Global Football Today » Real Madrid https://globalfootballtoday.com Sat, 06 Dec 2014 04:19:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1 Inequality in Spanish Football https://globalfootballtoday.com/inequality-in-spanish-football/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/inequality-in-spanish-football/#comments Fri, 02 May 2014 16:56:43 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?guid=3876f5a2760eecb750ebeccec66612e5 https://globalfootballtoday.com/inequality-in-spanish-football/feed/ 0 Real Madrid Corner: A Criticism from a Madridista https://globalfootballtoday.com/real-madrid-corner-a-criticism-from-a-madridista/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/real-madrid-corner-a-criticism-from-a-madridista/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2014 06:35:00 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?guid=05bd239d9a3fc91c857a9f3cbd435cff I received a comment on our Facebook page recently from a self-confessed Madridista, in capital letters no less so we are mightily impressed by his or her passion for Los Merengues, but what was shocking to us as admins and members is how hyper-critical he or she was as to what amounts to be a really good Real Madrid side; a much better side than last year's.
First off, my biggest concern is the lack of a physical presence in our midfield. We don't have a destroyer or player who stretches the field vertically. I love Xabi. He's a class act. But he's no shield. He can't operate in the single pivot. He is immobile. Athletic mids will have a field day. I wanted Matić, but he went to Chelsea. I also was a fan of Luiz Gustavo. Pogba or Vidal would have been good, but their form has dropped considerably in recent times. Also, our wide players are incompetent. Ronaldo. He just scores goals. Does he press? No. Track his runner? No. Have an ounce of creativity? No. And people have the audacity to say he is "complete". I'd much rather have an Hazard or Reus. Those are prototypical wingers. Bale tries to have a better team ethic. But quite simply, he lacks creativity. His stats camouflage his real contribution. He doesn't aid Carvajal (he'll need to against Alaba and Ribéry). He is an athlete, a marketing ploy, but is he a RM player I would ideally have? Not really. Our center-backs are hot-headed. Despite their inspired form their season, Pepe and Ramos have been liabilities. They make aerial errors, marking lapses, and ill-fated decisions. Varane (talent wise) is our best shot. I have many more concerns to address, but I figured this was enough. Thoughts?
Where to start. I think there are some valid points, especially in defense: I think Ramos is playing out of position (which is strange, Pepe is not the player he was and Varane is carrying an injury that may effect his career (not my idea, something that I was told). Pace in general at the back is a glaring issue. Set-pieces are not as big of a problem as they have been in the past. Midfield: Alonso has been flat-out their best player over the last 5 years. He's been the best deep-lying play-maker in Europe over that time and their stats on the break make my point. He is and has never been a defensive midfielder. Plus, he's old. He never had any pace but at 32 he's done and they have no natural replacement. As for not having a destroyer, well people need to stop thinking about football in such narrow terms. There is no new Makelele. It's why most clubs have gone to a double-pivote and the good clubs are playing two deep-lying play-makers there, players who can tackle and turn the run of play quickly. I mean, Liverpool has been playing Gerrard in that sort of position all year. Football has adapted tactically over the last 5 years.

As for wingers, that's such an outdated term in terms of tactics that it doesn't mean anything. Jesus Navas is a winger. He's probably one of the few real ones left. Reus and Hazard are not. They're these interchangeable attacking mids used to flitting around a 4-2-3-1 behind a lone striker that everyone has and Real Madrid has two of the best in Cristiano and Bale; saddens me to say that but it's true. It's like arguing that Barcelona need a classic lump-it-up striker. They don't need it and Real Madrid don't need to sell their best players for a few lesser ones who can track back a little. What they need is an out-and-out finisher who can hold up play while their athletic midfielders bomb forward; Karim Benzema is talented but he's no Radamel Falcao at his best or even Diego Costa who would slot in perfectly as a lone striker at the Bernabeu. They're problem honestly is that they are built for a Jose Mourinho 4-2-3-1, and while Carlo feels more comfortable with his pyramid 4-3-2-1, they don't have the players to play it correctly.

There is a disconnect there whether we admit it or not. More soon about what I think they need to do for next season.
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]]> I received a comment on our Facebook page recently from a self-confessed Madridista, in capital letters no less so we are mightily impressed by his or her passion for Los Merengues, but what was shocking to us as admins and members is how hyper-critical he or she was as to what amounts to be a really good Real Madrid side; a much better side than last year's.
First off, my biggest concern is the lack of a physical presence in our midfield. We don't have a destroyer or player who stretches the field vertically. I love Xabi. He's a class act. But he's no shield. He can't operate in the single pivot. He is immobile. Athletic mids will have a field day. I wanted Matić, but he went to Chelsea. I also was a fan of Luiz Gustavo. Pogba or Vidal would have been good, but their form has dropped considerably in recent times. Also, our wide players are incompetent. Ronaldo. He just scores goals. Does he press? No. Track his runner? No. Have an ounce of creativity? No. And people have the audacity to say he is "complete". I'd much rather have an Hazard or Reus. Those are prototypical wingers. Bale tries to have a better team ethic. But quite simply, he lacks creativity. His stats camouflage his real contribution. He doesn't aid Carvajal (he'll need to against Alaba and Ribéry). He is an athlete, a marketing ploy, but is he a RM player I would ideally have? Not really. Our center-backs are hot-headed. Despite their inspired form their season, Pepe and Ramos have been liabilities. They make aerial errors, marking lapses, and ill-fated decisions. Varane (talent wise) is our best shot. I have many more concerns to address, but I figured this was enough. Thoughts?
Where to start. I think there are some valid points, especially in defense: I think Ramos is playing out of position (which is strange, Pepe is not the player he was and Varane is carrying an injury that may effect his career (not my idea, something that I was told). Pace in general at the back is a glaring issue. Set-pieces are not as big of a problem as they have been in the past. Midfield: Alonso has been flat-out their best player over the last 5 years. He's been the best deep-lying play-maker in Europe over that time and their stats on the break make my point. He is and has never been a defensive midfielder. Plus, he's old. He never had any pace but at 32 he's done and they have no natural replacement. As for not having a destroyer, well people need to stop thinking about football in such narrow terms. There is no new Makelele. It's why most clubs have gone to a double-pivote and the good clubs are playing two deep-lying play-makers there, players who can tackle and turn the run of play quickly. I mean, Liverpool has been playing Gerrard in that sort of position all year. Football has adapted tactically over the last 5 years.

As for wingers, that's such an outdated term in terms of tactics that it doesn't mean anything. Jesus Navas is a winger. He's probably one of the few real ones left. Reus and Hazard are not. They're these interchangeable attacking mids used to flitting around a 4-2-3-1 behind a lone striker that everyone has and Real Madrid has two of the best in Cristiano and Bale; saddens me to say that but it's true. It's like arguing that Barcelona need a classic lump-it-up striker. They don't need it and Real Madrid don't need to sell their best players for a few lesser ones who can track back a little. What they need is an out-and-out finisher who can hold up play while their athletic midfielders bomb forward; Karim Benzema is talented but he's no Radamel Falcao at his best or even Diego Costa who would slot in perfectly as a lone striker at the Bernabeu. They're problem honestly is that they are built for a Jose Mourinho 4-2-3-1, and while Carlo feels more comfortable with his pyramid 4-3-2-1, they don't have the players to play it correctly.

There is a disconnect there whether we admit it or not. More soon about what I think they need to do for next season.
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]]> https://globalfootballtoday.com/real-madrid-corner-a-criticism-from-a-madridista/feed/ 0 A Target on the Spanish League https://globalfootballtoday.com/a-target-on-the-spanish-league/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/a-target-on-the-spanish-league/#comments Sun, 02 Feb 2014 15:44:09 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?guid=7fd89c4b65601d67f624f9bdf2557f59 Some people sometimes ask me why I comment on a league so far away and in a language, and of a culture, so foreign to our own and I’ll tell them that if I don’t, well then who again will, because I will tell you, the people who are forming the opinions of the Spanish League and of Spain in general, in English, are idiots.

It’s why I spend so much time at here trying to bridge the language barrier, writing about customs and of the curiosities we find that distinguish La Liga from the English Premier League or Serie A. I do my best. I try to see their point, the criticisms of Spanish futbol are varied and most of them have merit. The Spanish league has a problem with referees. There is a tendency to simulate. There is also less tackling as they say. There is also more football being played. When the ball is retrieved it is used and not lumped towards the opponents goal. The ball is played at the feet more often than not. A tackle is used to stop an attack, retrieve the ball, start a counter-attack, not to draw the crowd’s attention to a player’s endeavor and away from his appalling lack of skill. Oh, and let’s not talk about simulation.

I’ve seen the videos of phantom penalties being given at the Kop End, the North Bank or at the Stretford End. It’s rampant in England as well, and not just because a wave of immigrants came in to teach the insular Brits how to cheat at foosball, but because that’s what players do to win one for their team, especially when you have overweight refs (and none are more round around the tummy as the English) trying to adjudicate the beer league down by the local pub let alone in a fast paced professional league like the EPL.

No, actually I’d like to comment on the big problems that Spanish football is often accused of: on the scale of corruption, racism, fascism, you know, the big ones. We’ve all seen the monkey-chants coming from the curvas, and we’ve seen the swastikas brandished amongst the ultras in Spain, but it would be unwise to brand it a latin disease endemic to “southern European cultures.”

There is also a segment of commentators who discount Spanish football and Real Madrid’s accomplishments specifically because they were Franco’s team. Do they know anything about Spanish history? Do they know that Franco himself was Galician and hated football? Do they know that it was actually Santiago Bernabeu, the legendary Real Madrid chairman who aligned himself to the regime, that glommed the whites onto the Castilian fascist agenda ignoring the fact that the club’s DNA is as much Republican as it is Falangist, as much Catalan as it is Spanish? Yes, two of its founders the brothers Juan and Carlos Padros were born in Barcelona, Oh, and that the previous regime at Real Madrid had been either killed or exiled leaving the door wide open for Bernabeu to step in? No, they don’t know. It’s easier to cast the clubs in black and white, white versus blaugrana, good versus evil terms, when history is far from it; there are no good guys in history.

Oh, and as if England has any great shakes to say about fascism, considering that the English disease of hooliganism spread around the disaffected youth that mingled around English grounds, spouting out National Front slogans and infecting the supporter’s firms with their right-wing, beyond Thatcherist agenda long before their influence migrated to Italy, Spain or France. In fact, is there a country in Europe that isn't dealing with the problems of immigration in this day and age? I guess talking about Belgium’s recent nativist tendencies, or the rise of anti-immigrant groups in the Netherlands or even Germany of all places, would be counter-indicative to their argument.

The fact is that Spain, above and beyond all else dredged up from their past, is a vibrant, often complex country still dealing with the decades of being left behind the post-war European/American gravy train. It is a fractured country; a collection of cultures and languages, a stew of ethnicities, at times very Iberian (Catholic and conservative) and yet very European (modern and liberal) at the same time. It is no better nor worse than any of their neighbors, especially in their football.
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]]> Some people sometimes ask me why I comment on a league so far away and in a language, and of a culture, so foreign to our own and I’ll tell them that if I don’t, well then who again will, because I will tell you, the people who are forming the opinions of the Spanish League and of Spain in general, in English, are idiots.

It’s why I spend so much time at here trying to bridge the language barrier, writing about customs and of the curiosities we find that distinguish La Liga from the English Premier League or Serie A. I do my best. I try to see their point, the criticisms of Spanish futbol are varied and most of them have merit. The Spanish league has a problem with referees. There is a tendency to simulate. There is also less tackling as they say. There is also more football being played. When the ball is retrieved it is used and not lumped towards the opponents goal. The ball is played at the feet more often than not. A tackle is used to stop an attack, retrieve the ball, start a counter-attack, not to draw the crowd’s attention to a player’s endeavor and away from his appalling lack of skill. Oh, and let’s not talk about simulation.

I’ve seen the videos of phantom penalties being given at the Kop End, the North Bank or at the Stretford End. It’s rampant in England as well, and not just because a wave of immigrants came in to teach the insular Brits how to cheat at foosball, but because that’s what players do to win one for their team, especially when you have overweight refs (and none are more round around the tummy as the English) trying to adjudicate the beer league down by the local pub let alone in a fast paced professional league like the EPL.

No, actually I’d like to comment on the big problems that Spanish football is often accused of: on the scale of corruption, racism, fascism, you know, the big ones. We’ve all seen the monkey-chants coming from the curvas, and we’ve seen the swastikas brandished amongst the ultras in Spain, but it would be unwise to brand it a latin disease endemic to “southern European cultures.”

There is also a segment of commentators who discount Spanish football and Real Madrid’s accomplishments specifically because they were Franco’s team. Do they know anything about Spanish history? Do they know that Franco himself was Galician and hated football? Do they know that it was actually Santiago Bernabeu, the legendary Real Madrid chairman who aligned himself to the regime, that glommed the whites onto the Castilian fascist agenda ignoring the fact that the club’s DNA is as much Republican as it is Falangist, as much Catalan as it is Spanish? Yes, two of its founders the brothers Juan and Carlos Padros were born in Barcelona, Oh, and that the previous regime at Real Madrid had been either killed or exiled leaving the door wide open for Bernabeu to step in? No, they don’t know. It’s easier to cast the clubs in black and white, white versus blaugrana, good versus evil terms, when history is far from it; there are no good guys in history.

Oh, and as if England has any great shakes to say about fascism, considering that the English disease of hooliganism spread around the disaffected youth that mingled around English grounds, spouting out National Front slogans and infecting the supporter’s firms with their right-wing, beyond Thatcherist agenda long before their influence migrated to Italy, Spain or France. In fact, is there a country in Europe that isn't dealing with the problems of immigration in this day and age? I guess talking about Belgium’s recent nativist tendencies, or the rise of anti-immigrant groups in the Netherlands or even Germany of all places, would be counter-indicative to their argument.

The fact is that Spain, above and beyond all else dredged up from their past, is a vibrant, often complex country still dealing with the decades of being left behind the post-war European/American gravy train. It is a fractured country; a collection of cultures and languages, a stew of ethnicities, at times very Iberian (Catholic and conservative) and yet very European (modern and liberal) at the same time. It is no better nor worse than any of their neighbors, especially in their football.
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]]> https://globalfootballtoday.com/a-target-on-the-spanish-league/feed/ 0 Spending in La Liga https://globalfootballtoday.com/spending-in-la-liga/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/spending-in-la-liga/#comments Wed, 29 Jan 2014 06:38:11 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?guid=15b0e0fcb44cf81796ee9fcb169d5a2a https://globalfootballtoday.com/spending-in-la-liga/feed/ 0 Searching for the final piece in the quest for La Décima: Why Real Madrid are after the wrong player https://globalfootballtoday.com/searching-for-the-final-piece-in-the-quest-for-la-decima-why-real-madrid-are-after-the-wrong-player/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/searching-for-the-final-piece-in-the-quest-for-la-decima-why-real-madrid-are-after-the-wrong-player/#comments Mon, 26 Aug 2013 01:16:06 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=6458 https://globalfootballtoday.com/searching-for-the-final-piece-in-the-quest-for-la-decima-why-real-madrid-are-after-the-wrong-player/feed/ 1 Take the money and run: Why Tottenham should cash in on Bale this summer https://globalfootballtoday.com/take-the-money-and-run-why-tottenham-should-cash-in-on-bale-this-summer/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/take-the-money-and-run-why-tottenham-should-cash-in-on-bale-this-summer/#comments Sat, 13 Jul 2013 08:34:14 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=6181 https://globalfootballtoday.com/take-the-money-and-run-why-tottenham-should-cash-in-on-bale-this-summer/feed/ 0 The Gaffer Rages As United See Red https://globalfootballtoday.com/the-gaffer-rages-ae-united-see-red/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/the-gaffer-rages-ae-united-see-red/#comments Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:34:35 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=5324 https://globalfootballtoday.com/the-gaffer-rages-ae-united-see-red/feed/ 0 Champions League 3/5/2013 Highlights https://globalfootballtoday.com/champions-league-352013-highlights/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/champions-league-352013-highlights/#comments Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:18:47 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=5353 https://globalfootballtoday.com/champions-league-352013-highlights/feed/ 0 Manchester United – Real Madrid Pre-Match Interviews https://globalfootballtoday.com/manchester-united-real-madrid-pre-match-interviews/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/manchester-united-real-madrid-pre-match-interviews/#comments Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:53:28 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=5337 https://globalfootballtoday.com/manchester-united-real-madrid-pre-match-interviews/feed/ 0 Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona Highlights 02.03.2013 https://globalfootballtoday.com/real-madrid-2-1-barcelona-highlights-02-03-2013/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/real-madrid-2-1-barcelona-highlights-02-03-2013/#comments Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:12:44 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=5312 https://globalfootballtoday.com/real-madrid-2-1-barcelona-highlights-02-03-2013/feed/ 0