Under Siege

By: Richard | September 30th, 2009

No not the shity Steven Seagal movie but what happened to us in the Bernabeu. After watching the game a second time I believe the loss fairly belongs with Deschamps underestimating Madrid. In what universe do you start Abriel over say Ben Arfa, Valbuena, hell even Kabore? Now in my last post I said I thought Morientes was in shape -fit for this match yet I never imagined he would have started this game. I sincerely hoped we would have gone the way of one forward for another man in the midfield. Does anyone think we would have done worse if Ben Arfa or Valbuena had started over Morientes? Two players that are undoubtedly faster and have more of a defensive edge? Enough of me ranting lets get into player performances. Certain players today I admired, its just to bad the majority of them were wearing white (Ronaldo =p).

The Good:
Bonnart: Played a very physical game and really gave Madrid a hard time.

Niang: Had to make his own chances and did what was expected of him. The one and one opportunity in the first half was unfortunate. For the rest of the game he certainly was a looming threat to Madrids back four.

Lucho: Great passing I think its safe to say he is back in full form. Albeit it was hard to create chances with so many of our guys forced back, but still a good showing from him.

Heinze: He certainly was busy today and was one of the reasons we were even at the half. Earlier in the week he had admitted at being nervous returning to Madrid. In my opinion he seemed cool and collected.

The Bad:
Morientes: Literally a ghost on the pitch. I don’t have much to say because he simply didn’t do anything.

Diawara: At least he knew he made the mistake taking out Ronaldo in the box. However he was only given a yellow for the incident. So had he not made the atrocious challenge on Benzema, he would have never been sent off in the first place.

The So So:
Mandanda: Hear me out when I say he didn’t have that bad of a game. His performance in the first half was textbook goalkeeping. If only he didn’t jump over Rolando’s shot who knows what might have happened with the score. Bottom line – good fist half unlucky second.

Taiwo: Certainly displayed his strength on the pitch but rarely made it forward enough to create any chances.

Abriel: Yes he was outclassed today but at least he was persistent in his efforts.

Cheyrou: A lot of inconsistency from him. At times he was brilliant, but all to often he squandered excellent opportunity’s with sub-par passes.

Mbia: Great in the first half playing a very physical game however in the second half he broke down.

In the end we tried to go toe to toe with Madrid and were burned. Too much strain on our defense and we finally cracked. Reiterating my main point, we should have played the lone striker and opted for Ben Arfa or Valbuena in the midfield. Their speed would have been crucial especially in thwarting Madrids counter. All to often Abriel was overtaken forcing Diawara and Heinze into action. The end result was Madrid frustrated the hell out of our defenders and Diawara got himself sent off. All is not lost though, as Zurich picked up a surprise victory at the San Siro today. Essentially we are still in this competition except now are backs are really against the wall.