Numancia Review aka Defend a Damn Set Piece

Ugh. When oh when will this team learn to head a ball clear on a corner? Or put a decent wall together on a free kick? I have lamented it before, and I am pretty sure every person who comments here has complained about it at one time or another, we cannot defend set pieces. And it really hurt us today, in a way that it never should have. Numancia played well, and I cannot take that away from them. But the fact is they really only had two or three decent scoring chances, one of which was at the death and probably should have yielded them a point. Yet somehow they still scored three on us, at home. If I dont see pictures of Schuster working on set pieces in training today then he should be slapped because he is a fool.

REAL MADRID 4-3 NUMANCIA
Estadio Santiago Bernabeu
September 14th 2008 Jornanda 2

Lineups

Real Madrid
Casillas
Míchel Salgado
Pepe
Metzelder
Marcelo
Diarra
Guti Goal 19′
Robben
Van der Vaart Goal 33′
sub De la Red 70′
Higuaín Goal 26′
sub Drenthe 84′
Van Nistelrooy
sub Raúl 70′

Numancia
Juan Pablo
Juanra
Boris
Cisma
Palacios
Nagore
Moreno Goal 7′, 58′
Barkero Goal 22′
sub Álvaro Antón 67′
Mario
sub Del Pino 61′
Bellvis
sub Quero 81′
Brit

First Half:
The game started out a bit cagey, with Real looking to impress the home faithful and register the teams 5,000 league goal. But it was Numancia who started the brighter, with a quick half-chance that went begging. A corner was conceded in the 6th minute, and Barkero found Moreno completely unmarked at the back post to power a header past Casillas. It was pathetic, one of the worst set-piece plays I have seen in awhile, defensively that is. All the Real players rush near post as Nuamncia’s players fooled them into thinking the corner was coming short. Moreno was at the top of the box and slowly ghosted in where the ball was place on top of his forehead ever so neatly.

My question is, where the hell was the marking? Salgado was the closest man, but it was pretty clear he had a man. The man-to-man marking that goes on is terrible, as it often leaves holes in the box. A simple combination of the square-zone and man marking would have solved that problem. By placing a man each on the post, and then a man in each corner of the keeper’s box. This creates a zonal area in front of the goal that picks up late runners as well as keep the corners of the goal safe. You then have 4 other players to man mark your main goal threats, with a striker playing shallow just above the box responsible for cutting out an possible shots from the corner or an chances created due to short clearances (typically a shot or lofted ball in).

Seems simple enough? Would have prevented that goal, thats for sure. Anyways, so we went 1-0 down early on, but that doesnt seem to scare our boys now does it? They took up some intiative and began to grab alot of possesion. Moreno almost converted a chance for the guests, with Casillas saving well, while Robben and Ruud had decent efforts saved my Juan Pablo.

Not the best start to a match, and I was screaming bloody murder at my screen for 20 minutes, until a neat passage of play had Robben feed a streaking Guti who hit a side-footed swirler that took a deflection of Boris and whizzed past a wrong footed Juan Pablo. 5,000 baby! And how sweat that Guti was able to score it. So we were level again, and the best tonic for Real to start playing better was to get a goal. And thats exactly what happened.

Real were level again thanks to some nice team work and a kind deflection. But Numancia fought back, with something of a wonder goal (lucky maybe, but impressive none-the-less). few minutes after Guti scored, a lofted ball was headed out by Salgado and then the ball was controlled and dished. A long range strike (id say 30 yards out or so) from Barkero was lashed into the net as something to behold. It was probably one of the best placed shots I had ever seen, but with that being said, Iker did get a slight touch, only it was far to little as he simply pushed it a little higher into the netting. A great goal adding further enteraiment to the game. To concede that kind of goal is fine by me, because even though Salgado’s header away was poorly placed, Numancia didnt create a chance from it, they simply found an incredible stirke that happens not to often.

But true to form, 4 minutes later Real levelled again, with Ruud plopping a ball on to Higuain’s knee which he touched perfectly forward past his markers, allowing himself just enough space to slot the ball over the on rushing Juan Pablo in the left hand side of the goal. A great little interchange and some smart play from Higuain, who came good starting over Raul (supposively he had not recovered from his minor injuries, I dont buy it).

So 2-2 and poised to take the lead right? Well, yes, because Numancia shelled up after conceding two goals after taking leads they probably knew they didnt deserve. Well they did, they were the better team up until Higuain’s goal, and I was wrong about their tactics (formation was dead on) until that goal. So I applaud them for that, but I dont say this as a scapegoat for Real, they should have handled numancia much better. Okay, so back to the match.

Numancia was clamed up due to the goals we scored which basically tore them apart, and they started to absorbs pressure. A harmless looking ball that was at the left corner of the box was chased down Van der Vaart, and he elected to rip a rocket past the keeper and into the left hand side of the goal. I was shocked because he didnt have an angle at all, and it made more sense to cut the ball back to the on-rushing forwards. But it was a great shot, and a goal on his La Liga debut, so congrats VdV, even if you didnt play well at all.

Shortly after, a Guti cornered was swung in and after a scramble in the area and Cisma headed the bal into his own net, a somewhate unfortunate OG. A 2 goal cushion for the break, and Real looking a bit shocked that they actually had done that. I was unimpressed by the play of the team, and I did not like the fact that 1. Salgado was played in order to rest Torres for the CL (Torres does not play alot of games anyways) 2. Metzelder wasnt that bad for me, Pepe was worse, or should I say his worse was to come, he looks horribley out of place without Canna telling him where to stand and 3. The VDV, Robben, Guti attack wont click because they dont get the ball from Diarra, you need someone to “carry the water” and get the ball to the play makers other wise its all for not.

Second Half:

The second half was not as interesting as the first, and while we saw a goal from Moreno on a free kick, I am kinda late on this review so I am gonna skip the second half stuff and just post the highlights.

This Is 10 Minutes of Pictures, But They Are Good Pictures

Highlights

Since I am late and want to get a preview of the CL game up I am cutting this short. But lets hear it about this match, there certainly is alot to talk about.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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