<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-1985 aligncenter" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2009/09/kaka-ronaldo-villarreal.jpg" alt="kaka ronaldo-villarreal" width="512" height="384"></figure></div>
Villarreal 0-2 Real Madrid 
0-1 Ronaldo, 2’ 
0-2 Kaka (pen), 73’
With four wins in four league games and three clean sheets in the bunch, it’s statistically difficult to find fault with Real Madrid’s early season performances. They have ostensibly done everything right in their opening games: they have incorporated all the new faces into the mix, gotten big contributions from old favorites like Raul and Guti, and seen their world record signing get off to a record-breaking start.
Yet there were troubling signs amidst all the success. They didn’t look like much of a team even in their comfortable wins, only playing in sync with each other for brief stretches. The central midfield looked woefully bereft of ideas after injury knocked out Xabi Alonso for a few games. And that defense – god help them, they were trying, but they seemed to have no idea who was supposed to be where, looking particularly susceptible to counterattacks and set pieces.
In short, they looked exactly like they should: like a team full of new personnel searching for its identity. Everyone was adamant in the preseason that it would take time for the superstars to gel into a cohesive unit, but with two of the last three FIFA World Players of the Year, it’s hard not to get carried away in your expectations, hoping to see them set the world on fire from their first moments together. Instead, they showed flashes of brilliance interspersed with long stretches of almost catatonic malaise, uncertain in possession and positioning.
Wednesday’s game against Villarreal showed the beginnings of progress and a hint of what Manuel Pellegrini is trying to establish with this team. It was perhaps their least spectacular performance, a relatively pedestrian 2-0 win away to Villarreal, but the steadiness of their play was more impressive than any of the fireworks of previous games.
That’s not to say that this one didn’t have fireworks of its own, though. It took less than two minutes for Cristiano Ronaldo to get off the mark, sprinting upfield before darting inside and raking one past Diego Lopez to open the scoring. It was the second time in as many games that CR9 scored inside the first two minutes, both times on strikes as fabulous as his own sense of style. As in the game against Xerez, they took their foot off the gas a bit after the early goal, but this time they looked more confident in possession and sure of their ability to dominate the game with or without more goals. They were helped in this regard by the sending off of Gonzalo in the 35th minute after he picked up his second yellow on a high kick to Kaka’s midsection.
Villarreal got themselves into the game a little more early in the second half, but to their credit, Real’s defense handled the attacks of the Yellow Submarine with considerable fluency. This was no mean feat, considering the back line had to be reshuffled at the last second when Garay suffered an injury in the pre-game warm-up, forcing Sergio Ramos to central defense and Lass Diarra to unfamiliar territory at right back. I’m sure Pellegrini will be thrilled to have both Sergio and Pepe back in the line-up come Saturday when they take on Tenerife, as the Portuguese international has finally finished serving his 10-game suspension for his notorious Getafe meltdown. They’re still not 100%, as Arbeloa is carrying a knee injury, but with Ramos, Pepe, and Albiol, they have the makings of a staunch defense.
Madrid put the game away on a disputable penalty call by Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez in the 73rd minute. Marcelo made a good run to the end line, and when he attempted to send it back across goal, the ball struck Angel’s raised arm as he slid in to make the challenge. Having already gotten his goal for the game, Ronaldo stepped aside to let Kaka take the PK, which he converted, sending the keeper the wrong way and rolling it into the net. It was the Brazilian’s first goal for the club.
It was really a rather tepid effort by Villarreal in their first match against their former manager, but that shouldn’t take away from the improvements Real appeared to have made in this match. Guti, who started the match with the captain’s armband, helped control play for Madrid and greatly contributed to the effort to stabilize some of the team’s shaky tendencies. Cristiano’s crossing left a lot to be desired, and Higuain is a long way off linking up with his new midfield providers, but all in all it was a promising display. Perhaps I had the storyline wrong. It isn’t so much that this team of superstars is underperforming despite racking up the wins. Rather, they are continuing to secure victories even as they come into their own, surviving the growing pains without sacrificing any points along the way. Now if they could only find a legitimate left back, I could quit complaining entirely.

Modest Improvement For Madrid

Modest Improvement For Madrid - World Soccer Talk

<div id="attachment_1956" style="width: 493px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><div><figure class="external-image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1956" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-1956" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2009/09/Villarreal.jpg" alt="If Villarreal continues their poor run of form, El Madrigal will look similar to this on match nights." width="483" height="362"></figure></div>If Villarreal continues their poor run of form, El Madrigal will look similar to this on match nights.</div>
After another underwhelming performance in a 0-2 loss to Real Madrid at El Madrigal on Wednesday evening, Villarreal currently sits in 18th place with only two points from four La Liga matches.&nbsp; In their defense for their showing against Madrid, Villarreal played with one less man for 65+ minutes after Gonzalo Rodríguez received his second yellow card in the 35th minute.&nbsp; In addition, they fought admirably and sometimes looked as though they were playing at even strength, but their legs eventually gave out, as each outfield player had to give that extra percentage in the absence of Gonzalo.&nbsp; Zero wins, two draws, and two losses in La Liga along with a less than convincing 1-0 victory over Levski Sofia in the Europa League group stage has the Yellow Submarine sinking into unchartered waters.&nbsp; Two factors that have led to this ominous start are the absence of Marcos Senna and the general lack of direction and focus of their play.
Marcos Senna is the anchor in front of the defensive line.&nbsp; In tandem with Sebastián Eguren, they halt potential counter-attacks and anticipate the passing lanes before the back four has to be brought in for reinforcement.&nbsp; Senna’s style is quite similar to Chelsea’s Michael Essien, where he controls the center of the pitch, plays from box to box, and scores from long range on occasion.&nbsp; When Essien went down with injury and missed five months of the season, Chelsea lost their way and contributed to their third-place finish.&nbsp; Chelsea lost only once when Essien came back to the squad in mid-February, and Marcos Senna has that similar effect for Villarreal.
In Senna’s absence, Bruno Soriano deputized in the center of midfield with Eguren, and while he is a capable midfielder, he does not have the presence or the ability that Senna possesses.&nbsp; This was evident in Wednesday’s match against Real Madrid, where Guti and Kaká roamed around the final third and created many opportunities for their teammates.&nbsp; For example, in the 23rd minute, Guti back-heeled a pass in the middle of the field to Kaká, who in turn sent a through ball toward Marcelo’s diagonal run in the box, and the resulting squared ball from Marcelo to Gonzalo Higuaín produced a wonderful attempt at goal.&nbsp; Higuaín would scuff the shot high and wide, but any semblance of a decent hit would have been 0-1 to Real Madrid.&nbsp; The sight of Marcos Senna warming up on the sidelines, as a potential substitute in the second half, is a good sign that Senna’s chronic leg and hamstring injuries may be healed sufficiently enough to appear in the first team, but until he makes that return, Villarreal will continue to sputter and be forced to grind out results.
In terms of their play as a whole, they lack a sense of identity and seem not to know what exactly they want to do on the ball.&nbsp; When Manuel Pellegrini became the manager of Villarreal on July 1, 2004, Villarreal was an up and coming team that showed promise and inconsistency at the same time.&nbsp; Pellegrini instilled a philosophy of passing football, using intricate one-two’s, passing triangles, and skillful runs from the fullbacks to generate goal-scoring opportunities.
With Ernesto Valverde, indecisive has been the overriding adjective to describe Villarreal on the pitch.&nbsp; It very well could be that the team is still adjusting from the Pellegrini era to the Valverde era.&nbsp; Pellegrini led them into the deep stages of the Champions League and high finishes in La Liga, and when a new manager comes along that has some decent success with Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol, and Olympiakos but does not have the cachet that, to them, would be worthy of Pellegrini’s successor, there could be a little friction inside the dressing room.
Valverde’s Villarreal has minor differences with Pellegrini’s Villarreal.&nbsp; Valverde has his team play a slightly more physical game and tends to be more structured.&nbsp; In a couple of matches, Villarreal experimented with a pseudo diamond formation that saw Eguren as the holding midfielder, Santi Cazorla and Cani on the wings, and Ariel Ibagaza as the playmaker behind the strikers.&nbsp; Valverde continues to experiment with the team, and when he finds the right blend to fit his philosophy and creates the synergy necessary to compete for Champions League spots, Villarreal will be back to their winning ways and leave this mediocre start behind in the dust.

What Is Wrong With Villarreal?

What Is Wrong With Villarreal? - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-1908 aligncenter" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2009/09/benzema-xerez.jpg" alt="real madrid-xerez" width="300" height="210"></figure></div>
Real Madrid 5-0 Xerez
1-0 Ronaldo, 1′
2-0 Ronaldo, 75′
3-0 Guti, 78′
4-0 Benzema, 82′
5-0 Van Nistelrooy, 89′
Real Madrid moved to the top of the table Sunday, ahead of Barcelona on goal differential, after a 5-0 rout of Xerez that was a more difficult affair than the final score might indicate. Cristiano Ronaldo netted a second straight brace for his new club and did all the meaningful scoring, giving Real the two-goal cushion upon which they built their late-game goal flurry. Yet even with all the talent in the world – quite literally – wearing white on the pitch, many questions remain for Madrid after a win that was less dominating than one would expect against a newly promoted side.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the quarter of a billion Euros splashed out this summer, Real took the better part of 90 minutes to finally click as a team. Last week I railed against their defensive miscues, but a similar charge can be leveled against their offense, which continues to rake in the goals despite playing a haphazard, individualistic style of football. After Ronaldo scored on a zinger in the first minute, Madrid appeared to go into hibernation for the next 70+ minutes, creating little more than moments of individual brilliance in the midst of mediocre play. Xerez just kept plugging away, little engine that could style, and their midfield did a commendable job of jamming up the works and preventing Madrid from ever finding a rhythm. With no Xabi Alonso to pull the strings in midfield, Real were left with Gago and Lass playing the double-pivot and little creativity flowing from the midfield.
As much was made clear when Pellegrini yanked Raul and Kaka in favor of Granero and Guti, leaving CR9 to partner Benzema as the two out-and-out strikers. All of a sudden the ball was moving more fluidly and play was built up from the midfield to create opportunities for the attacking players. Xerez clung to the one-goal deficit for a surprisingly long time, and the Andalucian side even had a number of chances to tie the game. Their failure to provide any quality service into the box was eventually their undoing, though, and with a quarter of an hour remaining Ronaldo skied in the box to head home Granero’s corner and secure the victory.
After that, the floodgates opened. Benzema whiffed at the ball, missing it completely about eight yards out, leaving it for Guti to clean up and smash past Xerez keeper Renan. The young Frenchman got his shortly thereafter when he drove up the lefthand side, juked the defender out of position just enough, and then blasted a left-footed shot into the net for 4-0 and his first regular season goal with Real Madrid. Even Ruud Van Nistelrooy got in on the act two minutes from time, scoring Real’s fifth on a slotted shot that nutmegged the keeper and rewarded the standing ovation he got from the fans on his introduction.
It was an amazing final fifteen minutes that displayed, in a brief flourish, all that these new-look Galacticos are capable of. But the other 75 minutes painted a more worrying picture, one of a team still struggling to find itself amidst all the new signings and suffering some growing pains in the process. Xerez didn’t possess enough threats to really test them defensively, but in the absence of defensive pressure their offense showed its own lack of fluency for much of the game. Unlike the team’s defensive troubles, though, I’m not exceedingly worried about these offensive hicc-ups. They will be worked out, and in much less time than it will take to get the back line in order. And until all those kinks are ironed out, there will always be a Cristiano or a Kaka or a Benzema etc. etc. to pull another rabbit out of the hat to save them. Today, there were five rabbits to be found, four of them in quick succession, in the dispatching of Xerez. A bit more consistency and a lot more fluency will go a long way toward calming the nerves of the fans who expressed their anxiety as the lack of a second goal weighed heavier and heavier in this one. The goals will quiet the critics for now, but for the sake of La Liga I hope they find their game sooner rather than later.

Another Impressive Scoreline Conceals Real's Frailties

Another Impressive Scoreline Conceals Real's Frailties - World Soccer Talk

<div id="attachment_1529" style="width: 311px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a rel="attachment wp-att-1529" href="http://www.laligatalk.com/real-madrid-vs-juventus-3-things-to-look-for/1523/cristiano_ronaldo/"><div><figure class="external-image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1529" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-1529" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2009/07/cristiano_ronaldo.jpg" alt="The Fist Pump...a sign of things to come?" width="301" height="320"></figure></div></a>The Fist Pump...a sign of things to come?</div>
I should clarify, 3 Things to Look&nbsp;&nbsp;For-&nbsp;From a&nbsp;Madrid Perspective. This is a Spanish soccer website after all.
Although the preseason is young, several trends have emerged in Real Madrid’s performences and it will be interesting to see if they continue when Real take on the Old Lady of Italian Football, Juventus(Kick-off: Friday, July 31 2009, 20:30 CET).
Here are the&nbsp;3 to keep your eye on:
1. Pepe( Will Diego Run rampant?)
The biggest knock against the first group of Galacticos was their defense. The likes of Figo, Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckham, and a moderately in form Raul couldn’t make up for the fact that they didn’t have a defense or&nbsp;a strong defensive midfielder to do the dirty work (a la Mascherano). Poor Helguera was consistently shifted in and out of position to cover up Real Madrid’s huge defensive&nbsp;gaps from 2004-2006, until the club hit an al time low with signing of Thomas Graveson! Yes, you read that right, Real’s defense&nbsp;was so pitiful&nbsp;that Graveson was seen as a savior.
Perez has attempted to show his maturation from the first Galactico era with the signings of Albiol and Arbeloa. However, Pepe will play against Juventus and he will probably start during the season. Regardless of what others <a href="http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/88/spain/2009/07/28/1409643/player-ratings-real-madrid-4-2-liga-de-quito">say</a>, Pepe has looked shakey this preseason. He has been ridiculously lax when defending and is constantly forced to clean up his own mess. Something that might fool others into thinking that he has been defeming well, but I’m a more astute observer than that. On one &nbsp;particular instance in Madrid’s last game, Salgado tackled a Liga De Quito player from behind and the ball rolled into the box, Pepe hesitated as he moved forward and the attacker was able to regain the ball. Pepe eventually dispossesed the forward after the striker stumbeled. Had Madrid been playing against a&nbsp;truly&nbsp;quality side, Pepe would have been punished for his mistakes(Emphasis on the plural). Imagine Pepe hesitating against Deigo in the box? Take a look at the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVU8s0j3Dso">goal</a> that Diego scored the other day…exactly(This column would have been up an hour earlier had&nbsp;I not spent an hour marveling at Diego and&nbsp;replaying that&nbsp;clip over and over again)
2. Ronaldo’s Reactions
(Before I go on, it must be said that I can’t stand Ronaldo. I hate his antics, I feel he is too selfish, and I don’t understand what position he plays. He used to play as a winger, but then he turned into some sort of winger/striker half breed. Wayne Rooney spent more time on the wing than Ronaldo did in his final two seasons. I wish I could seperate that part of myself and report objectively, but I can’t. So I compensate with full disclosure of my bias. Ok enough of this tangent)
I sincerly believe that Ronaldo was bored at United, and that his disnterest paved the way for his exit. Ronaldo would score forty yard screamers and react nonchalantly, he felt no pressure. But on Wednesday, after scoring&nbsp;a preseason penalty, a Tiger Woodsesque fist pump followed. Ronaldo was so nervous when he was first presented to the Madrid faithful, he bobbled the ball while juggling.
You can chalk up&nbsp;Ronaldo’s nerves to it being early in the season. But it is clear that Ronaldo feels the need to justify his transfer fee, as do the rest of the Galacticos. And when the pressure mounts is it really far fetched to think that each one of them will feel the need to take the game into their own hands? These pressures could lay the foundations for team that becomes easily flustered especially when they go down early.
3. Every Madrid Player on the Pitch
Meaning, who is and who is not on the pitch. Pellegrini has a huge squad at his disposal-with more on the way. Clearly,&nbsp;he won’t use all 35 players during the season. With the start of the season approaching expect the rotation to tighten. Pellegrini has to figure out who will work best together, how to incorporate Raul(No matter who is there, Raul’s got to play. I feel like that is negotiated into each new coaches contract), and what to do with the left over pieces. Pellegrini even gave Guti a run last game. The formation that Pellegrini puts out against Juventus could reveal who has impressed him the most, and who will most likely be staying at the club past August.
Three games into the season is too early to judge a squad. Three games into the PREseason for a team missing one of its key components(Kaka), two new signings(Albiol, Arbeloa) with another major&nbsp;arrival possibly on the way(Alonso) is usually not even grounds for a remark. However, the Real Madrid vs. Juventus Peace Cup Semifinal represents the most interesting&nbsp; and important match of the Madrid’s preseaon. It is against a&nbsp;quality side(This is becoming increasingly difficult to say about Italian teams. Oh and no disrespect to Tornto FC, who Madird play on August 7th. Ok, ok full disrespect, in terms of world football, you guys stink), it is a match of some importance(loser goes home), and&nbsp;Giorgio Chiellini has been talking <a href="http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/139/italy/2009/07/30/1412740/juventus-defender-giorgio-chiellini-warns-cristiano-ronaldo">smack</a>. Ok, I’m getting ahead of myself, at the end of the day it is an insubstantial&nbsp;offseason match between two sides who haven’t been training for longer than 4 weeks. But at the&nbsp;very least it will allow us to take a break from the transfer market and concentrate on what we all love most for&nbsp;a minimum of&nbsp;two hours, football.

Real Madrid vs Juventus: 3 Things to Look For

Real Madrid vs Juventus: 3 Things to Look For - World Soccer Talk

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