The English Football Thread

[didierforever 7,349]

its not done unless it finally confirmed. remember robinho???

[bluephoenix 1,125]

There has been a lot of good transfers in PL this season.

Contenders:

Arsenal(Ozil-- could be the bale of Arsenal ), Tottenham , Liverpool,united.

and just in case you are wondering it is implied that Chelsea is a contender for the title.

[Kojo 4,676]

Ozil is the casualty, and rightly so. A very limited player, if anyone ever saw Guti from madrid play, Ozil is like a refined version him, the mold of what guti should have been, but he also has the same downfalls, no midfield play, ozil is basically a forward, doesnt help defend...

He will need for arsenal to be wrapped around him more so that in madrid so that he can shine, lets see how wenger deals with the defending.

Ozil not needed in madrid, good riddens to the german maestro.

Its a trend that managers are punishing players who are "lazy" when it comes to defending, and are too 1 dimensional in a sense.

This is what midfielders like isco, iniesta, oscar, kroos, gotze, have over guys like mata and ozil

Thus mourinho trying to ostracize mata out with new signings that are more akin to his flavor, and ozil leaving.

So he's not worth 43 million?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

LOL: http://www.hasronaldoletbaletakeafreekickyet.com/

[NishC300 1,865]

This JayC case hasn't reflected well on this forum so far.

He has insulted several members of this forum on countless occasions and a blind eye has been turned to his behaviour. He has started fights in almost every thread he has entered so far. He has insulted members for disagreeing with him on numerous occasions. Since we have already had many threads made regarding these issues over the past few days. I am just going to make it a post.

It is against the forum rules to insult other members and derail threads. Since JayC has come that has become customary on this forum. We have had fights in nearly all the threads, started mostly by JayC disagreeing with someone (Wayne Rooney thread, Man U match thread, Munich Thread, English Football Thread [there might even be more I do not know about]). It is incredible that he is getting away with calling someone a "vile, rancid stain on the forum" (because

@The_Flash, believed De Gea wasn't a good keeper) and pretty much calling everyone he encounters pathetic, idiots or delusional. Look at how he insults people for simply disagreeing with his keeper choice. There are people here disagree with others regarding the Mata issue. Do they go around insulting them, calling them vile, rancid stains? No.

This does not reflect on the forum since several members have been banned for stranger reasons and JayC has constantly gotten away his behaviour simply because he is a Manchester United fan. Rupert was banned from this forum for simply disagreeing with the general consensus. He claimed Mourinho was a rubbish manager and that Benitez was a brilliant manager. He was banned for being a 'troll'. He never broke any laws of the forum, didn't insult anyone as a matter of fact he received a lot of insult for having an unpopular opinion. He always backed his claims with evidence and as a matter of fact, his opinions might not have been popular here but on a neutral forum they might have been. I did not agree with his views. As a matter of fact I completely disagree with him yet banning him for having a different opinion and letting another person get away with insulting members on a daily basis.

and then we make threads about opinion tolerance.........

We have been super lenient with him. I am surprised he has not received a suspension yet. He has fought with half the forum and no action has been taken against him. I wish this leniency was shown with other members who have been banned permanently. From what I read Capricossio was an extremely popular member (and I have talked to him a bit on Twitter and I also see why he was so popular here), a post regarding the Hillsborough disaster resulted in him getting permanently banned. Why wasn't any leniency shown to him when it is being shown to someone purely because they are a United fan?

Backstreet, I actually don't know the exact reasons why he was banned, but I still wonder why any leniency wasn't shown to him? He was an extremely popular member as well who not even once got into a fight with people. Whenever he had debates, he would have them in an extremely friendly manner and always a very well behaved member. Yet 1 incident (which I do not much about so I apologise in advance if I have got this wrong) and he was permanently banned. Not even a suspension. Why wasn't any leniency shown to him when it is being shown to someone purely because they are a United fan?

KOF, I didn't know him at all tbh. Except that he was an Australian who loved cricket. I read his posts and they can I believe still be read on the cricket thread. I do not much about him but I know he was banned for simply disagreeing with the English members about 'Which team has been more superior in the Ashes'. It led to him saying that Australia were the masters of the game and things like England would always be in Australia's shadow in cricket. JayC has said much worse about Chelsea and has insulted and attacked members for disagreeing with him. KOF was permanently banned, not even a suspension. Why wasn't any leniency shown to him when it is being shown to someone purely because they are a United fan?

His behaviour has been shocking. As a matter of fact, admins warned him to stop his unacceptable behaviour- did he stop? No. He has continued to insult members on this thread. He has never conveyed his opinion in a civlised and acceptable manner, yet has resorted to insults. We like hearing the opinion of other clubs and that is why we even have an Opposition Views article. Yet if someone misbehaves. Regardless of the fact that they are a Man United fan or not, they should be punished.

Oh I wonder where those people who were defending him earlier are? They seem to have gone awfully quiet recently........

[didierforever 7,349]

This JayC case hasn't reflected well on this forum so far.

He has insulted several members of this forum on countless occasions and a blind eye has been turned to his behaviour. He has started fights in almost every thread he has entered so far. He has insulted members for disagreeing with him on numerous occasions. Since we have already had many threads made regarding these issues over the past few days. I am just going to make it a post.

It is against the forum rules to insult other members and derail threads. Since JayC has come that has become customary on this forum. We have had fights in nearly all the threads, started mostly by JayC disagreeing with someone (Wayne Rooney thread, Man U match thread, Munich Thread, English Football Thread [there might even be more I do not know about]). It is incredible that he is getting away with calling someone a "vile, rancid stain on the forum" (because

@The_Flash, believed De Gea wasn't a good keeper) and pretty much calling everyone he encounters pathetic, idiots or delusional. Look at how he insults people for simply disagreeing with his keeper choice. There are people here disagree with others regarding the Mata issue. Do they go around insulting them, calling them vile, rancid stains? No.

This does not reflect on the forum since several members have been banned for stranger reasons and JayC has constantly gotten away his behaviour simply because he is a Manchester United fan. Rupert was banned from this forum for simply disagreeing with the general consensus. He claimed Mourinho was a rubbish manager and that Benitez was a brilliant manager. He was banned for being a 'troll'. He never broke any laws of the forum, didn't insult anyone as a matter of fact he received a lot of insult for having an unpopular opinion. He always backed his claims with evidence and as a matter of fact, his opinions might not have been popular here but on a neutral forum they might have been. I did not agree with his views. As a matter of fact I completely disagree with him yet banning him for having a different opinion and letting another person get away with insulting members on a daily basis.

and then we make threads about opinion tolerance.........

We have been super lenient with him. I am surprised he has not received a suspension yet. He has fought with half the forum and no action has been taken against him. I wish this leniency was shown with other members who have been banned permanently. From what I read Capricossio was an extremely popular member (and I have talked to him a bit on Twitter and I also see why he was so popular here), a post regarding the Hillsborough disaster resulted in him getting permanently banned. Why wasn't any leniency shown to him when it is being shown to someone purely because they are a United fan?

Backstreet, I actually don't know the exact reasons why he was banned, but I still wonder why any leniency wasn't shown to him? He was an extremely popular member as well who not even once got into a fight with people. Whenever he had debates, he would have them in an extremely friendly manner and always a very well behaved member. Yet 1 incident (which I do not much about so I apologise in advance if I have got this wrong) and he was permanently banned. Not even a suspension. Why wasn't any leniency shown to him when it is being shown to someone purely because they are a United fan?

KOF, I didn't know him at all tbh. Except that he was an Australian who loved cricket. I read his posts and they can I believe still be read on the cricket thread. I do not much about him but I know he was banned for simply disagreeing with the English members about 'Which team has been more superior in the Ashes'. It led to him saying that Australia were the masters of the game and things like England would always be in Australia's shadow in cricket. JayC has said much worse about Chelsea and has insulted and attacked members for disagreeing with him. KOF was permanently banned, not even a suspension. Why wasn't any leniency shown to him when it is being shown to someone purely because they are a United fan?

His behaviour has been shocking. As a matter of fact, admins warned him to stop his unacceptable behaviour- did he stop? No. He has continued to insult members on this thread. He has never conveyed his opinion in a civlised and acceptable manner, yet has resorted to insults. We like hearing the opinion of other clubs and that is why we even have an Opposition Views article. Yet if someone misbehaves. Regardless of the fact that they are a Man United fan or not, they should be punished.

Oh I wonder where those people who were defending him earlier are? They seem to have gone awfully quiet recently........

one word - HYPOCRISY.

but a brilliant post. :clap:i agree with every thing u said except for rupert. the guy was a "troll".In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. no doubt about it. his evidence and claims were very poor and were called out a number of times, after which he would take one off the smallest weak point in your debate and continue on that.

[Laylabelle 9,304]

bleh good signing for Arsenal.likely to win something.Hope it aint at our expense!

[NishC300 1,865]

one word - HYPOCRISY.

but a brilliant post. :clap:i agree with every thing u said except for rupert. the guy was a "troll".In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. no doubt about it. his evidence and claims were very poor and were called out a number of times, after which he would take one off the smallest weak point in your debate and continue on that.

Thanks.

Now where's my rep!

[didierforever 7,349]

Thanks.

Now where's my rep!

take 2.

[Zinedine Iniesco 172]

So he's not worth 43 million?

i think hes worth it as long as you have the right team around him.

During his time in madrid, everything was very unbalanced, yet due to the talent level madrid managed to survive a bit, but the midfield problem was put in evidence almost every time madrid faced a top class opponent.

Ozil has counter attacking philosophies in his veins, due to his silky movements and skill one might believe he prefers possession football, but i think he thrives in counter attacking football, he is more of an ss type of player, could maybe even play false 9 if he had a shot that was worth a dam.

Arsenal will have to get a better defense midfield imo.

The truth is that during his time in madrid, when the team was down, he never really came out with a performance that gave madrid a train ticket to paradise.

Im talking about a game changing performance like messi vs arsenal or ronaldo vs porto, if the team was down ozil was down, hes a very special player in this sense. He also has horrible shooting skills in my opinion, he has pretty bad defending skills which is one of the reasons he is leaving madrid. He even got benched for it in his last ever game for madrid. THE LAST IMAGE MADRID FANS WILL FOREVER HAVE OF HIM, IS OZIL LEAVING THE PITCH IN ANGER AFTER BEING SUBSTITUTED.

-bad defending

- horrible shot

- doubtful stamina

but if you put him in a team that defends well, a potent midfield with good ball recovery men, then it could work.

Ozil's father said about 2 years ago that he wanted hi son to be in a team that was molded around him, well lets see if wenger can do what he must to get the most out of ozil.

[Kojo 4,676]

i think hes worth it as long as you have the right team around him.

During his time in madrid, everything was very unbalanced, yet due to the talent level madrid managed to survive a bit, but the midfield problem was put in evidence almost every time madrid faced a top class opponent.

Ozil has counter attacking philosophies in his veins, due to his silky movements and skill one might believe he prefers possession football, but i think he thrives in counter attacking football, he is more of an ss type of player, could maybe even play false 9 if he had a shot that was worth a dam.

Arsenal will have to get a better defense midfield imo.

The truth is that during his time in madrid, when the team was down, he never really came out with a performance that gave madrid a train ticket to paradise.

Im talking about a game changing performance like messi vs arsenal or ronaldo vs porto, if the team was down ozil was down, hes a very special player in this sense. He also has horrible shooting skills in my opinion, he has pretty bad defending skills which is one of the reasons he is leaving madrid. He even got benched for it in his last ever game for madrid. THE LAST IMAGE MADRID FANS WILL FOREVER HAVE OF HIM, IS OZIL LEAVING THE PITCH IN ANGER AFTER BEING SUBSTITUTED.

-bad defending

- horrible shot

- doubtful stamina

but if you put him in a team that defends well, a potent midfield with good ball recovery men, then it could work.

Ozil's father said about 2 years ago that he wanted hi son to be in a team that was molded around him, well lets see if wenger can do what he must to get the most out of ozil.

Just a change of subject, what is your view on Mourinho? Most Madrid fans I've seen so far have been saying I hope Mourinho fails, like they literally hate him and he destroyed everything about your club. What's your viewpoint on him? You seem logical and actually watch your team, so what would be your fair viewpoint?

EDIT: But on Ozil that's a very interesting viewpoint, Ozil was working hard at one point in his career, that was a while ago mind. Arsenal seem suitable and not so suitable, counter attacking football YES, as for work rate, that's going to be tricky. They don't even have a box to box or ball winning midfielder, Arsenal work hard as a team to win the ball back, that's there philosophy, they are more fluid rather than diverse with there players for roles. It's going to be interesting to see how he works out, one thing for sure though it's definitely an upgrade from the likes of Rosicky playing there.

[Zinedine Iniesco 172]

Just a change of subject, what is your view on Mourinho? Most Madrid fans I've seen so far have been saying I hope Mourinho fails, like they literally hate him and he destroyed everything about your club. What's your viewpoint on him? You seem logical and actually watch your team, so what would be your fair viewpoint?

A few months ago i came to this forum and i gave my view point on mourinho, i think its still accurate but it was a bit negative lol, i will give my assessment of him here again in a more light hearted way. I have a blog i havent updated recently due to time constraints but here is an article i wrote about his time in madrid.

http://therealmadridzone.blogspot.com/2013/06/mourinhos-legacy-bringing-mourinho-to.html

Now on to my opinion.

The only thing i really like about mourinho is his personality in a sense. A bit of a baddass (in a sense) but thats about it.

Mourinho is not a tactical genius, he is a reactive coach. if he is left with 10 men he will try to fix that, if he sees an opportunity to exploit something, for example send balls on the top to get a guy like lukaku to exploit a shaky defender like sergio ramos or marcelo he will do it. He has always been a counter attacking specialist, you will not see what i call "total football" from him.

The dutch and catalans interpret it as possession football, but i interpret it as intense pressing football where the whole team attacks and defends together. ( player like ozil is not ideal for this). You will see this kind of football from dortmund and bayern. They can play both possession football and counter attacking football very well, they are complete, total. (in a sense)

I call it total football because of what klopp says here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PPcx_rnyzc

This football takes time to produce, but if done well, and with time, it is amazing. Hence dortmund 4-1 bayern 4-0 against madrid and barca respectively. They sent a message.

Mourinho on the other hand likes to counter, but in madrid he didnt do a good job at making a balanced team. We never had a competent right back, midfield, centre back partner ship, and the 3-1 part consisting of benzema, ronaldo, di maria, and ozil was very very unbalanced.

Since his tactics are a bit limited he fails ironically because he tends to sit back and counter, well when other teams park the bus, he has had problems time and time again throughout his career at braking them apart, limited football. Guardiola is correct when he says "he with the ball controls the game". Problem is, mou is allergic to it. (in a sense)

He also has a personality that can cut his time in places short as we have seen in the past with chelsea and now madrid. I explain this more in my blog.

Mourinho in MY opinion is overrated. Due to time constraints ive only been able to watch chelsea-madrid, chelsea- hull, bayern- chelsea, from chelsea this season, but you can already see again that you are not going to see total football from him.

But this is england..in time he can probably set up something good.

I place my bets he will have a more successful time in chelsea than madrid, better atmosphere for him, and more balanced team than what madrid had at the time.

Winning is what counts, but hes never done anything revolutionary, and his time in madrid leaves him in evidence as aside from barcelona, madrid failed almost every time it faced a true opponent, and only won 1 relevant trophy in 3 years and the most expensive side in the world. - the la liga trophy.

[Zinedine Iniesco 172]

Also i would like to say Ozil has an amazing final ball.Probably the best in the buisness.

-Final Ball

-Vision

-Free Kicks

-Corner Kicks

-Crosses

he is a goal making machine if in the right system. But the beautiful game has more substance than what we might see sometimes. That is why you will see very few great players with the "AM" title, that were as limited in a package as he is.

Edit: As long as arsenal defends well as a team and has a good midfield when it comes to defense then ozil could be good. But overall Mesut is not so great organizing play from deep, or defending, 3 main reasons he leaves madrid are, bale arrives, ozil's downfalls, and also the fact that we dont play a formation where he can shine the way he used to any more in madrid.

Ozil was irrelevant to madrid, and now hes at arsenal where he could thrive more than he ever did i think.

[Kojo 4,676]

A few months ago i came to this forum and i gave my view point on mourinho, i think its still accurate but it was a bit negative lol, i will give my assessment of him here again in a more light hearted way. I have a blog i havent updated recently due to time constraints but here is an article i wrote about his time in madrid.

http://therealmadridzone.blogspot.com/2013/06/mourinhos-legacy-bringing-mourinho-to.html

Now on to my opinion.

The only thing i really like about mourinho is his personality in a sense. A bit of a baddass (in a sense) but thats about it.

Mourinho is not a tactical genius, he is a reactive coach. if he is left with 10 men he will try to fix that, if he sees an opportunity to exploit something, for example send balls on the top to get a guy like lukaku to exploit a shaky defender like sergio ramos or marcelo he will do it. He has always been a counter attacking specialist, you will not see what i call "total football" from him.

The dutch and catalans interpret it as possession football, but i interpret it as intense pressing football where the whole team attacks and defends together. ( player like ozil is not ideal for this). You will see this kind of football from dortmund and bayern. They can play both possession football and counter attacking football very well, they are complete, total. (in a sense)

I call it total football because of what klopp says here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PPcx_rnyzc

This football takes time to produce, but if done well, and with time, it is amazing. Hence dortmund 4-1 bayern 4-0 against madrid and barca respectively. They sent a message.

Mourinho on the other hand likes to counter, but in madrid he didnt do a good job at making a balanced team. We never had a competent right back, midfield, centre back partner ship, and the 3-1 part consisting of benzema, ronaldo, di maria, and ozil was very very unbalanced.

Since his tactics are a bit limited he fails ironically because he tends to sit back and counter, well when other teams park the bus, he has had problems time and time again throughout his career at braking them apart, limited football. Guardiola is correct when he says "he with the ball controls the game". Problem is, mou is allergic to it. (in a sense)

He also has a personality that can cut his time in places short as we have seen in the past with chelsea and now madrid. I explain this more in my blog.

Mourinho in MY opinion is overrated. Due to time constraints ive only been able to watch chelsea-madrid, chelsea- hull, bayern- chelsea, from chelsea this season, but you can already see again that you are not going to see total football from him.

But this is england..in time he can probably set up something good.

I place my bets he will have a more successful time in chelsea than madrid, better atmosphere for him, and more balanced team than what madrid had at the time.

Winning is what counts, but hes never done anything revolutionary, and his time in madrid leaves him in evidence as aside from barcelona, madrid failed almost every time it faced a true opponent, and only won 1 relevant trophy in 3 years and the most expensive side in the world. - the la liga trophy.

Thanks for the reply, I also edited my earlier post in your reply to Ozil, I'll give your article a read after I finish this post.

The cost of success was very expensive, especially for what you've got in return. However don't you think Madrid is a very hard job? there is a lot of pressure involved and you're in a league with the best team in the world. Barcelona are something special, they are a bunch of players who know how to play together and grew together with youth, that's a very rare thing. That's something Madrid can't compete with, however Madrid have a better squad and Mourinho used that to his advantage in the season you won the title. However 1/3 titles, yes not very good with your team I understand.

Perhaps Mourinho was way out of his depth, every managerial job is different. But I really do think Madrid is one of the hardest jobs in the world, I honeslty don't think you can expect to win a title every season when you're competing against Barcelona, maybe your time will rise again but as for now Messi, Iniesta, Busquets and Xavi still exist, and we could add Neymar into there depends how he gets on.

[Zinedine Iniesco 172]

I edited my most recent reply

Thanks for the reply, I also edited my earlier post in your reply to Ozil, I'll give your article a read after I finish this post.

The cost of success was very expensive, especially for what you've got in return. However don't you think Madrid is a very hard job? there is a lot of pressure involved and you're in a league with the best team in the world. Barcelona are something special, they are a bunch of players who know how to play together and grew together with youth, that's a very rare thing. That's something Madrid can't compete with, however Madrid have a better squad and Mourinho used that to his advantage in the season you won the title. However 1/3 titles, yes not very good with your team I understand.

Perhaps Mourinho was way out of his depth, every managerial job is different. But I really do think Madrid is one of the hardest jobs in the world, I honeslty don't think you can expect to win a title every season when you're competing against Barcelona, maybe your time will rise again but as for now Messi, Iniesta, Busquets and Xavi still exist, and we could add Neymar into there depends how he gets on.

I edited my most recent reply, it has my reply to what you edited.

Madrid is the hardest job in the world. Florentino Perez is an economical master mind but when it comes to football he is a moron.

If i ever meet Perez face to face, this is what i could do to him.

Perez always makes a mistake, usually because they dont have correct footballistic foundations.

This is why madrid has failed time and time again under him.

His latest giant mistake is mourinho, he brought the wrong man for the club, the bets were too high, you dont bring an actor like mourinho to the biggest soap opera in the world without expectations of fallout if everything goes wrong, and it did.

But the truth is that perez put his faith in mourinho and gave him the power NO MANAGER HAS EVER HAD IN MADRID, and mourinho failed.

About barcelona, most of the league match losses and cl losses throughout the 3 years, had the faulty foundations mou built in the team, written all over it.

I dont think barcelona is really a gigantic problem, they have also been a bit overrated, a calmer coach with better ideas would have been more successful than mourinho i think. You are correct that some jobs need different managers, this wasnt the right job for mou or the right acquisition from madrid.

This is why carlo has been brought in, and he is starting off very good. A calmer person with different ideas.

[Zinedine Iniesco 172]

edit: sorry my bad, coentrao stays in madrid, not going to united.

The premier league is more exciting to me than ever.

Tottenham looks exciting, so does arsenal with ozil, chelsea with mourinho, united...Im going to have to wake up earlier lol.

[communicate 2,703]

i think hes worth it as long as you have the right team around him.

During his time in madrid, everything was very unbalanced, yet due to the talent level madrid managed to survive a bit, but the midfield problem was put in evidence almost every time madrid faced a top class opponent.

Ozil has counter attacking philosophies in his veins, due to his silky movements and skill one might believe he prefers possession football, but i think he thrives in counter attacking football, he is more of an ss type of player, could maybe even play false 9 if he had a shot that was worth a dam.

Arsenal will have to get a better defense midfield imo.

The truth is that during his time in madrid, when the team was down, he never really came out with a performance that gave madrid a train ticket to paradise.

Im talking about a game changing performance like messi vs arsenal or ronaldo vs porto, if the team was down ozil was down, hes a very special player in this sense. He also has horrible shooting skills in my opinion, he has pretty bad defending skills which is one of the reasons he is leaving madrid. He even got benched for it in his last ever game for madrid. THE LAST IMAGE MADRID FANS WILL FOREVER HAVE OF HIM, IS OZIL LEAVING THE PITCH IN ANGER AFTER BEING SUBSTITUTED.

-bad defending

- horrible shot

- doubtful stamina

but if you put him in a team that defends well, a potent midfield with good ball recovery men, then it could work.

Ozil's father said about 2 years ago that he wanted hi son to be in a team that was molded around him, well lets see if wenger can do what he must to get the most out of ozil.

I kinda agree that he is not good at defending and his stamina is a question mark. But for me he is the perfect complement to Ronaldo. Quite surprised that RM sell him.

Offensively he is actually a very selfless player and he likes to move to the left to create space for Ronaldo to cut inside.

[Zinedine Iniesco 172]

I kinda agree that he is not good at defending and his stamina is a question mark. But for me he is the perfect complement to Ronaldo. Quite surprised that RM sell him.

Offensively he is actually a very selfless player and he likes to move to the left to create space for Ronaldo to cut inside.

Well as i previously said, With carlo and the arrival of bale, two big problems arose for him.

Carlo wants to bring more balance at madrid, he wants a team that can defend better together, thus the elimination of the 4-2-3-1 and his attempts at trying to change the identity of madrid from the previous 3 years.

With Isco here ( a more complete player), and bale's arrival, ozil is a bit irrelevant, because ozil was infact not even playing in the same position anymore.

He was playing in the right in a 4-2-2-2 or a 4-3-2-1 and with the arrival of bale, the limitations of ozil's game, and the implementation of a new system, its justifiable to see him leave imo.

The biggest question mark for madrid is what will happen if isco gets injured. Right now i think u could move modric to isco's place and put illarramendi in modric's place, and one of casemiro or khedira in the other midfield place. Thats the only question mark due to ozil's departure imo.

I would have expected to see benzema leave, and ozil perhaps try harder to learn to defend, but in the end this is what happened, mutual understanding between club, coach, and player that parting ways was the way to go.

Ozil sent a nice message to madrid fans for his goodbye. My respect to this german maestro who i will never ever forget. Or stop watching for that matter.