Imperfect Ten

Real Madrid recorded their tenth consecutive league victory on an away trip to Espanyol. This result, combined with Barcelona's inability to hold onto a two-goal lead at Atlético Madrid the following evening, puts Real four points behind the leaders. It's hard to believe that this difference was twelve points a mere three weeks ago.

And yet, while much credit has to be given to Juande for turning the team around defensively (3 goals conceded in the last 11 matches), there is still much work to do to make Real Madrid the well-oiled machine in attack that the individual quality of its players would suggest.

The first half saw both sides "abuse" the midfield to the exclusion of both areas. Sneijder, who hasn't had the best of seasons, did not really perform well as playmaker, wasting innumerable passes to his colleagues up front, with Huntelaar looking especially isolated. Fortunately for the visitors, Lass swept up most of Espanyol's attacks, turning in another impressive display.

What Lass could not mop up, Pepe and Cannavaro did, with Casillas making the odd miraculous save that no longer gets headlines (he was much criticised early in the season for a few uncharacteristic mistakes).

Juande changed tack in the second half, bringing Guti in for the ineffectual Sneijder and Marcelo in for Higuaín to try to give the squad some balance and some width. Raúl tracked back to help out in midfield and the changes injected a little more urgency to Real's play.

Nevertheless, it was a whole 67 minutes before the deadlock was finally broken, as Guti was brought down outside the Espanyol area. The veteran Real Madrid midfielder, who recently announced he will leave the club in 2011 at the latest, slotted a perfect free kick into the top left hand corner of Espanyol's goal.

Five minutes later, Raúl effectively finished off the game as he timed his run perfectly to latch onto a half-mishit Marcelo cross and put the ball beyond goalkeeper Kameni.

As in midweek, the team who made the least number of errors won the game. Unlike then, this time that team was Real Madrid.

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Capello would be proud

You have to feel some sympathy for Bernd Schuster. That's a strange statement to make about a man in charge of one of the most prestigious football clubs, and the current Spanish championship title holders. However, he faces a long and difficult season with a squad clearly split in half.

The defence, now back to full strength following the return of Ramos and Cannavaro, shows signs of being as confident and solid as in the latter part of last season and has just notched up its second clean sheet in a row. Schuster's attacking options, now that's another matter altogether.

Looking at Sunday night's 2-0 win over Racing Santander you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. After a tedious first half, De la Red put the visitors ahead eight minutes after the break following a swift counterattack by Gonzalo Higuaín. Van Nistelrooy made the game safe seventeen minutes from time with a typical clinical finish.

And yet, the prospects for the aforementioned long season don't look that rosy. The loss of Robinho has left Real Madrid with a distinct lack of options on the wing. Robben is very much in form, but his propensity to get injured may have prompted Schuster to decide to use him sparingly, bringing him on in the second half to overwhelm tired defences with his speed. The fact that De la Red is starting to click with this team is a welcome sight, but his game is distribution, like Guti, and the latter's injury may result in more playing time and pressure for the youngster.

Up front, you cannot fault 'Van the Man' for effectiveness, and Higuaín is coming out of his shell to contribute speed and a desire to run at defenders. But that is where the options start and end.

Raúl is unrecognisable from the man who scored 16 goals last season; he's the invisible man in the squad. It's no longer a question of whether he should be selected for the Spanish national side; rather, questions are beginning to be asked about whether he should be in Real Madrid's starting eleven. Saviola, for whatever reason, just does not feature in Schuster's plans, which leaves nothing in reserve.

So, as per the title of this entry, why would Capello be proud? Well, Schuster has clearly eschewed any pretensions to elegant, free-flowing football for an approach purely designed to get results. If, in his own words, nobody listens to his requests for reinforcements and he has to work with what he's given, he's doing exactly that. The questions is whether this will last out the season. Mijatovic may claim the club has no intentions of scouring the transfer market in January, but, if results don't go Real's way, he may have to spend some of the millions from the sale of Robinho.

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5000 goals, but still too many holes

Real Madrid kicked off their league championship at home with a victory, but failed to convince the local fans that they have reinforced the squad sufficiently over the summer. They left the pitch to a mixture of boos and applause barely having managed to subdue a rival that has only just been promoted to the top division. On the other hand, Numancia did beat Barcelona in their league opener two weeks ago and clearly have the motivation and possibly the talent to stay up this season.

The worrying thing for the home side was that their defence, which it was felt needed the least tweaking, was at fault in the three (yes, three) goals that Numancia managed to put past Iker Casillas. To be fair, a back four composed of Salgado, Metzelder, Pepe and Marcelo would not perhaps be Schuster's first choice. With Sergio Ramos nursing a knock from his international appearance in midweek for Spain and Cannavaro still not fully fit, this was something of a second-string defence. I suspect, however, that Schuster was not expecting Numancia to play as offensively in the Bernabéu as they did.

The two central defenders did not seem to be able to cope with Numancia's tactics on the pitch and were frequently caught out of position, and the whole of the back four were all at sea on set plays. It was thus no surprise that Numancia's first came from a corner, as Moreno was allowed a free header just 6 minutes into the game.

However, where Numancia were tough on attack, they were equally soft on defence. They managed to shut out Barcelona on their first league game, but Los Pajaritos is a very small pitch where it's relatively easy to close down spaces. In the Bernabéu there was plenty of room for the likes of Guti, Van der Vaart and Robben to get the ball through to Van Nistelrooy and Higuaín. It would be Guti, however, who would get the equaliser, with the help of a deflection from Boris. It was also a landmark goal, Real Madrid's 5,000th in the Spanish league.

Just three minutes later, in the 21st minute, Numancia edged ahead again with a spectacular strike from Barkero, who had easily beaten Metzelder for speed. The scoring was not over in this half characterised by poor defending, as Higuaín levelled the scores, followed by two more goals from Van der Vaart and an own goal by Cisma to put Real 4-2 ahead before the break.

Real Madrid may have thought this would put paid to the upstarts from Numancia, but 10 minutes into the second half, Moreno got his second from a free kick that Casillas may have been able to deal with a little bit better. Guti seemed to lose his way a little and Numancia even got close to an equaliser in the dying seconds, but Real managed to hold on to their three points.

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The "forgotten" star

The Futbolitis blog is a superb resource for those interested in a deeper analysis both of tactics and the politics of football, without many of the rumours and sensationalism associated with more traditional media. As the articles are written in Spanish, I thought I would share some of the highlights of the item that was published earlier today regarding one of Ramón Calderón's broken electoral promises when he became Real Madrid president: Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, better known as Kaká.

The authors argue that Kaká could be the signing that both Barcelona and Real Madrid should be looking at this summer. In Barcelona's case, they need a replacement for the recently departed Ronaldinho and they had their chance earlier in the transfer window. Milan don't have the money they once had to invest in renewing their ageing side; they did not qualify for the Champions League. Galliani, president of Milan, was interested in a swap with come of the Barcelona players, but the board was in the middle of getting rid of Rijkaard and replacing him with Guardiola and missed the boat.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, have been putting aside money for the on-off transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo. Kaká is arguably a much better technical fit, as he is and has always been a team player rather than a highly talented individual, but with the vision and skill to replace Guti as the main playmaker. Guti, in contrast, has never had the temperament to provide that vision week in, week out and is also five-and-a-half years older.

For a while last season, Real flirted with moving Gago up to Guti's position, which proved unsuccessful. The Argentine has been good at playing the ball forward to Guti and Sneijder, but he really is no Redondo, though perhaps, at his age, he should be given the benefit of the doubt, and more time to develop.

The figures for the transfer of Kaká are comparable to those being rumoured for Cristiano Ronaldo, possibly even larger. Chelsea are reportedly interested, but then, Chelsea seem to be interested in everybody. The main difference financially between Ronaldo and Kaká is that the Portuguese has been spending his holiday time signing sponsorship deal after sponsorship deal (did you really think he was going to LA for the club scene?). This means that from an image rights perspective, his transfer is much less amortisable that, say, David Beckham's was.

Making the money that Real Madrid made with David Beckham is not possible in these more media-savvy days, but Kaká's image is much more up for grabs. On the personal front, the Brazilian is a committed Christian and family man, a much less likely target for all those scandal-hungry paparazzi.

Will Calderón change course mid-stream and go for Kaká? It's a long shot, but it may be worth considering.

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Mijatovic makes a move

During this interminable summer transfer saga that is Cristiano Ronaldo, it has at times seemed like Real Madrid were putting everything on hold, waiting for him to either arrive or decide to stay at Manchester United. Whether because there's just over a month left of the transfer window, or because Real know that there's a good chance they won't be getting the Portuguese winger this summer, it now looks like Mijatovic has decided to make his first move in the market (if you don't count Garay, back in May). The target is Netherlands midfielder and Hamburg captain Rafael van der Vaart.

The 25-year-old Dutchman, who has a Spanish mother, joined Hamburg from Ajax in 2005 for €5.5 million as midfield playmaker and has since been given the captaincy of their squad. He was instrumental in Hamburg's performance in last season's Bundesliga and has been linked with a number of clubs even before the summer transfer window, among them Chelsea, Inter, Valencia, as well as Real Madrid. Though he signed a 5-year deal with Hamburg, his contract terms state that from the end of the upcoming season, he can leave the club for a "mere" €1 million, hence the upsurge in interest in his services.

The German club's website noted in a brief announcement yesterday evening that they had received and rejected an offer from Real Madrid, as "unworthy of discussion". The value of the offer was then disclosed in German newspaper Die Welt as €6 million, coming in the form of a fax sent to Hamburg Thursday evening by Real Madrid sports director Predrag Mijatovic.

Van der Vaart could potentially be seen as a medium-term replacement for Guti, as he has played alongside Sneijder in that position both at Ajax and in the Dutch national side. The Real Madrid vice-captain, though indisputably talented, suffers from erratic form (and questionable temper) and has finished many of his 14 seasons at the club as a substitute. Nonetheless, he had a pretty regular season under Schuster last year and back in April signed a 'life contract', which saw his previous deal extended until 2011 with an annual renewal clause if he plays 30 games every season.

Hamburg's outright rejection of the offer is seen as a first step in the negotiations between both clubs, who are expected to revisit the matter when they meet in London for the Emirates Cup at the beginning of August.

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Learning to park the bus

Former Spain coach Javier Clemente made his intentions clear prior to Murcia's visit to the Bernabéu on Sunday: they were going to "park the bus" in front of their goal and hope this was enough to keep Real out. While few would argue that second from bottom Murcia did not truly expect to win in Madrid, it is perhaps not the best strategy for a team facing relegation. Clemente set out his stall with what looked like a 7-2-1 formation at times and did not change it even when Torres was sent off for a terrifying challenge on Aquino which left Real with 10 men for the best part of 70 minutes.

Refereeing blunders aside (apart from the sending-off, Iturralde González did not cover himself in glory, waving away several possible penalty decisions for either side), Real with 10 were better than Murcia with 11, but it still took about 40 minutes for the first shot on goal. Raúl is not the best choice for centre-forward, especially with the opponent's area as crowded as it was.

After the sending off, Schuster decided not to replace him with another defender to try to maintain an attacking formation. Though proved right, it was clearly not Robinho's day: he looked uninspired and even occasionally drifted from his wing to the centre, where he just got in the way. Guti, who earlier in the week joined the other 'lifers' in the squad, provided some class in the midfield, ably assisted by a much better performance from Sneijder, who not only raced back to prevent a rare Murcia shot on goal, but also took advantage of a defensive error to coolly put away the winner. At this point Schuster took off the ineffectual Robinho and brought Salgado on to assure the final result.

Real knew in advance that Barcelona had stuttered on their visit to Recreativo (with their minds more likely focused on the Champions League than the championship), and the win increased their lead to nine points. Following Villareal's loss away to Almería, this points difference remains and it will take a disaster of epic proportions for the league title to be won by anyone else.

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Back on top

The Madrid press was all abuzz with excitement following yesterday's 3-1 defeat of Sevilla. What with Barcelona throwing away a 2-0 lead at Betis the day before, they are now touting second-placed Villareal as the ones to watch in the run-in to the title. Without taking away from what was a much improved performance, it is still far too early to clay claim to the title, especially given how irregular Real has been in 2008 (won 9, lost 9).

Although much is being made of Higuaín scoring at last, he only managed to put away one of at least three clear-cut chances, and his team-mates seemed to be losing confidence in him. Another much-mentioned anecdote is Raúl scoring his 290th goal for the club, putting him neck-and-neck with 70s and 80s legend Santillana and second only to the great Di Stefano (307). Howerver, the keys to yesterday's triumph lie in the great display from the back four (especially Cannavaro, who's come in for a lot of criticism in recent days) and the return of creativity in midfield from the likes of Guti and (yes, it's true) Sneijder.

Real had to start without Pepe through injury, but they barely missed him, and his replacement, Gabriel Heinze, not only ably supported Cannavaro in the rear, but also opened the scoring for Real with a header off a Sneijder free kick. The Dutchman added a second assist when he found Raúl in the area. The captain controlled the ball, jinked around two defenders and blasted it far from the hands of Sevilla keeper Palop. This came barely two minutes after Kanouté, in a rare attack for Sevilla in the first half, hit a beautiful volley to put the scores level.

On past performances, a one-goal lead wasn't going to be enough, even if it didn't look like it was going to be Sevilla's night. Half-way through the second half Sneijder found Guti, who played it back Higuaín, who finally managed to put the ball, and the game, away.

Real's 6-point lead over Villareal means the boys from the "Yellow Submarine" will need to accumulate at least 7 points more than the men in white, given the head-to-head results between both teams.

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Fateful February

The numbers for the month of February speak for themselves: Played 5, Won 1, Lost 4. The situation has deteriorated so much that even the previously impregnable Santiago Bernabéu stadium no longer guarantees victory. Jarek Berga, over at American Madridistas, argues that this is a case of luck evening out over the course of a season. In other words, the first half of the championship has seen Real Madrid grind out wins where perhaps they did not "deserve" them; where their effectiveness in front of goal meant that they could be outplayed for most of the game and still come away with the three points. There is an element of truth in this, of course, but, from a statistical perspective, four losses in five games is somewhat of an aberration; we should be able to identify more immediate reasons for the slump.

Talk of "crisis" has begun to feature prominently in the media, particularly following the comical way in which Getafe scored against Real last weekend. With the greater part of the squad celebrating a "goal" by Robben by the corner flag, only Guti and Heinze noticed the linesman's outstretched arm signalling for offside. A quick counter by Getafe saw these two, plus Casillas, facing four players from the visiting side. the outcome was never in doubt, and Uche coolly slotted the winner home. Real never looked like equalising, much less winning the game, so what's happened?

A slew of injuries to Real Madrid defenders over the past couple of months have been discussed on this blog on a number of occassions. To some extent, this has been the case all season, with Schuster rarely using the same back four three games running. Also, Casillas is no longer playing the saviour role since his unbeaten run was broken. A potential piece of good news on this front is the likely return from injury of Pepe against Recreativo next Saturday, assuming he can regain the form that helped to shore up the centre of defence earlier in the season.

Another player likely to return from injury is the much-missed Robinho. Some have pointed to his absence as a factor in Real's misfortunes, but I think that, from a technical perspective, this is largely not the case. The loss of Robinho has coincided with the return of Arjen Robben, who has given Real much needed width and pace in attack. In fact, during February, Real has managed an average of sixteen shots on goal per game, rather more than in the earlier part of the season.

And so, it seems, a lot of Real's troubles must therefore stem from an inability to put those chances away. I think this is more than simple statistics or luck evening out and is likely to have a psychological component. All strikers suffer from periods of plenty and periods of drought and both Raúl and especially Van Nistelrooy seem to be in the middle of one. Nobody else is picking up the slack, and this is where I think Robinho could bring some much needed inspiration.

The other psychological element is that affecting the whole team. It's hard to bring yourselves out of a losing dynamic, particularly when you think you're doing all the right things and nothing seems to work. Bernd Schuster must put his psychologist's hat on and turn things around. I believe the next two games are crucial: beating Recreativo away and getting past Roma in the Champions League could be the tonic to put this campaign back on the rails.

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Magnificent Seven

The league championship, while not quite sown up yet, is slowly wending its way to the trophy cabinet in the Bernabéu museum. Real Madrid took full advantage of Barcelona's late draw in Sevilla on Saturday night to stretch their lead to an impressive eight points. For the seven goals, these are seven keys to last night's "festivities":

1. Valladolid's defence: brave? foolhardy? suicidal? They played right into Real's hands with a defensive line pushed so far forward that the local midfielders, especially Guti, picked them off at will. Not one of the Valladolid back four picked up a booking all night. 'Nuff said.


2. The mercurial midfielder himself, Guti, had a dream of a game (though he was allowed to play, rather than hindered, by the opposition), finding the perfect pass time and again, scoring two exquisite goals (OK, one was a bit of a fluke) and provising three assists.


3. Raul's nose for goal is till there. Forced to play further up front due to Van Nistelrooy's injury, the captain scored a signature goal to open up his tally, and picked up his second by converting a penalty. Valladolid is now the league club he has scored most goals against: his 2 on Sunday night contributing to a grand total of 14.


4. Robben's speed and versatility have not been adversely affected by all his injuries. He started off on the left wing, but looked equally comfortable on the right when Robinho had to go off injured and Drenthe was brought on. His goal will have given him some confidence.


5. The Bernabéu is proving to be an invincible fortress; this game was Real's eighteenth consecutive league win (11 of them this season). The fans are not the most vociferous or passionate, but the players seem to be very comfortable. Contrast this with the situation just over a year ago with just four wins in eight games at home.


6. Baptista's strength, playing just behind Raúl (in Raúl's usual position), showed once again why he's a player that has a place in this Real Madrid squad. He harried and fought, was brought down for a penalty and his enthusiasm when given an opportunity should be an inspiration to those who are struggling to get into the side.


7. Bernd' Schuster's team choice, with seven players injured, produced a balanced side that made the most of its virtues (interestingly, Valladolid had a comparable number of shots on goal tto Real's, but look at the difference in effectiveness). In a curious piece of trivia, Schuster himself was on the scoring sheet for Real Madrid in a 7-0 demolition of Castellón back in 1990.

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Breaking away

Real Madrid showed a refreshing lack of complacency and bags of self belief to beat Villareal and extend their lead at the top of the standings to 9 points. Contrast this with their closest rivals, Barcelona, who failed to hold onto their one-goal lead in Bilbao and ended up dropping two points. All the participants agree that the championship is not yet over (Real had an even bigger lead over Barcelona in 2004 and ended up throwing the league title away), but the way the players pick themselves up when things don't go their way is very encouraging.

Guti had a day to remember, providing added verticality to an already aggressive attack; however Robinho was the true star of the team with his clinical finishing on two occasions. Villareal for their part never flagged, giving the encounter added flavour and excitement, and they managed to pull the scoreline back twice, setting up a frantic last quarter of an hour.

Gago has benefited from Diarra's absence in the African Nations Cup and picked up his game impressively in recent weeks. Aside from his defensive efforts, which were many, he was also responsible for the assist to Sneijder which ended up in Real's winner, barely a minute after Villareal's second. The Dutchman had only just come on for Baptista, and the goal must have done his confidence no end of good, given the lacklustre string of performances in the past few months, following a very bright start to the season.

Simon Baskett, over at Reuters, argues that Real's successes this season are largely due to the 'old guard' and that the new signings have not yet made a significant contribution.

Villareal demonstrated that the 5-0 result earlier in the season was a mirage and they are worthy occupants of the 3rd spot in the league, but the 15 points separating them from the leaders are almost unprecedented at this stage of the season.

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Waiting for Independence Day

With Real Madrid facing a very busy couple of weeks (Valencia on Wednesday, Sevilla on Saturday and Olympiakos the following Tuesday), Bernd Schuster decided to leave Raúl on the bench for the a priori easier task of dealing with Deportivo at home. This is the first time this season that Raúl has been included in Schuster's rotation policy, and so far, only Iker Casillas seems to be immune. Without their very own "Captain Marvel", Real were arguably at their most disjointed, playing an insipid, diluted game that could barely be described as football.

Over the past few weeks, in the media frenzy that developed around Raúl after the latest snub by national team coach Luis Aragonés, many squad members have been almost sickeningly fulsome in their praise for the Real Madrid (and formerly Spain) captain:

• As his team-mate, seeing how he works every day, how much effort he puts in and the way he's playing at the moment, we are all behind him [getting a recall to the national side] - Saviola (5 October)
  
• Since I arrived at the club, Raúl has spent a lot of time with me and is someone everyone looks up to - Sergio Ramos (23 October)
  
• He's a great captain and he shows it both in the pitch and out of it - Robinho, after last night's game
  
• He's a living legend at 31. He's the leader of this squad and an exceptional person - Van Nistelrooy, after last night's game

After last night's performance, you have to wonder if there isn't more to it than just cynical attempts by those players to ingratiate themselves with one of the heavyweights in the dressing room, or by certain elements of the press to put pressure on Aragonés. When Raúl came in for Saviola halfway through the second half, in what was the thirteenth anniversary (minus one day) of his debut with the first team, he seemed to inject some much needed energy and vision to his team-mates. Robinho, once again absent for most of the game, hit the crossbar and Guti, who had not had anyone to latch on to his deadly accurate passes, saw firstly Raúl himself, and secondly Robinho put paid to Deportivo's solid defence.

And thus the reason behind this article's oblique title: Real seems still to be unhealthily dependent on three of its longest serving players: Raúl, Casillas and Guti. Without taking away anything from their contributions, a squad of this depth (and cost) should by now be able to perform as effectively when they are not playing. Nobody should be indispensible when the season is this long. Real Madrid may think itself fortunate that it is facing two potential contenders for the title (Valencia and Sevilla) at a time when they have recently lost their managers. Don't be fooled; both teams have been playing more solidly and consistently (albeit without the luxury of having results go their way) and will provide a stern test of Schuster's ability to construct a team out of a bunch of talented individuals.

One last thing, can anyone explain to me why Salgado continues to play first team football?

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Capello analyses Real

Fabio Capello, who, since leaving Real Madrid, has taken up a post commentating for Italian state TV channel RAI, did not mince his words last night, as he analysed the Lazio-Real game. Interestingly, this has been picked up by the Spanish press from different perspectives, depending on who you read. Most highlight the fact that Capello thinks Real Madrid are still a team which "lacks identity". As, not my favourite publication, as those of you who read this blog regularly know, is one of the few who spins his comments positively, focusing on the fact that he thinks the current squad has more speed and quality than the one he managed. Here are a selection of quotes, some insightful, some seemingly contradictory:

• "I've known few players as good as Raúl in the area, where he moves like a fish in water"
  
• "[Last season's squad] was extraordinary, full of talent, that at any time could create opportunities. The current squad still has no identity, although Schuster is trying to give it one"
  
• "I'm surprised Guti's on the right, it's not his best position, he's not comfortable marking players. Also, Diarra is a little isolated in front of the defence. He's getting very little help."
  
• "Real are having trouble with Lazio's fast strikers, but both Heinze and Cannavaro are coping well. Also Marcelo, who is very good, but lacks experience in these high tension international games"
  
• "The current squad is clearly faster and more talented than what I had to work with last season"
  
• "Right now I'd love to be on the bench coaching Real"
  
• After the game: "The galáctico Madrid had a lot of talent and personality. I coached them at the end of this phase, where Roberto Carlos, Beckham and Ronaldo still played. Today's squad has lost some of that personality. The truth is that Robben has shown himself to be very dangerous when given space. Guti is still at the centre of everything and, in general, Real can score a goal while doing very little, as ever. Once again van Nistelrooy has been crucial..."
  
• "Fabio [Cannavaro] is in great shape, he knows all the tricks of the trade; Real have been lucky to have him there tonight. Ramos is an extraordinary professional with great qualities, full of class"

Three members of Real Madrid's infamous Ultrasur radical supporters group were arrested in Rome last night after causing trouble and setting off fireworks at the end of the game. Once again, the actions of these brainless morons may push UEFA to fine the club.

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The dangerous legacy of attacking football

A fascinating tactical analysis in today's El País uncovers some of the historical reasons for Real's defensive woes, typified in recent games by the squad's inability to maintain possession. This is aggravated by the fact that the midfielders do not push back to help defend and the central defenders stay too close to Casillas's goal. The Real Madrid technical team is trying to rectify the situation but "it is not easy because this squad is accustomed to have possession. When a team is constructed for attack, the players get out of the habit of also performing defensive duties."

Back in 1999, the then Real Madrid captain and central defender, Fernando Hierro (confirmed on Tuesday as the new sporting director of the Spanish FA and officially presented earlier today), perhaps conscious of the fact that his speed was not one of his best attributes, argued with the defensive midfielder of the day, Fernando Redondo, about how far back the central defenders should stay. With the arrival of Florentino's era and the emphasis on attacking galáctico signings, Hierro found an ally in Iván Helguera (not a particularly fast footballer either), who argued that "with so many players attacking, you have to be very coordinated at the back to push forward. If you leave too much space behind you, they can hurt you on the counter."

That worked fine when Real with Zidane owned the midfield and kept control of the ball, but three trophyless years brought Capello back to the Bernabéu and a renewed rigour to the squad's defensive duties. This was mostly accomplished by keeping defenders and midfielders in the Real half waiting for the opportunity to counter-attack. This also explains why Real Madrid had a much worse home than away record, given the fans' expectations when playing at the Bernabéu.

The new manager now finds that he has a problem. He wants to be able to play attacking football, but still be solid in defence. This poses problems for the midfield, who have far too much ground to cover, as the defenders play too close to Casillas. Diarra complains that "The space between defenders and midfielders is too great. When we lose the ball it is very hard to get it back."

Schuster's challenge is to convince his defenders that they can play further forward and not put additional pressure on Casillas to perform his usual heroics. Barcelona, who have been playing the same way for five years, have far better defensive statistics: Touré steals a ball every 12 minutes, compared with 18 minutes for Diarra. Similarly, Iniesta has better numbers than Guti, and Xavi is far more effective defensively than Sneijder. The transition won't be easy, if it happens at all, but it may go some way to explain the curse of the central defender which has plagued Real Madrid for years.

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This is no time for euphoria

Coming back from a week's holiday to find that your team is the best thing since sliced bread (which, let's face it, was never that great an invention) always brings out the cynical side in my nature. Granted, winning 5-0 away from home doesn't happen every week (last time was over 11 years ago, on 24th January 1996 against Athletic Bilbao), and Villareal had not lost in 18 games.

Perhaps Bernd Schuster has it right, calling for an attitude balanced between joy and caution: "I'm not worried about the feeling of euphoria because there's a 10-day gap until the next game and in that time nobody will remember what happened here. That's why we're going to enjoy the result, which is a thing that happens only rarely. What I liked the most was the team's attitude; they're all working together at the highest level. We can undoubtedly improve on certain things because not everything was that great." Real Madrid looked good, balanced and playing more exciting football than under Capello, but let's not forget the 120 million euros that have been spent building this squad and all the jogo bonito in the world will not save Schuster from the chop if the trophies don't come his way.

There are some positives to take away, of course. Guti and Sneijder seem to be complementing each other in midfield better than could be expected (though of course it's still early days and Guti has a propensity for 'disappearing' from a number of games every season). Phil Ball argues that Drenthe and Sneijder have given the side the balance they sorely needed and Diarra is doing all the dirty work behind Guti and the little Dutchman. Heinze debuted at left back, coming in for Raúl(!), and freeing up Drenthe to roam further up the pitch, where he prefers to play. Cannavaro and Metzelder were solid in the centre of defence all evening, especially in the first half when Villareal had most of the possession and the attacking play. Ramos continues to impress on the right wing and his tribute to the late, lamented Antonio Puerta, who collapsed during Sevilla's opening game of the season, suffered a number of cardiac arrests and finally passed away a few days later, was spoiled by an officious yellow card from the otherwise fine refereeing of Medina Cantalejo. In a rare display of humanity, the Spanish Federation annulled the yellow card as they considered the tribute to be "sincere" and made in "exceptional circumstances".

However, some of the other news of the past week have not been so positive. Schuster took six canteranos with him to Austria for preseason training: Granero, Balboa, De la Red, Adrián, Codina and Bueno. None have any room in the current squad, given the influx of players, and in the hours before the closing of the transfer window on August 31st, De la Red and Granero moved to Getafe (transfer and loan, respectively) and Adrián was loaned to Celta for a year. Soldado does not seem to feature highly on Schuster striker list and may opt for a move at Christmas.

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From Russia with goals

Rather than go into details about the two matches Real Madrid played in Moscow, I'll concentrate on a few of the things to take away from the performances we've seen in the preseason so far.

Results-wise, it's not been too bad (the exaggerated 3-0 scoreline against Hannover aside). All the teams faced so far are at least a couple of weeks further along in their preseason training than Real Madrid; this makes a big difference at this stage. In the case of Lokomotiv, they are actually half-way through their season (which must be worrying for them, given the 5-2 score, but then again, perhaps their attention was focused elsewhere). Also it's clear Schuster is moving all the pieces around to see how well they fit into his scheme. He clearly still has some work to do. Whether new signings will come in to supplement what's already there remains to be seen, the bleatings of the sports press notwithstanding.

• Dudek showed off his impressive reflexes, although he could've done better in the second goal against PSV, but Casillas now knows he cannot rest on his laurels. I still see him as second-choice, though.
  
• Metzelder has had a worrying lack of opportunities: he did not play against Hannover or PSV and only part of the game against Lokomotiv, where his performance was not up to par. Let's hope this is not the shape of things to come.
  
• Pepe, on the other hand, is looking settled already and shows perhaps why Real paid so much money for him. However, if Cannavaro and Metzelder don't pull their socks up, Ramos may be joining him in the centre of defence, rather than on the right wing.
  
• Twelve months on, there is still no replacement for Guti (not Gago or de la Red). Capello had similar troubles last season finding someone else with the creativity to open up defences and link up Real's midfield and forward lines.
  
• Saviola got off the mark in both games, although the first came from the penalty spot. He's also been doing his set-piece homework, connecting with Guti's inch-perfect set-up from a free kick to score Real's only goal against PSV. However, Real are clearly still missing Van Nistelrooy up front.

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He begs a 'thousand pardons'

... and he might have to keep on begging. Motormouth Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón really outdid himself yesterday while giving a lecture at a Madrid university to law students on the management of sports organisations.

His comments where captured by a sly journalist from Spanish radio station COPE and have caused him a huge deal of embarrassment. Here are some of the juiciest quotes:

Beckham is off to be a mediocre actor in Hollywood. The proof that the technical team made the right decision in not renewing his contract is that nobody else wanted him, even though he was free. This a day after saying that Beckham had played with Real Madrid like a bullfighter plays with a bull in stalling contract talks while negotiating with LA Galaxy and buying a home out in LA.

The Bernabéu is like a theatre. People don't go there to support their team with shouts and chants like they do in England, or Italy. If the players do well, it's like Plácido Domingo singing well, they applaud. But if Plácido Domingo sings out of key they whistle and boo. People feel they've paid to be entertained and won't show their support if that doesn't happen. This won't do his reelection chances much good, if, as expected, the postal vote is allowed to be counted and new elections are called.

Raúl and Guti started at the same time. Raúl has been a star for 12 years and Guti is still just a player "with a lot of promise". He's 31 and a great player, but he's never really counted. While not many will disagree with this assessment, it flies in the face of his contract being renewed for another two years back in November.

Managing players with such large salary differences is very difficult. At any given time, Diego López, who earns 300,000 euros a year could come in for Iker Casillas, who earns 9 million.

There is a lot of vanity and ego in the dressing room; they think they're superstars who don't have to pay for anything. You have culture and education, and generally, they have none.

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The new Redondo?

Much has been written about the impending transfer of Argentinian wunderkind Fernando Gago from Boca Juniors to Real Madrid, most of it revolving around his fast-rising price tag and Ramón Calderón's need to add to his good news collection for this Sunday's Annual General Meeting.

However, an article in the Guardian's Sport Blog focuses on his playing style and asks interesting questions about how well he would fit into Capello's scheme at Real Madrid. The article quotes Jorge Valdano: "The club's idea is to bring him not as an alternative to Emerson or Diarra, but to Guti, but Gago doesn't play like Guti. Gago is a midfielder who needs another midfielder, but one bodyguard is enough. Otherwise, he has to play more forward, and the more forward he plays, the less of a player he is. Gago will join Madrid, won't play, and his evolution will be delayed because the only way to progress is competing, not watching matches from the subs bench. The list of players who failed arriving aged 20 a big club is so long that it's best to discuss the only exception: Kaká".

If we assume that Calderón is remaining true to his word and not bringing in players that have not been recommended after a technical assessment, then Capello must have a place for him in the squad. If he can't play as far forward as Guti, then this raises two problems: there is still no substitute for the only playmaker in the squad, and which of Emerson or Diarra will he replace? Given that Capello has been very reluctant to make any changes to his 'double pivot', you have to wonder what his plans are for Gago.

Will he therefore go the way of so many other young players at Real who never made the grade due to lack of opportunities or because they just did not fit in with the manager du jour's plans? The tag 'The new Redondo' is a hard one to live up to (just ask the Manchester United faithful) and maybe Real are just getting in there to prevent others taking advantage of this emerging talent. Let's hope not.

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Who's driving the bus?

Hundred-ish-word review of last night's game:

• Carew outsmarts Cannavaro and beats Casillas (11')
  
• Guti picks up an injury and leaves Real without a playmaker (20')
  
• Lyon go 2 up after a free-kick conceded by Cannavaro (31')
  
• Diarra risks having his block knocked off diving to meet Ruud van Nistelrooy's crossed header and score (39')
  
• Capello gets desperate and brings Cassano in for Emerson (76')
  
• Ruud taps in Real's equaliser after Raúl's header came off the post (83')
  
• Ruud has a penalty kick saved, his third in five attempts this season (89')
  
• Carew makes Cannavaro's life a misery (01'-90')
  

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Two things are painfully obvious from last night's display: Cannavaro is a long way from showing the form that allegedly has won him the prestigious Ballon d'Or and Capello has nobody able to replace Guti - not Reyes, not Robinho, not Raúl. Given that he's now been suspended for two league matches following his rush of blood to the head on Saturday, it will be interesting to see how Capello rearranges his side to face injury-decimated Valencia.

It was good to see Real Madrid show some grit and passion to claw their way back into the match and to almost snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with the award of a dubious penalty in the final couple of minutes. These qualities have been sadly lacking in the Florentino years but they are a poor substitute for the flair and creativity that is needed in midfield if they are to take full advantage of their effectiveness in front of goal.
Match report

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Pretty Boy Problems

On Saturday night, Guti gave a textbook example why so many of the Bernabéu faithful loathe him, why he's had so few chances to play for the national side, even though he's arguably one of the most talented men on the pitch. His vision, his skill; he brings fantasía to Real Madrid's play, something in short supply in Capello's designs. But, after 88 minutes, with Real 3-1 up and the game pretty much in the bag, Guti got himself sent off by elbowing Racing's Vitolo in the face at the same time as he was fouling him. It's not the first time he's done something like that. Nobody, not even he knows why he does it.

El Mundo decided that this was somehow linked to Guti's protracted contract renewal negotiations. There had been leaks that the discussions had stalled because Real Madrid had put an offer of 4.5 million euros for a further two years on the table and Guti wanted 5.1; a "mere" difference of 300,000 euros a year. This was his way of showing his displeasure at the club's undervaluing of his services (after all, Ramón Calderón had said after he took office that they would renew him "for life").

Of course, anyone who has followed Guti's career knows this was all so much bobbins; as I said, he just does these things from time to time. Just like he sometimes "disappears" from the pitch, as if he can't be bothered with this football lark. To add insult to injury, it looks like El Mundo's "journalists" will have to eat their words as it was announced on Monday afternoon that Guti had just agreed to a two-year extension to his contract (to run until 2010) for a 13% salary increase.

So we have four more years of his year-round bouts of March Madness to look forward to...

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