La Liga - 2012/2013

I wonder if we could change a few key words in all these posts to say, Kardashian, and see if the conversation would be much different.
 
Sorry did I say sh*t? I meant the most respectable and reliable site on the internet..

By the way, I found this on it:

goal.com said:

Ronaldo could force Madrid exit

The Real Madrid star, who has felt undervalued by the Spanish giants and is believed to be keen on a return to Manchester United, may force his way out of the club with just two years remaining on his current deal.
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Nani Nana said:
Such an easy thing to say after a string of poor results, and really what a completely pointless "argument" (if it can even be qualified as one). Did Mourinho not look like he cared when he bent down to his knees in the penalty shoot-out v Bayern last season ?
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I can live with the poor results as I'd given up on the league weeks ago, seriously. It's benching our club captain for no footballing reasons and openly showing his affection for other clubs while being our manager that I have difficulties with. So it's even easier for you to point fingers at me for expressing my feeling towards this situation. Your club isn't stuck with a manager who's trying his best to be shown the door while our president expressed his confidence in him just two weeks ago. Your manager isn't openly flirting with Chelsea or Inter while being 16 points behind your main rival. So please, before you accuse someone of being fickle try to think how you would feel in the same situation.
 
Lose Mourinho and any remaining hopes of beating Barcelona to significant trophies over the next few years are gone. Madrid need to accept that they are no longer the main team in Spain, it's Barcelona. Can't see anything other than utter dominance from them in the coming years after witnessing this season so far.
 
They're gone already, its all crumbling beneath Mourinho's feet.

I think Vato is perfectly within his rights to want him gone, and I agree with what he says. Benching Casillas is Mourinho picking fights for no reason other than to get under peoples skin. He does look after number 1, I think everyone knows that. If he wants someone who feels more for his club and less obsessive with simply taking out Barcelona then thats fair enough.
 
7even said:
It was clear as daylight that Mou would divide the club in to two fractions, this is part of his DNA. As long as the club is successful he will have it his way but when results is going against him things will change.

Spanish clubs in general and specially Real Madrid is much about politics, its the downside of the election system. Foreign players and managers don't pay so much attention to this but a home grown star like Iker Casilias knows exactly how it works, and now the Casilias family have chose to jump of the boat and switch side. Probably many other Spanish players will follow before it's all over for the Special One.

A club who tolerate a a player, especially their captain, who openly is against their best goalscorer and don't celebrate when he scores is a club with deep problems. Imagine this circus in United? Like I said before I have always respected Iker, he seems like a level headed guy who knows how to handle things, but lately things have changed. His latest actions shows a cold hammered personality who are more interested in his own reputation then what is best for the club. Forcing Mou out is probably his plan but it's a dangerous one because if he's unlucky many other portuguese players will follow their manager, sooner or later. Then the club are back on square one again. As often in dirty political dramas.
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Iker Casillas has played down his controversial omission from Real Madrid's line-up against Málaga, saying he must accept the coach José Mourinho's decision and focus on regaining his starting berth.

Mourinho caused a major stir after choosing to start with the back-up goalkeeper Antonio Adán for the Primera Division match at La Rosaleda in place of the captain and long-serving No1, Casillas.

Mourinho said after the match, which Madrid lost 3-2 to fall 16 points behind the leaders, Barcelona, that his decision was "purely technical".

Speaking on Sunday before a charity match in Madrid, Casillas told La Sexta television: "The coach decides which team he thinks is best for each match and you need to accept the decision.

"I'm not used to being a substitute but above Iker Casillas or any player is the team. What I need to do is continue training and try to recover the confidence of the coach."

Casillas, who has won a host of titles with Madrid and captained Spain to the World Cup and back-to-back European Championships, added: "I feel good but it is the coach who decides who plays. It will be a nice battle with Antonio. There is a healthy rivalry between us.

"Throughout the week I could sense that I wasn't going to play but it's not a setback. The important thing was that the team won in Málaga to cut the gap to Barça and Atlético Madrid. Mourinho didn't explain anything to me. He doesn't do it when I play nor when I don't."

Mourinho, meanwhile, says he does not regret dropping Casillas for the match.

Speaking after arriving at Lisbon airport today, the Portuguese was quoted as saying by AS newspaper: "Casillas? I have a clear conscience. I try to choose the best team for every game."

The defeat by Málaga was Madrid's seventh of the season in all competitions, which is already more than they suffered in the whole of the last campaign and has seen the pressure build on Mourinho.

The former Internazionale and Chelsea coach was defiant after the game when answering questions about his future, saying he had no intention of quitting Madrid and did not fear for his job.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/23/iker-casilas-mourinho-malaga


I'm not saying Casillas isn't at fault at all for this but he's always been a very professional player who didn't have any problems with any of his previous coaches. We can speculate all we want but what we know is just what we hear in the papers and interviews, and from what I heard it would surprise me a lot that Casillas would be the instigator of what's going on at the club right now.
 
Fergus' son said:
Lose Mourinho and any remaining hopes of beating Barcelona to significant trophies over the next few years are gone. Madrid need to accept that they are no longer the main team in Spain, it's Barcelona. Can't see anything other than utter dominance from them in the coming years after witnessing this season so far.
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Like United needed to accept that Liverpool were better than us? Or that Arsenal were? Or Chelsea? Or City? Why would we, why would they? Barcelona is a challenge - to be applauded or emulated in some things - but no great club should "accept" that they're second best, at least not for next year as well as this.

As far as I can tell, Mourinho's fed up of Madrid. He went head to head with club politics, the press, opposition fans and some of his own players for two years and came out thinking that he was in the wrong place. Whether picking a fight with Casillas was a last throw of the dice or him throwing in the towel I don't know, but either way, it's hard to see how he can fix it.

And if he does fix it just in time to play us, I'll now be extremely pissed off.
 
jojojo said:
Like United needed to accept that Liverpool were better than us? Or Arsenal? Or Chelsea? Or City? Why would they? Barcelona is a challenge - to be applauded or emulated in some things - but no great club should "accept" that they're second best, at least not for next year as well as this.

As far as I can tell, Mourinho's fed up of Madrid. He went head to head with club politics, the press, opposition fans and some of his own players for two years and came out thinking that he was in the wrong place. Whether picking a fight with Casillas was a last throw of the dice or him throwing in the towel I don't know, but either way, it's hard to see how he can fix it.

And if he does fix it just in time to play us, I'll now be extremely pissed off.
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You took it too literally. I meant that losing Mourinho will, IMO, remove the last chance they had of overcoming Barcelona, and that without him they will need to accept that they are second best, for the time being atleast.
 
Fergus' son said:
You took it too literally. I meant that without losing Mourinho will, IMO, remove the last chance they had of overcoming Barcelona, and that without him they will need to accept that they are second best, for the time being atleast.
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Don't worry I'm not that biased to think that we're a better team than the current Barcelona. They are a well oiled machine with arguably the best player ever firing from all cilinders. I am not blind or stupid..

I don't agree though that if Mourinho left we would be worse off than we are now, we are a shambles at the moment.
 
Vato1979 said:
Don't worry I'm not that biased to think that we're a better team than the current Barcelona. They are a well oiled machine with arguably the best player ever firing from all cilinders. I am not blind or stupid..

I don't agree though that if Mourinho left we would be worse off than we are now, we are a shambles at the moment.
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Yeah, the point I was trying to get across was that I'm more inclined to think he had you over achieving, certainly by winning the league ahead of Barcelona last year, and that without him I don't think you would have much of a chance of doing something similar again.

If Mourinho left, you wouldn't be worse than you are now, but you wouldn't be significantly better either, certainly not enough to give Barcelona any problems. You might be able to overcome Atletico though, but I think Mourinho would be able to too given the time.
 
Vato1979 said:
I'm not saying Casillas isn't at fault at all for this but he's always been a very professional player who didn't have any problems with any of his previous coaches. We can speculate all we want but what we know is just what we hear in the papers and interviews, and from what I heard it would surprise me a lot that Casillas would be the instigator of what's going on at the club right now.
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It's almost impossible to tell which Madrid gossip is real and which isn't. However the Casillas questions go back at least to the Pellegrini season, when Casillas was allegedly encouraged by Perez to manoeuvre Raul out of the captain's role along with the starting XI.

Some players, mostly his national teammates helped the process. The foreigners tried to stay out of it. But Ronaldo, as a team heavyweight, got dragged into the row - whether he knew it or not - and stayed in the Raul camp (or at least the neutral one) for too long.

Mourinho arrived, brought in a new training regime, which included changes for the keepers - Casillas didn't like it. Nor did he get the status that Raul had as a leader of the squad on/off the field or as a negotiator with the coach.

Then came Sara and the questions of leaks from inside the squad.

Throw in a cosy relationship with the Barca squad.

Top it off with some fairly meh sort of form, and a refusal by the board to sanction purchase of a serious competitor for his place and Mou seems to see him not a symbol of what's good about Madrid, but what's bad about its dressing room.

All allegedly of course.
 
Vato1979 said:
Don't worry I'm not that biased to think that we're a better team than the current Barcelona. They are a well oiled machine with arguably the best player ever firing from all cilinders. I am not blind or stupid..

I don't agree though that if Mourinho left we would be worse off than we are now, we are a shambles at the moment.
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Sometimes it is better to cut your losses and go with a manager who can bring the team together in a crisis and not divide it like Mourinho has done. I am pretty sure that if Pellegrini had been given the time, he might have won la Liga last season too. In fact, I think there would have been a much better atmosphere and there would be no factions within the team. I am sure they are regretting the day that Mourinho took over, since paying all that money for the "Special one", and only securing La Liga and the CDR isn't good value for money. He has had his chance and I think it is about time Perez cut his losses and get rid of this manager who is making what was once a great and stable Real madrid into a laughing stock because of his antics and his press conferences. Let me ask you a question, have Del Bosque or Pellegrini or even Capello ever done this sort of thing to Real Madrid?
 
Incidentally Mourinho is currently the longest serving manager in La Liga :D
 
Jesus Lyon. You don't have any stats to point to. Stop talking out of your arse so much. Capello and Pellegrini didn't last more than one season. That's despite Capello bringing them titles and Pellegrini breaking point records. Now why's that? Why was Del Bosque let go? Why have they, on average, had managers that last a little over one season?
It's a toxic environment. The only correlation is the club president, media and fans. You make it out like Mourinho is to blame. It's not any different now than before he came. It won't change with him leaving.

Do you guys even know it's Christmas?
 
jojojo said:
It's almost impossible to tell which Madrid gossip is real and what isn't. However the Casillas questions go back at least to the Pellegrini season, when Casillas was allegedly encouraged by Perez to manoeuvres Raul out of the captain's role along with the starting XI.

Some players, mostly his national teammates helped the process. The foreigners tried to stay out of it. But Ronaldo, as a team heavyweight, got dragged into the row - whether he knew it or not - and stayed in the Raul camp (or at least the neutral one) for too long.

Mourinho arrived, brought in a new training regime, which included changes for the keepers - Casillas didn't like it. Nor did he get the status that Raul had as a leader of the squad on/off the field or as a negotiator with the coach.

Then came Sara and the questions of leaks from inside the squad.

Throw in a cosy relationship with the Barca squad.

Top it off with some fairly meh sort of form, and a refusal by the board to sanction purchase of a serious competitor for his place and Mou seems to see him not a symbol of what's good about Madrid, but what's bad about its dressing room.

All allegedly of course.
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Honestly, it's the first time I hear about any of this. Could be all true, who knows. The thing is, if Mourinho is the great manager everyone thinks he is, then I hope he finds a solution for all this shit. It would surprise me a lot that benching Casillas is part of some master plan to try and get the team to play better. If anything it looks like an easy way out, which is my main gripe.


Proud_Lyon said:
I am pretty sure that if Pellegrini had been given the time, he might have won la Liga last season too.
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I really don't think so, even with Mourinho we needed our share of luck to win it. I agree that there probably wouldn't be this unrest in the run up of playing a team like United in the CL. But I wouldn't go as far as to say I would be more confident going into the match with Pellegrini as a manager than Mourinho. Mourinho is arguably the best coach on the planet and all the bullshit that is going on doesn't take that away from him.
Proud_Lyon said:
He has had his chance and I think it is about time Perez cut his losses and get rid of this manager who is making what was once a great and stable Real madrid into a laughing stock because of his antics and his press conferences.
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Yes, when you hear Real Madrid, the first word you think of is stability. :nervous:
 
Vato1979 said:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/23/iker-casilas-mourinho-malaga


I'm not saying Casillas isn't at fault at all for this but he's always been a very professional player who didn't have any problems with any of his previous coaches. We can speculate all we want but what we know is just what we hear in the papers and interviews, and from what I heard it would surprise me a lot that Casillas would be the instigator of what's going on at the club right now.
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I think it's easy to see that this is a fight about power, money and media. Off course Mou's intention was to provoke, it was a calculated risk who back fired. This new situation is a nightmare for the club, not at least Casilas and Perez, because of their managers contract situation and that they are in a bad form in the middle of the season. By benching the clubs captain Mou tries to provoke but Iker, with great support from his wife and influential friends, probably understands Mou's intention and continue to play this double faced game.

I feel sorry for all genuine supporters who have to witness this soap. Off corse this affects everybody in the club, both player and staff starts to think about their own future if there should be changes at the top.

I continue to put a little bit of blame on Casilias, his body language when Ronaldo scores had not exactly helped the situation. Players who leak inside information to media is also a sign of something is wrong, and as a club captain he's partly responsible for not solving this. A manager who don't have his captain backing him is dead in the water sooner or later, both Mou and Iker knows this.

I don't know what to think about Mourinho. It's undoubtable he's a great manager and knows how to win football games, but at the same time he provoke people around him and create unnecessary problems. I'm in between the rocks if he is a future United manager.

Future will tell but Real Madrid is atm in a total nightmare and I don't envy you Vato.
 
I'm not too bothered about this to be completely honest, it's not the end of the world, it's just football. We don't face you in over a month, it should be better by then I guess.
 
Proud_Lyon said:
Sometimes it is better to cut your losses and go with a manager who can bring the team together in a crisis and not divide it like Mourinho has done. I am pretty sure that if Pellegrini had been given the time, he might have won la Liga last season too. In fact, I think there would have been a much better atmosphere and there would be no factions within the team. I am sure they are regretting the day that Mourinho took over, since paying all that money for the "Special one", and only securing La Liga and the CDR isn't good value for money. He has had his chance and I think it is about time Perez cut his losses and get rid of this manager who is making what was once a great and stable Real madrid into a laughing stock because of his antics and his press conferences. Let me ask you a question, have Del Bosque or Pellegrini or even Capello ever done this sort of thing to Real Madrid?
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Steady on. Madrid is seemingly always one snowflake away from an avalanche, regardless of who's in charge. Too easy to lay all the blame at Mourinho's door, the structure of the club plays a role too.
 
Lippi is being mentioned as a possible replacement. I'd love it if he had another go in Europe, even at 64 he should still be managing a top side.
 
The President has known for a month that the players want to get rid of Mourinho.
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Zidane suggested to the president that Lippi would be a great interim 'technical'
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http://deportes.elpais.com/deportes/2012/12/23/actualidad/1356293980_967378.html

In the survey of MARCA.com 'Should Real Madrid dismiss Mourinho?', 82.2% of nearly 100,000 voters opted for the Portuguese coach's dismissal
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http://www.marca.com/2012/12/24/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1356332117.html
 
La Liga restarted last night with Zaragosa 1 Betis 2

The rest of the matches then (from the BBC so UK times)
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Levante v Athletic Bilbao, 15:00
Granada v Valencia, 17:00
Deportivo La Coruna v Malaga, 19:00
Sevilla v Osasuna, 21:00

Sunday, 6 January 2013
Celta de Vigo v Valladolid, 11:00
Real Madrid v Real Sociedad, 16:00
Barcelona v Espanyol, 18:00
Mallorca v Atletico Madrid, 20:00

Monday, 7 January 2013
Rayo Vallecano v Getafe, 19:00

Tito Vilanova is back in charge in time for the Barcelona derby and his squad are basically all available. Espanyol can make Barca's life difficult at times but they're in the relegation zone and the Camp Nou will be in party mood so it's hard to see them getting anything

Real Madrid's opponents however may be feeling a little glimmer of hope. Albiol, Pepe, Marcelo and Contrao are injured, Ramos is suspended and Casillas may or may not be back in the nets (Mourinho: "It's not good for a player to be too comfortable about his place.")

It's been an interesting week for Madrid. After 6 months of no press conferences and no interviews for players with the Spanish press, Casillas, Ronaldo, Ramos, Arbeloa have appeared over the past 4 days at press conferences. All delivering the united front message and Ronaldo wowing them all with big smiles and good humoured replies - so friendly they didn't even criticise him for dodging the contract renewal question.

Indeed the media pressure seems to be currently on Perez for screwing up the club's relationship with Ronaldo. Anyway, half the attention at the Bernabeu tonight will be on which names get the loudest applause when the team sheet gets read out and the other half will be on whether they've got a defence.
 
Adán; Arbeloa, Varane, Carvalho, Essien; Xabi, Khedira; Callejón, Özil, Cristiano; Benzema.

Casillas, Nacho, Llorente, Modrić, Kaká, Di María i Higuaín.

Bravo; Estrada, Mikel, Inigo, De la Bella; Zurutuza, Pardo; Prieto, Vela, Griezmann; Ifrán.

Zubikarai, José Ángel, Ansotegi, Javi Ros, Elustondo, Zurutuza i Chori Castro.
 
Cristiano wearing the captain's armbad :eek:

@ Proud Lyon: looks likely that Real Sociedad will score in this game looking at Real's defense, but indeed I think RM will win.
 
Good goal, poor defending.

Good start for Madrid.
 
Skorenzy said:
Cristiano wearing the captain's armbad :eek:
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Captaincy is a seniority thing at Madrid. Casillas as longest serving, then Ramos, then Higuain and Marcelo, then Pepe, then Kaka. And in their collective absence, it's Ronaldo. You can't help but wonder if Mourinho did it deliberately though.

Wow penalty and red card and now the captain has to come on. Would be a great trick if he saves it. Who's going off?
 
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