Raul Albiol Official….Is He What We Needed?

you know what realn madrid fans no matter who you get you will always have messi you wont

real madrids defence sucks so all of you be happy because of albiol

Not excited about Albiol. Never impressed me during the times I've seen him. He appears to be shaky on the ball, and doesn't read attacking passes as well as many of the top defenders do these days. Only time will tell, but I'm still pinning my hopes on Garay and a new left back.

The Drenthe loan is great. He has natural talent, but his decision making needs improvement. Fiorentina, being Italian, should help him positionally if he decides to persure a LB career. He could fit well into the Pelligrini line-up as a left back. He is quick and attacks well and if he can improve his positioning for defence we could use him in the future, I still believe he has unfulfilled potential. I don't see any future as a left winger at Madrid.

Corey, you've got it all wrong. I don't come on here to piss anyone off.

It seems that RM and Fiorentina have agreed a loan deal for Drenthe. Smart move by RM.

Well, I think that just shows Florentino's lack of appreciation for la cantera, and how all the electoral talk about how he was going to boost it was all crap...

Hey guys, one thing few of us have talked about and is getting me really worried is the quarry being headed by Ramon Martinez. It seems he's letting go all the youth coaches in bulk. Lopetegui's gone, the U-18 winning team's coach is gone, and lots more are being removed too. From what i remember, the last time Ramon Martinez was here, he made a HUGE mess of the quarry. He's not done anything of note since either, with Celta. I remember they used to have a pretty good youth system which played a major role in getting them to the UEFA Cup. Havent heard of anyone from there in the last few years. Moreover with such lack of continuity, the youth team players might also be considering their futures. What does everyone think?

It's all good Cesar. No problems.

Jnice, I know you didn't make any dumb statements, I apologize if you thought I was mocking you in anyway..., I was just keeping up with I Hate Madrid's twisted logic...

Cesar, Pique and Puyol were obviously dragged out of position, but Capdevilla should have never been tossed like that. No need to call them "mighty", I didn't make any dumb statements about your players, I was just saying.

I think Albiol is a good signing, have to wait and see what happens with garay...

And ramos, stop bitching, man up and assume you screwed up in the second goal, your attitude is just pathetic....

I know Jnice, I was just making a point on how stupid the previous comment was...

Casillas got caught going the other way, but how is it that it was Capdevila covering Altidore, and not the mighty central defenders from Barcelona???

That has to be one of the dumbest comments I have ever seen on not just this site, but the entirety of the Offside. My mind still can not come to grasp how a human being who has a brain in his head can think that such a statement is suppose to hurt or annoy a Real Madrid fan, never mind how untrue and completely lacking in common sense the statement is.

Congratulations I Hate Madrid, you have made the most unintelligent comment ever on this site. And for that, you are a huge dumbass.

But Cesar, Casillas and Sergio Ramos are on Spain. With Casillas looking suspect for the 1st goal and Sergio Ramos looking foolish for the 2nd. And I hate Madrid, Sergio Ramos didn't lose it for Spain. There's no irony in either of the situations.

Irony in south Africa: 3 barca players lose to the US (pique, puyol, xavi), while the next day a madrid player wins with his team to go to the final (kaka)

Irony in South Africa: A real madrid player (sergio ramos) loses the match for his country, while the next day a barca player (alves) wins it for his country.

also i dont see why everyone is so keen on felipe, but completely ignores andre santos. been observing him during the confed cup, seems like a marcelo that is able to defend.

looks like drenthe is gone ppl, off to la viola. im guessing he won't be missed here. in other news, galliani said that milan has the first option on huntelaar, which might be exercised should they fail to sign dzeko. sound like a win-win-win situation to me

Good signing - if for no other reason than depth at the CB spot. Now just give me a decent LB for heaven's sake!!! And according to the Barca fans, Felipe is going to sign with FCB on Monday. Hope they're wrong.

realrock that's a good point you made there still though it will come down to how organized the team is defensively
Carvalho is old ( 33 if I'm not mistaken) he's got 2 good years left in him and his still a great defender his coming might help the young'ins like albiol , ramos and even pepe mature a bit he will kinda be like the new cannavaro having said that though bruno alves is good too but he too is very error prone and will be expensive porto sucks you dry everytime you try to buy a player from them
Mexes also is error prone on top of that he is hot headed think he got like 4 red cards this past season

James pellegrini said he favors fullbacks with a lot of offensive prowess and torres as much as we like brings nothing offensively hell be a starter one day though just don't think its right now

you missed out on two things,andres. at the start it was sans lass. in the end,it was sin pepe.

carvalho is way too old. mexes would be a far better signing IMHO.or bruno alves.

Will Torres ever start? Is this what Madrid is trying to do? Buy spanish players and try to pass them off as Canteranos?

I disagree with you gents about the albiol thing I think he would be very useful regardless of those occasional own goals he scored , no center back it doesn't matter how good he is will change anything as long as we defend as badly as we did at the beginning of last season or the end of it I know you guys remember that this crappy defense was the same one that was elected best in la liga last season and the same defense that didn't concede in a lot of games under juande ramos , why? Because we were defending and attacking as a team that's what pellegrini gotta work on
Anyways looks like you're about to get your wish , heard we're going for carvalho

I disagree with you gents about the albiol thing I think he would be very useful regardless of those occasional own goals he scored
Anyways looks like you're about to get your wish , heard we're going for carvalho

I don't know about you guys, but I'm just pleased to see a signing that wasn't driven by shirt sales and star power. I think Albiol certainly isn't an upgrade over a Ramos or Pepe, but at least he provides the depth we didn't have at that position last season. Metz was OK when he came back, and I think that Garay and Albiol are excellent 3rd or 4th center back choices to have. Arbeloa looks to be next, which should also provide us with more depth at a position where it is sorely needed. Who is this guy Perez? Signing players where we actually have a need AND with an emphasis on Spanish internationals? Whoa maybe he did learn a bit the first time around, I hope!

I hope Pepe tries to make a good influence on these kids he's going to start having to look after.
Garay and Albiol are going to be looking up to him, I hope he doesn't get fucked up over what he did last season.
He has some growing up to do fast.

Raùl Abiol come handy because of his versatility. Furthermore, he was nominated vice-captain of the squad because of his discipline. He's tall which give him an advantage for aerial ball. Plus, he got an average long shot range. Let him one season, and he'll hopefully be an establish center-back.(Much more than Marchena is...)

albiol isnt what we need. maybe he is talented (looked pretty shaky though most of the time when i saw valencia).but with the focus on getting la decima along with other trophies this year, i dont think he is ready to slot right into the first team. one for the future maybe. if only he can cut those own goals out.but we need an established and certified performer for this season. mexes and bruno alves are both on the market. maybe someone should remind the management of that.

about garay. when we signed him , he was one of the hottest properties on the market. but then bernadine and mijatovic caused a snafu again and loaned him back.and with marcelino gone from racing, his development stalled. we know he is talented.so under the right coach,i dont see any reason why he cant get back on track. he is not very fast. so his game's main strength is due to positioning and anticipation. and as the rest of our defense is prone to bouts of headlesschicken-itis ,he can do well for us. all a big maybe though.like everything else in football.

no matter how good a center back *IS*

I think the albiol signing was a good one he is an improvement on our all defenders cept pepe and ramos , valencia's critics of him aren't solid ones their whole team defend like shit so of course the CBs are gonna be exposed no matter how good a center back he will always be as good as his team's defending , ask cannavaro hell tell you

Also, these calls for Ramos to play centre-back...seriously?

Imagine a pairing of Ramos and Pepe. Both of them can go roaming in a positional sense, and Cannavaro was important when they played so he could back them up with his own positional awareness. And that's not to mention the indiscipline that the both of them are capable of.

he's definitely more of a project than immediate starter. I think we've bought him so that by the time 6+5 rolls around, he'll be good enough to command a starting position, which is pretty smart long term planning. He seems to still have a tendency to commit a few errors, and we really can't afford that with Pepe alongside him.

Can anyone comment on Garay, and specifically how composed he looks and how good his sense of positioning is? I know close to little about him apart from the fact that he's good with set-pieces and he can play a sweeper type defender in that he can play the ball out of defence. to do that, surely he'd have to have a calm and composed head? I've heard he is VERY slow too, and in the past, slow defenders like Walter and Pavon have failed for us, and Metzelder hasn't exactly established himself either.

Either way, I'm pleased with this signing, but if Garay is moved on or whatever Valdano and co choose to do with him, we'd still need a QUALITY centre-back, one that could slot in and start straight away.

Arbeloa at left back? I'm not so sure, why not just persist with Miguel Torres? They're similar players, and we'd be saving money + looking ridiculous, having to buy back players that we sent packing.