Time To Turn Frowns Up-Side-Down

In the wake of another Champions League match that all Madridistas would love to pretend never happened, Villarreal is scheduled to visit the Bernabeu. The match itself is a challenge but the mental aspect is even greater. The team cannot let what happened to the in Lyon affect how they perform on Sunday. It's a different competition and a different mind set. Despite Barcelona's injury problems they are unlikely to drop points to an unstable Racing at the Nou Camp. Maybe Sergio Canales can already begin to do favors for Real Madrid but we can't depend on it. Pellegrini was in charge the last time the Yellow Submarine visted the Bernabeu. We have to be cautious, although the entire Population on Villarreal could fit into the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the team is always a force to be reckoned with. Afterall, it's the same Villareal that came from behind to draw 1-1 with Barcelona at the Nou Camp earlier this season. Los Blancos did get a 2-0 result at El Madrigal this season. Cristiano Ronaldo broke the deadlock before most fans got to their seats in the first minute. The Yellow Submarine are coming off of a recent 2-2 draw with German champions Wolfesburg in the Europa Cup on Thursday but have had an up an down season laced with inconsistency, but every team gets up to play the Galacticos.

Real Madrid are boosted by the return on Rafael Van der Vaart. Perhaps he might be a useful tool to add to the lack of inventiveness breathed out of the midfield on Tuesday. Guti remained in the gym with the terminally ill Metzelder. Drenthe is the latest victim to fall to injury. His quad tear will keep him sidelined for 2-3 weeks. Although Drenthe was energetic after coming on against Xerez last weekend, I don't think his presence will too missed. The squad demographics for the Villareal match doesn't concern me as much as the mental state of the team with the pressure from pretty much everyone after what happened. Kaka has told the media that the match was not his fault. Rumor has it that if Pellegrini can't get the team to turn around the Round of 16 situation at home, he'll be sacked. The last two performances, Xerez and Lyon, the latter of which was dreadful, were not good enough by our standards. Even though Real beat Xerez 3-0, the showing was questionable. Higuain hasn't been himself for the last two matches and to add to the mind games, Madrid have stalled Pipita's contract talks to have him focus on what happens on the field. I get the feeling that this will be another stern test, despite the fact the match will be at Fortress Bernabeu.

Villareal have themselves to focus on, however. The team will still be adapting to a new coach after Ernesto Velverde was sacked when the Yellow Submarine sank at the hands of Osasuna a few weeks back. Madrid will have to beware of some special players in yellow. Nilmar is always a goal threat and has been making a case for his establishment in Dunga's Brazilian national team. Marcos Senna in my opinion is one of the best midfielders on the planet. It's a surprise he isn't at a greater club. Left back Joan Capdevila has 5 goals from left back and Santi Corzola, Spanish International is another one to keep your eye on. Robert Pires has experience that few can match dating back to his triumphant days in a Gunner's jersey. American-born Italian international, Giuseppe Rossi, is still missing from the squad due to personal problems.

This is my line-up for the clash:


Please Pellegrini can we play this back four together for the start? We were lucky to escape from Lyon without a costly mistakes from Marcelo who just cannot get the job done at left back. For me, the decision should have always been this line up with Garay available. I wasn't impressed with Diarra against his former club. I think Granero, Xabi Alonso, and Ronaldo AS A WINGER in midfield. I don't feel like Ronaldo suits too well as a second striker. Originally I liked the Idea because of his goal scoring abilities but I think to put him out wide and let him meander freely as he did early in the season is his best position. Am I the only one that thinks Pipita and Benzema would make a good strike partnership? Let me know what you guys think. I'd like to see it. We have Raul to come off the bench for the one who performs second best and the formation can always be changed.

Madrid face a sterner test than Barcelona this week. We are now within two points of our Catalan neighbors and we can then again control our own destiny when Barcelona come to visit. I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts. Madrid need a morale boost from what happened in Europe but we need more than that. We need the three points. HALA MADRID

Bobby

Good scoreline, Lacking Performance

Madrid managed to scrape up 3 points with 3 goals against bottom of the table Xerez but it wasn't the Real Madrid performance that we all wanted to see with Lyon on the horizon. It took los blancos about an hour to break the Xerez lock and it was an unlikely goal from an unlikely source, Arbeloa that banged down the door when Xabi Alonso found him in space. To that point in the match, I wasn't impressed with the former Liverpool defender's performance but with that goal he did two crucial things. 1.) He scored the winning goal. It's hard to do anything more important than that. And 2.) He lifted the pressure of Los Merengues' shoulders. It's not as easy as one may think to beat the last place team when you are Real Madrid. Here's why.

Everyone is up for it when Madrid come to town. There is a mental aspect about the whole minnow versus giant matches. If you're the giant. You are expected to smash the minnow and put on a blinding performance. This can get into a lot of teams' heads. They over do it and try to do things out of their element rather than think of the match as any other match. I think Real Madrid had a case of that today. Especially Ronaldo in the first half who took too much responsibility amongst his heroic shoulders and was disappointing in the first half. Madrid was lucky not to be down a goal or two in the first half. Lackadaisical defending lead to a couple clear chances that perhaps a better team would have surely scored. Madrid should have definitely had a penalty when Granero was taken down in the area in the first half and then another one when Pipita's on target volley was blocked by the hand of a defender. Can't get them all I suppose but I was desperate for a goal at that point and frustration was an understatement. The fouls, the misplaced passes, the referee decisions all created a first half to forget. The foul stat at half time was something absurd like Real 13, Xerez 3. I'd personally like to express my anger at Goltv for putting the La Liga match on a Gameboy sized screen in the bottom right hand corner for 25 minutes while Bayern Munchen vs Dortmund finished up. That's just poor broadcasting.

Let's get into some personal performances. Arbeloa's goal did open the flood gates but he wasn't his regular self today. He picked up a booking he didn't deserve but was shakey on most other offensive occasions. I'm sure he'll bounce back. Marcelo at left back never impresses but that's all I'm gonna say there. Lassana Diarra really needs to improve if we are gonna play a double pivot. I personally am in favor much more of the single pivot, which gives us an extra forward but Lass has got to be better. Too many times he was the culpret for a wayward pass or giving the ball away in the center of the pitch. Pipita was quiet. There was so much hype about Higuain in the midweek after his stunner vs Espanyol last weekend that everyone was a little disappointed not to see him do more. I guess you could blame some give aways that ultimately resulted in poor performances on the rough condition of the pitch. Hardly the pristine, lush grass of the Bernabeu but still can't use an excuse like that.

Raul didn't really make an impression after coming on but the other two subs did. Surprisingly Drenthe noticeably lifted the play when he appeared. He was unlucky not to score. His crisp strike was cleared off the goal line. Big Diarra made a rare appearance and other than the off target long ball he played shortly after arriving on the field, he was solid.

Ronaldo and Kaka were both stories of two halves. Both were off beat in the first half but instrumental in the second half. They proved our summer spending useful by teaming up for 2 goals. Ronaldo bagged another two for the season while the Brazilian tallied two more assists. After being played in toward the end line by Granero, Kaka lifted his head and played a flawless ball across to meet the gelled hair of Ronaldo. The header was a cerebral thunderbolt that rooted the goalkeeper. Great Goal. Kaka then again showed his brilliance as he used a sweeping slide tackling technique to pull the ball away from the charging shotstopper, loitered with the keeper at his back for a few seconds, only to then slide the ball across Ronaldo who tucked the ball passed 2 defenders into a gaping goal.

But we accomplished some important things today.

1. We proved we can turn around a bad performance and grind out a result. Something the Madrid has never historically been used to doing.

2. Ronaldo is back on form for Lyon.

3. No injuries from what I can see were picked up.

The job is only half done though. We have to hope our city rivals can take points off our national rivals tomorrow. That would help us out immensely! Not a pretty match but a pretty 3 points to return back to the capital with. Madrid's away form needs to improve despite the win. HALA MADRID!

Bobby

The Left Back Dilema

All Real Madrid supporters at this time know that we haven't ever exactly solved the whole that Roberto Carlos left when he moved on to Turkish football. I don't know about the rest of the lot but I am less than satisfied about what we have done to make sure that a player will secure that spot and make it his own. Lately, Pellegrini has decided on summer arrival of Arbeloa from Liverpool who is actually a right back by trade. Because of injuries to Ronaldo and Kaka in the first half of the season, Marcelo, whose position is left back, has been used in the midfield because of his pace and technical ability. And then there is Drenthe who looked oh so promising but has confidence issues (he's not been right since Di Stefano told him he needs to cut his hair, however I don't mind the locks; adds character)

I'm not going to hide my feelings throughout the article. I don't think Arbeloa has the quality. Others would argue that he is a solid defender, he just doesn't give anything going forward. This is my opinion, but the guy as very frightening, gives balls away. It scares me. I cringe when I see him in the line up. He stated that he wanted to leave Liverpool because they were bringing in Glen Johnson and he didn't want to play behind the England international. So logically he decided he would come to Real Madrid where he though beating out Ramos might be easier? Doesn't make sense. He has Ronaldo and Kaka to thank for being injured because that meant the left back position was easier to fight for with Marcelo up the field. I mean I could be a little hard on the fellow because he is playing out of position, but even at right back I feel the same way. He didn't even look good against Alcorcon in the first leg (then again who did?). I mean it's not like I think he is hopeless. On a lighter note, I think he is the perfect player to fill in for Ramos. We aren't really gonna find a more high profile player that would be willing to come to Madrid and sit on the bench as a right back. I mean we need someone to step in if Ramos is hurt or suspended but for me he's not a starting XI player at Real Madrid.

Drenthe, as I mentioned, has confidence issues. He has great technical ability and works his rear end off on both sides of the ball. He is a tremendous athlete. However, he doesn't get the time of day from Pellegrini. This further contributes to his demise because that's another hit to this player sensitive side. Last year the boy practically had a nervous break down when the home fans weren't happy with his performance. He shows his worth in spurts though. The goal against A.C. Milan, he drew a penalty against Atletico last year. He also has a very convincing step over. I wish he would figure out what he is worth because if he believes it, then he'll start playing with some intestinal fortitude. Then we'll start to believe in him too, as well as coaches and the club. I think he is promising but he is just in a rut. If he can dig himself out, I can see him doing well. One more thing about Drenthe. If your playing left back then you have defensive responsibility. I know your job is often times to get beyond the midfielders and serve balls into the box but don't get caught out and have us beat over top when your not in the clear to get yourself into the attack. Try not to get beat over top. Keep track of that winger my friend.

The young Brazilian. Now like Pellegrini, when everyone is healthy, Marcelo would be my first choice left back. Okay Okay, I know he lacks a little defensively. He's not a great tackler but he's a bomb going forward. He's crafty and quick. If he partners up with Kaka down the left (if Pelle chooses to put Kaka there), they can be very dangerous together. If you must know, Marcelo is my first choice right back on FIFA10. He has really burst onto the scene in the last year and I've been very impressed. If he is guided in the right direction, maybe he could be the heir to the Roberto Carlos thrown. Perhaps. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I mean how many other world class (I'm not talking pretty good, or solid) left backs are there in the world? Evra, Ashley Cole? Lahm fell off. Maybe Chichy. I mean it's not easy work but Marcelo is so young and has all the tools to be something special. That's my first choice.

Tell me what you think. I am interested to hear what you have to say. I know there are plenty of other points to argued and I'm sure many of you disagree. Let's hear it. I'm not here to educate you. I'm here to state my opinion and learn from yours.

Bobby