There Goes the Treble

By: Corey | January 17th, 2008

Real lost 1-0 to Mallorca last night in what was a one sided affair that somehow went Mallorca’s way. Here is the post match reaction from Schuster first:

“I said all I wanted to tell him face to face, and I don’t have to do so here,” he huffed.

“Have Mallorca won like Madrid do? No, they can’t win like Real Madrid. We clearly lost, though – we did everything possible to pick up a good result, but if things don’t happen, then it’s all over. We can’t miss so many times, but I have no qualms with my players.

“I’m happy about a lot of things because there were also positives. The negatives also have silver linings, and there’s much left to do.

“What went wrong? I think one thing was clear – we missed great chances, and that’s what happened. It’s not enough to play well and dominate. These things are paid for when you don’t score.

“The positives? It was worthwhile to pick the team that we did, because they played good football and made a lot of chances. We needed to see that the squad was all in good shape.

“That’s what’s positive to me – having all the players. We hope that all the injured ones will return as soon as possible and, in February, prepare themselves for the Liga and Champions League, which starts next month.”

“The referee? He was phenomenal. I liked him. He did what he had to do.”

Now the whiner Gregory Manzano:

“Madrid dominated the first half and we were lucky that they didn’t score, because that would have knocked us out. But we changed after the break. We took our chance with a great goal from Ibagaza.

“We took our opportunities, and thus the advantage, in the 2-1 round as well.

“With their early lineup, Madrid created problems. Guti and Gago had mobility and that harmed us.

“In the second period we tried to hold the ball more than in the first, and Madrid had difficulty taking it.

“Then they brought on their ‘gala’ side – except Raul, who wasn’t called up. We suffered a storm of chances, and for me the great star then was Miguel Angel Moya. He was superb, as was Ibagaza.

“I’m glad to win here because Madrid went twenty games without losing before that. Now, we go back to Mallorca glad to be in the quarter finals.

“In the first leg in Mallorca we did better in midfield. But today, in the end, Madrid were impotent, even though they could have scored and played with great tranquility.

“Madrid can be great, but their deadly attack wasn’t on show today. Then again, the stake today wasn’t as high as the last day of last season [3-1 Madrid win] or the last Liga match here [4-3 Madrid win], but the significance should have coaxed Madrid into using Robinho, Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder…”

“Still, we did what we needed to very well. It’s nice not to have played well but still to be in the quarters.

“The problem is, people will think that Getafe will be easy opponents, and that we’ll knock them out…”

I guess you would have to admit Mallorca have little motivation in the league now, as it looks nearly impossible for them to get a European place, so they will go for a Copa del Rey final berth and try and get into Europe through that, besides win the cup.

What to say? I dont have much, I watched bits and pieces of the game, my stream was inconsistent. I wasnt disappointed with what I saw, we played well but lacked creating clear cut chances, what half chances we had we couldnt put away. it has to be said that all of us here at the Real Offside saw this coming. Despite comments of optimism or pessimism, we all knew in the back of our mind that the Copa del Rey was an uphill struggle for this team. It was complicated by a toothless performance in the first leg and a couple of injuries and the loss of Djila to the ACN. But I dont like excuses, it shows weakness.

So what went wrong in this years Copa campaign? It came at the wrong time. Real has played effectively but not spectacularly for the first half of the campaign, but a winter break always effects a teams performance, and it effected the Copa first and foremost. I will say Real played much better today, they were passing the ball better, dominated possesion for long spells, and looked solid for the most part at the back (Canna shrugged off whatever injury he had to play). But Salgado does not help things, nor Marcelo. Neither does Gago. And Saviola cant score, he was very poor today. But can you blame him, he never plays.

I know its an excuse, but for Saviola it makes sense, he simply doesnt play enough to be the ruthless poacher we expect him to be. He may have lost it all together, but he looks like a shell of a player, and I wouldnt say boo if he was shipped off anywhere. Gago likewise, who just does not look like a defensive midfielder, but lack the distribution to be a Guti-type player. A loan for next season may be well advised, as I expect Granero will be much improved when he returns, and the market will be flooded with defensive midfielders this summer.

Michel Salgado was a great servant to the club, but theres no doubt that his time has passed with us. He is a huge defensive liability, likewise Marcelo, although I confess he is very young and is far from the finished product. The penchant of attack is great, but defensive duties should not be sherked, which is his major problem, he sort of isnt expected to be to good at defending or attacking. Well like Royston Drenthe, he needs to pick one. If he wants to to attack all game then he should move up to midfield, otherwise concentrate on defending and attack when it seems logical.

Canna is MVP so far for me. Ruud was wonderful this year, he is a close second, but Canna is playing through injuries and making us look somewhat sound defensively. I wont discuss Pepe, its just not the time to make much of a judgement on him, likewise Metz. Without Canna, Casillas would have faced more then what is already a league leading amount of shots. Casillas by the way, is third on my MVP list. Best keeper in the world anyone?

I trail off, so today we saw Higuain and Saviola up top being ineffective, Higuain atleast showing some intiative. He seems ill suited to score goals to me, I dont know what his position is yet, but the front runner isnt it. Baptista and Guti both labored on trying to hold things together along with Gago, and for the most part they did well, considering Mallorca’s midfield is what is impressive. Here were the lineups:

MATCH REPORT:
0- REAL MADRID: Dudek; Salgado, Ramos, Cannavaro, Marcelo; Higuaín (Robinho, 64’), Gago, Guti, Drenthe (Sneijder, 76’); Saviola (Van Nistelrooy, 45’) and Baptista.
1- MALLORCA: Moyá; Varela, Ballesteros, Ramis, Navarro; Besinas, Borja Valero, Tuni (Víctor, 58’), Jonás; Trejo (Ibagaza, 45’) and Arango (Pereira, 86’).
GOALS:0-1, min.82: Ibagaza lob over Casillas.
REFEREE: Luis Medina Cantalejo. Booked Arango (44’), Guti (51’), Jonás (68’), Baptista (72’), Borja Valero (78’), and Van Nistelrooy (90’).
NOTES: Return leg of the Copa del Rey Last 16 played at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Its a disappointing result, and after Lyon lost to Le Mans in a poor match, I have decided to take a break from football for a week or so. I will do a preview for Atletico, but I have not decided if i will watch the game yet. After the game, I will take the week off from writing as its my first week back at school so I will be busy moving into my new apartment, I have meetings for my job, new classes and have to do some stuff for the France Offside. Just letting you know, next week will be bare unless Steve gives everyone some stuff to read.