Tenerife Voted Off The Island

Raul scoring at the death of this game has left a smile on my face I just can't get rid of (not that I want to). I've been propelled into an even better mood this weekend with Real Madrid's 5-1 thumping of an admirable and courageous Tenerife. I give my thumbs up to the Canary Island based club. They never quit and created chances of their own time after time despite being hounded at their own end by viscous Real Madrid counter attacks. Their coach was bold because even though at the time they were down 3-1, he took off defensive minded players in favor off offencive players. They switched up their formation adding another attacker, opting for 3 at the back. Awfully risky when you consider the counter attacking power that shown by the Ronaldo, Kaka, and a brilliant Higuain. There is no doubt that we were robbed of a clean sheet though. Casillas clearly had clutched onto the cross firmly when Tenerife's Ayoze came crashing through him, knocking the ball from Casillas' grasp and into his goal mouth. But my anger subsided a few minutes later when Pipita slid in Kaka, who is really starting to shut up some critics lately. Kaka took the ball in stride and drove a low shot into the far corner. Is it just me or do Ronaldo and Kaka have a planned celebration for every match? I can't tell you what that one was.. lol.

Ronaldo got a goal so I'm sure he'll be content even if it was just a penalty. May I offer my compliments to Van der Vaart. What an impact he had coming in off the bench. Drew the penalty by blasting the ball into a defenders hand, and assisting the great Raul. The Dutch captain lifted the tempo of the match when he came on. Granero didn't play poorly but VDV did more in 15 minutes than Pirata did in 75. However, I wanna take a look at the last goal. Look at the experience and knowledge Raul has. The first curled ball in from Marcelo aimed at the path of El Capitan is cut out with a last gasp effort from the defender which deflects the trickling ball toward the point where the box meets the end line. Raul reloads his run and jets himself at the near post where a driven low cross is the most likely candidate for a ball into the danger area. His experience pays off and he nets another historic goal. Just brilliant.

Man of the match you may ask? Has to be Pipita. Two goals and an assist. That's 4 goals in 2 games for the Argentine. He is such a critical finisher. After Marcelo evaded with the challenge on the sideline with a sneaky spin, he touched in Gonzalo in on the edge of the area, he strikes it low and hard with his unfavored left foot and from the moment he hit it, I knew it was a goal. Great finish. Marcelo adds his assist total to six (Did you know Marcelo has more assists and goals than Iniesta who people are calling the best in the world?). However the finish is better on Higuain's second goal. Of all people, Garay, who is up from set play, picks out his fellow Argentine beautifully. And with the ball skipping across the turf at pace, Pipita whacks it into the far corner. The adventurous Tenerife goal keeper never stood a chance.

Let's take a look at some more individual performances. Marcelo, good offensively and yes I'm saying it, a little better defensively. Is he my first pick for left back? Far from, but I know an improvement when I see one. He blocked a few crosses and cut out some passes. Still room for improvement though, littly reckless. Lassana Diarra was worlds better than he has been in recent games. He just linked everything together. Little, short, quick, simple passes. It was useful. A lot better from him. He didn't try to be an attacking midfielder for once. I hope Pellegrini encourages his performance and says "More of that." Garay and Albiol were under immense pressure all night considering the highly aggressive and offensive formation that Tenerife sported in the second half. Everyone knows the Tenerife's goal was no one's fault except for the man with the whistle so the center back pair are not to blame. They made a couple of very last ditch efforts to clear balls away that were played in behind them, especially inside our own areas. An image in my head of San Iker giving Garay thumbs up resides in my brain. Kaka has been telling critics to put down their pens in his last two performances. Instrumental again today.

No Castilla players again. Pretty disappointing. I was really hoping to get at least one on there. I've noticed that Pellegrini almost refuses to make substitutions before 75 minutes. Every game. It's like VDV did so well, but we could have seen even more of his talent if you would have put him in 10 minutes earlier.

I may be looking ahead but hear me out. We are very dangerous team on the counter attack. It's been said many times that the way to beat Barcelona is on the counter because they attack with numbers. If we counter attack like we did today on April 11, we could totally throw Barcelona on the back foot. Do you agree? Bounce them off their game plan at Fortress Bernabeu and we may be in a good position to win that match. Just a thought yeah?

All Madridistas should be in a good mood right now. With Barcelona vs Malaga tied at 0-0 (halftime), we are top. Tenerife were as offensive as possible and we let up no goals threw fault of our own. At the moment I'm pulling for Malaga who seem to be frustrating the Blaugrana but definately on the back foot. No one is gonna say it but I will. I think Messi looks selfish lately.

Hala Madrid!

Bobby