What what?

IN THE BUTT

damn, he's such a guido.

and it's awesome. i hope they go broke.

idd, wish i could read the spanish newspapers today

heheheheheh

They are basically blaming Pellegrini and Higuain. The only 2 good things they have, and its the 2 things they want to kick out.

higuain's a cunt, pellegrini's an ass

haha, I love how the press all hate Higuain because he isn't a signing from the current president :D

It's even funnier how they completely disregard the fact he netted 16 goals in 19 league appearances just because he had 2 bad games and was, let's be honest, here, super unlucky to hit the post in the second Lyon game.

I'll never understand the Spanish press.

Yes without Higuain they might, if they were lucky, be fighting for 4th in la liga right now.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_6015140,00.html

LMAO@Poland

wait, wrong thread.

OH U

Zto?

bring it with the nickchange already, we're all expecting it! or was it just one big tease?

It's on my to do list ok!?! I can even show you a screenshot with the list of names in my email inbox!

:D bad, bad boy. is it gonna be funnyb?!

LMAO @ EMO :D

LMAO@poland

OK@OK

and, if you lose, just l2p

dont make stupidface infront of camera and cry about it or think about your teammates boner during practice

They got exactly what they deserved ;)

I'm glad they're out, but not because i hate Real or anything. Rather, it just maintains the point that you can't buy a team in one transfer window and expect it to win everything.

Fuck Perez and his megalomania.

I'm glad they're out because they aren't actually any good.

Stick two guys on Ronaldo and they can't play football...

Well, i think they have a lot of potential. Alonso links the formations well enough, if they let him actually fucking play, and not push him out of the squad to make space for the struggling, out of place Kaka.

With Alonso absent, they don't have a real playmaker on the field. Lass and Gago can hardly pass straight, Kaka is lurking too much ahead to make him work, Guti is shit, Granero, while definitely good, is too inconsistent.

I'm pretty sure Perez forces Pellegrini to field the names he wants in the big games. Hey, Kaka and Ronaldo sell lotsa shirts, awesome. Poor guys tries to make the best of what he's given but that just can't work.

Ronaldo and Kaka can't play in Pellegrini's preferred tactic so he's using the go-to 4231 formation when your players can't find the right balance (e.g. Arsenal last season or just generally most teams!).

They've not got a deep squad and overall a weak defence too if you ask me:
- Ramos and Marcelo can't defend
- Arbeloa is average
- Albiol, Garay, Metzelder and Pepe are hardly stunning

If they spend even more on getting a proper squad, Pellegrini could make them a good team but they won't be without more money which is pretty sad.

Every football fan knows this, except Real fans and their clubs' politicians.

Instead of getting a solid defence, the names floating around are Rooney, Villa, Torres.

My comprehensive RM fixing plan.

Sell:
- Lass
- Guti
- Diarra
- Alonso
- Gago

Buy:
- Fabregas
- Ribery
- Rooney
- Torres
- Villa

Casillas in goal, Fabregas + Kaka in CM, rest up front and no defence.

:D

I wouldn't sell Lass and Alonso. Lass is a solid DM, and will only keep getting better, whereas Alonso is, imo, one of the world's best playmakers, he just needs people around him to actually play to.

I personally would say farewell to Kaka, since he's completely redundant, either of the Higuain/Benzema duo for the same reason, Ramos for the reason you gave (my god, is that man shite in defense), grab a class leftwinger to compliment Ronaldo (Ribery would be ideal, but i really hope he'll stay in Munich to work his magic with Robben there), and use the obtained money to at least partially fix the mess that their defense is.

Of course, that's what a sane person would do, not Perez. He'll probably buy Torres, Villa, Ribery and Pato in the summer and tell the new coach to work it out.

how about getting robben? ... oh wait

Robben is a right winger. :P

Guy's a genius, but i can understand why they wanted to sell him, he's just too injury prone to last, while Ronaldo hardly ever picks one up.

If not for that, you'd have to be insane to sell him just to buy someone who's on a comparable skill level, for several times the money. + Robben doesn't look like a faggot, to boot.

Well to be fair I think ronaldo > robben

In fact he is the only one imo who is at least somewhat close to being worth the money they paid for him after that ridiculous spending spree.

Kaka on the other hand, I haven't seen him play so much in the past. And after watching him in a couple of CL games for Madrid I don't see what the fuzz is all about. He looks rather ordinary to me. Nothing like e.g. a Ronaldinho from 2006, which is what you'd expect for a price like that. Benzema the same. He may be good, but I doubt he is worth his pricetag.

And then you have players like Sergio Ramos, who must be close to being the worst player in the world. A massively overrated GK in Cassilias. A striker like Raul who is over the hill, but has to play because he is Mr Real Madrid or something. And instead they sell great players like Robben and Sneijder. Now they are probably going to fire the coach, which will be something like the 4th coach in 4 years.

That club is just a complete mess.

Kaka has always been overrated if you ask me, he just looked amazing against rubbish, slow Italian teams in a team literally designed around him.

He plays well for Brazil and is a very functional player but he's nowhere near worth what they paid for him.

Agree.

While I would agree on your selling list (excepting Alonso) the buying list just doesn't match. They are all superb players, but all the players you are selling are midfielders and most of the ones you buy are attackers ;)

They really need a much better midfield. They don't move the ball as a team, but just want to reach the enemy goal each on their own.

The central defenders aren't as bad a some guys are saying (well, Metzelder is). They can do perfectly fine. Left side is very weak, tho, and right side is better at offense than deffense.

I love how marca has a poll on what "star" they should buy to "strengthen" the team for next season after yesterdays debacle.

With choices like Ribery, Fabregas, Rooney

Yeah why not Rooney... What do they expect to pay? 500 million?
Maybe they could swap him with Ronaldo?

Friggin hilarious.

Fabregas would work, but he's not going anywhere and even if he was, there's no way he'd go to Madrid.

LOL, ye. Marca is probably at the top of the reasons I'd point as guilty of Real's lack of success, alonside Perez's megalomanía.

Yeah, man. It's fuckin ridiculous how they praise a guy one day and make him look lik shit the next. Worst kimd of journalism, searching for cheap sensations. Sad thing is, people buy into that. :/

tbh. You see that kind of sportjournalism pretty much in every country.

That's true, but it's seems only there it's able to switch opinions from one extreme to another in the blink of an eye while completely disregarding reality.

No, mate, really. I know what you mean, but Marca has surpased insanity since a bunch of years ago. Check the article linked at the last post of the thread. It's a pretty acurate description of it.

Metzelder was a top-class defender until he joined with real.
Sadly he got injured and never was considered after that. He was the best defender in the bundesliga for quite a long time with nearly 90% 1on1 situations.

Well, Kolo Toure was once very good too :P

You know, i think Real is the most proficient club at destroying potential. Kaka, Metzelder, Hargreaves, Huntelaar, Vaart, Drenthe, Nistelrooy ( how the fuck can you turn Van The Man into a shadow of his former self??), Benzema, Gravesen, that brit def who scored a fuckton of own goals.. even Zidane didn't play as good in Real as he did in Juve.

What the fuck?

Hargreaves?

He was a Bayern Munich player.

Aye. Guess he's on my 'wasted talent' brainwave, i confused him with that Woodgate guy. :x

I wonder how good Hargreaves would have been if he wasn't worse than Rosicky on the injury front...

Van Nistleroy walks into a bar ...

barmans says ....

Why the long face ?

Yeah, their defence isn't really that bad, it's just none of the players seem to want to play as a team though.

You'll never get Ronaldo and Kaka to do any defending, all their careers they've simply been asked to use their technical skills to drive at the opponents and score goals or provide assists.

It'll never work playing both in the manner Madrid try to, they need at least a third central midfielder if they want to (more like a Barca setup).

So you're saying that with lassana, alonso and kaka centrally they still need more CM's while only really having Cristiano as a good winger? :)

I don't think they should play 4231 so Kaka wouldn't play centrally.

So Kaká would be sitting on the bench?

Because he can only play as an AM/SS right?...

It's pretty simple really. If you don't have two competent fullbacks who can provide the offense you need while not having at least two good wingers you're not going to put a €59m signing down the flank or as a central midfielder.

His only chance is for Pellegrini to copy Dunga's Brazil (probably the most adaptable formation out there) or AC Milan in 2004-2007 (4321) or he can work hard and learn to play as a half-winger.

The problem? Real Madrid don't have the right players capable or willing to play those systems.

Rooney won't leave!

That's laughable. They already have a better squad than Barcelona in terms of depth. What they lack is wingers forcing them to a limited style of attack.

There's not much need for your fullbacks to be good defenders if you're playing possession football (like most good teams do) and if you're pressuring higher up in the field. Look at Barcelona. They're very aggressive while not in possession and they win back the ball in the offensive zone most of the time. Neither Daniel Alves or Maxwel/Abidal are much better than Ramos defensively.

They already have a better squad than Barcelona in terms of depth.

Not. If they did have, Pellegrini's tactics would work every game, win, draw or lose. Barca has a much more balanced squad, with a competent player for each position with a valuable replacement at the ready should he pick up an injury (maybe except for the goalie, i still am not convinced Valdez is good enough for that team).

Whereas, Madrid struggles whenever any first team player is out for the count. They played disastrously without Ronaldo, when he picked up an injury earlier this season, and whenever Alonso doesn't play, it's almost physically painful to watch them try playmaking. Hell, they struggle even if all their first team players are on the field, and that tells us something is amiss in terms of team balance.

Also:

Neither Daniel Alves or Maxwel/Abidal are much better than Ramos defensively.

No offense, but that's bullshit. All of the above are heaps and leaps better than Ramos, or any other Madrid defender/dm, for that matter, with the exception of Lass and Arbeloa. While i'm not a fan of Maxwell, since he's way too error prone, Alves and Abidal are world class defenders. While you're right that Barca's trademark is taking possession back even before the ball reaches their third of the pitch, note that most goals they lose is from fast counters that pierce their ranks, too fast for their defense to comprehensively position themselves and block it. It doesn't say that their defenders are weak, it's just a risk they take by playing such offensive, possession oriented football. In fact, i think it's a testimony to how good their defenders are, them losing so few goals thus far.

I'm not debating the starting line-up or how the teams performs only that if you look at the whole squad player by player they have a broader and bigger squad.

The issue with them not playing as good is that they've been switching coaches regularly and the club president has been buying players without the managers approval so it's a natural situation they find themselves in. They need more time which isn't a luxury at Bernabeu.

You disagreeing doesn't make my opinion bullshit. Alves isn't better defensively as he's much more a winger than anything else and that's why he fits perfectly with Barcelonas style of play and also one of the reasons Maicon plays instead of him with Brazil. Saying that Maxwell and Abidal are better than Albiol and Pepe >defensively< is just... clueless.

Again, no offense, it's just my take.

Having a broader squad is meaningless if the players that provide said depth are weaker than their counterparts, so the word "broader" is much more fitting here than "deeper". I'm also pretty sure that Barca could drag out quite a few skilled players form their youth teams and reserves if need be, just like they did with Pedro when Messi was injured.

As for Alves, i am always keeping a close eye on him whenever i watch Barca play, and he always is at least solid in defense, very rarely not managing to get back to position from a forward run. He's sharp with his interceptions, as well. Maicon is the first choice for Brazil just because he is that little bit better overall, but that doesn't mean Alves is weak, or even mediocre. He is more of a winger, aye, but his skill portfolio is exactly what is needed there.

And yeah, i might have gotten a bit carried away with the "heaps and leaps" part, in the context of everyone other than Ramos. Still, Barca does lose less goals while playing more offensively, and that's saying something. It could be because they're more of a unit, rather than a collection of individuals that Real seems to be, but i didn't observe many awkward defensive mistakes by Barca throughout the season, while in Real it seems to be a common occurrence.

"The best defense is a good offense"

Only if you can execute the "offense" part properly. :P

In what way have they got a deep squad?

The major difference between Alves/Maicon and Ramos:
1) They get excellent cover for both club and country
2) In comparison both have stronger tackles
3) In comparison both read the game much better
4) Both are powerhouses who are pretty much capable of running the entire right flank on their own

Now, you could say it's tactical with regards to 1, since he's usually fine for Spain, but you see it's a problem as the only two players interested in defending for Real are Alonso and Lass (hence the 4231). Everyone else is disinterested, so having a fullback who can't defend is a massive liability.

If Ramos bombs forward, which he does on a regular basis, the only player who is able to properly cover him is Lass. If Lass moves out wide it leaves Alonso alone in the centre and he gets outnumbered.

So they need to either have a much better defending right back (Sagna), play 442 with wide midfielders (not wingers) such as Hleb, or provide more cover centrally (433/451), which Kaka cannot and will not do.

When Man United had Ronaldo they played Tevez/Park and Rooney to charge around up front and had their defence sit deep and their central three mostly just sat in front.

Real Madrid play four players in the attacking area who don't try to win the ball back and an attacking full back who gets no cover.

It isn't a massive liability if you're playing posession football with a high pressure like Barcelona does. Most of the time you'll be dictating the game and when possession is lost you'll eventually win the ball back in the offensive zone. The liability risens when when you face a more physical defensive opponent with a good counter down the flanks - or simply a team with more possession.

Er, that's the point isn't in?

None of the Real Madrid attacking players do any defensive work or pressuring and none of them will.

Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Higuain et cetera et cetera.

Also, with the exception of Barcelona I can't think of a single club who is currently even close to matching their work rate, tactical discipline and ability to keep possession.

It's all well and good saying, "you just need pressure and possession" but if you don't have the players (e.g. Real Madrid) then it's not going to happen and thus Ramos is a complete liability when he attacks as he's not a good enough defender.

That's not true. Henry, Messi and Ibrahimovic doesn't put much more pressure than Ronaldo, Kaka, Higauin or Benzema. Barcelona just plays slightly more aggressive with a higher defensive line. Their squad fits the tactics much better and there's also a big defference between individual defending and putting pressuring as a team. They rely alot on their offense and can easily switch out Kaká and Cristiano go defensive with Mahamadou and Guti centrally.

It's been said a million times: Their squad not beeing optimal for Pellegrinis tactis is a result of their transferpolicy. They have just as many points as Barcelona with a better +/- ration in La Liga and all this with a squad that tactially limits Pellegrini down the flanks. La Liga doesn't offer that much competition and they can get away with all the talent the team has but vs better teams and in the CL they've found themselves struggling.

big difference between individual defending and putting pressuring as a team

Exactly. Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Higuain etc have no interest in defending and Ramos is a poor defender who doesn't receive effective cover.

So basically, the squad is weak and it has nothing to do with not having wingers but having too many players not defending or good enough at defending playing all at the same time.

The Barcelona forwards do put more pressure on the ball and it's exacerbated by the high defensive line and well drilled team pressing and a strong central midfield (3 vs 2 at Madrid).

How would switching out Ronaldo and Kaka with Diarra and Guti help?

Are you seriously asking why going a 4-5-1 with Diarra and Guti would be a better choice defending a lead compared to Kaka and Ronaldo in a 4-3-1-2?

Obviously not, that's an extreme situation and doesn't fix any problems except for hanging onto a lead when you're being beat.

It has nothing to do with the squad or the overall tactics.

Add their 1 billion debt. Why the hell are they still around?
They should be bankrupt.

madrid out, now barcelona next plz. stuttgart ftw!!

lol , to want stuttgart to go through instead of barcelona is an insult to football.

Hah, exactly. Especially since Stuttgart has Jens "BRB pissing behind the goal" Lehmann. That guy makes me rage harder than Tim "How did i catch balls?" Wiese and Fabien ":ASDF HERE I COME OUTSIDE PENALTY BOX LAWL" Barthez.

STFU JENS BEST CL KEEPER EVER

barthez... :)))

Don't get me wrong, i love the guy. But he was so bloody chaotic. It was nerve wrecking, watch him get off the line to intercept the ball. :x

Sweeper keepers are the best!

Provide the best entertainment maybe, since you never know when they will fuck up and help create the most ridivulous goal. ;)

Still, Barthez = win. I loved him just as much as i hated him.

thats my home team. ofc i want them to go through.

lol , to want stuttgart to go through instead of barcelona is an insult to football.

no, it's called being a loyal supporter.

also LMAO XABI ALONSO GLAD YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY TO ACTUALLY WINNING CUPS WITH YOUR BRAND NEW SUPERSTAR TEAM WHICH IS GOING TO WIN MUCH MORE SHIT THAN LIVERPOOL.

Haha, it would be so awesome if Real wouldn't even win the league, and Liverpool would go on to win in Europa League UEFA CUP, FUCK EUROPA LEAGUE IT SOUNDS FUCKING GAY GODDAMN.

Cyan balls all over the place. :@

lmao@liverpool =) seriously, it's not even funny anymore

FRANCE > LIVERPOOL

My local team > Liverpool

at least liverpool is in less financial debt to UK and NL than your local team

wrong, we can actually afford to fire our coach :)

Minus 5.3 billion euro isnt really a budget you can sign a new coach on... also good luck on having any of your kids sucking on whale bone instead of nutrients.

your jokes might be funny if they made any sense?

Im just saying you suck and your country is in debt which you wont be able to pay back beacause your only exports are fermented whale fat and linkoo...

What?

Will u just keep replying? c:

don't you want replies?

NEJ DU

wow.

22 minutes

10 minutes

lol bragging about liverpool debt, them football squads are in some deep shit m8

ure not playing along :( ima call for peadohpila

AAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! UNCLE BAD TOUCH!!!!!!!!!

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you can luagh at tem-florin 3rd year bet. COS YOU LIKE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS LOL. FORZA WISLA LOL

FORZA LEGIA*

yoyr face is forza legia :@

Hi I'm Lille dud, OLOLOLOLOL shove in Pepe. :@

:@

i'm a loyal supporter of the game football

so basically you're saying he shouldn't support his favourite team, 'cause they're playing vs. Barca?

ye :)

fuck you, barca rules

Well ... i'm pretty sure u managed to get within 2 meters of the goal at least.

Which for Stuttgart probably equates to performing above expectation against barca.

:(

lol soccer

lol football

lmao@ronaldo

viva champions league!

Can't really say much about the game, because I was busy watching reds kick some italian ass, but I wouldn't jump on the bandwagon and call Galacticos 2 a failed version as the first one had great difficulties in season one too.

Well naturally when they keep throwing money at it it'll work eventually :P

Give them more time. The lineup is just fine.

The lineup is "fine" exactly, Liverpool have a "just fine" lineup too.

Real will spend big in the summer again, probably on central midfielders where they have zero depth.

Liverpool lineup sucks for years, just that this year they finally are getting owned.

No they won't, believe me.

Let's see:
Liverpool 1 - 2 Lyon
Lyon 1 - 1 Liverpool

Madrid 1 - 1 Lyon
Lyon 1 - 0 Madrid

Hmmm... yeah...

Squads are quite comparable, both have good keepers, both have suspect defences, both have a good DM, both have a "good" AM (Kaka/Gerrard), both have a good striker (Higuain/Torres).

Main difference is Alonso and Ronaldo but how far has that got them exactly? (OK, so they're owning up all the laughable mediocre Spanish sides along with Barca like they always do anyway...)

So you actually think Perez won't spend more money? What would ever give anyone that idea, he always spends money. Yeah, he won't spend like €250million or whatever like he did in the summer, but he'll spend.

Also, Fiorentina have been awesome in the CL this season and should really be in the semi's were it not for that hilarious offside goal.

So Liverpool got knocked out by two rightful 1/4 finalists basically...

Fiora scored a goal from an offside as well. :P

Hey! Don't call my team laughtable,ffs. We are modest, but honorful and proud. ;)

So, how long until the first PL team declares bankruptcy? :)

Probably a long, long time. The worst that will happen is they will be forced into administration, like Portsmouth or Leeds.

this fucking manager saked kaka and also puts kaka to play in another role on the field, i mean ASSWHOLE BASTARD GET OUT OF THE TEAM! and real madrid sucks also! hahaha

So, who's the cooller of football?

Lyon played good tho. Got lucky 1st half and made two very good subs which made them gain some midfield possession. That made pjanic and lisandro alot more involved which eventually led to that goal..

But I still don't get why Robben was sold. He was injury prone but at least they had a winger leaving them with more options than just attacking centrally and on one wing. They don't really have two good wingers now (except for Cristiano). Marcelo just doesn't cut it. Granero is slow and better in a central role and Arbeloa isn't good enough offensively like Ramos is. I guess that is why Cristiano has been playing on the left side as of lately. Now Rooney is being targetted for the summer mercado?

I'm definatel not a Real Madrid fan (Valencia!) but 4-2-3-1 while still having Robben would have suited their tactics and the entire squad better.

casillas
ramos, garay, albiol. arbeloa
lassana, alonso
cristiano, kaka, robben
higauin/benzema

Can't really see that lineup fail if both the squad and Pellegrini gets the time they need - which i doubt they will.

Rooney isn't targeted. It's just journalists dreams. No matter how rich they presume to be, they can't pay those amounts every year. Because thinking MU would let Rooney go now by any less than they payed for Ronaldo is a dream. Fergusson just won't accept selling the most important player 2 years in a row.

It isn't really an issue considering they've franchised players before and covered the expenses in a short span (1-2 years) by selling fan-related products. Real would more than willingly spend the money for Rooney and since the Glazer family have put Man U in the financial situation they now find themselves in it'll be hard for them to resist taking those ~€70m.

That's what they claim, but, y'know what? I don't believe them. There's a lot of bullshit hidden behind their claim of "t-shirt selling". Manchester United is as popular as Real across the world, and they even produce the stars, why would they make any less money? Are we asuming MU's financial directors are retarded while Real's are geniuses? Not to mention Real had to ask for a 200 million € credit to buy Ronaldo and Kaká. Real doesn't have any cash right now, and if they keep asking for credits and not getting anywhere in CL they'll soon be in a total bankrupt.

Real have possibly the biggest footballing brand name in the world. Not coincidentally, they have topped Deloitte's Money League for each of the past four seasons and they've done so despite doing poorly in the Champions League.

They have the third-highest average attendance in Europe and while their stadium revenue cannot compete with Manchester United, it still packs a punch. They have been extremely aggressive in pursuing sponsorship opportunities, including overseas tours (on several occasions they have held pre-season training camps in places such as Vietnam and China).

Their domestic television contract is by far the richest in the world. They are also helped greatly by tax legislation - originally intended for overseas bankers and executives - that allows their foreign players to pay tax at about 23 per cent for the first five years that they are in the country.

This means that, in headline figures, if they want to pay Kaká £8 million after tax, it would cost them less than £10 million a year, whereas it would cost United £16 million (thanks to the new 50p top marginal rate introduced at the last Budget). Over five years, that's a difference of £30 million.

Finally, there's Real's status as, effectively, a non-profit social trust. This means they do not need to generate £30 million a year just to service their debt (like United).

Whatever debt they hold (and detail here is murky) is with local banks, many of whom are under political and social pressure not to tighten the screws. Real are too big and too important to fail or to come under the kind of debt pressures that affect traditional clubs. The club's social, political and economic significance dwarfs that of any other club in the world, with the possible exception of Barcelona. In that sense, they play by a different set of rules.

ust how much is their TV contract worth? Well, according to the club, in 2006 they signed a seven-year deal with MediaPro guaranteeing €1.1 billion (now about £956 million) for their domestic league TV rights. At least, that's Real's version of events: MediaPro has never disclosed the figure and some dispute the amount. But, if it is true, they earn £135 million a season from their domestic league rights, more than twice what United receive.

How does the structure of the club differ from other leading sides? Real are one of four Spanish clubs - the others are Barcelona, Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao - who were exempted from a 1991 law forcing teams to become plcs. This means they hold regular elections to determine who will lead the club. The president then selects his board and appoints his men to key positions within the club.

So what do you need to do to get elected? To stand for election you have to be a Spanish citizen who has been a club member for at least ten years. And, crucially, you have to submit a deposit equal to 15 per cent of the club's budget, or about £50 million. (But you don't need to come up with the cash yourself, you just need a bank to vouch for you.) Once that's done, you campaign, just like in any other election, and, ultimately, it's the members who decide.

Now that Pérez has been elected, does he have to fund the club? No. In fact, he's not allowed to. He simply runs the club. Of course, Pérez is one of the wealthiest men in Europe, with wide-ranging business interests. No doubt he can leverage them to help the club, particularly when it comes to their relationship with banks and sponsors. Ultimately, though, he cannot finance the club. And, of course, he's not supposed to benefit from it financially.

Taken from from the European Football Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/footba...426983.ece

What also not in the arcticle is that Real have an interest free credit line from banks and wealthy men loyal to them.

The tax advantages don't exist anymore, law has changed. And I'm not saying they aren't the richest club in the world. They are. What I say is that even if they are the richest club in the world, they can't afford being wasting 200million € each year forever. The 2 years previous to Florentino's election they spent 300 million. Now they spent another 200 million in one year. They have to slow down now. And what I also say is that, despite being the richest club in the world, the other top teams aren't poor either. I'm not up to date to MU's financial situation, but I don't think they need to sell their franchise player 2 years in a row, and obviously Ferguson won't want to sell him unless it's for a ludicrous amount of money, specially to Real.

Guess we'll find out.

I think it's irrelevant in the case of Rooney and Fabregas, neither will leave anyway (at least not at yet). Torres on the other hand is entirely possible I reckon.

Torres will never go to Real. He said it himself many times.

Yeah? I guess they are shit out of luck unless they want to finance the clearing of debt for Arsenal/ManUtd...

http://translate.google.es/translate?u=http%3...p;ie=UTF-8

I think they'll go for Maicon and Ribery, tbh. I don't expect any new 9. Maybe Villa, but I don't think so.

It's all very stupid, because they already have the attacker they need in Higuain. They just can't see it because they are too used to buy the players when they are already famous and expensive.

BTW: You say Frabregas won't leave, but I wouldn't count on it. I think the chances of Fabregas playing in Barcelona next year are very high. It's his home team afterall, and they'll have president elections, which means each candidate will want to have new signups to show off. And Fabregas is the best card to show if they want to be elected.

Arsenal don't need to sell him and he can't force his way out for like two years.

No chance of him leaving and I don't believe he wants to go yet anyway. He's consistently stated he wants to stay and win things at Arsenal and it shows on the pitch.

You can tell when players wants to leave usually.

Ribery. That guy's a douche.
Hope he leaves for Real to lose in 1/8th next year.

Yeah the differences between a Torres/Gerrard and Fabregas are staggering.

LMAO@LIVERPOOL

Spain play better when they bench Torres anyway LMAO@TORRES

maybe start with giving the link so people wont think this was actually your post until the end? and it's ridiculous to assume this whole thing can't collapse like a deck of cards if things go on like this.

Why would I please your personal preference when linking a source and who's asuming the current economical system can't collapse?

Think about it.

you were insinuating it, and either use the [quote] tag or link directly to the page you're stealing the content from, don't matter'o'factly reply in 10 paragraphs giving people the impression that you wrote anything. think about it, douchebag.

That's ironic :)

But I still don't get why Robben was sold. He was injury prone but at least they had a winger leaving them with more options than just attacking centrally and on one wing. They don't really have two good wingers now (except for Cristiano). Marcelo just doesn't cut it. Granero is slow and better in a central role and Arbeloa isn't good enough offensively like Ramos is. I guess that is why Cristiano has been playing on the left side as of lately.

Yeah! I said in another post i understand why they offloaded him, but for the life of me, i have no idea why they didn't bring someone to compliment Ronaldo on the other flank on board. Doesn't make fucking sense, considering their innate lack of wingers, but hey! Nothing about Perez ever makes sense.

I often see him compared to Abramovich, since they're both big spenders, but at least Roman has enough common sense to leave transfer decisions to people who know what the fuck they are doing. He (Perez) stopped himself just short of extinguishing this team's potential before it could even show itself by taking in an actual playmaker and some defenders along with the big 3 offensive transfers, but that's just about it. And still people love him.

Also, getting rid of players like Robben and Sneijder is always a mistake, regardless of your squad composition and your plans towards the team.

Yeah I agree.

The mad buying spree was partly part of Perez whole idea of becoming the new club president. The man had to keep his word and started buying players for many different reasons (trust, financial etc) and he did all that without checking with Pellegrini. I doubt Pellegrini expected to become manager of real madrid after a €250m spending and end up with just one competent winger :p

Pellegrini didn't use proper wingers at Villareal anyway.

Robert Pires, Santiago Cazorla and Cani state the opposite :)

None played as out-and-out wingers such as Valencia at Manchester United (example of a true winger).

In fact, Pires isn't even a winger, he's an attacking midfielder (e.g. Kaka) who played as a "half-winger".

The ability to play as a winger and actually be a winger in the tactical setup are two totally different things.

For example, Arsenal used to be called a 442 with Pires and Ljungberg playing as "wingers" but they didn't actually play as wingers by any stretch of the imagination and instead you had Pires as a playmaker who started on the left (for defensive structure) and Ljungberg who played more like a wide forward even though he'd move to the right in defensive phases.

Did Rooney and Tevez play as wingers in 07/08 and 08/09? Of course they didn't but they were playing wide.

Here's a quote from Pellegrini:

I have five footballers with an obligation to attack: two strikers, two creative midfielders and one of the full-backs. I’ve always got two players in the rivals’ half to arm our offensive game. The quality has to come from the players.

You're just giving your opinion of 'what a winger is' :)

No, I'm telling you what a winger is as it seems you don't understand the role a winger plays in a team in comparison to someone who just plays on the flanks.

I suppose an attacking central midfielder plays the same role as a supporting striker because they occupy similar areas of the pitch?

It seems you are wrong but go ahead and tell me more :)

It seems you're a blind and ignorant fool.

That's a mutual assumption.

They sold Robben because they were in a desperate need of cash, and he was of the few players they had with any market value.

http://www.football365.com/spanish_thing/0,17...27,00.html

Good article about Real's cl failure and Perez blaming everyone else.

Haha robben & sneijder both advance further than Real Madrid in the CL and both have been decisive for their clubs.

FU MADRID :DD