Turns Out Frank Ribery Is Not Worth All The Hullabaloo

By: Corey | January 19th, 2010

There has been talk in the papers about the possible signing of Scarface Frank Ribery ever since last summer when Arjen Robben was sold to Bayern Munich for a reasonable fee. It was thought that the reasonable fee Bayern paid was part of a secret deal to hold Ribery on retainer for a possible switch to Madrid this summer with the likes of Chelsea also in the frame. While the hype surrounding Ribery was intensified by the endorsement of club legend and lacking a title at the club Zinedine Zidane, has anyone stopped to think about whether the Ribery is a player that Real Madrid needs, or even more damning, is Ribery even a player with the required qualities to play for Real Madrid?

He is not lacking for talent sure, as his play for Marseille and Bayern Munich has shown his quality as a winger, and he always seems to be the star performer when in a France kit. He is quick and has great dribbling abilities and is capable of the most obscene goals. He can provide a cross for a teammate or a through ball, and his threat from the flank often means he is double teamed which creates space for others. His quality on the ball and his ability to come up with a special play or a game winner can not be underestimated. Ribery is a top notch player, but with those accolades comes some thorough scrutiny.

I read an article on Ribery from the France Offside and Ligue 1 Talk’s Dave Trotter on his Ligue 1 Talk blog about Ribery awhile back and he brought up some interesting points about Mr. Ribery that I thought I should share with you and then discuss in earnest. I consider Dave’s opinion to be of the highest standard when it comes to French football, so bear with him in his comments on Ribery:

First, lets look at his current situation at Bayern Munich. He is unhappy and wants to leave. When he was with Marseille, all he talked about was leaving. Same with Galatasaray. No matter where he goes, he wants to leave. He doesn’t show any composure. In addition, he doesn’t show any determination to help ‘his team’.

Second is leadership. As we just mentioned with Gourcuff, he has shown his leadership skills on the pitch. Same thing can be said with Jeremy Toulalan, who I expect to be the French National Team captain eventually in his lifetime. But Ribery, well, he just doesn’t have that. He just doesn’t have a ‘team work’ type effort. Instead of working with the ‘team’, he seems to only work for Franck Ribery, which is exactly what any team, national or club, doesn’t need.

Third is his fitness. Here in the United States, Brett Favre (a quarterback in the NFL) is considered one of the best players in American football history. Yes, he was able to put up the numbers. But in addition, he played in nearly every game, which even made his legend greater. Ribery has failed to show that he is a player whose fitness level is where is should be. Since being a pro, he has played more than 30 games only twice in his career (35 games, at Marseille and Brest). And, like the current situation in Liverpool with Alberto Aquilani, a team cannot rely on the services of a player who can only play part of the season. What good is that?

Three very interesting points to make about Ribery’s demeanor as a player. He is a selfish player, who can be considered a mercenary with little regard for the teams he has passed through in his career, and he is rarely fit, which begs the question: does he take care of himself?

As abstract as those qualities may be, the fitness issue is problematic and the other two have a heavy toll on the dressing room. With a locker room of large egos right now, would Ribery fit in to the mix? I have a feeling he would not, as every team can only handle one selfish genius, and our selfish genius is far better looking. We may have an opening in the misunderstood genius department with Guti at the tail end of his career, but the positional differences are glaring. With no commitment to a shirt, a lack of leadership and questionable motivation, is Ribery what a seemingly tight knit group needs this summer? At least from what I can gather, the squad is very close right now even with all of the new editions to the team, and I have serious doubts about Ribery being added to a squad brimming with talent as is.

Which brings me to the main reason I dont see Ribery as a necessary signing. The squad is brimming with talent in the midfield (everywhere to be honest), especially on the flanks with Ronaldo, Marcelo, Drenthe, Granero and optionally Higuain and Kaka. Ronaldo would be good enough for one team, Kaka as well, but both of them in the same team is certainly a bit of fantasy that I still have trouble believing Perez was able to pull off. I dont doubt he could get Ribery if he really wanted him, but where would he fit in to the midfield? It would surely mean we play with one striker (ehhh) or one central midfielder (gasp). How would his feeble legs (Ribbery has been on the treatment table more than Robben this year if that says anything) and mental state hold up in the pressure of the Bernabeu spotlight?

I could go on and on here, but I really do not want to. I think he is a great player as I already said but I dont want to see Real signing another big name player for the sake of causing a stir this summer and such. He is not going to sell shirts, he is a hideous beast. He is not going to be the poster boy for charity work or good religious values, and he wont appeal to the young girls who love abs and hair gel. He could be a good football for us, and he certainly can be a good player for Bayern. He already has been a good player for them, so I say let this one be. We dont need to add much to our squad, maybe a few young players for squad depth who can begin their development process under the wing of a Kaka, Ronaldo or Xabi Alonso. I dont want Ribery. Tell me what you think in the comments. Im sure many of you have strong opinions about this.

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Category: Editorial/Opinion

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Sid

thek5, Ruud has not played because he was injured.
thek5

i would rather have castilla promoted but we would be great with him because his dribbling abilites are different than ronaldos and kakas and ronaldo can't really driblle for some reason all he does is dance.. but where would we put him and am i the only one who thinks selling ruud is a mistake why is he not playing with benzema ?? the moment he came on he assited him and scored a goal for himself, isn't that a sign of a great partner ship,?? thats been bugging me all season.
Sid

Labomba, I read that in Marca. http://www.marca.com/2010/01/2...
labomba

How does he pass a medical test when he was supposedly injured and not even on the bench to help us out at Osasuna and Bilbao?? Something very fishy there, especially as the press here haven't even mentioned the above
Andres

yea read that , fuck ! we should have gotten rid of him this past summer and kept negredo , so much for being nice to him and allow him to fufill his contract
Sid

Labomba, you should worry. RVN has gone medical tests and the deal will be finalised tomorrow morning.
Andres

Sid Sky Sports too is reporting the canales thing

Labomba i dont think you should worry , Ruud isnt going anywhere if he did then our management is the dumbest in the world .........uh on second thought maybe you should worry
Sid

labomba, I think its just a rumor. There is another rumor that Stoke City have placed a 2M bid with Real accepting that. And there is another rumor that says Spurs are ready to outbid Stoke & WestHam.
labomba

Can anyone explain how Ruud who has only played 15mins for us as was supposed to be injured is now off to Hamburg?
I am gutted, we so need a target man to solve games like the ones Osasuna and Athletic, we'll be left with Raúl on the bench who is a media punta and unfortunately a slow one now at that
Sid

It is indeed a good news but it is only Marca who is claiming that and the permanent deal has not stuck yet.
Bobby

Crucialllll I just rejoyced out loud.
Fahaad

Guys, we have agreed a deal with Canales for six million euros where he will stay wid racing for a season or two. Based on the facts that chealsea were ready to put 10m on the table, he wanted to sign for us. i am glad a young pearl is looking forward to play for us, future is bright for RM. Sarabia and Canales in one team, wooohoo. let other ppl have more envy for Madrid, we rock.
HALA MADRID!
Sid

"Dude, quit embarrassing yourself. You said an article that basically said “It worked for Zidane so it should work for Kaka” as “amazing”. Just save some dignity and stop talking right now. I never said it is wrong to be optimistic, I just thought its funny how an author with 0 credibility can convince you of anything.
I read that article that you brought up and:
1. He didn’t say it was impossible.
2. It is absolutely not a brilliant article, all it did is state a few obvious things. Do you think I’m going to praise that article just because it says something good about Barca? Not everybody is a sucker like you."
===
"Goal.com’s Cyrus C. Malek points out that like Zizou before him, Kaka needs some time, patience and understanding to succeed at the Bernabeu" He didn't say because Zidane came out good for Real Madrid, Kaka will come out good as well. What he said is Kaka needs time to adapt like Zidane. When Kaka is doing well for Brazil and is underperforming for Real Madrid at the same time, what else can that mean? And Kaka has just revealed that he was playing with pain in the last six months and finally he is pain-free and Pellegrini has been playing him out of positions frequently.
Btw, I am not an asshole like you to just pick 10 words from a 100 line article and start complaining about what others have to say about that article. These arrogant Barcelona fans make more comments on Real Madrid pages than their own pages these days.
Ronnystar

To the disgruntled athletic fan. In life there are 3 attitudes towards your enemy: fear, envy and respect. Now it is clear that the athletic fan is envious and afraid of us. Just wondering, had we thrashed you, would you have commented here. Last week we stumbled in Bilbao, a venue that we had not lost for five years. It doesn't make their victory any sweeter.
It is athletic's policy to only sign basque players, we have no problem with that. Madrid is however a global brand. A brand so succesful that has almost become synonimous with the beautiful game. Doubting that? Well almost all news headlines were reporting, 'Madrid lost..., Madrid were beaten..' not saying athletic won. Now for one to keep up with the global demand, madrid has to sign players from all walks of life regardless of their nationalities or ideologies. I can with much confidence that no institution has promoted the modern game like madrid. Madrid has contributed a lot to the popularity of the modern game as evidenced by the media attention. Madrid's the most media scrutinised club. When madrid play week in week out, we play knowing millions are watching all over the world not just our neighbours. If madrid aint respected as you say, how come every player is dying to dorn the white jersey. If there's a 'vacancy' look at how linked players waggle their tails in declaring how they would wish to come play for. Do I need to mention some names here? Even those fanatic basque players would be trembling and drooling at the chance of just making to the madrid's bench. And so just you may know, madrid is the most successful sport institution; success is not built with stones.
labomba

Ryan I agree with you that the 6 plus 5 ruling will only disrupt the meritocracy that football must be.
However I also say this in the luxury of having a country with a surplus of home grown talent at least for the forseeable future.
Atletic's goalie for example is top class but would probably be rated 6th or so for the NT
I look at England my second country, what are we going to do this summer if Rooney gets injured ? Have we plumped confidently for a goalie yet?
The acadamy system has to be reviewed but not enforced by the 6 plus 5 ruling
Zizou

oh sorry i didn't even read the other comments, i should have said...... " what Bobby said"
labomba

Athletic fan
While I don't want to take the wind out of your sails, on your blanket criticism of RM fans, I think if you look wider than your tunnel vision a lot of posters(under the correct heading not this Ribery one) expressed admiration for your team's performance. I for one said hats off and the huge differentiation in budgets. We are not stereo typical bandwagoners as you have made us out to be
Talking of (as you describe) omnipotent recruitment may I point out that Bilbao's Basque only policy often means that other Basque teams' youth squads such as Alavés, Sociedad, Osasuna and Eibar get upset as a result of more lucrative offers from the financial big muscle team Atletic.
Zizou

we got 2 people from the UK now.

Atletic fan, trust me when Madrid when i get just as excited as you do when Atletic win. But the money thing, i swear we been through this before, just becuase we spend more, it still makes it fine for Barca to spend Millions on Alves, Ibra etc. and yet still get respect? I can understand your hate towards big clubs, as i hate chelsea because they bought their title, but then so do we. But how can you hate Madrid, and then not other clubs who spend millions too?
evo

another comment athletic fan...

I'm 35, I live in the UK - so you could argue quite reasonably that I'm not a typical fan that you have met before. One side of my family is from Madrid, my uncle used to play for the youth squad when he was younger.
Most of the poeple on this forum are not spanish supporters - therefore they represent an a-typical selection of Madrid fans.

At your age of 34 you must have realised that there are people out there with different attitudes and walks of life that don't see things the same way as you - but it doesn't mean they have the wrong attitude to life surely you realise that?
evo

athletic fan - a point well made, good post.
I can see where you're coming from and I think you're right that I (as a Madrid fan) will never experience the joy of being a 'giant killer' like you did last week....unless perhaps Castilla beats someone decent :)

...but for me personally, my excitement comes from watching the games - sure it's satisfying to win, but when we play good football it is the best feeling.
For me it's about being in search of the beautiful game (and before you ask, yes I do enjoy watching Barca ;)

I guess my point is that one of the great things about football is that we can all have different backgrounds and nationalities and get something different from wathcing our team....clearly your following of athletic gives you a sense of respect and prinicple in your life .... and i think that's really brilliant.

For me it's something different - that's all.
Bobby

for anyone who is interested. I was so disgruntled by Athletic fans post that It sent me on an opinionated writing spree that argues footballing industry logic, morals, and opinion oriented counter arguments to what he had to say. Click my name.
Yaat

"Is it a crime to be optimistic that Kaka will turn out good? Or is Zidane the only player to have taken a long time to adapt himself to Spanish football? What an idiot. Paul McDonald writes it will be impossible for Real Madrid to catch Barcelona because Barcelona are out of Copa Del Rey. That must be a brilliant article, isn’t it?"

Dude, quit embarrassing yourself. You said an article that basically said "It worked for Zidane so it should work for Kaka" as "amazing". Just save some dignity and stop talking right now. I never said it is wrong to be optimistic, I just thought its funny how an author with 0 credibility can convince you of anything.

I read that article that you brought up and:

1. He didn't say it was impossible.

2. It is absolutely not a brilliant article, all it did is state a few obvious things. Do you think I'm going to praise that article just because it says something good about Barca? Not everybody is a sucker like you.
Ryan

What do you mean watered down? The premier league's level of play has become dramatically better with the influx of foreign talent. If you don't believe me, watch some games from the early 90's. Yes there are less englishmen playing, but its not because england is getting worse, it's because they are forced to compete with better players for those spots. While i see your point, you said it yourself "expensive foreign talent". Fundamentally players play on a meritocracy- he who is the best plays. 6+5 will fundamentally undermine this system, and assert that though you may be an inferior player, you must start over a more talented player, but less lucky in birth origin.

The one side of this argument I will give you every day is the fact that teams have less national identity, you got me there.

And like I said, depending on how they write the rules you'll just see an even larger growth of super-young talent farming.

The level of play in all the big domestic leagues and the cl will drop if 6+5 is inacted, unless of course messi counts as a "academy player".

The final point it that I live in the U.S., and right now landon donovan (probably our best player) is on loan at everton. He is playing in a better league, with more competitive defenses than he will ever play back home in mls. 6+5 tells all the North American players, and african, and asian, (basically everybody but europe) that you are stuck at the level of play you are at, unless you are a true phenom. But as it stands 6+5 will protect the gome countries and guarantee that they will make every world cup, which is what blatter wants. There is a reason the 6+5 calls got much louder when England missed out on the euro 08 (though maybe it was cause they were too stubborn to hire a top level manager and said they needed an englishmen). Frankly I am shocked platini hasn't decried this as the big guy stepping on the little guy that it obviously is.
Bobby

name five wives*
Bobby

Athletic fan, We'll let you have your moment in the sun, but we support a club we love. u support a club u love. Just because Our club decided to spend millions of euros on world class players doesn't mean I;m going to abandon my love for my club. Apparently world class players is a bad thing to you? Okay you beat us. I congradulate you. you earned the win. These players are at this club because they are the best at what they do and thats what the club wants for our fans. We don't care what anyone else thinks about us. It's easy to hate the successful. We aren't winning titles for Bilbao. We don't win titles for Barca. We don't win titles to earn respect. We win titles for Madrid and madridistas all over the world. Don't wanna respect us? dont have to, it'll just add fuel to the rivalry fires.

You wanna know what I think? You finally crawled out of ur basque cave because u finally have something to brag about on a big club stage. Nothing but basque players. how conceded. At madrid we accept all players, all nationalities. Anyone who will earn this club and its beautiful fans victory is welcome to wear the white shirt. If you think about it, we're smart. We haven't broken any rules, we're playing by the same rules you are. Just historically, and currently despite your recent win, we just do it much better. And I garuntee you that everybody on this team's family can't be more proud of their son or brother, or grandson, or father for wearing the shirt of the greatest club this world has ever seen.

I have respect for what you do at bilbao. but just beause you have a different philosphy doesn't make you any better than us Madrid supporters. In a way it makes you worse for being ethnocentric. And as for acting as doctor phil... I'm pretty sure u can't even wives of 5 of our players, let alone know if they love them or not.

I appologize if this post seems iltempered corey, but I'm not going to have anyone disrespect my club or it's players.

"If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all" - Mom

In conclusion Athletic fan, we'll see you at the Bernabeu.
Ryan McManus

Hmmm... I'll go ahead and say that the Athletic Fan's comment was in response to mine on the Bilbao blog. What you fail to realize is that Athletic Bilbao and every other club is just as much about the money as Madrid, but Madrid happens to be the richest. Maybe if you were the fan of a second or third division could I see your perspective, but at the moment I only see jealousy and an inferiority complex on your part. Stop moralizing football, it's an entertainment business. Sure, it has powerful historical and cultural roots but in the modern day, the only point of acting so morally superior is so people like you can justify your prejudice.
Ryan

junaid, it will entirely depend on how he inacts the 6+5, but truthfully I do not think it will ever succeed because it is a clear violation of EU freedom of labor movement laws, and their concurrent agreement with afica.

The reason it depends- messi has been in the barca cantera since he was 14 or something; however he is not a native born spaniard, so it will depend on the definitions installed. Another example is the da silva twins on manu. They played in the youth system, and were developed in their academy, but are still brazilians purchased at the age of 18. There is some talk that it will come down to number of years in the 'scademy system', which will just lead to even younger age farming of south america and africa. Hope some of that helps.

Personally I am against it because it serves to kill growth of talent from outside the big leagues. Yes smaller leagued contries - uruguay for example, would hold onto their best players, but would Diego Forlan be the same calibre player if he could only have developed in the Uruguyan league? By the same idea, Jeffren Suarez (at ajax) is another developing Uruguayan forward, do you think Ajax would have taken a gamble on him if they could only start 5 foreigners? All 6+5 will accomplish is to keep the bigger countries better and starve out the smaller countries developing players from playing in premier competition, and drive up the price of domestic players - suddenly mata goes from 20 mill euro's to 40 simply for being Spanish. The premier league is the worst offender of all.

Now look at it like this, the average team in the premier leage starts 4 englishmen- meaning every team would need to have 2 more start just to fit the rule. Now the big clubs would probably want a spare for each starter of almost equal quality to have no dropoff in case of injury or suspension. So lets look at the numbers-

currently 20 clubs start 4 englishmen- 80 english players

if 6+5 happens 20 * 6= 120, and that's with no subs!

So where does the EPL come up with 40 extra englishmen to start? Simple, they have to pick over the championship, reducing the overall quality starting with the premier league and reaching all the way down through the championship. Sorry for the long post, I could write a whole article on the numerous downsides to this crap.
Corey

Umm okay? Thanks for the comment I guess?
Andres

athletic fan i think that you're an hypocrite you say you dont respect us because we spent a lot of money to right our ship yet you claim that you respect clubs like Manchester United who do exactly the same and if you were Such a follower of spanish football you'd know that Barcelona too spent a lot of money to get where they are , they might have won their 6 trophies with 7 canteranos on the team but it hasnt always been that way , not long ago their team was like the netherland NT
ACmilan too have spent a lot of money on players in the past you could argue that we've sent more than everyone this summer but acting like we're the only ones that spend makes you lose all credibility

You hate real madrid ? that's fine nobody cares but we here are fans of this team now and forever get over it
Athletic Fan

Edit Message
I am 34 years old, I have lived in Bilbao all my life, so like most of you who live in Spain, I have been following Spanish Football since the day I was born. In my experiences I have met plenty of RM fans. Most of the fans I have encountered do not have the right attitude towards life.

If you are one of those fans who say "RM is my religion", or something like that...Then I pity you.

You will never experience the true joy of football, NEVER. Sure, your teams as a whole lot of trophies, but the joy of success is not the best joy of all. Especially if nobody appreciates what you do. Last weekend, we Athletic Bilbao fans beat a team that spent 300 M E on world class players. We beat that team with mostly academy players. We never have a lot of success other than the rare league title, but what we do have, is respect.

There are these multi-millionaires that have the money, control, power, but nobody, not even their family respects them. I don't know about you, but "I'd rather have a soul than success." I would never choose the life of having a lot of money, a wife who married me just for the money, kids who don't respect me. I would always prefer my current life. Average income, but a family who respects me and appreciate what I do.

Get that idea in your head, and now imagine the best possible outcome of this season for RM. Let's say RM win La Liga by a large margin, and dominate everyone in Europe and win the Champions League. Let's say the next year, RM go on to win the treble, heck, let's make it 6 trophies like FC Barcelona did in 09. Do you think you will gain any respect or appreciation? Absolutely not, no matter what you achieve, people will always, and rightfully so, point to the fact that you spent 300 M E. Then what is the joy of winning these tainted trophies? People will always remember the 300 M E that you spent, and most importantly, people will never look up to you, never respect you. I'm a big admirer of AC Milan, Barcelona and Manchester United, for example. They are not as successful as RM, but they are clubs people will respect. The whole world admires Barcelona for winning 6 trophies with what was it..7 academy players? People will respect AC Milan. When Messi won the Ballon D'or, the sent him congratulations. In return, Barcelona coach Pep dedicate his CL win to an AC Milan player. This is the idea of respect, something RM will NEVER have.

When we beat your team stuffed with superstars worth 350 M with academy players, we too, gained some respect. This is the true beauty football..and life. If you are not respect nor appreciated, then the success you have means nothing.
Ryan

zizou do you not think gago and guti will leave? I agree with bassam, parejo needs another year at getafe, and personally I think negredo needs another at seville.
Zizou

oh ok, sorry to spoil your fun, carry on :)
Bassam

I was just excited about the interaction between our cantera products. I think another year of first team football will do Parejo good and then he moves back to Real Madrid.
Zizou

oh and Metzelder
Zizou

Bassam i wouldn't get too excited, he needs to have an amazing 2nd half of season to come back, same with Andres, we should be definitaly getting 2 new players this summer, and Van Nisterlooy, and maybe Drenthe are the only players i think will leave.
Ryan McManus

For all those interested, here is Adam's response to this article:
http://www.oleole.com/blogs/re...
Zizou

Hey Bassam!

we got a perfectly good left winger, just wish we could play him their.
Sid

Is it a crime to be optimistic that Kaka will turn out good? Or is Zidane the only player to have taken a long time to adapt himself to Spanish football? What an idiot. Paul McDonald writes it will be impossible for Real Madrid to catch Barcelona because Barcelona are out of Copa Del Rey. That must be a brilliant article, isn't it?
Yaat

lmao at sid. He gets encouragement from a RM fan.

And what an idiotic article. If it worked for Zidane I guess it will have to work for Kaka right? LOL
Andres

that was some great link up Bassam , parejo looks like he will be ready to come home next season
Bassam

Andres and all you guys might enjoy this. Look at the link up play between soldado and Parejo in Getafe's first goal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Bassam

On another interesting note, Negredo had a great game for Sevilla in the cup yesterday. He scored a goal after a good run and great assist by Navas and then he returned the favor for Navas by assisting a goal after showing great movement with the ball on his feat. A sign of the Negredo we always expect.
Andres

hector the only player that really likes taking those shots is Marcelo but that's not what we're complaining about what's bothering us are the Gilt edge chances we misss , chances even you and I would put away
there is nothing wrong with our build up IMO because we move the ball around well with intent and one two our way into the opposition's box then thats where it all goes astray
take a look at these highlights for yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

it will give you a better idea of what bothers us
Bassam

I've been gone for a while, but now that vacation is over, i can go back to interacting with you guys here! I've been reading the posts regularly, just never found the time to comment.

I agree with Corey and most of you on the Ribery dilemma. The way i see it is that we already have Benzema warming the bench. We also have Granero and VDV on the bench as well. Do we really need a High profile left winger in the team? The answer is easy in my opinion. We need a player that roams the left of the field, but at the same time provides good defensive duties to cover for the back. Marcelo is doing that job right now, as he is the only option other than Drenthe. Ribery is not a player that will help out in defense and covering back. We already have Higuain, CR9 and Kaka to not cover back, can we really risk adding 4 players with no defensive duties? I don't think that is possible.

Even Barca force messi and Henry to track back when the opposition is known for its attacking full backs. Silva is a player that can do well there, as he is used to playing at a bit of a reduced role with defensive duties. Silva also adds versatility as he can play in 3 or 4 different positions in midfield and second striker roles. He also passes the ball very well, and we really do need another creative passing player in our midfield.

With all that said, i do wish Granero steps up sometime soon and claim that position his own, as i really do think he can take over that spot. If that happens, i am with either waiting for Sarabia to come of age and rise to the first team, or buy one of those talents on the left wing that are apparently booming in europe. I don't mind an 18 year old player coming into the team and in 3 years making the big step up like Pipita did.

Last note, we can't afford to lose anymore. This means that the curse of the Riazor has to be broken next week. If any coach can do that, and if any group of players can do that, then its the team we have right now. I just wish Higuain was there, as he is obviously our greatest goal threat.

Hala Madrid!!!
Hector

Regarding the problem you good folk are having of many shots resulting in few goals, don't you think that maybe the answer could be to take fewer but higher quality shots and hold possession when an opening is not there. Kaka and a few others have obviously missed very good shots but some of your other players seem to have a knack for losing their patience and taking pot shots from outside the box way too often. Even Valdano was quoted today as saying that "this team gets vertigo too often and doesn't wait for help from the back". Ironically, I think you guys probably have the exact opposite problem of Barca who too often try to walk the ball inside the net instead of just taking a few damn shots every now and then. Some patience and more emphasis on build up play will go a long way to helping out IMO. Cristiano has always been a volume scorer (he scores a ton of goals but takes an obscene amount of shots to score them) but has to be a little bit more patient in this system.

I don't understand the "wing problems" since it is well known that Pellegrini does not use wingers in his system. He has center midfielder who can occasionally go wide and attacking wingbacks but no wingers. It is a bit of a controversial system to be sure but Valdano and co. have stood by it. Silva is a good media-punta/winger hybrid who would be a better fit than Ribery IMO but at the same time he is very similar to Kaka in that they both like to inhabit the same area of the pitch and drift to the left before cutting in.
Sid

Left wing problems means the Marcelo problem.
==
This article is amazing. http://www.goal.com/en/news/17...
Zizou

left wing problems??
Viking_Madrid

Franck ribery is the answer to our left wing problems at real madrid...
Bobby

Maybe Kaka will get a little confidence with a goal, even if it was a friendly in albania, same goes for Benzema
Zizou

just saw some of the highlights, the goal we conceded, wow, i'd normally say at least its a friendly and if it was for real we'd be much better than that, but i really doubt that, we just can't defend crosses. However was good to see Raul, looked like he had ( wasted) a lot of chances but at least he was actually playing as a striker. Guti looked great :) and Benzema scored a goal we've been wanting for a while now, just a simple tap in.
Sid

Cheers for the victory but we need a lot of shooting practice.
Andres

we played well as always created a LOT OF chances and missed most of them , we still won 2 to 1 though ,benzema and kaka scored
Zizou

awww shit forgot about the game!, how we do? what was the score...
Sid

Yeah man. I remember the Barcelona game everytime we miss.
Andres

If we could convert half the chances we create in every game we'd score 5 goals a game at least
Sid

Finally, Benz scores. Hurray!
Sid

Yes Marcelo.
Andres

Benzema!
Andres

what feed are you guys using
Ryan

nevermind
Ryan

hey can anyone tell who is playing lb? arbeloa is at right, so i'd assume marcelo but i really can't tell.
Sid

Oh Ok.. Match resumed. :D
Sid

There is no electricity. Lol
Andres

i have no idea , i cant find the second half anywhere was it supposed to be a 45 minutes match ?
Ryan

no kidding! i kept thinking it shoulda been time
Sid

Wtf has happened to the match?
Andres

Ryan yea i know what you mean i guess thats just the risk well have to take if we go for him , people seem to be preferring silva but he is just as injury prone as Ribery maybe the staff will make sure he sustain less injury than he did this season i dont know anyways this is all just hypothetical we might not even go for him in the end

Sid i dont think that he will be a starter but he could have the raul type of role , we all know he doesnt need 90 minutes to score a goal or two
as for the free transfer ..not gonna happen
Sid

Will RVN be preferred for the starting lineup? I read that he is available for free transfer.
Ryan

I'm not going to read to much into this thing either way, though I have to agree our shooting has been pretty poor both today and back against bilbao and osasuna.

Andres I understand what your saying about ribery not playing every game allowing us to still grow marcelo; however my issue is that I know I'll be pissed off the first time (and every time) he misses el clasico, or a crunch cl game, or a trip to the mestalla, etc. I feel the price is too high for the reliability, though his ability is undoubtedly great.

btw Ryan McManus I'm 23, haha.
Andres

yea Sid thats why i cant wait till ruud is back im sure he will help in that department , because as we all know he is deadly in front of the goal
Sid

Yes Andres, It is worrying me as well. We have some of the best attackers in the world and still we are creating 50 and scoring 1.
Andres

not for this friendly but in general
Andres

well its half time now , 1-1 we really need to work on our finishing its starting to worry me
Andres

Don't know sarabia's record but he is definitly more skilled than bojan

Ahh what a goal that would have been
Andres

what a pass by guti
Andres

kaka's killing birds again
Sid

I read somewhere that Bojan Krkic scored 900 goals in 7 youth seasons for Barca and Sarabia's record is something similar. Does anyone know how Sarabia's record looks?
Andres

Sid true I just enjoy the fact that we consistently play this way these days
Andres

goal kaka!!
Sid

Andres, its against an Albanian team. If we can't play good football against them, how do we become the best team?