Real Madrid 2-0 Recreativo Huelva

Real won against Recreativo Huelva pretty comfortably and maintained their great start to the season. Their lack of creativity and quality play will yet again be a cause for all Merengue fans. And as a warning, their are more pictures of men flailing about like the one above.

Here is the patron saint of the Spanish Offside and Hay Liga!, Phil Ball. Enjoy:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=470900&root=europe&cc=5901&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2

Game Review

Real started out with this formation:
—————-Casillas——————
Sergio Ramos—Canna—Heinze—Marcelo
Robben—–Diarra—–Guti—–Sneijder
————RVN——Raul————-

Robben on the right? Sure Higuain is not as mobile as Robben and he is not a right winger either, but I feel like Robben is wasted on the right. Then again, its hard to incorporate him and leave out Sneijder, so we should all get use to this. Because with Sneijder on the left Marcelo has more liscense to attack, something he is good at. I want to see more from Guti and Diarra, especially Guti, otherwise I say on the bench with him put Sneijder in the middle and throw on Rocky Balboa or Higuain.

First Half
Real boasted plenty of possession during a goalless first half but were unable to do much with it and Recre goalkeeper Estafano Sorrentino enjoyed a relatively quiet opening period. Real winger Arjen Robben looked threatening early on, and twice in the first 10 minutes managed to get in behind his marker without being able to find a team-mate with his final ball.

Raul also looked up for the fight, and he sent a glancing header just wide in the 14th minute following a Wesley Sneijder free-kick. The closest Real came to a goal in the first half was through Van Nistelrooy in the 24th minute, with Sorrentino producing a brilliant goalline save to keep out the Dutchman’s close-range header.

Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas trumped that save three minutes later though with a magnificent double stop to keep the home side on level terms. Jesus Vazquez was the first to be denied when Casillas went sprawling to his right to keep out the Recre midfielder’s diving header, and then the Spain number one somehow managed to block Beto’s follow-up as well.

The only other moment of excitement that Real created in a disappointing first 45 was when Sergio Ramos headed a free-kick against the Recre crossbar, but the offside flag would have ruled out any goal.

Second Half
Sneijder had a great chance to put the home side ahead just minutes after the re-start when a clever Raul flick put him clean through but his low shot crashed back off the far post before being hacked away to safety.

Raul then struck wide following another Sneijder free-kick when the Real captain should have done better, before Van Nistelrooy blazed over from the edge of the box. Real were still struggling to find a creative spark and killer edge though, and it took a scare from Huelva to get Real back into the game.

At the other end, Recre substitute Florent Sinama Pongolle appeared to have stolen a yard on the Real defence, but he opted to shoot early and Casillas was able to make a comfortable save. Real, even having made two substitutions, continued to look devoid of ideas in attack but they got the breakthrough they were desperately seeking in the 73rd minute through, almost inevitably, Van Nistelrooy

RVN and Raul played a quick one-two and Ruud was away, comfortably slotting below Sorrentino for the opener. After that there was another chance for Ruud, but that didnt pan out and at the death Guti strolled forward, feinted and layed off a beautiful ball right into Higuain’s path. He broke free of his marker, moved forward and made a quick move around Sorrentino before awkwardly rolling the ball into the net. The kid is really growing on me, I have to say, I am a fan of Higuain now.

Real’s second half play was much better then the first, but theres always room for improvement obviously. Possession was 60/40 in Real’s favor, and Huelva had no fewer then 7 yellows in the match. The statistic I dont like is Real had 13 shots, 4 on goal. Huelva had 14 shots, 3 on goal. As you will see in a second, Schuster says Real’s backline may be the best in Europe right now. They have conceded the fewest in Spain sure, but if you watched Lazio penetrate our defense time and again then you would agree with this statement. The visiting team had more shots then we did! If Casillas was not our keeper we wouldnt have half the defense we have now.

Here are Schuster’s post match comments:

On Saturday I said there would be changes because I was looking for something new, something personal, but I’m allowed to change my mind from one day to the next. There’s no problem.”
“I feel we came up a little short being that we had so many obvious chances and that we scored so late. We just had to work a little longer. For as much as it’s worth, I am satisfied with the 2-0”

“Marcelo is working hard and is slowly settling into the left-back position. He is gaining confidence and learning a lot. I am happy to have given him the opportunity and he is taking full advantage of it. A young kid who wants to succeed has to earn it, and [Marcelo] is doing a great job.”

“He hasn’t shocked me, but sometimes it’s hard to give a young kid a shot. Luck has played a part in his case, too. There have been injuries and players unfit to play. He had a great preseason and did well against Atletico Madrid.”

“I think we grew as the match wore on. Our problem isn’t in defence. I’ll go out on a limb and say our back line is the best in Europe right now. What I am worried about is the everything in front of them, where we have a lot of work to do.”

“We all know Raúl can be called up for the national team.”

Interesting, his statement on having the best backline in Europe is bullocks, but he is right about the midfield not doing their part. Diarra for me just has to do more defensively, while Guti will never defend adaquately, which is why Sneijder on the left is very important. Removing Guti from the center would give you better defensive cover, but Guti provides those delicious through balls, so its a dilemma definately. Guti has been relatively quite but I think he is doing alright, the decision on who plays where is a tough one for Schuster.

The best one I could find, and to be honest not much happened in the first half. I did wake up for the game but I was very hungover, and to be honest I sorta wish I stayed asleep. The first half made me drift off a few times, and seeing as how I got 5 hours of drunken sleep I was damn tired. I want more verve in Real’s play, but if Schuster is first getting the team to be solid then playing entertaining attacking football then so be it.

All I know is that entertaining attacking football has not won a Champions League title in quite some time. Barca and Arsenal was a great example of attractive stuff, but before then it was Pool, Porto and Milan, and since its been Milan. The attractive teams, Arsenal, Bremen, Roma and Lyon have not really got it done. Theres more attractive teams sure, im paraphrasing here so bear with me, but the snoor teams (Im looking at you Milan and Chelsea) usually get the result in the end. End of rant.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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