Costa Selección

By El Maestro

I know Diego Costa plays for Atletico and many feel I have no business dedicating an entire post about him, but the idea that the Brazilian born striker, who became a Spanish citizen last year, has decided to play for Spain continues to swerve around my head. First of all, this article is not to express my opinion whether Costa should or shouldn’t play for Spain, but to show once again the double standard that exists between Real Madrid and the rest of the La Liga teams.

Personally and as a Spaniard, I have no problem whatsoever with Diego Costa playing for Spain. I think he’s a good striker, has been showing his talent at Atletico the last two seasons and is an aggressive player. Along with this, he’s the best Spanish striker of them all (right now) and will only continue to get better as he plays the Champions League this season with the ‘Colchoneros’. In fact, if Costa starts next summer at the 2014 World Cup, then Spain’s only weakness will be the man with the mustache wearing a suit.

Striker Ranking (for now):

1. Diego Costa
2. Michu
3. Soldado
4. Negredo
5. Llorente
6. Villa
7. Torres

However, what I don’t understand is why is there such a big media frenzy from La Cope, El Larguero, Marca, As and all these Spanish sport programmers to get Costa to play for Spain. For the last few years, these same journalists were saying that Real Madrid needed to sign more Spanish players (and coaches) because Spain had the best players in the world, were Euro-World Cup-Euro Champions and should be the number one focus for Madrid. You would think they would use this standard with the Spanish national team as well, but no. It’s okay for Spain to have naturalized players on the team that weren’t born, raised or come from a Spanish family. Suddenly, there are no good Spanish born or breaded 9’s in the La Liga or around the top  European leagues. So Madrid should only sign Spanish players and coaches, but anyone from any part of the world that is originally not connected with Spain from birth can play for the Spanish national team. Sadly, this also demonstrates why Spain is in such bad shape.

What I also find interesting is that Diego Costa is complete polar opposite to what many have sold ‘La Coja’ to be: “Humble, noble and clean players”. Those who are asking for Costa’s selection are the same ones that made Pepe’s life (before “betraying” Mou) in Spain a living hell after his incident with Casquero, Alves (despite not touching him), Messi and a few others along the way. If people are saying Pepe is a dirty player, then Diego Costa is equally as bad or worse; and he’s had his fair share of incidents.

Diego Costa vs. Ramos and Pepe

Against Mallorca

The punch on Pepe

These are some incidents to name a few. You can find a lot more on YouTube and Google, but this is what Spain would be getting with Diego Costa. As I said earlier, this is not an “Anti-Costa Selección” article. Again, I think he would be great for the national team and could give the national team a new edge up front. However, I can’t stand these Spanish journalist (not everyone, but in general), who call themselves “honest and professional”, that defend Costa while they continue to trash Pepe and the entire club. I wonder what would’ve been the media’s general opinion if Costa was wearing a white shirt instead of one with stripes?

On the Brink in Levante

By El Maestro

Well I don’t know how they did it, but Real Madrid kept their La Liga hopes alive with an incredible stoppage time comeback. Similar to last seasons epic Champions League comeback against Manchester City, except with no football. Madrid’s fight and determination after being down twice doesn’t excuse the terrible game played throughout the 90 minutes. It wasn’t as bad as last week, but still nowhere near the level we all expect. Madrid offered very little in the 1st half and with no real dangerous opportunities on goal.

The 2nd half would get interesting early after a great Levante counterattack concluded with a wonderful pass from Xumetra that would be put away by Baba. However, Madrid responded three minutes later from a corner with Ramos sticking it past the keeper. In the last 30 minutes, the game was up for grabs. Both sides made changes and did what they could to win the game. Ancelotti took off Coentrao, Isco and Benzema to put on Marcelo, Morata and Jese. Suddenly, when it looked like Madrid had the game under control, a defensive mishap allowed Zhar to have some space and score to give Levante the lead in the 85th minute. It seemed as if Levante had the three points in the bag. Then just before stoppage time, Morata (who scored last years winner) equalized with four extra minutes to be played. Despite the effort, it looked like the gap with Barcelona and Atletico would grow until the ball fell to ‘La Maquina”. With the competition on his shoulders, his shot would be deflected by a Levante defender and hit the post before hitting the back of the net to give Real Madrid the lead and the victory. A well hard fought win, but is something that can’t happen again. Now all leagues will make way for the international fixtures. Hopefully a lot is figured out by the time La Liga kicks up again.

7th Week of the Season

By El Maestro

A lot has happened in the last seven weeks that I don’t even know where to start. The team’s performance on the field has been inconsistent, Ancelotti doesn’t seem to have a good idea about certain things and the press keeps showing they really don’t care about the well being of Real Madrid (what a surprise).

Performance & Ancelotti:

Up to date, Real Madrid still hasn’t played a complete 90-minute game of football. The closes they came was in the 6-1 thrashing against Galatasaray, after struggling the first half hour. Besides that, the team can’t seem to find the right stride or style of play. Ancelotti hasn’t found the right system as he continues to experiment with new lineups and formations. Along with this, certain big name and important players to the squad haven’t been playing to their full potential.

It’s a new coach with a new system, so we all have to be patient, but Madrid’s performances in the past week are no excuse. Playing a terrible game against newly promoted Elche, which we would have lost in any other occasion if not for Muniz Fernandez. Culminating in the shambolic performance last Saturday night against Atletico Madrid, which brought to an end our 15-year La Liga winning streak against the ‘Colchonoros’. Madrid went back to winning ways after beat FC Copenhagen in the Champions League 4-0 and extending the gap to four points between Juventus, but the style of play has to improve.

Luckily, Ancelotti will have some free time to figure his squad out, as La Liga will stop after this weekends matches for the international fixtures. However, he’ll have to use that time very wisely as a heavy schedule awaits his side upon returning. First Malaga in the Bernabeu, then Juventus comes in for the Champions League and then it’s time to go to Barcelona for the Clasico. After the Clasico, Sevilla comes to Madrid, Madrid then takes a short bus ride to Vallecas and then it’s off to Turin to take on the Italian Champions once again. Important and crucial matches that will determine where this team is. Hopefully by then, the team will be playing its ideal style and with a usual starting 11. Regardless, Ancelotti has a lot to figure out in the upcoming weeks.

Defense: With Varane now back (FINALLY!!!), who will partner him at center back? Will Marcelo or Coentrao be the starting left back and who will be the number 1 right back between Arbeloa and Carvajal.

Midfield: With Xabi Alonso still out, Ancelotti has used different players in midfield. His favorite partnership, clearly, has been Khedira and Modric, but he’s surprisingly given Illarramendi a lot of starts, which included the match against Atletico that didn’t exactly go well. Despite that, Illarra hasn’t looked too shabby, on the contrary to Casemiro who’s disappeared in the last month. However, it’s important Ancelotti finds the ride partnership and gives it continuity since we all know the midfield is the brain of the team. Unfortunately, the midfield is going to cause Carlo more headaches in a few weeks when Xabi returns from the injury list.

Attack: Benzema, Morata or a striker in January? That is my may concern and I have no worries of what Ancelotti will do on the wings with CR7, Bale, Di Maria and Jese. Benzema hasn’t been the ‘lion’ we all know he can be and has heard it from the fans. Morata has been given a lot of chances and has shown promise, but not enough to see if he’s truly a striker made for Real Madrid. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to give Morata a few starts, beginning with this weekends match, to see if he really is cut out for this team. If not, Madrid will have to look for a striker in January. Especially since January 2014 will be the best winter transfer market in many years with a lot of quality strikers eligible to play the Champions League.

Falco, in my opinion is the best 9 striker in the world, is reported to be unhappy at newly promoted side Monaco and is searching for a way out. Plus, his price tag is said to be around €45 million (trust me, that’s cheap). If not, another possibility could Luis Suarez. The only problem, along with not being a pure 9 and having a head similar to Pepe, is his price since Liverpool have asked for more than €50 million. Either way, this will depend on Benzema’s and Morata’s performances on the field.

Keeper: Yes, this position that has been a nightmare for all of us and a field day for the press will be an issue once again, but not now. Ancelotti has made it clear Diego Lopez will be playing in La Liga and Iker will do it in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. However, what I’m interested in seeing is what will the Italian do when the 2nd round of the Champions League begins. Stay with Casillas or go with the starting league keeper for the most important European matches. One things for sure, if this possibility gets leaked to the Spanish press, it will put the Italian in an even more trickier position than he was before.

Lastly, Ancelotti has to really figure out what will the formation be. At the beginning it was the 4-3-3, then it went to the 4-4-2 and on Wednesday he went back with three strikers up front. This is something that has to be solved, but in his defense, who can blame him? With all the weapons he has, it’s hard to pick between the 4-3-3, 4-2-2 and 4-2-3-1. In fact, at the rate Ramos and Pepe are playing, don’t be surprise he considers the possibility of playing with 3 in the back, which is something I’m sure many wouldn’t mind (starting with me). Still, it is important he finds the right formation for the team and stays with it the entire season.

Spanish Press (Piperos):

I will only say this; the best part about Madrid’s struggles is seeing how the Spanish press in general proves my and many of us madridistas theories.

Memo: This memo is for all those madridistas that were fed up with Mou and don’t seem to be happy with Ancelotti: SHUT UP! It’s normal for a new coach to have problems early in his tenure, but you people shouldn’t be talking since this is what you wanted. You bought exactly what the ‘piperos’ from the press were saying and thought it was best for a new coach to come in. Now the team is struggling and everyone’s up in harms. Ancelotti is the new manager and deserves respect, especially from you people. If you’re not happy with him, SUCK IT UP.