Julien G – you are wrong about Cannavaro: he still has enough class to give to Madrid. I hope he stays for one more year. His experience and knowledge of the game would be an asset anywhere in the world. Make no mistake, Fabio still has a lot to give. with regard to your comments on the Dutch: I say we would be better off without van der vaart and sneijder. BOTH are POOOOR

How did Madrid sign 2 players before the transfer window opened? I thought they could only do that IF the player was a free agent.

But they fully signed, transfered and presented Huntelaar & Lassana as Real Madrid players before the window even opened.

How come?

Diarra – Diarra – Diarra

That would be awesome.

Frankly, I don’t think it would be a great idea to move Ramos back to the right. He is made to be a center-back, all his natural abilities are suited for that position, everything from his passing range, his powerful heading ability, his strength and even his personality (his temper). When Ramos was first signed as a 19 year old it was clear that he wasn’t ready to to play in the center, he didn’t read the game well, he was caught out of position, he wasn’t mature enough. It was safer to play him on the right. But now, as he has matured as player (muscles have developed), it’s clear that he has to make the move back into the center, he isn’t as comfortable as he was before and it’s evident.

When he’s being played on the right, he doesn’t have the quick footing to keep pace with a fast winger, he looks to be turned easily and he ends up drawing fouls and yellow cards (he’s fast on track to breaking Liga BBVA’s record of all times yellow cards, he has had 8 red cards already and he’s only 23. Hierro retired with 10 and he holds Madrid record). He can only get up and down the wing 3 – 4 times a game (compared to the slow Michel Salgado, who was averaging 6), His crossing is mediocre and ha struggles to get into the box or down to the corner flag. I was very frustrating watching him run up the flank with the ball from the right and some how (miraculously) he would end up in the centre of the pitch where he would attempt to do a roulette and lose the ball. Now, he has come out openly and complained that he isn’t enjoying it and everyone is complaining that he isn’t playing well, he needs support etc…

He’s at the stage of his career where he has to make the move to center-—his situation is very similar to Puyol where he was played as a right back until he was 25 and right now many van say he didn’t reach his full peak potential. He should have made the move late last season. But on the bright side, the management is looking for at right backs, Maggio and Iraola for example.

About Gsray, he’s a fantastic player. He was rated by the the management to be the top 5 player in the world, supposedly the air to Ayala, every big club was linked to him at point but the the only concern is that he isn’t very athletic like Pepe or Ramos but he incredible positioning, very elegant playing style and he is probably the most intelligent center-backs in the BBVA. Even if he starts on the bench, I’m pretty sure he’ll find his way on the starting XI within a year/year and a half. AS for Cannavaro, I hope we don’t renew his contract, he was great at Juve but he’s too old and isn’t the same player nor is his playing style suited for La Liga.

Parejo has been signed, I think he’s one of the only player that have a real future with the sqaud… we’ll have to wait and see.

I can foresee Real signing Benzema along with a defensive right winger so Ramos can also play as a full back. What the hell, Cannavaro will be gone which means we’ll need another fullback. I believe Garay is returning to Real but that doesnt seem like a good solution.

The critics will eye Calderon’s youth development management carefully, its the healthiest solution for the future and its been lacking ever since the Raul, Guti, casillas era. (There are questionable players like Mata….but still a little premature).

I mean it pretty evident how similar they are and how they cover ground, but I think Makelele is slightly (from a single chest hair) better on the defensive end of the field. Lassana is definitely more talented, he has better technique, he can get involved with the attack and will score more goals than Claude if he hasn’t already. His passing range is better, he’s more of a complete defensive midfielder. Also keeping in mind his versatility…

9 CL’s, Fernando Gago is not even in the same class of Redondo. Don’t you think Gago is still a bit mediocre? Some games he’ll be phenomenal, and complete almost every pass and every tackle he goes into and then there are the days where he misses 90% of his tackles and can’t land a single pass (slight exaggeration). The truth is Gago hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, he still has some work to do on the defensive end of his game.

Gago is more similar to Guardiola (as I know) but he lacks the pure creative ability. Gago wont ever be like the player Redondo was because he lacks the physical presence that he had and will never be able to out muscle the majority of midfielders like Redondo. Fernando Redondo was one of the great players in the past 20 years. Technically perfect, especially in the one-on-ones, he was a physically wonder, which allowed him to cover a lot of the field in very little time.

Gago is well on his way to becoming an excellent player he just has to become more consistent and work on a few areas of his game. Heck, a little support from the wingers (Robben) wouldn’t hurt either.

Through out the post galactico era, i’ve encountered many discussions in which everyone seems to agree that Real’s biggest mistake and the beginning of the end was when Makelele was undermined and transfered to Chelsea. A year later, we all understood what he meant for the team. I hope he’s displays some versatility and quality besides disrupting the midfield. Gravesen was a ridiculous signing and i feel some comfort in knowing that’s he’s been called for the national squad in a few occasions and it also looks like he’s france’s new young defensive midfielder. He’s played 72 matches so far and i assume he’d have a better chance if it werent for Viera and Makelele (there’s quite a high bench mark to fight for a starting position if you ask me). I think we’ll all be happy if bites enough and recovers more possession than losses since it takes sometime to adapt to a team. Diarra and Gago were sht in their debut, and now its a different story, Gago is looking very close to Fernando Redondo, well…perhaps the style and haircut since he’s lacks Redondo’s height and elbowing. Higuain perhaps has been Real’s quickest player to adapt, along with Robben.

Van Der Vaart has to be given a chance or i hope Juande finds him a good spot. The kid is very gifted but he’s in a difficult position to compete against Guti and Sneider. Juande will need to eye which players combine best and Sneider has been pulling the train lately.