After the mid week Champions league fixtures the Spanish La liga was back over the weekend. Every year in La liga they pair two teams for their playing schedules. This season it is Madrid and Barcelona, which means Madrid play Barcelona's opponents from previous week. This is really tough on some of the teams, who will end up playing one of the Spanish giants at home one week and the other away or vice versa. This could be good and bad for Madrid depending on how Barca does the damages. Espanyol played Barca the week before and it was a match that Espanyol did not deserve to lose. Amongst crowd trouble from the Barca ultras Barca did overcome Espanyol 2-1. Now Espanyol make the visit to the Bernabeu and as in the recent years it was to be another interesting game again.
Madrid were coming off a tough fought victory at Zenit in the Champions League in the mid week. When all the press mentioned that Madrid were lucky to get off with a win, i use the word "hard fought" because it was one of the most crucial 3 points Madrid could ask for in what is undoubtedly the group of death. With Juventus getting a draw with Bate and Zenit now losing against both of the other big teams in the group, it looks defined. Madrid have made their best start in 5 years in the champions league group stages. Madrid had to overcome tough weather and a barricade of attacks from the Russians. Though the papers heralded the efforts of Madrid keeper Cassilas as heroic, it was Pepe who had a man of the match performance including a good performance from Ramos, who did well to mark Arshavin, who was just superb on the night.
Barcelona thrashed an in-form Atletico Madrid 6-1, on Saturday and Madrid would have hoped for all 3 points against Espanyol on Sunday before going into the international break. Schuster has been commended for by Madrid sporting director and president equally for his squad rotation policy. He did not play Raul against Zenit Petersburg and it was more than likely that he would play him against Espanyol. Squad rotation is fine but i guess Schuster got a couple of things wrong. His idea of playing 3 strikers is not working out. Madrid this season is for sure playing a 4-1-3-2 formation, with one winger in the 3 midfielders, but against Espanyol it was a 4-1-2-3 formation and from the initial few minutes it was sure, it was not working. More importantly with the absence of Robben, he should have got the attack minded Marcelo at LB instead of Heinze. Though the Argentine was all up and down the pitch, he lacks the pace and ability to go in support of attack. With Ramos kept busy by Espanyol winger Nene, there was hardly any wing play for Madrid.
It still would have yielded results, but Madrid started off wasteful after Higuain, Sergio Ramos, and Raul had chances missed, off which the first two were wild. To add to their worries Heinze made a horrific challenge inside the penalty box on Raul Tamudo and the Espanyol icon converted the penalty to score the first of the game and his first at the Santiago Bernabeu. 0-1 Espanyol on 20 minutes. Sergio Ramos was doing well going forward considering the fact that he had a fair bit of defending to do. 3 minutes after going behind Sergio Ramos made a good run on the right, cut inside and waited before putting in a wicked ball which Raul, sandwiched in between two Espanyol defenders headed in superbly to make it 1-1.
Madrid seemingly were lost completely in the move that created the second goal for Espanyol. Nene recieved a pass on the right, Cannavaro attacked but did not put in a challenge, and Heinze, Pepe and Sergio Ramos were all out of position and left Luis Garcia enough space and time to score. In the first place it was Heinze's territory that Nene was in, second off Cannavaro held off without challenging and Pepe and Ramos were just ball watching. With just one on rushing striker to pass to and 3 defenders, Madrid should have done a better job of marking. 1-2 Espanyol.
Madrid have not lost a match at the Bernabeu in La Liga since March last year and their record was in trouble here. But before the break it was Sergio Ramos again who put in a nice cross, Raul tangled with a defender and got the ball and passed it to Van der Vaart who passed it back to the Captain. The much under Madrid striker showed why he is still in the top league, when he waited and with superb footwork got past a defender and finished with a superb shot. With his second goal of the night Raul is now 7 goal shy of Di Stefano's record of 216 goals. 2-2 at half time.
Schuster made changes in the second half, when he brought on Robben for Van der vaart who had just faded away as the half progressed. The second half saw Madrid having most of the ball, but once they were in the Espanyol third, the shooting was poor. Higuain who is a natural striker, so he gets a ball in the midfield miles out, he is not looking to pass and his shots were not on target. Same was the case as with almost everyone including De la Red, Sergio Ramos, and Robben. De la red was sacrificed for the introduction of Wesley Sneijder, the Dutchman making an on track recovery after being injured in a pre-season friendly against Arsenal. He did not have the time to do anything significant, but a quickly taken free-kick which appeared to be a hand ball, but was not given.
It was an excellent game from Diarra, who won almost 18 balls and made almost 89 passes is staggering stats for a game. Robben in the end, had to be substituted with Drenthe, as the Dutchman seemed to be carrying an injury who now is ready for Atletico next week. Schuster is doing right with his squad rotation, but i am definitely not for the idea of changing your formation. Schuster could have given start to Drenthe if he was not playing Robben. Instead his 3 striker formation did not work, and Van Nstelrooy, though he worked hard did got maybe a couple of shots, second of which was a superb instinctive save with his legs from Kameni.
Schuster in his press conference said, Madrid deserved better, but that it is better to get away with a point than none. This was 2 points lost than a point gained.
Madrid were coming off a tough fought victory at Zenit in the Champions League in the mid week. When all the press mentioned that Madrid were lucky to get off with a win, i use the word "hard fought" because it was one of the most crucial 3 points Madrid could ask for in what is undoubtedly the group of death. With Juventus getting a draw with Bate and Zenit now losing against both of the other big teams in the group, it looks defined. Madrid have made their best start in 5 years in the champions league group stages. Madrid had to overcome tough weather and a barricade of attacks from the Russians. Though the papers heralded the efforts of Madrid keeper Cassilas as heroic, it was Pepe who had a man of the match performance including a good performance from Ramos, who did well to mark Arshavin, who was just superb on the night.
Barcelona thrashed an in-form Atletico Madrid 6-1, on Saturday and Madrid would have hoped for all 3 points against Espanyol on Sunday before going into the international break. Schuster has been commended for by Madrid sporting director and president equally for his squad rotation policy. He did not play Raul against Zenit Petersburg and it was more than likely that he would play him against Espanyol. Squad rotation is fine but i guess Schuster got a couple of things wrong. His idea of playing 3 strikers is not working out. Madrid this season is for sure playing a 4-1-3-2 formation, with one winger in the 3 midfielders, but against Espanyol it was a 4-1-2-3 formation and from the initial few minutes it was sure, it was not working. More importantly with the absence of Robben, he should have got the attack minded Marcelo at LB instead of Heinze. Though the Argentine was all up and down the pitch, he lacks the pace and ability to go in support of attack. With Ramos kept busy by Espanyol winger Nene, there was hardly any wing play for Madrid.
It still would have yielded results, but Madrid started off wasteful after Higuain, Sergio Ramos, and Raul had chances missed, off which the first two were wild. To add to their worries Heinze made a horrific challenge inside the penalty box on Raul Tamudo and the Espanyol icon converted the penalty to score the first of the game and his first at the Santiago Bernabeu. 0-1 Espanyol on 20 minutes. Sergio Ramos was doing well going forward considering the fact that he had a fair bit of defending to do. 3 minutes after going behind Sergio Ramos made a good run on the right, cut inside and waited before putting in a wicked ball which Raul, sandwiched in between two Espanyol defenders headed in superbly to make it 1-1.
Madrid seemingly were lost completely in the move that created the second goal for Espanyol. Nene recieved a pass on the right, Cannavaro attacked but did not put in a challenge, and Heinze, Pepe and Sergio Ramos were all out of position and left Luis Garcia enough space and time to score. In the first place it was Heinze's territory that Nene was in, second off Cannavaro held off without challenging and Pepe and Ramos were just ball watching. With just one on rushing striker to pass to and 3 defenders, Madrid should have done a better job of marking. 1-2 Espanyol.
Madrid have not lost a match at the Bernabeu in La Liga since March last year and their record was in trouble here. But before the break it was Sergio Ramos again who put in a nice cross, Raul tangled with a defender and got the ball and passed it to Van der Vaart who passed it back to the Captain. The much under Madrid striker showed why he is still in the top league, when he waited and with superb footwork got past a defender and finished with a superb shot. With his second goal of the night Raul is now 7 goal shy of Di Stefano's record of 216 goals. 2-2 at half time.
Schuster made changes in the second half, when he brought on Robben for Van der vaart who had just faded away as the half progressed. The second half saw Madrid having most of the ball, but once they were in the Espanyol third, the shooting was poor. Higuain who is a natural striker, so he gets a ball in the midfield miles out, he is not looking to pass and his shots were not on target. Same was the case as with almost everyone including De la Red, Sergio Ramos, and Robben. De la red was sacrificed for the introduction of Wesley Sneijder, the Dutchman making an on track recovery after being injured in a pre-season friendly against Arsenal. He did not have the time to do anything significant, but a quickly taken free-kick which appeared to be a hand ball, but was not given.
It was an excellent game from Diarra, who won almost 18 balls and made almost 89 passes is staggering stats for a game. Robben in the end, had to be substituted with Drenthe, as the Dutchman seemed to be carrying an injury who now is ready for Atletico next week. Schuster is doing right with his squad rotation, but i am definitely not for the idea of changing your formation. Schuster could have given start to Drenthe if he was not playing Robben. Instead his 3 striker formation did not work, and Van Nstelrooy, though he worked hard did got maybe a couple of shots, second of which was a superb instinctive save with his legs from Kameni.
Schuster in his press conference said, Madrid deserved better, but that it is better to get away with a point than none. This was 2 points lost than a point gained.
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