Marcelo and Ronaldo danced to this song during the Malaga game as it is one of their favorite songs in the dressing room

 

Hey everyone! After the excitement of having the wonderful Ray Hudson mention our blog on TV, the crew went into some sort of ecstatic high which rendered them unable to wiggle their fingers and write a review of the Villarreal game. Fear not though, as we will not leave you hanging. Yes, you guessed it, Bassam to the rescue with a double header of a Real Sociedad preview and Villarreal review. Lets start things off by learning a little bit about our next opponents, La Real:

Real Sociedad:

 

La Real is a team that draws back a lot of memories to the early 2000s, when they had a team that gave Real Madrid a real run for their money in La Liga. A strong basque team, they went head to head with Real Madrid for the 2002-2003 season losing out on the league in the final match day of the season to our Galacticos. Back then, Real Sociedad had impressive names such as Nihat, Kovacevic and our very own midfield maestro, Xabi Alonso. Unfortunately, that disappointment signaled the decline of La Real, as they struggled with relegation for three seasons till they gave up and went down to segunda. It took them two seasons of almost getting there to make the jump back up, as they ended up winning the segunda division in their third season. I can’t say it isn’t a delight to see them in La Liga.

 

 

Players and playing style:

 

La Real started off the season strong, racking up a couple of wins and a draw. However, like many of the the La Liga minnows, with the exception of Levante, they could not keep it up. They have lost 4 of their last 5 games and drew one. They are, however, a strong team at home, and they are very well known to bring their A game against the big clubs. If you don’t believe me, then go and check the draw that Barcelona suffered at the Anoeta. They changed coaches this summer break, and they appointed the relatively unknown and inexperienced French man Philippe Montanier as their new manager. Phil Ball, who is an avid fan of the club, described the decision to let go of their former coach, but then noted that it might have been a good decision after all. Not seeming like a good one at the moment, Phil.

 

In goal, Raul Claudio Bravo has been a regular fixture at the club for 5 years now. He is a decent goal keeper with the ability to come up with a couple of moments of brilliance every now and then. He conceded a 40 yard freekick in midweek against the big boys of Levante, one that he probably could have done better with. As usual, Ronaldo will like to test him out a couple of times from outside the area to test his nerves after that mistake. In front of Bravo, the defensive four has been one that hasn’t changed since Montanier took over.

 

The surprise package in the defensive four is newly promoted and defensive wonder kid, Inigo Martinez. The 20 year old made his debut for Real Sociedad this season and has been a main stay in the center back position for the club. He is rumored to be on the radar of Real Madrid, who have been rumored to have spent spies scouts to watch him during training and games. He showed great character in stepping into the line up and taking over the role of the ball playing Center back right away, one that usually requires a lot of experience and composure. He also scored this screamer in the Basque derby. The kid got talent.

Partnering the talented CB in the center of defense will be Nowegian international Vadim Demidov. Not the best center back out there and Real Madrid will be looking to expose his lack of pace at the back as an opening towards goal. On the flanks, Carlos Martinez will be slotting in at right back. While Martinez will help give the not so good in the air defensive line of Real Sociedad a help, his lack of pace will be something that they need to watch out for in this game. Standing at 1.88 m, he is not your typical right back. He doesn’t usually bomb forward much, and with Ronaldo on his flank, he will be more than keen to sit back and sort of play as a wide center back. Ronaldo will have to do his best to push him forward from his line and try and expose the spaces he leaves. On the left, Alberto De La Bella will try his best to look as Italian as his name sound. A suspect player to say the least, he was given a hard time during the Levante game, and 2 of the 3 goals that La Real conceded came from his flank, albiet one being an unlucky deflection.

 

In midfield, new signing Mariga will be anchoring the middle of the field. For those who have seen him play at Inter Milan last year will know that the player isn’t that technically gifted, but he will be chopping ankles and taking names. If i had some money, i would put it on him getting sent off. Who will partner Mariga in defense is a big issue, with the coach juggling between several players. One of the more impressive players there, and one that did a rather good job vs Barcelona is Illarramendi, who has been promoted this year from the youth squad. He hasn’t featured for La Real in the past two games (neither as a starter or a sub), which makes me suspect he is not fit or injured. With no team sheets out, that will be hard to determine. In his place, it will be a toss between Aranburu and Zaratuza. Aranburu is a as veteran as they get, as he stands with 375 appearances for La Real in the league. Zaratuza is younger and less experienced option in the middle. With that said, I won’t be surprised to see both of them start, as i believe La Real will go for a conservative 4-3-3 formation. Mariga as the anchor, Aranburu as the ball winning midfielder and Zaratuza as the ball playing midfielder/attacking midfielder.

 

The best and most dangerous assets that La Real has is on their wings. Xabi Perieto is a player that mostly everyone knows by now, having been the assist leader for the league last year outside of the big two. A no nonsense winger, he has an eye for the cross and that defense splitting pass. Real Madrid will have to be very careful in the air, as Xabi Perieto has been dishing out crosses like candy on Halloween. On the other wing, 20 year old wonderkid Antoine Griezmann will be giving Arbeloa a real run for his money. If you guys recall last years game at the Anoeta, Ramos was playing catch up to the then 19 year old, who possesses a wonderful ability to shift gears and has impeccable technique for a player of his age.  Corey picked him out to be the player to watch last year before this same fixture, and he was spot on with his call. Watch out for his runs inside the box, the kid is small but has a big effect.

 

 

Finally in attack, Agirretxe will be leading the line for La Real. A real threat in the air, this player has been the top scorer for La Real having scored all his goals with his head. Xabi Perieto will be aiming high for him, as he has a rather fascinating vertical leap and can tower over the best (and tallest) of defenders. A couple of set piece drills will be in line in training for us to make sure we cope with him. Other options in attack off the bench will be veteran striker Llorente, who i doubt will take place in the game due to his lack of pace. I fully expect to see on loan Arsenal striker Carlos Vela take part in the game, especially if the team is looking to sit back and try and break down Real Madrid on the break. Vela might replace Xabi Perieto and Ifran, another really quick striker might replace Agirretxe as the game passes by. When those two come on, La Real’s attack becomes much much faster, something we will have to watch out for.

 

 

Real Madrid

 

We usually rarely have anything to say in the Real Madrid section because Mark usually covers the team excellently in the review of the game. With no review, and no time to fit both a review and a preview (blame the LFP!!!), this section should cover both.

 

Real Madrid hosted lowly Villarreal this wednesday hoping to continue their winning streak. No one expected a hard game, with Villarreal in an on field and medical room crisis. Poor things it only got worse, as Rossi picked up a knee injury that has ruled him out for around 6 months. Real Madrid were up 2-0 within 12 minutes of the start. the first came from a lovely pass from Di Maria to Benzema who felt it was very easy to lob the keeper. The second was a trade mark Kaka goal, as he curled the ball with his left into the net. The third came, surprise surprise, from one of the better executed counter attacks I’ve seen this season. Benzema slot in a silky smooth pass and Di Maria dribbled and dribbled until he got me shouting “Shoot, god dammit”. Which he did, and he scored. Can you believe it? He actually knew what he was doing (not a dig at Di Maria, but more of a dig at myself for demanding he shoots faster).

 

The positives from the game was that after the three zero, the team did a different kind of controlling of the game than that which we saw vs Malaga. Instead of sitting back and absorbing pressure, the team pinged the ball around with ease. I won’t lie, it got a tad boring, but i would take that kind of boring over being bored without my team having the ball. It was also nice to see Kaka complete a game for a change, which is telling that his fitness level is back up to optimal speed. It was also nice seeing Alonso finally given a rest! The midfield general is rumored to have asked the coach to be subbed out because he wanted to catch a cold play concert. If you are wondering who started those rumors, then it’s me. And i started them the sentence before that.

 

 

Ramos was a beast in defense once again, and it’s leading me to think that this player belongs more and more in the center of defense than on the right. The way he drives the ball forward from the back and his ability to both be the sweeper center back and the in your face center back is really refreshing to see. Take no credit away from Arbeloa, who has been doing a wonderful job on the right. He doesn’t bomb forward like Ramos does, but then again why do we need a right back that bombs forward when we play most of our game on the left side of the pitch. Not to take anything away from Arbeloa, who has been putting in some really nice passes to the forward line. The defensive discipline that he offers also allows Di Maria more freedom upfront and less responsibility to track back. In the game against La Real, Di Maria will have his work cut out for him in tracking back as Griezman is really hard to mark. This makes the inclusion of Callejon or Di Maria vital in the game.

 

There were little negatives to take from the game against Villarreal, except for perhaps Ronaldo and his performance. It seems odd to say, but Ronaldo was just trying too hard. He needs to relax and enjoy the game, and once he does that he will be scoring every single game. A little observation, and feel free to crucify me for this, his attitude was not the best during the game. A tad too pissy and whiny for anyone’s liking, Ronaldo was his own enemy during the game against Villarreal.  I would like to add an observation as well: If you are having an off night, a pissy attitude will not help you get over it. If you show a good attitude, then your teammates will try harder to open spaces for you and help you score. But if you get upset every two minutes and huff and puff and raise your hands in dismay, then psychologically, the players will not want to pass the ball to Ronaldo rather than take a gander at goal themselves. But these are all very specific nitpicks that will eventually go away. I guess that’s one of the back slides of being one of the best players in the world. You are put on a different pedastal than other players, both in praise and criticism. I’m sure he will be left relieved that Messi has been have an even worse stinker of his own, having not scored in the last 2 games and not scored an away goal all season!!!

 

 

Not much to say really. Real Madrid have to take the game on Saturday as seriously as possible, as this is a possible banana skin waiting to happen. La Real could be very hard to break at times and Real Madrid will be keen to break them down. Expect Ozil to jump back into the starting line up and take over from Kaka (who btw, was called up to the Brazilian NT). Expect Higuain to start as well as Benzema will be looking forward to returning to Lyon during midweek in the CL. Nothing else to change really. Coentrao to come on as a sub for Xabi Alonso who I suspect will get the biggest applause of the night from the home crowd.

 

The difference hair can make....

 

Hala Madrid!!