CHAMPIONS ( La10ª ya está ) - The Real Madrid Club de Fútbol 2013-14 Thread

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The Sevilla midfielder is thrilled to hear reports linking him with a move to the Spanish capital, but insists his current focus is firmly on developing in Andalusia Sevilla star Geoffrey Kondogbia says he is delighted that Real Madrid are reportedly following his progress. The France Under-20 international has been linked to a number of European sides since moving from Lens to Sevilla in 2012, and admitted earlier this year that to play for los Blancos would be to realise a childhood dream as rumours of Madrid's interest began to surface. However, Kondogbia maintains his current focus is on continuing his development in Andalusia despite interest from the capital club. "I'm delighted [over Madrid reports] but my feet are firmly on the ground and I know I need to improve a lot," the 20-year-old told a press conference. "They're a great team, like others, but I am very happy at Sevilla. We'll see [what happens] after the World Cup [in 2014]." The holding midfielder also denied that friend Raphael Varane, who established himself in the Blancos first team last season, has been trying to persuade him to join the Liga giants. "I talk to Varane a lot, but not about that," he continued. "We're friends. He hasn't tried to convince me." Both Arsenal and Inter have also been linked with a move for Kondogbia in the past year.

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Glass, I´m going to be shooting you that e-mail I mentioned months ago, this weekend.

No rush.

In MADRIDISTA FOR LIFE

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I want Ozil to drive the car

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with Cristiano, this is difficult. He´s like a black hole. Give the ball to him, and you never see it again. For good or bad.

It´s painful to watch how underutilized Özil is on this team. He does a lot, only because he´s a dedicated and über talented beast. Others would desist in his position, methinks.

Going forward, we´ll see what happens. At least the days of heaving forward with no plan, give it to Cristiano, and stand around, are gone.

I don´t know how Cristiano will adapt to Ancelotti´s concepts. Theoretically, he could adapt just fine. I mean to say, will he accept them? Will he buy in? That´s the real question.

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with Cristiano, this is difficult. He´s like a black hole. Give the ball to him, and you never see it again. For good or bad

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He is, and he isn't. He can combine really well, and at this point in his career, unless he's taking one of his 4-5, mostly pointless 45 yard shots per game, he's not doing anything incredibly wasteful on the ball (which was pretty evident during his ~month long scoring drought). Two of his best attributes are his ability to move off the ball and his ability to work in transition: two things that Oezil can, and does, accommodate or find really well.

I think that many of Oezil's problems stem from being relegated out wide or subbed off after 60 minutes.

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I think that many of Oezil's problems stem from being relegated out wide or subbed off after 60 minutes.

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I didn't see Real Madrid all that often but my feeling from the handful I did see is that Oezil can't be such an absolute zero defensively if he wants to play full matches against good teams.

It's a good criticism, and I vaguely touched on it in another thread.

I think that the easiest thing, in theory, would be to convince Ronaldo to track back. That probably isn't happening, and it's a shame.

Clearly Ozil was not a perfect fit for Mourinho. Him and CR7 at least need to show something when defending. It killed me when they pull Ozil early because he is clearly their second best player.

There is no way to pick an optimal solution until we know who are the parts are.