Closed Real Madrid 3-1 Chelsea

[Muzchap 8,966]

I love you!!!!!

Shouldn't that have been 'I LIKE you'

[Muzchap 8,966]

I can't believe the over-reaction....

Again - this is REAL LIFE - not FIFA or FM...

It takes time to blood a young team - get all of the players working in the same direction and there's been so many changes during pre-season - it's been impossible to enforce any consistency.

WHY do we have inconsistency? WELL glad you asked - because THIS YEAR we have a squad full of strength and depth - (remember when you were complaining about that last season?) and in order to get 'all' players match fit - they need game time.

I'm not happy we lost, far from it - but one thing I do know is - you learn much more in defeat than in winning - and now the lads all have a focus on what to achieve in the next game.

This Player X is amazing and then 20 minutes later he's shit - just has to stop. I myself have been guilty of it - but it just doesn't work. If a player is giving 100% to the cause - then I'm happy, regardless of how he is performing - sometimes you just have 'off-days'...

So let's look at with a sense of balance - are we in a better place than the end of last season? YES - IMHO we are - we have a great SQUAD of players - for all occasions and the longer they spend together, the better the 'dynamic' between them will be.

So - what did the game achieve?

- Fitness.... Check

- Areas to improve on.... Check

That's good enough for me!

[Dion 2,476]

And the acceleration too. Incredible.

Love how he makes Casillas look like a fool. It also reminds me a bit of his wonder goal against Barça.

[Hutcho 8,443]

I can't believe the over-reaction....

Again - this is REAL LIFE - not FIFA or FM...

It takes time to blood a young team - get all of the players working in the same direction and there's been so many changes during pre-season - it's been impossible to enforce any consistency.

WHY do we have inconsistency? WELL glad you asked - because THIS YEAR we have a squad full of strength and depth - (remember when you were complaining about that last season?) and in order to get 'all' players match fit - they need game time.

I'm not happy we lost, far from it - but one thing I do know is - you learn much more in defeat than in winning - and now the lads all have a focus on what to achieve in the next game.

This Player X is amazing and then 20 minutes later he's shit - just has to stop. I myself have been guilty of it - but it just doesn't work. If a player is giving 100% to the cause - then I'm happy, regardless of how he is performing - sometimes you just have 'off-days'...

So let's look at with a sense of balance - are we in a better place than the end of last season? YES - IMHO we are - we have a great SQUAD of players - for all occasions and the longer they spend together, the better the 'dynamic' between them will be.

So - what did the game achieve?

- Fitness.... Check

- Areas to improve on.... Check

That's good enough for me!

I would rather lose now and find out in a nothing game then think all is hunky dory going into a game that actually means something.

[Strike 7,490]

This reality check maybe a blessing in disguise.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

The hard reactions are understandable considering it was Real Madrid and the history the club has with Mourinho, even though it was for no points. But then again, people should understand that if it hadn't for that super free-kick or if Hazard might have scored than 1-on-1, things wudve been different. But thats the way football is and i appreciate the way Mou is moving forwards with the spoils.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Seriously, Ramires is easily our best 1 on 1 finisher and it's not even close. Unbelievable composure.

[November33rd 84]

Don't know why people are shocked Lukaku was quiet against Madrid. They are Real Madrid after all.

Any striker not named Lewandowski, Cavani, Falcao, Ibra, etc is going to struggle against them.

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

Don't know why people are shocked Lukaku was quiet against Madrid. They are Real Madrid after all.

Any striker not named Lewandowski, Cavani, Falcao, Ibra, etc is going to struggle against them.

Diego Costa? Negredo? Llorente?

The reason they scored against Madrid was down to the fact they were supplied beautifully by players who could lead a transition under pressure. Something we either lack or have players inexperienced in doing so, IE Van Ginkel and DeBryune. Not too bothered from this result tbh, just a training session and what's laughable is how Madrid treated it. Fielding a starting 11 with rarely any subs until the final minutes. We were testing players and Mourinho was studying certain aspects. One thing we all know, is that Mourinho always has the last laugh.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Cicero

[NishC300 1,865]

The players entry though was awesome.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Seriously, Ramires is easily our best 1 on 1 finisher and it's not even close. Unbelievable composure.

why hazard doesnt go over to learn from him, i dont understand

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

O like Ivanovic but he seems to loss concentration in big games ie Swansea last season. He should stick to CB in my opinion his better there than at RB, Whenever him and AC3 play we seem to lack with because both defensive fullbacks.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

why hazard doesnt go over to learn from him, i dont understand

Composure isn't that easily transferable. You can ask for some pointers but in the end it takes time and experience. The more Hazard will get into these 1 on 1 situations the better he'll get at them.

How quickly he improves is completely up to him though.

[ANDRECHO 432]

fluency

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Mourinho on Madrid match:

“This was a friendly, so there was no celebrations when we won friendlies, and no dramas because we lost,”

“We could see the difference in approach from both teams. They have been here for three days, they are preparing for this match.:

“I know they have trained once a day and I know one of those days was a recovery session."

“They play with their best team for the first minute and they made their first change when it was 3-1. We had a completely different approach. I need to see my players. I need to make conclusions.”

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Composure isn't that easily transferable. You can ask for some pointers but in the end it takes time and experience. The more Hazard will get into these 1 on 1 situations the better he'll get at them.

How quickly he improves is completely up to him though.

Yea your right. But hazard should try to finese the shot instead of just kicking it and hoping for luck.

Anyways I watched the match again so I think jose used this match to try different tactical variations.

First half summary.

In the first half, he tried the 4-3-3 but he used ramires, lamps and MVG. Ramires and lampard were lost on who was the more attacking player of the two so there was so much inbalance in the first half.

Player analysis.

Ramires lost a few balls and failed to continue following marcelo before he scored. But take nothing away from his sublime finish.

Oscar was forced to play on the wings where we know he's not good, I'm sure mourinho has seen that too first hand.

Ivanovic at right back was there to face the physicality of ronaldo so he didn't attack much because of that. But his passing was very bad, he and cahill reminded me of why we should not sell david luiz. Every single time they kicked the ball in the sky and couldn't pick out any pass longer than 6 yards shocking. A major reason we were horrible in the first half was because of this.

Ashely cole was our best defender

MVG was bad in the early minutes but he grew into the game with nice tackles. He was a little short attacking wise though.

Lampard was bad, but mourinho wanted to speed up his match fitness in a high class friendly so that's that.

Lukaku was bad with his runs, but he wasn't helped by the confusing midfield we tried to play. Hazard was invisible in the first half, but on closer look I thought they marked him very closely.

Second half summary

This was a much better half. We went back to the usual 4-2-3-1 formation. With moses and hazard in the wings and KDB in the center. We were pressing well and we became better than madrid till the 70th minute when KDB was moved to the pivot. But the goal ronaldo scored was their first chance in the half but ivanovic was found guilty of allowing isco too much room to cross as usual and JT didn't even attempt to jump for the ball. Ronaldo was too fast for any of the DM to follow him and he came from the wing to the center so the cross was actually what we failed to stop defensively

Player anaysis

Ivanovic was bad till he got into the center back position

Cahill and cole were average with azpi.

Ramires and MVG were perfect in the 2nd half

Moses had an energy we lacked in the attack from oscar but his decision making in the final third was bad.

Hazard came to life in this half till he got tired in the last 20mins. He dissapeared when KDB was told to sit in the pivot.

KDB was magnificent at first and he provided extra intensity and spreading passes especialy when behind torres. But when jose moved him to the pivot, he was bad.

Torres was actualy good. His linkup play was great, and he was making good runs actually. Maybe it was because of the improved overall midfield but he looked better than most pple thought.

Essien was good with more controll in the midfield but was no where to be found when madrid countered us a couple of times, since his partner in the pivot(KDB) was a more attacking player, I expected essien to put a better defensive duty. He was bad in that aspect but his passing foward was good.

So in summary Mourinho tried new things in this match and got his answers.

The best formation he got was the 2nd half one. But he also learned that KDB was bad in the pivot and oscar was bad in the wings. I hope he also learned that iva is a better CB than cahill and is not a good right back.

I'm happy we played this match, a lot of his tactical questions were answered.

Edited August 8, 2013 by kellzfresh

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

Mourinho on Madrid match:

“This was a friendly, so there was no celebrations when we won friendlies, and no dramas because we lost,”

“We could see the difference in approach from both teams. They have been here for three days, they are preparing for this match.:

“I know they have trained once a day and I know one of those days was a recovery session."

“They play with their best team for the first minute and they made their first change when it was 3-1. We had a completely different approach. I need to see my players. I need to make conclusions.”

And that was exactly the case.

Yesterday's match was just in reality a training session and testing certain aspects. The fact Madrid went into this match with some personal vendetta against Mourinho is bar none hilarious ,

Edited August 9, 2013 by Cicero

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

Yea your right. But hazard should try to finese the shot instead of just kicking it and hoping for luck.

Well imo Hazard does 2 things wrong in his one on one:

1) He makes the wrong decision. He goes for the power shot while Casillas was about 2 metres away.

He should have tried to either chip it to the far corner or run past Casillas to the right (Hazard's right) and slot it in.

2) He's too transparent when he finishes. He doesn't do anything to wrongfoot the goalkeeper.

No worries though Hazard already acknowledged in multiple interviews (this preseason) that his main working point is his finishing.

So i'm pretty sure Hazard already told Mourinho about it and if he didn't Mourinho knwos now and they'll definitely work on it.

[nono 791]

Sounds like excuses from Mourinho. We were just outclassed.

[Kojo 4,676]

Cahill is a good consistent centre back, but he's far from the best.

I remember last season against Yaya Toure when City beat us 2-0, that was some of the worst defending I've ever seen, he gave him so much space it was just insane. He didn't close him down quick enough.

He's an excellent tackler, very good in the air, and such a confident player, but he does lack certain intelligence, not common sense though. He lacks the sort of thing which makes the top centre backs so hard to play against, he's not as clever. The world class centre backs are very intelligent players, they know what to do and how to come up against opponents at the right time. Cahill does not, that's why he will make those 6-7 mistakes a season, because he does lack that certain quality.

He's a very good centre back though people, lets not get ahead of ourselves and say that Cahill isn't good enough. This is the man who has made those amazing last ditch tackles in the last minute, anyone remember the tackle on Van Persie in the last minute? The one against Spurs? he's a very good player and where lucky that he's done so good. 7 million is an absolute fucking bargain that's all I can say.