Record breaking Liverpool, and Madrid says "Referees, Referees and Referees

From a perspective of keeping my blog going and find the right state of mind to write is getting difficult by the day. With another big depression hitting all the financial markets, i have been kidding around with a lot of people that when things go bad, i will take to writing full time. Well on the contrary it has been so busy at work that i am finding it difficult to get into the afore mentioned state of mind. It has been an interesting week since i wrote my last post. First the most anticipated match in the first group stage of this year's Champions league was up when Madrid made a visit to Turin to play Juventus.

Madrid continued to show that they will struggle in Europe's premier club championship, it was almost the same as has been the case in some of the previous visits to Italy. In the first 5 minutes Juventus were up a goal, when Cannavaro let Del Piero away from his sight for once and it was a terrific first time shot from outside the box that gave Casillas no chance. I tend to agree with some of what i have been reading that Casillas should have made an attempt. Yes, the shot was well placed, but it was no bullet. Though Madrid showed signs of some good stint in the match, there was a lot of unwanted time in their half with defenders passing the ball amongst themselves. With no wingers and playing 3 strikers up front, there was no connection in midfield and Sneijder did not come into his best self till the second half.

The Dutchman came out like a man possessed and starting taking numerous shots from his comfort zone and also tried some superlative passes. Amauri's goal in the first few minutes of the second half really was almost the last nail in the coffin for Madrid. Cannavaro was booed all night on his return to Italy to play in his former home ground. Once Robben was on the ground, Madrid looked really threatening during this period and Schuster should see this. Well it be an interesting match when Juventus plays Madrid at the Bernabeu next, but for all said and done the group of death is all but resolved with Juve and Madrid almost guaranteed to go through.

Speaking of formations, the big issue in Spain was Real Madrid's young right back Sergio Ramos claiming that he is not enjoying playing right now. The reason is one which almost all can see, that there is no right winger and Ramos has no cover when he goes up attacking. From having an abundance of such wingers like Figo, Beckham to name a few Ramos is left playing a lone role on the right. He also added on saying that he is sick of hearing that whenever things go wrong it is invariably he who is out of position or at fault. Schuster was asked by the press on these comments and he said that he had not read any of these. The result of these outbursts, was being benched by the Manager against Atheltic.

Before i get into that match, this weekend was all about Liverpool's superb start to the season so far and their historic clash with co-league leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Both teams were unbeaten, but there were at least two things against Liverpool, one that star striker Fernando Torres was out with a hamstring injury and two the fact that Stamford Bridge was a fortress for Chelsea for over 4 years that they have seen their team lose at home. I am firm believer from watching EPL over the years that the games which feature the top 4 are always cagey affairs. It was no different on Sunday, with Torres out, Benitez used Keane and the lone striker and had Riera on the left, Kuyt on the right and Gerrard, Mascherano and Alonso in the midfield.


I have felt that Liverpool needed a bit more options in defense, but Agger and Carragher certainly did not look anywhere close to being challenged. Carragher had such a superb game that he controlled Anelka without any trouble. I am not one who watches these teams on a weekly basis as i focus more on La liga a few things i noticed. Chelsea newly signed RB, Bosingwa was good attacking but Benitez did well to line up Riera against him who was giving him trouble more than once. John Terry coming back from injury looked unsure of himself and was looking rusty and it was Carvalho who seemed to be the more confident of the lot. I still do not know what Malouda is all about, is he winger or what? Gerrard was all about a hit and miss concept, but he was keeping it going time and time. Mikel played superbly and he looks like Makelele in his prime in Madrid. For all the class Chelsea has, they cannot afford to play the better teams in the EPL with Anelka and Kalou playing like this.

A deflected goal from a shot by Xabi Alonso gave Liverpool a shock victory, well deserved i should say. The big news in the press is that Chelsea's record came down of being unbeaten at Stamford Bridge for over 4 years, but i say it is better to lose this record against Liverpool than maybe Hull city, no offense to the minnows but the way they are playing, i doubt if that is the right word that describes them. I am happy for my friend Spartan and Liverpool in going top of the EPL, but it is just November and too early to say if Liverpool can break their 19 year jinx.

In Spain its almost roles reversed between Barca and Real Madrid. Barca have been just crushing opponents week after week and this weekend was no different when they scored 3 in the first 15 minutes and 5 in the first half against Almeria who were in the top half of the table. Though Barca just faded away in the second half it was 3 points in style. Real Madrid on the other hand did get a last gasp winner against Atletico last weekend and after the loss to Juve mid week, they welcomed Athletic Bilbao to the Bernabeu.

Van Nistelrooy had asked Madrid to appeal to rescind the red card he got last week against Atletico Madrid. Some committee at Madrid decided that it was a 50-50 chance that the appeal could be denied resulting in a lengthier ban. This meant that Madrid would be without the Dutch striker for the game. Schuster rested Cannavaro, brought Heinze in to partner Pepe and Marcelo came in to LB. Sneijder, Van der Vaart and Robben were all lined up in midfield with Salgado, yes my favorite Salgado at RB.

The opening minutes showed that it was going to be an easy night for Madrid, when Sneijder took a 50 meter shot seeing the goal keeper away from his line. It was almost perfect till the last swerve that took it away from the top corner. Then it was Higuain who scored, but it was disallowed for an offside, but this was a howler. Actually these decisions are just making more and more excuses for everyone at Madrid to complaint that there is a conspiracy against them winning the third consecutive title.

The game slowed down or rather Madrid was trying hard to slow down a match seemingly rattled by the disallowed goal, but Heinze was able to connect straight with Sneijder with a long ground ball, if at all there was a question of offside, this was the one, but the flag stayed down and Sneijder took a few quick steps before smashing a powerful left footed cross shot. Sneijder was having a superb game already when he hot the post after some good work by Higuain in getting past defenders and laying it off for him. Llorente was basically the lone striker for Athletico but was being a handful for both Pepe and Heinze. But the second goal was soon scored when Sneijder fed a ball through to Van der Vaart who showed his flair in a side flick into the box, Raul and Higuain staying together ran in different directions leaving the defenders confused and Higuain scored with a cool finish to make it 2-0.


Madrid seemingly cruising to a victory then crumbled, when first Iraola was on the floor, and play stopped, then started and amongst all the distraction, Exteberria scored to make it 2-1. It was not to stop there, Athletico got a penalty from a set piece when the referee thought that llorente was man handled by Pepe and Heinze. The replays showed that the Madrid defenders bumped into each other with some strong pushing from Llorente. Iraola scored the resulting penalty to make it 2-2 at half time. Then it was a period of rough tackles, play acting and pushing and shoving. Marcelo was lucky to escape with a yellow card, where i thought it was not a tackle but a kick.


The second half showed an improved Madrid, with first Higuain going close and a minute later from a corner, Heinze hit the bar. Gago, who for me was the best player on the night fed a terrific pass on to Higuain, who finished off with another cool finish to make it 3-2. From there on it was downhill for Athletico as Amorebieta was sent off with a straight red. Though Schuster did give the returning Diarra and Guti some playing time, but keeping Raul on till the last 3 minutes is like an insult to Saviola.

This is what Real Sporting Director Mijatovic had to say “It seems that there are people who do not want Real Madrid to win their third consecutive La Liga title,” he spat out bluntly, before adding, “We want to believe this is all just coincidence, but too much has happened in the past few games.”

First and Last minute goals in drama filled Madrid Derby

After being drubbed by Barcelona 2 weeks ago, Atletico would have been the more eager of the two capital city teams in the first edition of the Madrid derby of the season. The international break gave Atletico the time to forget about their miserable performance and to bounce back. Apart from the Barca game they have been in splendid form driven by one Sergio Kun Aguero. They have put together some really strong attacking displays in the La Liga and the Champions League. For once they were coming up to the same league and their big brother neighbors.

Madrid had their fair share of injury problems coming into the Vicente Calderon. With Diarra and Guti injured, it was De la Red, Gago and Sneijder in the midfield. The Argentine link man and the Madrid #10 for this season have just returned from injury. Schuster had one change in defense and that was to bring Marcelo at LB. With Robben injured Schuster used 3 strikers in Raul, Van Nistelrooy and Higuain.

Historically, the Madrid Derby has seen some really fast goals and this was no different, just 34 seconds on the clock and Ruud Van Nistelrooy getting receiving a ball on the left side outside the box, with a defender right in front of him, still beat Franko with a superb finish from a long way out. He joins a special 1 minute club, a total of 6 players who have scored within the first minute in the Madrid derby. Another interesting detail to this statistic is that two derby games last season saw Raul and Aguero score in the opening minutes respectively and with Van Nistelrooy's goal it makes it 3 in a row. You have a ticker for a Madrid Derby, you got to be in the stand before the first kick of the ball. I may sound biased now when i say that Van Nistelrooy is one of the best strikers of our generation, but even before he joined Madrid i had the same opinion. Each week you see the Dutchman score all kinds of goals. I pulled his goal scoring stats for the notable three clubs he played for in the last 10 years. 3 season at PSV he scored 62 goals in 67 appearances, 5 seasons at Man U he scored an astounding 162 goals in 189 appearances. He showed that it was no fluke in just his third season at Madrid he has already scored 57 goals in 82 matches. If a striker can boast of a record of 281 goals in 338 matches at the big stage in club level at almost 0.8 goals/match ratio, can anyone say i am wrong?


It was a dream start for Madrid with the goal in already they knew they would have to face a big attack tide from Atletico and it was exactly not the case. Both Aguero and Forlan were getting into shooting positions but could not create any fluid movement into the Madrid box and their shooting was awful. Madrid created moves of their own, though Sneijder was relatively silent on the night, Gago and De La Red were controlling midfield well. Higuain had his shot blocked by the keeper and also the follow up shot from De La Red. From a corner just past minute 20 Cannavaro took a shot on goal, Van Nistelrooy was on hand to tap in from close range. The goal was disallowed as the Dutchman was deemed to be in a offside position. The replays showed that at the time Cannavaro was taking the shot, Van Nistelrooy was clearly onside and it was not even a close call. I seriously think the assistant referee missed the defender who was playing him onside.

Perea was sent off for clearly a second bookable offense when his flaying elbow hit Sneijder on the face, resulting in a bloody nose for the Dutchman. Tempers were flaring and living up to the derby environment which usually is not the case. Fans and players play fair and with 10 men for Atletico and Madrid a goal up, it was going to be tough times for them. Then came a decision from the referee which almost justifies nothing else but the term "balancing out". For a neutral observer it was a disastrous performance by the referee to say the least.

After the half time Higuain had the chance to have Madrid go one or two up when he was denied by the Atletico keeper again once from a point blank range. Atletico finally started looking dangerous when former Barca and Portuguese winger Simao came in. Sergio Ramos who was having a disappointing match, was to have things going worse for him with the winger giving him trouble. But i should say there was a lot of diving going on as well and again there was pushing and shoving between the players. Again a counter attack hit by Higuain when he tried a shot, laid off the re bound for Van der vaart but, the keeper denied him as well. In the 89 the minute Simao won a free kick a little outside the Madrid box about 30 metres or so and he finished off with a superb finish over the wall with Casillas not even moving.

But as in the past couple of seasons Madrid, there is no way we can write off this team until the final whistle is born. Drenthe who was on as a substitute was brought down by Heitinga and the referee pointed to the spot. If this penalty was not given, referee in a different part of the world would have been shot dead. Drenthe makes all these surging runs, but is easily muscled off and hardly creates any chances, but this was a night where he was the hero. With no regular penalty takers in the team, it was the young 2o year old Higuain to take the kick. He hit a sweet spot kick, the keeper guessed right and i think he even got his finger tips on it, but it was Madrid who walked away with 3 points with a 2-1 score. The referee played 7 minutes and 51 seconds of stoppage time maybe to also accommodate the time he himself was getting treatment. I agree this time with Schuster, people looking at the score line think that it was a struggle for Madrid and they were lucky for the win. In a game when their goal was disallowed and a poor red card decision, i think Schuster is right here that they would have won 5-1. It was tactically a good game for Schuster as he got everything including the substitutions almost bang on the money. Incidentally the German tactician got into the record books. He coached Madrid for the 45th league outing against Atletico and notched up 100 points. The earlier record was held by Rijkaard at Barca in 49 games.


Tuesday is one of the biggest matches of this years Champions League, a match which would have had the hype of a final a few years back. Italy's biggest play Spain's biggest and the result could be Claudio Ranieri's job on the line. Madrid make the trip to Turin to play Juventus in the third game of the Champions League group stage. Madrid are sitting on top of the group with 6 points and if Schuster's men can get the 3 points which i seriously doubt, then they could go easy on the remaining games. Good thing to note that the 12 times these two teams have played each other, there never has been a draw. Lot of things have happened including the troubles in Italy, their performance this season and at Madrid as well in terms of teams. I still remember Hierro struggling for pace against Nedved in the 2002/2003 season. Since 2000 i think Madrid has had serious trouble getting past Juventus and Bayern Munich, the problem being the away fixture.

Player Ratings(starting rating 6):

Casillas: 7
Decent game for the Spaniard, who is now in the shortlist for the Balon d Or and considered by many as one of the fore runners for the award. Honestly it was an easy game for him. Considering the fact that Atletico boasted talents like Aguero, Forlan, Manish, their shooting was pathetic to say the least. He was helpless in the Simao free-kick.

Pepe: 8
Marking strikers, small, and quick could be very tricky and the Portuguese defender seems to be back to his best. He was up to the task and kept Aguero kept quiet for most of the day and cut off most of his attempts to connect with Forlan. I would give him the Man of the Match ahead of Higuain. A little tough one.

Cannavaro: 8
I honestly was thinking of a 7 for the Italian, but i thought he deserved a point more for a few headers he won and a couple of desperate tackles putting his body on the line at the end of the match.

Marcelo: 7
The young Brazilian getting the nod ahead of Heinze and he showed the difference between the two. He was just excellent going forward, but was found lacking with the final ball and also his positioning at the back. Heinze maybe got a reprimand for the poor challenge and the penalty that he conceded.

Sergio Ramos: 6
The International games have probably taken the toll on the RB as it was for sure not his best game. He struggled going forward was ineffective, and also struggled once Simao came on.

Sneijder: 7
Was relatively a quiet night for the Dutchman. He got some valuable minutes under his belt coming from injury.

De la Red: 7.5
Was good going forward on the counter attack with Higuain and also had a few shots on goal. He also assisted Gago well in going back to cover.

Gago: 7.5
Considering it was his first game after the first match of the Champions League, it was a decent outing for the Argentine holding player. His tackling and covering skills are good and was never threatened by the Atletico midfield and was also good going forward and link up play.

Raul: 6.5
Rightly substituted in the second half as the Captain went invisible in the second half, not a night to remember individually for him.

Van Nistelrooy: 7
I would have given him an 8 or more if he was given a chance to complete the game by the referee. An absolutely stunning goal out of nothing within the first minute and though he played only a little over 30 minutes, it was in my opinion 2 goals for him in that period.

Higuain: 7.5
Good match again for the youngster. He has just been one of the most improved young players in the La Liga. Maybe not heralded like most of the new footballers coming up, but has definitely become a fan and coach favorite this season. At his age showed a cool head, when he finished the penalty in a big time pressure situation.

Substitutes:

Van der Vaart: 6.5

Came in for Sneijder in the second half, but could do nothing much except for a shot on goal.

Drenthe: 7

Replacing the captain made a few dribbles, and won the crucial penalty.

Javi Garcia: 6

Apart from a note worthy stupid tackle on Aguero, he did what he was asked to do.

Here is a video with highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU9C3vx0IoM

Madrid forget shooting boots against Espanyol

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.

Rafael Van der vaart orchestrates Real 7 * assault

With a week lost in International duty, La Liga had mid week games this week. Both Barca and Real have come off victories last weekend in away games. Wednesday night it was first Barca who entertained Real Betis at the Nou Camp. Barca were seemingly in control at half time when Eto converted twice from Messi passes. In a superb turn around Betis fought back to level the match in the second half at a 2 a piece. Just as when it was looking that Barca were to drop 2 points at home Guardiola's introduction of Gudjohnson into the game on 70 minutes worked. Just 10 minutes after the Iceland international made a start he scored converting a Dani Alves pass. It was a difficult goal at a difficult angle. The funny part of the celebration was when Eto came charging out of the Barca dug out and pushed Guardiola who was standing by the side line from the back-in joy of course. Pep looked back at the Cameroonian and then finally hug him. Of course Eto is a Player and Guardiola is a Manager, he has all the right not to have such extensive celebrations with his players. After all Barca were not scoring the crucial winner in a Champions league final. Barca held on to win the match 3-2.

Real Madrid entertained Sporting Gijon at the Bernabeu. Real coming off a difficult but well earned victory away at Racing and Sporting got drubbed by Barca the same 6-1. Schuster had made some changes again to his starting line up. Real were playing at home and against a team in the bottom of La Liga, squad rotation was not a bad idea, unless it came back to haunt him. The first 10 minutes looked as though Sporting had learned from their mistakes 3 days back in their match against Barca and were playing a compact defensive formation. Madrid took their time in passing the ball around mostly between the defenders and the midfield, rarely connecting with the strikers. Schuster rested Ramos and gave the youngster Torres a start, alongside Pepe, Cannavaro and Marcelo. It was Diarra, Van der vaart and de la Red in midfield, Robben on the right wing, Raul and Higuain as strikers. The youngsters who were superb against Racing almost immediately combined when 3 minutes into the game de la Red fed a neat ball to Higuain in the box but was not able to finish.

Just as when Sporting looked a little bit more comfortable on the ball and were stringing their attacks, a fine counter attacking move with de la Red chipping the ball to Raul, who headed the ball through into the path of Van der vaart who finished it off with a graceful left footed half volley. 1-0 Real Madrid on 18 minutes.

This almost immediately rattled Sporting who were trying to be organized. Raul and Higuain seemed to combine really well. The only part missing was the finishing. The young Argentine as i have mentioned numerous times before, has an excellent eye for hitting the counter attack and has the pace and dribbling skills to execute it. On the 33 minute mark a well executed play and a touch of brilliance got Real two up. de la Red inside the box squared a fine ball to VDV, who showed all signs of finishing with his preferred left, but with the goalkeeper charging and cutting down the angle he turned 360 and finished with a superlative back heel to make it 2-0.


Robben was getting too much space to run into, though his first touch and control let him down a couple of times, he was adequately supported by Torres. On one such run Robben cut inside the Sporting LB and with white shirts lining up inside the box, instead played a delightful ball across the penalty box for Higuain to finish off unmarked. 3-0 on the 36th minute and it was to stay so at half time.


As in the match against BATE in the Champions League Schuster did not want his team to sit on the lead. They did follow his instructions to the word as Madrid scored just a minute from game restart. A long ground ball into the box found Raul who probably was looking to pass back to Robben with the 1-2, but it was VDV again who finished with a sweet left footed shot leaving the goalkeeper stranded. It was 4-0 on 46 minutes and a superb hattrick for the Dutchman who is fast winning the Bernabeu fans over and also giving a strong answer to critics who doubted his ability to add quality to the Madrid midfield.


Just a few minutes later it was a switch of roles. VDV fed in a delightful through ball to Robben who tip toed and beat the center backs and the keeper for pace and scored with a well placed shot from a long way out. 5-0 Madrid on 50 minutes.


Schuster seeing a good stage for the young Madrid players to get some playing time brought in Javi Garcia to replace Diarra. Garcia has been used as a CB in pre-season but he played well in his natural position the rest of the game. On minute 53 the traveling Sporting fans had something to cheer for when Marcelo found himself a bit out of position and David Barral passed from the right for Mateo finish off avoiding the dive from Cannavaro. It was 5-1 on 53 minutes.

The press has been relentless about how Raul has lost his scoring touch and how he is now a liability for Madrid. I agree partially to the point that Schuster should not be scared to bench Raul especially in away games and give the likes of Higuain and Saviola more playing time. When the Manager points out that he did want Raul to play withdrawn in an away game similar to Racing, we cannot expect him to bag a lot of goals. Press is probably looking at stats only, but Raul definitely brings a lot more to the plate. Is he a negative influence and does not want to see other players succeed at Madrid? I don't think so, we have to understand that Raul has been wearing the Captain's arm band regularly for the last 5-6 years, even at a time when there were players such as Figo, Zidane, Beckham and Roberto Carlos.

Well Raul decided to take center stage amidst all the goals that Real were scoring. First Robben cut inside again on the right and seemingly with minimum back lift got a powerful shot. Sporting goalkeeper desperately punched it up and Raul was there and finished off with a difficult high tap in. 6-1 Madrid on 59 minutes.


Schuster introduced Saviola for Higuain and almost immediately the forgotten Argentine made a surge down the left, dribbled and side footed two defenders but could not find the final ball to Raul. Couple of minutes later it was Saviola receiving a ball, fed Raul and with the keeper charging would have expected the Captain to pass back to him, but Raul made a superb lob which was so perfect that it could be used for lessons to kids. 7-1 Real Madrid on 64 minutes.


Robben after a good night was replaced by Drenthe, but now Madrid as though providing a favor to Sporting decided to step of the gas. I am pretty sure if they had attacked more they would have scored another 3-4 goals. Madrid seemingly have grown in confidence after their poor showing on Match Day one against Deportivo. Schuster would be one happy man, seeing that his squad rotation worked out excellently. But is this game a fair assessment? Certainly not!! Madrid have scored 14 goals in 4 league games but have shipped in 6 goals with only 2 clean sheets for Casillas in all competitions. 7 goals against Sporting for many may not be a big deal, because they let 6 goals in the week before against Barca at their ground. Having lost all 4 games conceding a total of 19 goals Sporting are in bad shape. Well i have a reason for this, the scheduling for a team like Sporting has been absolutely cruel. Having played Barca and Madrid in the space of 3 days, they welcome Vilarreal over the weekend.

Real Madrid travel to face Real Betis on Saturday, though Betis are struggling they did give a scare to Barca. David Villa inspired Valencia got back to top spot in La Liga thanks to two goals from the Spaniard.

Here are my player ratings:

Casillas- 7.5
Though he had limited saves to make as most of the action was at the other end of the pitch, he maintained high concentration and was good. Cannot blame him for the goal he let in also.

Miguel Torres- 7
Getting a full game ahead of regular Sergio Ramos, the young Madrid defender held his ground and also joined Robben in attack in the first half. His positioning with the rest of the defenders was noticeable when Cannavaro was barking out instructions asking him to maintain the high line.

Pepe- 7.5
Much improved performance from the big Portuguese. He did not have a lot of defend, but still controlled the ball and looked sharp and quick.

Cannavaro- 7
The General at the back was good organizing the Madrid defense. In the beginning of the match he held on to the ball with Pepe with some neat passing with midfield. I am not giving a higher rating because if he was a bit quicker maybe he could have blocked the shot that let to Sporting's goal.

Marcelo- 7.5
He made one mistake which led to the goal, when the young Brazilian was found too high in defense. With Robben playing on the right, Marcelo did well going up and joining the attack.

Diarra- 7
Another player who did his part, but was never under any pressure. Also only played 50 minutes when he was substituted by Javi Garcia.

de la Red- 7.5
It was a composed performance from the young player and a lot of running. He provided the assist for VDV to score his second of the night. de la Red could be a serious competitor for Guti and Gago.

Van der vaart- 10- Man of the Match
I was split on a 9.5 for VDV. But I don't think he could have had a better game. I don't agree with people who say it is Sporting Gijon who is 20th in La liga so its no big deal. A hat trick from midfield is a really great feat to achieve. VDV had to prove that he was worth the money Madrid spent on him, or rather he is now proving that Madrid made one of the deals of the decade. He was involved in the game from start to finish, was tracking back to help in defense as well as going back to collect passes from the defenders. He set up Robben with a delightful through ball. The goal he back heeled into the net was just phenomenal presence of mind and flair.

Robben- 8
Switched wings and was predominantly on the right the entire game. He cut inside the Sporting LB with ease on more than one occasion. It was his delightful pass that set up Higuain. It was also his shot saved by the keeper that Raul tapped in. He was also involved in the third goal scored by VDV. Though his first touch from some long balls did let him down, it was a busy day in the office for the flying Dutchman.

Higuain- 8
Did what he is there on the pitch for. Hard running, good link up play with Raul and also scored a goal.

Raul(c)- 9
Real Madrid's official website says Raul is the Man of the Match. I disagree in this aspect, but i do give him 9. He was involved in almost all of Madrid's attacking play. If the first goal was his pure poacher instinct, the second was pure genius.

Substitutes:

Gavi Garcia- 7.5
He looked solid and got some quality playing time under his belt. Playing in his natural position of defensive midfield, he recovered balls and was pretty good in his ball distribution as well.

Saviola- 7
First real quality minutes for the Argentine. He showed bits and pieces of the Saviola he was famous for. Good triangular 1-2 passing with Raul led to the Captain's second goal. He was getting in to too many offside positions and looked a bit rusty.

Drenthe- 7
With Real taking the gas of the pedal on terms of attacking play, the Dutchman was just having a jog in the park with no positive play.

Here are the goals with some exciting English commentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_XRg3WQ_kE

I am putting this second video too because the first one seems to be missing Raul's second goal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OigErfASMnw

Superb Real youngsters, unstoppable Barca and titans no show in Premiership

This past Sunday was in game minutes a really long day for me. Started off at 6 AM when i labored myself out of bed and onto the couch to watch Chelsea V Man U in the early kick off. This was one of many cases in the Premiership of choking each other out. The more i see the top 4 teams play each other i am less impressed with the actual freedom in which they play. Sir Alex used the same system sans Christiano Ronaldo that brought him glory against the same opposition the last time they met in the UEFA Champions league final. Surprising to many he played Park and Hargreaves on the right. I just hate it when teams play with one striker up front and Chelsea at home looked compact but looked never in a position to score for almost 80 minutes. Rio was having a party in the back because he had very few threatening attacks to deal with from Chelsea. He even joined the attack on one occasion and would have scored if not for a superb save by Cech. Chelsea had immediate trouble when Carvalho had to be stretchered off and Alex was introduced. The big Brazilian was superb in the game, i personally have high regard for his abilities.

Scolari took the entire first half to realize that Malouda and Anelka up front are not the right option. Anelka was coming in to the game in good form and got into some good positions but unfortunately was wasteful. In the second half he missed what could be called a sitter. With Evans partnering Rio in the center Scolari should have put on an additional striker from the beginning. I have always felt that Rio is a good defender when he plays with someone who can cover for his mistakes. With no threat from Anelka and Malouda mostly inactive Drogba came in for Malouda. He was indeed creating some trouble for the central defensive partnership of Man United. Bosingwa was reasonably good all through the game but needs to really work on his delivery because after making some impressive runs the final ball was disappointing. It was he who let Evra muscle past him to put in a ball for Berbatov. The Bulgarian who seems still not completely in the Red's system took a shot which was spilled by Cech right into the path of Park, who justified his selection ahead of Nani with a simple tap in goal.


Though the likes of Ronaldo were seen in the latter half of the match there was no real threat from the Portuguese apart from a few counter attacking runs. With Chelsea's unbeaten home record of over 85 games and 4 years under threat it was Kalou who rose highest in a set piece and scored the equalizer with 10 minutes remaining. He was involved in a swift counter attack within minutes as well. Overall it was a decent game, but with 7 yellow cards to Man U players they are probably looking at a fine or sanction from the FA. Some of them really deserved it, players like Scholes who put in such a lot of wrong tackles that the referee was struggling to keep the match going for a minute at a stretch.

Real Madrid made their visit to Racing Santander a historically tough match for Madrid. Racing was missing Munitis to injury and Center back Garay was no playing because he is on loan from Madrid. Schuster on the other hand made some changes which were surprising for sure but worked out in the end. He had his preferred his defensive 4 to call upon. Cannavaro was back from injury which saw him miss the European championships and the early part of this season. Pepe who is not yet in full form, Ramos at RB and Heinze at LB. With news in the press that Schuster would bench Raul and play Higuain did not come true as the German tactician went with a new formation. No winger as Robben was rested, Gago added himself to the injury list mid week in the Champions league win. It was young de la Red, Diarra and Guti in midfield. Raul and Van Nistelrooy as strikers and Higuain in a withdrawn role on the right.

Racing are a tough opposition when it gets to their strike force. Madrid had to dig deep before they could even generate any positive moves. It was Higuain who created the first real chance for Madrid when he dribbled past Christian and almost set up Raul. 10 minutes later Guti too a rather different set piece and saw de la Red shoot from distance but was denied by a finger tip save from the Racing goal keeper. Though Racing got close to the Madrid goal, some last gasp defending ensured that Casillas was not tested till about 37 minutes. Madrid midfield misery continued as Guti was soon stretchered out with a few minutes to half time. Van der vaart was introduced to take up Guti's role. Guti was seemingly looking more and more confident and seeing a lot of ball as he was enjoying the space created by de la Red and Diarra.

Madrid came out in the second half continuing to play the patient waiting game and trying to hit Racing on the counter. Sergio Ramos and Heinze hardly went up the pitch to join in attack. Schuster had his cards well played as Higuain is the best man for a counter attack. The Argentine picked up the ball deep in his half from a Racing set piece and hit a fast counter attack on the right. Raul and de la Red were the only options to pass, the Madrid captain though has been struggling to find his scoring form, pulled the defense with him thus leaving de la Red unmarked, who controlled and made a cool finish to make it 0-1 to Madrid.

Racing hit Madrid with an array of attacking moves, but the always questioned back line held on. Van der vaart fed a long ground ball to Van Nistelrooy who in the Racing box had no one to pass to. With a defender right in front of him, his quick feet enabled just the smallest gap to shoot past him into goal. Such goals are what differentiate between a good striker and a great one.

Robben and Saviola also got a bit of playing time. De la Red had a good game, but could improve on his passing. He has an extremely accurate long shot and is a good finisher. If he does not improve in his ball distribution he will find it difficult to find a starting spot ahead of a very talented Madrid midfield in this department. For me the man of the match though was Higuain. When the likes of Raul and Van Nistelrooy were trying hard to link with the Madrid midfield, the Argentine was always looking to dribble as soon as he got the ball.

Elsewhere a Robinho inspired Man City hit six goals, who scored one and was involved in almost the entire Man City attacking moves. Similarly Messi inspired Barca hit six past Sporting Gijon whom Madrid play on Wednesday.

History making Premiership and free scoring La Liga

The week off for International duty had definitely build up the games over the weekend across different leagues in Europe. I could only follow a few games in La Liga and the EPL so i thought i should better write it as a consolidated post rather than a full one on the Madrid game.

After losing their opener against Numancia, Barca had a point to prove in their first home game in the league this season. Messi was on the bench but was to make a second half appearance in what proved to be a tough match. Each time i watch Barcelona play i get the feeling that they are restricted in creativity. Even with the likes of Iniesta, Xavi and Dani Alves they looked to play one style with very little to offer in creativity. Past the 70 minute mark it was a penalty that substitute Messi put away that too them into the lead. It was only to last 6 minutes as Santander scored and held on to secure their second draw and leaving Barca without a win in two outings in the La Liga.

Sevilla secure 3 points in a superb 7 goal thriller against Sporting Gijon in a game with 6 goals in the first half. Athletico who were victorious in the opening game and looked exciting surprisingly fell to Real Valladolid. The Madrid club played with 10 men for the majority of the game after Pedro Lopez was sent off.

The Sevilla match was not the only 7 goal thriller in Spain. Real Madrid hosted Numancia on Sunday at the Bernabeu. It was evident in the first few minutes that they did not beat Barca in the opener by fluke. They play a formation usually not found in Spain. They have a defensive layer in the midfield that plays close to the back four which makes it difficult for the strikers to get passes. Schuster made a host of changes because of the Internationals and also the upcoming Champions League group stage opener. Sergio Ramos was carrying a groin injury and Salgado surprisingly got the RB nod. Metzelder found a rare staring spot along with Pepe and it was Marcelo at LB. Still no Gago in midfield as it was Diarra, Van der vaart, Guti and Robben on the left wing. Surprisingly playing at home Raul found himself on the bench and it was Van Nistelrooy and Higuain as the attacking options. Real had almost 70% of the ball possession, but it
was newly promoted Numanica who took the lead after six minutes when Moreno headed home unmarked from a corner. Real Madrid hit back through Guti who was getting a lot of space and time, with a deflected shot to make it 1-1.

Numanica again hit back when the Madrid defense hesitated for a split second and Barkero put the visitors in front 2-1. From there on Madrid took the impetus in the game in all aspects as some superb back to goal holding and passing from Van Nistelrooy put Higuain through and he scored to level the score 2-2. It was a bold move from Schuster to leave Raul out and have Higuain on. Not only did the young Argentine score but also drifted wide right and also came back into midfield to start attacks. With Salgado on as RB the attacking options through the right were limited for Madrid till Robben moved wings in the second half. Real Madrid's only major summer signing the 9M man Van der vaart, proved he is worth every penny when he found himself clear inside the box and scored with a powerful left footed shot to make it 3-2. Madrid ended a truly unbelievable first half with another goal and this time it was Guti's corner deflected by Pepe onto a Numancia defender who put it into his own net. 4-2 at half time.

Numancia came back onto the pitch and i guess were clear on scoring. Their formation had been spread and was creating lot of moves. Casillas and a superb last ditch tackle from Metzelder were highlights of Madrid struggling. Schuster gave Raul the nod and Drenthe as well. With Drenthe in on the left midfield, Robben moved over to the right. Robben was seeing the ball a lot and also trying some of his trademark runs and cuts inside but was not at his best. It was Numanica to score when Moreno scored with a well placed free kick. It was reasonably close to Casillas and with his high standards you would expect him to save those. Metzelder's injury worries continued when he collided mid air with Diarra, both of them going for the same ball and the tall lanky German ended up having a bloody skull needing stiches on the go. He continued and held of capping a reasonably well played return match. Metzelder hold his own when one-one against strikers and also is exceptionally good in the air. The only major concern is his acceleration and could easily be beaten by a quick forward. He is more of a traditional classic CB and will struggle against the quicker younger strikers. Madrid held on to win 4-3 and got away with the 3 points. My friend messaged me as we were in the second half saying "man are they playing a 5's tournament?" Well he recently was part of the winning team in the state level Corporate 5's tournament. You are the man Antony AKA Alexander the grt....

I thought i will add a player rating part in the blog. This is purely how i look at it. As in the EA sports game version i would like to keep 6 as the starting rating.

Cassilas- 6
Not a good game for any goal keeper when you concede 3 goals and that too mostly from set pieces. He made a few key saves but not his best day.

Salgado- 7
I am giving Salgado a high rating because he held his fort. He was defensively ok, but questionable maybe in his positioning in the set pieces. He made a few last ditch tackles inside the box as well. I would have given him an 8, if he provided a little more options in attack.

Pepe - 6
Average performance from the defender. He made a lot of wrong tackles and has not had a confident start to the season. It will be interesting to see if he gets better when Cannavaro is back.

Metzelder- 7
Good come back game for the German. Was first to almost all the aerial balls. Was beaten once for pace by Moreno. Braving his head injury to finish the game topped it off.

Diarra- 6
I think Schuster played Diarra because he wanted to rest Gago, who was away with International duty with Argentina. Diarra brought little in to the game and was hesitant going forward. He was OK in the ball recovering front.

Van der vaart- 8
Good game overall for the Dutchman as he played well in midfield. Linked up well in tracking back and connecting with Diarra and spraying the ball around to Guti and Robben. To top this he scored an absolutely brilliant goal.

Guti- 7
Questionably good performance. He enjoyed a lot of space and with a defensive midfield playing close to the back 4 for Numancia he tried a lot of long direct ground passes to the strikers. A few of them almost payed off. He also created some confusion in set pieces. His goal was a deflected fluke and so i am not going for an 8.

Robben- 7
The Dutchman was showing intent of danger. Numancia focused a lot of bodies on the winger thus limiting his chances of cutting inside and providing for the strikers.

Van Nistelrooy- 7
The Dutch scoring machine was a bit too inactive compared to his usual free scoring self. He had a few shots on goal and a good assist when he set up Higuain. His back to the goal holding play was a new addition to his game.

Higuain- 8
He had to score considering the fact that he was putting the captain Raul on the bench. He did that in style and also showed that he is not just a super sub and can play a full game well. Also the young Argentine has made the cover of EA Sports FIFA 09 Spanish version.

Drenthe, De la Red and Raul (Substitutes) - 5
I give all of them a 5 because none of them could do anything with the limited playing time that they got and Madrid was not trying to score.

Big Big weekend in the EPL. My friend Spartan was checking with me the options to see one of the biggest games of the year. Liverpool hosting defending champions Man U. I don't know yet if he was indeed able to watch it, but i ended up watching Man City V Chelsea. The game was going to be focused on a lot in the press because of one reason-Robinho. The Brazilian who has come under such a lot of ridicule for joining Man City almost created a fairy tale beginning when he scored with a deflected free-kick. It was all that was going to be happy for Man City as the experience of Chelsea too over as they hit 3 goals past a hapless Man City defense. One of the worst refereeing decisions was also in the game when John Terry was sent off with a straight red card for a tug on Jo, stating that he was the last man. Well yes Terry was the last line as the Chelsea defense was almost at the half line. Jo had a lot of running to do and to think that Carvalho would not have been able to cover is just preposterous. Chelsea have appealed his suspension and have now overturned it. The game almost proves what Schuster commented on Robinho saga " We should respect his ambition of being the best player in a mediocre team in England".

Liverpool and Rafa Benitez overcame a 4-5 season jinx of winning against Man Utd. The highlight of the game for Utd fans was their 30+M new signing Berbatov who set up the first goal for Tevez to score. It was a great feat for Liverpool with Gerrard and Torres on the bench.

Champions League group stage openers this week, and i am all excited about it.

Money Grabber...Bad business and incomplete team...

Spanish Champions Real Madrid have been in the news all summer for almost everything but the right reasons. A team who are the current defending Spanish La Liga Champions should know better on how to conduct their business. First there was all the nonsense on a non existent transfer target of Christiano Ronaldo. Across the world press was trying desperately to get one shred of news which would point in the direction that Ronaldo wants to join Madrid. Well Ronaldo would have a liking for Madrid so would 500 other players, but was he ever going to tell his London club that he would not play for them if he was not sold? Real found out the answer the tough way.

If that was some shock for the club where everyone supposedly wants to play, their own super star wanted out. I still remember a few years back the news about Real signing one of the brightest stars in Brazil. One who performed 12 step overs on a trot, the darling of Santos FC, the next Pele many called. There was just one problem, Robinho's mom was kidnapped on hearing the news of his imminent transfer to Europe. Madrid issued a statement that they were not pursuing the Brazilian, the mother was released. Robinho and his mom were flown to Spain and Madrid put in the transfer money on the last day of the transfer window. How heroic a tale to tell, but the #10 at the Spanish Capital as we know now did not reciprocate the gratitude.

The reason Robinho and his agent says is simple, but yet a little beyond comprehension. There was news during the Ronaldo saga that Madrid are planning to use Robinho in a part exchange deal. Robinho was upset that he was not valued by his club and immediately wanted a move out of Real, and identified Chelsea as his preferred location. With former Brazil national team the new coach and the Portuguese and Brazilian influence was enough for Robinho to make up his mind. Chelsea came with all force and a 33M Euros offer for the Brazilian. They were so confident that they would sign Robinho, they started selling #10 jerseys on their official online store. This it seems was the Reason for Real Madrid President to change his mind. You must be kidding me right. Yes it is a big deal, Yes Chelsea screwed up. Robinho had a contract for only 2 more years and Madrid would lose out on a lot of money if they did not sell him this year.

But is Calderon the smartest man around? Certainly not!! He took the risk and rejected Chelsea's bid knowing fully well how active the last day of transfer window is in Great Britain. He would have been hoping that Chelsea make a better bid and get close to Madrid's valuation. Robinho it seems had informed the President that he was not going to accept Madrid's revised contract extension and he would rather become a traveling salesman than play for Madrid anymore.

In a bizarre turn of events things took such a U-turn that no one ever could have imagined. It was beyond all the possible imagination that the world press could bring. I was away vacationing in Las Vegas and got back on Sept 1st and soon realized it should have been Man City faithfuls who should have been gambling. They woke up the richest club in the World, under new Dubai owner with supposedly over a Trillion dollars in finances of which 550 Billion in spending cash. Not only did Chelsea's Russian 12 Billion boss look tiny in front of this, Man City made an audacious bid for Robinho which was accepted and made Madrid richer by a few 30M GBP.

I heard Steve Curry say on Sky Sports that it has been proved with this decision by Robinho that the best destination in Europe for the best players around. Well if Robinho had made the switch to Chelsea i might have agreed partially with Mr.Curry. EPL does have a few good clubs, but Man City to be compared in the same league as their more illustrious neighbors or even the likes of mid table clubs is like seeing a nice dream and that too if i am a Man City fan who is drunk. Is one British record signing going to make Man City a club that could topple the usual top fours for once? That was not the only major news in the Premiership as Man Utd signed Bulgarian Berbatov 20 minutes from deadline.

The whole of last week i have read articles after articles on people defending Robinho and on the other hand "I will never be a Robinho" from some of the superstars. Calderon was for sure lucky with the whole transfer of Robinho. He should be given credit to reject the initial bid from Chelsea and waiting for the right offer. Fortunately for him it came from Man City and since Robinho so desperately wanted out of Madrid he would have gone to play for Churchill Brothers in India citing the number of Brazilians who plays there. The only problem here is Real President and his Sporting Director has messed up big time in the transfer window this season. The Manager Schuster has come out openly and made requests for a striker. With Soldado sold this season, there is lack of quality in terms of depth. Van Nistelrooy has started off the season with a bang with goals, Raul seems his usual in-effective self, Higuain the super sub and Saviola has not seen major playing time. I see a point in what Schuster is saying here. Madrid needs to get another quality striker and start playing a few away games at least without Raul.


Madrid need a quality CB, if Schuster does not intend to give any playing time at all to Metzelder. I hardly remember him playing in the White shirt and then you see him playing every game with Germany in the Euro championships en-route to their final loss. They need a left back if Torres is going to be used in that position. Please dont tell me that Madrid is going to compete in all competitions with stop gap players. The only place where Madrid did not need re-enforcements was in midfield, but they still went ahead and bought Van der vart for 9 M when he could have been available for less than a million a year later. Now Madrid are talking about signing Lucas Podolski during the January transfer window. Well good choice in my eyes, i sign him each time when i play Manager mode in FIFA 08. He got me 33 goals season, not the same as in real life. He is for sure a good choice, flair player who drifts left. Almost perfect replacement for Robinho. But that is January...

Madrid made a deadline bid of in excess of 50M to Valencia for the services of David Villa. It was a week before that Villa signed contract extensions. This was a key signing and a ridiculous miss from Madrid. Schuster also wanted cover on the LB area and had ear marked countryman Philip Lahm as the one for the role.

It is the worst position to be in as a Manager, but Schuster needs to give more playing time to players like Gago, Metzelder, Saviola and the rest of the youngsters. Madrid were supposed to spend over 80M on one player, finally ended up getting around 40M added to their bank and ended up nothing to show for. A season with La Liga and Champions League, it will be interesting to see if Ruud or Robben get injured. If Schuster is going to follow his same tactics as last year in squad rotation, i see Madrid struggling...

My take is that Calderon and Pedja Mijatovic have got a sword over their heads. As part of the management of one of the clubs with the best resources in the world, they have screwed up big time, with one of the most disastrous summers that i can think of.