@Bisco, I owed you a post of my simple thoughts about Real last night, I just remembered:
It will surely be even on footballing level (tho mainly not mentally...)The main thing that just gives them the edge for me is simply Cristiano. He litterally needs half a chance to bury in this form.
But I actually watched them almost as much as our games most of the time (my brother is a fan), and despite the hype and insane allure of Real, their actual performances have taken a hit, we really play better more fluid ootball then them right now despite the "italian, uugh boring" casual fan attitude.
They are extremely lethal/efficient offensively, but in general play they look less dynamic, extremely predictable and stale creative offensively then they used to earlier this season or past seasons, its all about nonstop crosses (and it mostly works to be frank, but its easier approach to stop for great defence), they have great CMs (best in the game) that are technically superior and smarter but dont seem to be using them much to open up games currently (and its not their fault, but lack of proper movement upfront stifles them to make splitting passes). Its all about the fullbacks making the final balls. Carvajal litterally more decisive creating weapon wide then any of the wingers/forwards, plus Marcelo is their creative hub, and as great as he is, a fullback shouldnt ideally be a creative hub for a well functioning team at this stage of the season. Its because Bale has been a dud besides the injury issues, and Ronaldo and Benzema dont move or work off the ball as dynamic as you hope them do, to open up space and become unpredictable with our without the ball, when they face a settled defence they become stuck in their approach (when they dont, watch out, litterally the best at counter attacking). So it all becomes about overlaps wide, highly efficient final balls from crosses and keeping possession til fullbacks overload on a side almost every single time (vs settled defence that is). I recommend any of you to watch their game vs Valencia, it was litterally a a practice to just crossing over and over and over.
Thats why someone like Isco is so fantastic influence for them in their current limitations, when he is on his game, he breaks the pattern and moves all over, something new from the inertia of predictably keeping possession til a crooss is necessary. On general play Benzema and Cristiano rarely do much anymore and I hope to God they start Bale...it will be so much more predictable then facing any of Isco, James or Asensio (James bit undynamic too, allways cuts in to shoot, pass back, while Asensio plays more of a fluid winger). Especially Isco who is for me one of the main reasons why Atletico midfield crumbled vs Real, and midfield crumbling being the reason they got slaughtered, giving space and counters to Cristiano (he basically plays as a CF more with Isco on the field then Bale, where he tends to be more wide with later for the sake of the shape). Isco wasnt the best performing midfielder, but his fluid movement and ability to go down centrally hold up play and become 4th CM litterally forced Atletico do tons of mistakes they didnt used to do in a month in previous seasons.
Zizou is more balanced and italian in his coaching then your average La Liga coach, good use of his depth too, but his real still cant manage to hold cleansheets most of the time. So there will be space to punish them for sure aslong as remain patient and dont stress ourselves.
But we need to work overtime to limit the tiniest of space for Ronaldo to punish. He is litterally the only reason I give them the tag of favourites, despite how great most of their other parts are.
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me too and id rather us not be the favourites anyway.