So finally, this will be my first official post on my blog. I have mentioned this in the football section. I actually wrote this article on the 22nd of last November after the 4-0 hammering by Barcelona in the Clasico.
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Everything went wrong yesterday. The team had no identity, no clear and structured gameplan and played without any fighting spirit. Unfortunately, Rafa deployed the wrong strategy against Barca. No high pressure attack. The team was ordered to sit back and wait for Barca with a high defensive line. This was similar to Mourinho’s first Clasico, the famous 5-0 drubbing against Guardiola’s mighty team. The result was not surprising. Complete domination from Barca and an embarrassing scoreline in the Bernabeu. Everything Rafa did since the beginning of the season came crashing down.
The first major mistake was leaving Casemiro out. Without him, Kroos and Modric and the midfield as a whole lacked a destroyer, a player capable of cutting down Barca’s attacks through the middle (all of the goals were conceded like that) and then building attacks using his great short and long passes. Without him, the defensive line lacked screening and protection, just like Ancelotti’s first days in charge, and so Ramos and Varane were forced to come out of their positions and leave space behind to the likes of Neymar and Suarez, the most in-form forwards in the game today.
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| Lethal Weapon: Suarez and Neymar ran riot in Santiago Bernabeu |
Omitting Casemiro was not the major mistake however. Even if he was on the pitch, with the team playing that kind of football, the result would have been the same. The major mistake was not pressuring Barca. They controlled possession and built their attacks so comfortably because Madrid players were just watching and waiting in their positions. Kroos, Modric and James were running there socks off like headless chicken, chasing Barca’s frustrating short tiki-taka passes. Bale, Benzema and Cristiano were left isolated, without any sign of cohesion between them, and without even tracking back to aid the midfield defensively or putting Barca’s defenders under pressure. And with the previously mentioned chaos in the high defensive line and the shocking individual errors, the team simply was disjointed and unable to compete with Barcelona. Benitez’s gameplan is long dead and gone against Barca, since Guardiola’s days in charge. I wonder what was he doing and how was he preparing for such a crucial match throughout the past two weeks. This was completely wrong, and to some fans it is unforgivable. As I said in my previous journal, Rafa has been under immense pressure for so long and for so many right and wrong reasons. It is way pathetic that he got it so wrong in this one. The situation will be now become unbearable for him on the Bernabeu hot seat and he has to work wonders in the few coming games if he wants to regain the fans, players and board’s trust.
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| Heads Down: Bale and Ronaldo Completely Helpless during Clasico Defeat |
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| Suffocating: Benitez under Immense Pressure during the Game |
But again, he is not the only one responsible. I’ll not blame the players, although some of them did have an awful night individually, such as Varane, Modric and Benzema, but this catastrophe dates back to years and years. If there is anyone fully responsible for yesterday’s shameful game, it is Perez.
Perez is the one who should be held responsible by the fans. He is the one who sold Ozil and Di Maria and Alonso to accomodate space for Bale and James and Kroos in the starting XI. Remember selling Makelele and Cambiasso to bring in Beckham? He is the one who sacked Ancelotti despite the great harmony with the dressing room and the good flow of play. He just wasn’t lucky enough with all the injuries that occurred last season, which ended trophy-less. He did the same almost ten years ago when he dismissed Del Bosque, who was the European champion with the team at that time and later led the Spanish national team to unprecedented success on the continental and international stages. Perez is the one who refused to sign a world-class forward to compete with Benzema. He is the one responsible for wasting a jewel like Morata, who knocked us out of the Champions League semis last season and looks determined to never return back to Madrid. Morientes and Negredo anyone? Not to mention risking to lose some key players by refusing to extend and improve their contracts, just like what happened over the years with Ronaldo, Di Maria, Alonso and Ramos. He is the one responsible for prioritizing the economic state and the Hollywood-like image of the team over the sporting and footballing fundamentals. He is the one who banned the ultras, the real and only passionate fans to stand by the team in good and bad times, from the stadium and turned the Bernabeu into a silent ground that gets noisy only when the team is losing with boos and whistles. He is the one who turned the local press into microphones that deliver his silent messages and opinions which directly affect the team. Perez did all of this in his first reign and is doing so again in his second. No way will Real Madrid dominate football and be the football club they truly are with him at the helm. Even the fans have been spoiled by his policies and methods. Every year they demand a new 'galactico' to be signed. Every season they are so impatient with coaches to achieve good results and play mouth-watering football. Every game they boo a player who is having a bad day, even if he was the club’s all time record goalscorer. Every match they whistle at the entire squad if they trail in the scoreline and don’t find solutions to come back. And so, this all affects the players, the core of the team, who feel blamed for no reasons, despite giving their best over the years. That’s why most of the former players who have played in the last 10 years or so, like Di Maria, Ozil, Kaka, Khedira, Higuain, Sneijder, Robben and many others, have nothing but bad and forgettable memories from their time at the club. Not to mention kicking living legends, who gave their lives for the white shirt, out of the club in a way that has tarnished the club’s mythical and worldwide respected status. I’m talking here about players like Hierro, Figo, Morientes, Helguera, and most recently Raul and Casillas.
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| No More Excuses: Only 7 Major Titles in 13 Years of Presidency |
As I have said and wrote and thought a million times before: with Perez, the club can’t dominate and compete regularly, no matter who the coach was and no matter who the players were. Now he will probably give Benitez a couple of games to redeem himself in terms of results and performances, then he will simply cut his head off if that was not achieved. And then what ?? The same cycle all over again. A new coach, new ideas, different methodologies, new signings and subsequently fluctuating results. The entire culture of the club is damaged and a drastic change has to happen.
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