Wowwy Wow Wow
By: Corey | November 11th, 2007
The result was great, the defending not so much. But before I wax lyrical about today’s match, lets take a moment to remember Gabriele Sandri, a Lazio fan and DJ, who was shot and killed by a police officer trying to restore order after a melee between Juve and Lazio fans at a rest stop. This was called a “tragic error” or some bullshit like that, but the point is the po is trigger happy in Italy and fans, whether they are ultra’s slurring racist salutes or ordianry joe’s, are being shot down.
This is no way to solve the problem of fan clashes, but it seems to be a recurring theme. So here is an idea, when supporters groups clash, dont send in the scrawny cop with an ithcy trigger finger and a penchant for over reaction, because we all know he is waiting to get back at the first guy that looks at him funny. For the friends and family of Mr. Sandri, you have my humble apologies about the incident and our prayers go out to you. This is the best I could do for such a situation:
One could go on forever about the problems with Italian calcio, but then it becomes a emotional debate that involved politics, socio-economic factors and race. And we really dont need to do that here. Today Real Mallorca came to town, and even though they are not an impressive side, they certainly didnt fear the Bernabeu. Seems like teams dont anymore after the whole 3 year drought of winning anything. My hat goes off the Varela, who seemed to have Casillas (and the Real defences’) number today with two goals, the second a blistering strike that kept Iker rooted to the ground.
The game kicked off with one notable change, Torres coming in for the suspended Sergio Ramos. I thought it was Metz and Canna in the center, that was the picture of quality of the stream I picked up, but it was Heinze, which I discovered after a few minutes. I also discovered today I really do not like Gabriel Heinze, he is not a quality player, he made several errors today and was as usual diving and flopping all over the field and never getting punished for it. He made Cannavaro look horrible, so much so that he was hauled off in favor of Pepe at half time.
First Half
Anyways, so the game began with Robinho looking lively. After three minutes, Raul was sprung free from a Robinho through ball and he had a cross-cum-shot just miss the foot of the on-rushing Ruud. So close. Robinho then back heeled the ball to Marcelo who dallied a bit then dinked a cross in that Robinho some how caught up to and jumped over Raul to softly head into the net. GOALLLLLLL!!!!!!!! ROBINHO.
Mallorca were full of purpose and poise, and they looked good for a match. As soon as I though that, Nunez knocked a corner off the cross bar, completely unmarked in the center of the box, because Heinze had “fallen down” to get a free kick. Didnt work dumbass. Mallorca were on the accendency and they scored a beuat, Ibagaza wipping a ball across the back line which Marcelo completely missed clearing and Varela was able to clip the ball past Casillas and calmly finish. Good goal for Mallorca.
After that, Robinho again put us ahead in the 16th, but was suspicially offside. The ref’s were crap today, just throwing it out there. Robinho got a through ball from Sneijder that looked to have deflected off Raul which would have meant Robinho would be offside, but the linesmen missed that, so did the ref. Mallorca’s players didnt, and they were rightly aggrieved by the call.
The game progressed with Mallorca penetrating Real’s defense quite frequently, with Gago being rather ineffective and Heinze and Cannavaro lacking any understanding on who gets Guiza. Torres was solid, but other then that it was shambles. It was not a surprise to me that Mallorca equalized, Varela turning off his man before having all the time in the world to nail a show past Casillas. Why did he have all the time in the world? Because Heinze stood there and didnt challenge him, opting to duck/cower. Pathetic.
The teams went into the locker rooms with a 2-2 score and Schuster chewing out the lack of defense his boys displayed. Obviously he was not happy with Cannavaro as he was left in the locker room and Pepe was brought out. To be fair, Pepe should have come on for Heinze. 11 minutes into the second half and Mallorca would take the lead, another ricochet through ball, this time Diarra inexplicably touching the ball right into Guiza’s path and his side footed past Casillas.
Second Half
Sloppy as usual from Real, but Pepe looked strong throughout the match, unlike his partner. Marcelo also has gotten slightly better at defending, his major flaws being he doesnt recover his position after going forward quickly enough and he needs to pressure players putting in crosses more often. And Torres was solid.
Gago’s only meaningful contribution today was spraying the ball out to Robinho who danced his way into the box before laying off for Raul who tapped in to tie it up. Raul was quite up until now, but he would then collect a Gago pass and put Ruud through. At first it looks like he waited to long. But he was able to squeeze it past Lux for the game winner. The remaining time was spent with Real counter attacking but not beign rewarded for the huge amount of space that Mallorca was leaving in the back as they pressed for an equalizer. The Mallorca players looked exhausted and disheartened, and I do not blame them. Madridismo wins out yet again!
Match Stats
Shots (on Goal) 15(5) 9(4)
Fouls 19 12
Corner Kicks 2 5
Offsides 6 2
Time of Possession 54% 46%
Yellow Cards 2 1
Red Cards 0 0
Saves 1 1
The game slipped away from Mallorca after Guiza scored. They played their hearts out, but it seems that they just ran out of steam. I enjoyed the match, it proved two things, one is that Real still has alot of work to do defensively, and two is that even though Mallorca did not get any points, away teams simply have to take it to Real to get a result in the Bernabeu. I say this only because I hope more teams play like this instead of parking the team bus in front of the goal. My man of the match award goes to Robinho obviously, but I was pleased with Sneijder, Torres, and the front two.
Category: Team News
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Comments
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you are right..heinze is shit.and sir alex knew that i guess thats why he let him go..was a good bit of business for manu.
Posted from
India
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yep, more evidence of Mijatovic’s inept transfer dealings
Posted from
United States -
Actually, Canna was hurt (groin pull), which is the official reason Pepe went on in the second half. I’m sure Schuster was also anxious to get Pepe some playing time before the international break.
Marcelo was a serious defensive liability in this match, which certainly didn’t help Heinze, who is playing out of position as a CB (although he had done well in the previous two matches there). And I hate making excuses, but I think Canna’s ability to marshal the defense was impacted in this match because of the distraction of what was happening in Italy. No one (including Iker) having a good defensive day and complete lack of organization resulted in three goals for Mallorca. Luckily, the midfield looked pretty good and Robinho was on.
Posted from
United States -
The injury I did not pick up during the game because I do not understand the Chinese commentary. But this being true, it makes sense why Pepe was not brought on for Heinze. Heinze for me just is not the type of player Real needs. Marcelo will always be a liability, thats why Heinze should be good at center back, because he can cover well since he understands the duties of a left back as well as a center back, but he did not confirm this notion at all, he was very poor.
Posted from
United States -
There is a difference between not being a very good defender and being a liability to the defense. Marcelo has to be able to participate in an offside trap (second goal), he has to at least track back during a counter attack, he has to be able to communicate with the rest of the back line. No other defender can be responsible for another who is completely unable to defend, as we saw from Marcelo yesterday. Heinze is at RM to be a defensive leftback–they bought 2 CBs and kept Canna in order to fill the need in the center (unfortunately, it turns out they got two CBs with injury problems).
Marcelo can defend better than what we saw yesterday, and he has acknowledged that he’s learning defense during games when Canna is telling him what to do. So the best thing for him is this backline:
Sergio Ramos - Pepe - Canna - MarceloPosted from
United States -
Absolutely agree with you, Louise. And Marcelo is showing improvement in his areas of weakness (ineptness?). He’s getting much better at tracking back and containing the counter attacks to the wings, though he still has a long way to go.
I only caught the last twenty minutes of the game, but Pepe actually looked like the most convincing defender out there. Is there hope for what until now was just a tremendous, and absurd, waste of money?
Posted from
United States -
They bought Heinze because he was versatile, which means if he needed to play at CB he could. He is not a very good left back vs. a center back, Marcelo will always be out best bet on the left. He has a long way to go, but if he is learning by playing continually at such a young age then think of how good he will in 4 years. Drenthe would have the same problems as Marcelo in the back, so for now be prepared for out left being very exposed or lacking any attacking support (Heinze). Also, Heinze didnt need to play, Metzelder was at full fitness but was left on the bench. So clearly Schuster saw him as a CB but I would hope he thinks differently now.
Posted from
United States -
I don’t know, I have seen some impressive displays from Heinze at CB, and I’ve very little but clutz and awkwardness from Metzelder (Maybe ‘Help’ in German means ‘Stand stock upright and freeze!’). My hopes for the future CB postition are once again with Pepe… we’ll see.
Over all though, I’m (for once) pretty happy with the back line, and (for once) not too worried about it(!). Keeping in mind that Ramos can play CB, and deftly so, and that Torres is a more than suitable RB, I feel like we have talent and depth back there. For the first time in years we can discuss who we like best, rather than grumble about our lack of options.
And Corey - the amount of play that Marcelo is getting, the faith he’s been shown and the playing time he’s been given to improve: it’s down right inspiring. I can only imagine his level of play in four years, at this rate. And as for Heinze’s diving, I’ve been paying attention ever since you pointed it out, and it’s fucking hilarious! The art of Defensive Diving!
Posted from
United States -
The defensive options are a good thing to have, why it took so long to get them is beyond me. A move for Ezeqiual Garay either in January or June will see us have more option, but this is Canna’s final year in Spain. SPeaking of which, he has gotten better, he does not looks so crappy like he did this time last year against Lyon. I like Pepe too, but i need to see him play more to say he is the future. The one thing i know is Torres is a great right back, so maybe sergio ramos should be playing center back….
Posted from
United States -
I still want to see Sergio Ramos at center-mid - just once!
Posted from
United States
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