Closed Real Madrid 3-1 Chelsea

[NishC300 1,865]

@TheIndians here

Was Priyanka Chopra singing?

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

Is anyone else afraid that the current squad won't work out this season?

Half of the team are not very consistent and and unreliable except Mata, Cole, Cech, and Hazard.

We will do alright but we are definitely not good enough to be a threat to Madrid, Barca, Bayern,...

Need a CB and a striker

I dont think any objective person is thinking we will do well in Europe this season.

This is effectively a rebuilding year. Only reason people think we have a shot in league is because the 2 clubs that finished ahead of us have untested managers in this league(moyes sucks)

[samzilla 517]

The referees in this competition have been absolutely appalling, not just in this game but also in the previous 2 matches.

That's what we live with in the MLS every week.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Did people really expect us to get to the level of Mardid & Bayern during one preseason? lmao wtf

this team needs at least one or two seasons to become that good (PL we can win this year though), unreal how people react after a preseason game

[bluesman2610 1,347]

If anything, this game just showed us our problems from last season are still present and not 'cured' like how some people have been making it out since Mourinho returned. We still got defensive deficiencies, as illustrated mainly for the 3rd goal (shocking, abject, abysmal defending!!!), lacking that bite in midfield and no top quality striker upfront that would make a huge difference for us.

imho i think the van ginkel ramires midfield has plenty of bite but everything else you said 1000% agree

[Moros 86]

I dont think any objective person is thinking we will do well in Europe this season.

This is effectively a rebuilding year. Only reason people think we have a shot in league is because the 2 clubs that finished ahead of us have untested managers in this league(moyes sucks)

That and only City have individually a team as talented and with as much depth as ours. Man u only really has an advantage at CF position, all their other players would great difficulty at getting in our first eleven. Man city is hence our prime rival, but they have a manager new to the league who has a completely different playing style as Mancini. They'll have probelms taking off. Arsenal...well is Arsenal.

We'll be just fine.

[NishC300 1,865]

Mourinho Out. Pulis In.

[didierforever 7,349]

any1 have any idea y there was no mata?

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

I don't know about you guys but i'm more pissed off about the reactions of some of you then i am about the result.

We're a young team with a lot of players that are still far from their prime. Real is a team with a lot of players in their prime.

This was always going to be a very tough game.

There will be times this season where we're going to get our asses kicked. If you can't deal with that then i suggest you skip this year.

I'm happy about this game. The players now know what level they're at and what level they need to be to compete for trophies.

[Barbara 15,149]

Well I think a few things should be considered.

Carlo played his first team, we played a mixed team.

After this important information, I disagree with whoever says it was decent. It far from decent it was somewhere between horrible and pathetic.

I don't mean the result, but how we behaved. That was the main point of such a match.

Defensively we were pathetic, there's no other word.

The transition from defence to attack was terrible at moment with long passes that were a waste of time. They should have passed the ball through the midfield and used our AM, but Oscar was out of position, Hazard wasn't there during the first half.

While we improved in the second half in general - and Moses was one of the responsible - the ball didn't reach Torres like reached Lukaku in the first, so in the end it was pointless...

There was a mess through and through with some good moments, but collectively? Terrible!!!!!

Lukaku needs a lot more to even dream about being the starting striker in those big matches. He was completely inefficient in all matches in the US against slightly better sides - from the Italian - and a great side on RM. So he might be a good option to start smaller teams and matchups that favor his style, but big stage matches shouldn't happen anytime soon. Let him be a 2nd half sub, but there's no way we can rely on him in big matches.

Oscar should never be played in the right wing when we have Moses, Mata and even Schurrle in the squad. They do much better. He can do okay in the left, but should be played centered. If that means going to the bench, then leave on the bench

I don't assess Eden Hazard;s performances on friendlies

We really need David Luiz

Lamps was completely out of a shape and it was a capital mistake to start him when he hasn't played for months. He should have been a sub for 20-30 minutes, but I understand Mourinho's reasons.

Ramires was great during the first half, as well as van Ginkel. At first Marco was very nervous. I think facing a team like RM even in a friendly makes a boy like him jittery and that's okay

Torres, Schurrle did okay at most in the second half. I just wish Torres would have received as many balls as Lukaku received in the first. He would probably do as bad as Romelu, but still I wanted to see it happen. Who knows? From time to time he blossoms.

We really need to work the transition. That was one of our biggest deficiencies (along with the poor defence). We can't have Cech, the defenders and the Rami-Ginkel crossing the ball from the first third to the last. It's raffling the ball 95% of times.

No Mata = no possession (especially quality possession). The team needs him, he is the players reference. It seems like when he comes in the rest of the players settle down to their position and do things more calmly.

Kevin didn't play as well as he played the previous matches... and it makes a lot of difference.

For the Madrid side - I'll have it on my Twitter because that would be basically an opposite review to this one. the only one that was really bad for them imo was Sergio Ramos - that some guy on David's thread said that is much better than Luiz because Luiz was never and will ever be as good as Sergio. FML.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

btw for those that couldn't watch, here is the formations we put out

4-3-3 in the first half (Van Ginkel, Lamps and Ramires in the midfield)

4-2-3-1 in the second half (Van Ginkel and Ramires holding, KDB as CAM)

4-4-1-1 to the end the game

4-4-1-1 was interesting, i mean it could have just been cause mou wanted to make subs but maybe could be a formation he wanted to try in the future

Cech

Azpi - Cahill - Ivan - Cole

Moses - Essien - KDB - Schurrle

Hazard

Torres

[Barbara 15,149]

it's not even about the score. We had a couple of penalties imo that weren't called by the referee. Casillas had a couple of difficult saves. The problem is how he behaved against a strong side. That's what worries me, even if I think it was a bad lineup the moment it was divulged.

[Ramox 246]

Carlo played his first team, we played a mixed team.

^This!

[Stats 7,059]

That and only City have individually a team as talented and with as much depth as ours. Man u only really has an advantage at CF position, all their other players would great difficulty at getting in our first eleven. Man city is hence our prime rival, but they have a manager new to the league who has a completely different playing style as Mancini. They'll have probelms taking off. Arsenal...well is Arsenal.

We'll be just fine.

But City are still ahead of us IMHO. Yes, they have a new manager but they still have most of the spine of the team together, similar to Real. Also proves when we play City, they are stronger than us and dominate us, reminded me of this game today. city finished second last season and although they have lost Tevez, I think they look slightly stronger for next season. Jovetic, Navas, Negredo and Fernandinho. I think Toure and Fernandinho will form a formidable partnership and they have good options in the attacking field. Plus all three strikers for them are proven goalscorers.

[Barbara 15,149]

to use an expression I said a few times today about off topic conversations, I think this match was a reality check - despite missing a few key players and having Lampard completely out of shape.

[sdrcfc 461]

We'll win a proper game.

#KTBFFH

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Real could have scored 4 more goals after they took MVG off

Except...Real actually scored 3 goals with Van Ginkel on and 0 when he was off so that hardly works. (Not to mention that the last 5 minutes of friendlies where the result is already decided are almost always wide open like that)

@ Shane-No. The second Ronaldo goal and a few other chances happened while MVG was on.

I don't want to be too hard on him. he wasn't bad, he just wasn't particularly good either. He's being treated to "new, young player syndrome" whereby people will turn a decent game into a great one.

[didierforever 7,349]

^^^^ HILARIOUS comment... LOL MAX...