer window
I first read about this on Goal.com, where they also mentioned Bremen and Germany international Per Mertesacker as a possibility, but the Guardian quotes Real VP Jose Angel Sanchez to confirm the club’s top interest in the 23-year-old Danish central defender. I like Agger, but i haven’t seen him play much. I’ve seen Mertesacker only in international matches and he seems pretty good, but I’m a bit wary of him if only due to our experience thus far with Metzelder. It seems Madrid hope to capitalize on the apparent rift between Agger and Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who has included Martin Skrtel in the first XI alongside Jamie Carragher.
Schuster deceives with team selection; now possibly leaving after the season?
Ok, two separate but intricately related links above from Goal.com. The first reports how Schuster had said he wasn’t going to change the lineup between the Betis match and the Zenit match, and then actually replaced Raul with Higuain. Maybe it was a bit of deception to put Zenit on the back foot, but it didn’t go down well with the press or the boardroom. This plays into the second link, which says that there’s currently some tensions in the front office, between Schuster and the dynamic duo of Calderon and Mijatovic. Schuster doesn’t like how he isn’t being listened to (eg transfer requirements) and thinks the president and director are interfering too much. I agree wholeheartedly with Schuster on this, even if it’s speculation at this point (it’s not like Schuster speaks much to the press). Calderon’s obsession with Cristiano Ronaldo blew up in his face and limited our transfer dealings. Now, we still need a central defender, a right winger and a striker. Schuster has also already shown the cojones to put Raul on the bench which, if we are ever to build a proper team concept, needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Actually, that’s all the links i have for now… comment away!
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the whole notion of the front office being mad at Schuster, because he put a different starting XI against Zenit is just stupid.
First of all, if someone should be feeling sorry for lying, is Calderon; since he became president, he’s promised us Kaka, Fabregas, and that f%&$# Cristiano Ronaldo, and so far, he hasn’t delivered. I find this hipocritical on Calderon’s part, because he’s the one who can keep his mouth shut, wich in the end affects us on ALL our transfer dealings. I read ons AS.com yesterday, that they’re mad with Schuster because he lied to the press, wich goes against the “Transparency” campaing that they’ve instituted at the club. To me, they’re just looking for excuses to hold against Bernd in case the season doesn’t end well.
Second, Schuster was right about the choice of his starting XI, and he doesn’t have to justify himself for that. The fact that he said that “the same 11 from Betis are going to play”, opting afterwards to go with Higuain instead of Raul, is nothing new, managers always do that to keep the other team guessing, so I don’t know what’s wrong about that.
I back Schuster 1000%, Calderon is a disgrace for us, he’s really, really bad for our team, and I hope that someone more capable takes the reigns somtime soon… (not Florentino though, I’m still mad at him for bailing out, and all the mess he created with his transfer policies…)
Everybody, take care, sorry if I sounded a little pissed off, but I can’t stand Calderon…; I’ll be at the Bernabeu on November 9th with one of my best friends, against Malaga, we might try to start a “pañolada” against him….
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please take agger out of the prem. not because i don’t think he’s good. but just because it would make it easier for united. he’s pretty damned good.
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Cesar I’m with you and Schuster on this.
My problem has been more with Mijatovich than Calderon so far. Reports suggest he has not been cooperative with Schusters vision of where the team need to go, and clearly he has his own agenda which does match the managers.
Calderon has gone to great lengths to say he was not going to interfer with football matters, but what good is that if the sporting director is going to be fighting the manager?
It’s up to Calderon to resolve the conflict and put everyone back in their box.
Sadly, it seems he may side with Mijatovich which is wrong in my opinion.
If we lose Schster we will be left with the jokers that brought us the Kaka and Ronaldo nonsense – the club reputation will be damaged even more.I think Agger would be a great addition in the long run, but he’s still pretty young and makes mistakes. Not sure about Pepe and Agger together – who keeps them under control? I might change my mind once Pepe has another season under his belt, but right now I’m thinking we should be looking for an experienced defensive leader. Maybe Carvalho, Chivu, daineli, even Rodriguez from Villareal
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I’ve liked what I’ve seen of Agger. He’s great at marking, very aggresive and good at pressing on defense. My only worry would be that Prem defenders don’t typically transition well to La Liga (can anyone come up with a list of exceptions? Pique seems to be doing well, but he was trained in Barca’s academy).
And though I’m equally critical of Mij and Calderon, especially their transfer shananagins, we’ve won two league titles under their charge, so…
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