Liveblog: Real Madrid v Recreativo Huelva

By: Steve | November 22nd, 2008

Hala Madrid! Well, folks, your super-duper liveblogger is back! Apologies for missing the last few matches… was in Devon surfing last weekend, couldn’t catch the second leg of the Copa del Rey match against Irun, and i plain forgot about a Wed match. My bad.

But no worries, I’m back now, in what must constitute a must-win match for coach Schuster. There is no way i can see Bernd making it to Christmas if he loses again. With the January transfer window closing in quick, I’m sure Calderon and Mijatovic would want (well, at least they SHOULD) a manager in place who will provide input into any transfer dealings that might be going on. That said, it’s not like Peja and Ramon were listening to Bernd before, so maybe we’ll just keep on being uber-dysfunctional.

I don’t know what to think about this squad anymore. Other than Higuain totally going off like gangbusters in the last few matches, there isn’t a single positive that I can figure for this team. Ruud is out, Raul is back to crappy Raul, Glassman is broken again, San Iker is off-form, de la Red still on the shelf and now Cannavaro is out for this week.

I guess one thing that IS positive is that the situation has forced Schuster to consider some Castilla players, with Alberto Bueno called up to the squad, and C team players Pedro Marques and Cruz getting some practice time with the first team. I think, if we’re going to retool and rebuild, let’s start now. I’m one of those guys who loves youth players - if Barca can bring in new blood like Busquets (like, where did he come from?!?!), why aren’t we making use of our cantera?

Anyways, i think we’ll be trotting out a pretty ugly squad, but it’s Recre, surely we should still have the quality to win, right? I think we’ll have Casillas, Ramos, Pepe, Metzelder (!!), Marcelo, Gago, Sneijder, Guti, Drenthe, van der Vaart and Higuain. Well, Bernd will probably have Raul in there for Drenthe, but that’s not what he should do. BTW, Heinze isn’t on the squad list nor the injured list… i guess he’s suspended?

Today’s match is on Sky Sports Xtra at 19h00 GMT, for those of us in the UK. I know a few of you will be following on from other parts of the world, so tune in and comment here when we get things going in a few hours.

PREGAME: Well, looks like my lineup was wrong… Schuster has no confidence in compatriot Metzelder, so Ramos slides into the middle and Torres goes into the rightback position. Raul is in for vdV in my lineup as well.
PREGAME: Recreativo haven’t won since the first week. If we don’t get maximum points today…
1min: and we’re off!
3min: Good shape by Real early on… all 3 midfielders are tracking back to the top of the box which the defenders will need, since enforcer Diarra is out.
5min: Good challenge by Pepe to take away a good scoring chance.
5min: Ok, I know we’re only into the 4th minute, but hasn’t Recre had like 90% of the possession? Looks like they’re not really scared of our makeshift backline.
7min: Real’s passing is not sharp tonight. They’re giving away the ball way too much.
8min: Good save by Casillas on a shot lashed by… i think it was Camuñas.
9min: Oh! Great chance by Recre… they counter up the right wing, and Javi Guerrero lays the ball off for Camuñas who is wide open, but he takes it on the first touch and skies it. Should’ve been a goal.
11min: OH! Great chance for Real… Sneijder doesn’t get his header on target after Drenthe does really well to get to the byline and deliver a hard low cross.
12min: Another great chance for Real! Higuain gets a pass over the top, and rounds the keeper, but his cutback shot is too light and it’s saved by a defender… He regains possession, but carries it over the byline before putting it back for Sneijder. Too bad, he really should’ve put it back earlier.
14min: Ooh… Real’s caught offside on a free kick from Guti… Ramos missed the header anyway.
16min: Well, it took them about 10 minutes, but Real seem to have finally settled down and are now creating chance after chance… they need to get ruthless and put them away though.
21min: I know it’s not their first-team defence, but surely Real should be looking better than they are against a team in the relegation zone, no? This Recre team has only scored 5 goals this season!
23min: Ugh, Guti looks useless out there tonight.
25min: It’s not like Recre have a super tight defense, right? Why are we playing all these long balls into the box? Where is the passing, the movement?
26min: One good spot is Drenthe… he can almost always beat his defender down the line. His crosses are one-on, one-off, but i can live with that as long as he keeps beating his man.
30min: Great sequence by Ramos! Hardly what you think you should get from a centreback, but he pushes strong on Javi Guerrero to intercept the ball, then does a Zizou-esque spin on the ball to get around another defender before laying off for Sneijder.
31min: Casado gets a yellow for bringing down a rampaging Higuain… lucky for him, it was just before the Argentinian got into the box.
32min: Free kick by Guti hits the wall… the ball comes back out to Sneijder who hits it into the box, but it’s cleared before Pepe can head it.
33min: Argh, good counter by Real, but slowed down cuz Guti had no good options… pretty static movement. Higuain eventually gets it on the left side of the box, and goes one-on-one with a defender, but can’t hit the target.
35min: Ugh, do we need to teach people how to lay off the ball correctly? This time it’s Marcelo trying to lay it off for Sneijder but it’s way too far ahead of him and the ball is taken away.
36min: Well, Recre hasn’t really threatened since those first 10-15 minutes… they’re defending with all 11 men behind the halfway line, though they haven’t done the “park the bus in the box” yet.
37min: OH!!! Great ball from Sneijder from the left side serves it up for Raul, but el capitan can’t put it on target. OMG, that was the best chance yet. What did I say earlier? They need to put them away. You know Barca wouldn’t have wasted them.
39min: GOAL!!! Sneijder lashes an incredible shot that loops over the keeper… it may have taken a slight deflection off Beto, but Guti does a great job to square the ball to the Dutchman in open space. So we can score like that, but we can’t take the easy chances? Real Madrid 1-0 Recreativo Huelva.
42min: Guti is on fire now. Great sequence where he pushes the counterattack and makes a few good passes, though the last one was just a tad too far for Drenthe, who is on the right wing now… Madrid are playing with so much more confidence right now, they’re looking way better.
43min: Come on, Higs! He’s danced around in the area with the ball, but hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. Weird. He doesn’t hesitate to shoot from outside the area, but when he’s got possession in the box, he can’t decide.
45min: Recre countered well and earned a corner, but Real clear and there’s a great ball over the top for Drenthe who’s matched up against 2 defenders plus the keeper, but still forces a corner.
HALFTIME: Well, as opposed to previous matches I’ve liveblogged, Real started slow, but finished really well. Not surprising, we’re playing Recreativo, but at this point, I’ll take any win, no matter how small or ugly.
HALFTIME: Replays of the chance Higuain had rounding the keeper and then going to the byline shows that the ball hadn’t completely crossed over the line, so technically, Sneijder should’ve gotten that goal… but in the heat of the moment, we’re talking about a matter of about 2 or 3 inches, so i think the call is forgiveable.
HALFTIME: Higuain has played pretty well, but i think he could’ve done so much better… a couple pieces of advice for him, i’d say, are: shoot the ball when you’re in the box! And if you’re not gonna shoot, for heaven’s sake, look up and check where your teammates are.
HALFTIME: Ramos has been great, looks like he’s back on form… maybe he prefers the centre? Drenthe has been pretty good too. Sneijder has had good touches, but i think he’s been out of place a couple times.
HALFTIME: On the other hand, Raul has been dismal. Blew a couple chances including an absolute sitter from Sneijder. He really needs to take a seat on the bench.
HALFTIME: Commenter losblancos remarked about something that I’ve noticed for a long time: Guti loves those cutback passes. He plays almost exclusively with his left foot, so there are times when you expect him to lay the ball off to the open teammate on his left, but every few times a match, he’ll cut it back to someone you didn’t notice was there. Good Guti will do that all day long. Bad Guti will give the ball away doing that too often.
HALFTIME: I don’t have the same confidence about the defence though. Far too many decent opportunities for Recre, including a ridiculously good chance for Camuñas that he wasted. Positioning, awareness and concentration. That’s all it takes!
46min: We’re back, and it appears there haven’t been any changes for the second half.
47min: Yellow card for Marcelo.
49min: Great throughball from deep on the left side of the Real half… Higuain gets caught for a push, but that was a wicked pass… from Sneijder I presume, I missed it.
51min: Ooh, nice try by Gago and Torres… Acres of space on the right flank, but the pass is a touch too heavy from the midfielder.
51min: Sneijder returns the favour for Guti by laying the ball off, but Guti tries to thread the ball through rather than blasting it, and it’s easily caught by the keeper.
52min: Akale off for Ersen Martin.
53min: Oh! Sneijder plays a great ball into the box for Higuain, but the keeper charges out and forces Higs to scoop the ball wide.
55min: Higuain rampages up the left flank, but he’s in all alone against 5 defenders, so predictably loses it.
57min: Ooh, lucky for Casillas… the headed clearance attempt by Pepe doesn’t go far, and Casillas goes for the ball but can’t hang on and is stuck in no man’s land against the Recre attackers… lucky for him, 2 of them run into each other, so Pepe can break forward with the ball.
60min: Great determined play by Sneijder… using the swim move that they teach defensive linemen to regain position and keep possession. Earns a corner.
60min: Great take by the Recre keeper on the corner. If only Casillas were that confident on aerial balls.
61min: Oh… Guti volleys a Sneijder corner just wide of the target. Good technique considering he was moving backwards to take the pass.
63min: It’s getting messy and sloppy out there now… missed passes, lots of intercepted balls…
64min: Sneijder was off getting some treatment but he’s back on the pitch now. Probably just a cramp.
65min: Looks like van der Vaart is coming on soon.
66min: Oh! Higuain squares into the box for Raul, but I think a defender must’ve gotten a foot in before the captain could get a good shot off.
67min: Sneijder off for vdV.
68min: Javi Guerrero off for Colunga.
69min: Ugh, Guti still hasn’t learned how to play defense properly. He sticks his foot out for a tackle, misses, then doesn’t follow the runner.
71min: Ooh, Pepe gets away with a handball in the penalty area. No call, but that was clearly a handball.
73min: Good pressure from Real for a couple attacks… the last one, Drenthe hit a low cross that Morris got to before Raul. The ball hung around, but Raul couldn’t do anything except kick it off the side netting.
75min: Strong counter by Recre up the right, even Pepe couldn’t catch up… but the cross was ambitious, a low one that Ramos chested to Casillas, and the only attacker in the area was at the far post.
76min: uh oh, Higuain is down, grabbing his left ankle. Replays show he just rolled over it while landing on a hop.
78min: Saviola taking off his warmups, and Higs is stretchered off. NOT GOOD.
79min: Saviola comes on the pitch.
80min: Higuain looks like he’s in serious pain. Hopefully it’s just a sprain and not a problem with ligaments.
82min: Ooh, great ball from the left curled in by Guti that almost finds Saviola.
83min: Come on! Guti sneaks in a pass off an interception, but Raul can’t seem to find an opening and can’t even get a decent shot off.
84min: OH! Drenthe with a wicked cross from the left and Guti heads it but the keeper stretches to make a diving save… the ball trickles to the left of the goalmouth, and eventually Saviola gets a tenth of a chance but nothing comes of it. Ugh. Gotta put that stuff away!
86min: Bueno comes on for Raul. Finally!
87min: ooh, unlucky for Recre again… Bouzon gets nicked for a foul in the box on Gago, but his header was off-target anyway. Recre haven’t troubled Casillas much in the second half.
88min: Guti takes a good shot finally, but it’s wide left from 23 yards.
90min: Torres earns a corner with some determined work up the right flank. Good for him. Looking more confident going forward but needs some work still defending.
90+1min: 4 minutes of extra time.
90+2min: Oh! vdV is deep on the left in the Recre box and cuts it through the box, but it’s behind Saviola and Bueno… damnit. All these wayward passes and missed opportunities!
90+4min: Ugh… Needs improvement: Casillas on crosses and high balls. He just doesn’t seem confident on them. He used to punch them away ok, but now he’s not even doing that well.
90+4min: Last play of the match… Drenthe dribbles into the box on the left, and curls a shot across the face of the goal, but no white shirts nearby to tuck it away.
POSTGAME: Alright… well, a win is a win, and it wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates, but there were still a few concerns to be ironed out, considering we were playing a team that sits 19th in the Liga table.
POSTGAME: The defence gave up several good opportunities that better teams would’ve put away. Conversely, we created enough good possibilities for ourselves, but we ruined them with bad passes, indecision, or just plain bad execution.
POSTGAME: With Villarreal’s first loss of the season tonight, we go up to second for the time being, and tonight’s late match is Sevilla v Valencia. What a cracker that should be.
POSTGAME: A couple of injury concerns out of this one too… Sneijder went off after picking up a knock in the second half, and of course, the main concern is our star of the moment, Higuain, getting stretchered off.
POSTGAME: I’ll let Corey do the match review, but here are my overall individual impressions:
POSTGAME: Casillas was shaky, to say the least. He wasn’t tested, so that’s worked out for us, but his penchant for bobbling high balls is disconcerting.
POSTGAME: Torres had an unremarkable game, though didn’t appear to be too bad. Ramos had probably his best match of the season. Confident in defense, going forward like we remember, he was a force. Pepe was caught out once or twice, but he did have a couple good clearances too. Marcelo was good going forward, but was flat-footed when challenged directly a few times.
POSTGAME: Gago was pretty solid. Good on the ball, decent off the ball. Guti was on more than off, which i guess is all you can really ask of him. Created some good chances that others need to take advantage of. Sneijder was probably man of the match, even if he only played two-thirds of it. A couple of defensive lapses, but he was everywhere, causing havoc in the Recre backline.
POSTGAME: Raul wasn’t invisible, and in this case, that’s not good. He was pretty poor overall, missing a number of good chances. Higuain continued his good form, even if he didn’t get on the scoresheet. Created opportunities, caused problems for the Recre defense, but needs to be a bit more aware of his surroundings… pass the ball when it’s open, shoot it if not. Drenthe was solid as the wide attacker. Some really good crosses in from the left and he tracked back pretty well too.
POSTGAME: Alright, i’m out.