To say that I am disappointed, sad, angry, frustrated, or let down are all understatements. I really don't know where to begin, so expect an unstructured rant-like review. You have to give props to Bilbao though. They executed their game plan perfectly. Banged and crashed until they got a goal early and then sat back and just defended with 10, and a lot of times 11 behind the ball. The worst part is Madrid must have been in on the plan because they gladly let it happen. This will be sure to add to an already blazing political/football fire. The rivalries burn on...
Madrid didn't even complete a pass before Athletic scored the only goal of the match from a free header the Lassana Diarra so kindly flicked on from a corner for Bilbao's none other than Llorente, who nodded the ball at ease past Casillas and into the net. San Mames erupted like volcano. Perhaps that was the sound of an alarm clock for Real Madrid. Los blancos decided maybe it was time wipe the sleepys out of their eyes and decide to show up. Too little too late though. If you want to be a championship winning team you have to wake up before you walk out of the tunnel at least. Real went on to dominate the rest of the match. Shot after shot was peppered away by Biblao's goalkeeper, Gorka Iraizoz, who must have went to church twice this week because he was blessed, no less than inspired by the lord today, easily my man of the match.
I wouldn't be so crushed about this game if we would have played as poorly as we did at Osasuna, but Madrid had 31 shots. The football was crisp, it was inventive, there was lots of energy, desire, but there was no goals. Madrid had 71% of the possession. We plugged away time after time only for the ball to be recklessly slashed or bombed away by a red and white striped player. They weren't even clearing balls up toward Llorente, the target forward, most of the time. They were just shooting missiles over our back line for the center backs to collect and restart the attack. After the goal was scored in the third minute, the Basques never even had another shot on target. Bilbao just frustrated us to the point of no return. You could clearly see the fluster on Madrid's faces, particuarlly Ronaldo who tried to take matters into his hands a few too many times. He even let the crowd get to him when he faked throwing a ball toward them.
I'm contemplating sending Pipita a "Get Well Soon" card, but then I changed my mind and went with a "Get Well Now!" card instead. Benzema was just absent today. He had his one effort that dinked off the post but other than that, I think Raul played a bigger part in the match and he came on in the 77th minute. As for other poor performances, I can't help but point the finger at Marcelo, shocking. He just got bullied by big Basque players all match. He looked like a marble in a pinball machine bouncing off everything he got near. I would have made the Guti for Marcelo substitution much earlier. For as soon as Guti came on, he created a unique combination which lead to one of our better chances. It was nice to have Ramos back in the line up. He had some buzz about him today. Lass... not so much. I've seen much better performances from him. Other than that. I really don't have much to complain about the players did well minus the opening three minutes. Kaka perhaps is still just a step behind. Maybe should have done better on that half volley from inside the area the went just wide of the near post and definately should have done better with the square ball accross the box.
Here is where I saw an issue. Bilbao fouled us 20 times. I would have to say at least 90 percent of those fouls were in the attacking half considering that's were about 90% of the game was played (for you math geniuses that's 18 fouls but of course this is an estimate). That gives us 18 set plays to work with. Now add another 9 corners to the equasion. That's 27 set plays that we we got nothing out of. At the beginning of the year, defending set plays was a big problem. Now it may be the attacking set plays that we should be capitalizing on that present a problem. I can hardly remember us scoring from a set piece situation in La Liga other than Garay's winning header at Valencia. Hopefully I have overlooked some. I didn't like free kick play with Ronaldo to Xabi Alonso. your at the edge of the area. Just have a go. Although that same play did work for Guti and Sneijder against Atletico Madrid a couple years ago; it didn't have the same result tonight. The Ronaldo run over and Guti shot was better, at least that one was on target. I was in a grim mood after the final whistle, only to hold back frustration tears when Barca smashed Sevilla 4-0 in a slow boring game that seem to drag on. Sevilla looked awful. Five points back looks mighty depressing from my angle.
In the end, I waited for this match all week and was mortified at the result after seeing the quality of play that Madrid produced. It just kills me to know that if we would have been awake for the first 3 minutes, we would have at least taken a point despite our lack of scoring. A team that looks so promising also looks so frustrating because of the expectations us Madridistas hold our players too. However, if you want the best, you can't expect anything less.
Bobby
Madrid didn't even complete a pass before Athletic scored the only goal of the match from a free header the Lassana Diarra so kindly flicked on from a corner for Bilbao's none other than Llorente, who nodded the ball at ease past Casillas and into the net. San Mames erupted like volcano. Perhaps that was the sound of an alarm clock for Real Madrid. Los blancos decided maybe it was time wipe the sleepys out of their eyes and decide to show up. Too little too late though. If you want to be a championship winning team you have to wake up before you walk out of the tunnel at least. Real went on to dominate the rest of the match. Shot after shot was peppered away by Biblao's goalkeeper, Gorka Iraizoz, who must have went to church twice this week because he was blessed, no less than inspired by the lord today, easily my man of the match.
I wouldn't be so crushed about this game if we would have played as poorly as we did at Osasuna, but Madrid had 31 shots. The football was crisp, it was inventive, there was lots of energy, desire, but there was no goals. Madrid had 71% of the possession. We plugged away time after time only for the ball to be recklessly slashed or bombed away by a red and white striped player. They weren't even clearing balls up toward Llorente, the target forward, most of the time. They were just shooting missiles over our back line for the center backs to collect and restart the attack. After the goal was scored in the third minute, the Basques never even had another shot on target. Bilbao just frustrated us to the point of no return. You could clearly see the fluster on Madrid's faces, particuarlly Ronaldo who tried to take matters into his hands a few too many times. He even let the crowd get to him when he faked throwing a ball toward them.
I'm contemplating sending Pipita a "Get Well Soon" card, but then I changed my mind and went with a "Get Well Now!" card instead. Benzema was just absent today. He had his one effort that dinked off the post but other than that, I think Raul played a bigger part in the match and he came on in the 77th minute. As for other poor performances, I can't help but point the finger at Marcelo, shocking. He just got bullied by big Basque players all match. He looked like a marble in a pinball machine bouncing off everything he got near. I would have made the Guti for Marcelo substitution much earlier. For as soon as Guti came on, he created a unique combination which lead to one of our better chances. It was nice to have Ramos back in the line up. He had some buzz about him today. Lass... not so much. I've seen much better performances from him. Other than that. I really don't have much to complain about the players did well minus the opening three minutes. Kaka perhaps is still just a step behind. Maybe should have done better on that half volley from inside the area the went just wide of the near post and definately should have done better with the square ball accross the box.
Here is where I saw an issue. Bilbao fouled us 20 times. I would have to say at least 90 percent of those fouls were in the attacking half considering that's were about 90% of the game was played (for you math geniuses that's 18 fouls but of course this is an estimate). That gives us 18 set plays to work with. Now add another 9 corners to the equasion. That's 27 set plays that we we got nothing out of. At the beginning of the year, defending set plays was a big problem. Now it may be the attacking set plays that we should be capitalizing on that present a problem. I can hardly remember us scoring from a set piece situation in La Liga other than Garay's winning header at Valencia. Hopefully I have overlooked some. I didn't like free kick play with Ronaldo to Xabi Alonso. your at the edge of the area. Just have a go. Although that same play did work for Guti and Sneijder against Atletico Madrid a couple years ago; it didn't have the same result tonight. The Ronaldo run over and Guti shot was better, at least that one was on target. I was in a grim mood after the final whistle, only to hold back frustration tears when Barca smashed Sevilla 4-0 in a slow boring game that seem to drag on. Sevilla looked awful. Five points back looks mighty depressing from my angle.
In the end, I waited for this match all week and was mortified at the result after seeing the quality of play that Madrid produced. It just kills me to know that if we would have been awake for the first 3 minutes, we would have at least taken a point despite our lack of scoring. A team that looks so promising also looks so frustrating because of the expectations us Madridistas hold our players too. However, if you want the best, you can't expect anything less.
Bobby
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