re: Match Day 3/26

Decent own goal for Hull

1 Atlético 73
2 Barcelona 72
3 R. Madrid 70
4 Athletic 56
5 Sevilla 50
6 R. Sociedad* 46
7 Villarreal* 45

I'll give di Maria some credit. I don't think that they lose today with him running his arse off.

Ancelotti must hate Casemiro. Think that it would have been beneficial to stick him in front of the back four, especially when RM brought Isco on.

La liga finish is going to be fun as frick. Barca-Atletico next weekend

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I'll give di Maria some credit. I don't think that they lose today with him running his arse off.

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He's so valuable.

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Ancelotti must hate Casemiro.

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Wasn't expecting him to be a first team automatic choice right away at Real Madrid but certainly thought he'd be a much more important contributor.

In preseason, I thought that Casemiro would at least be a contributor. That second half set up like pretty much every single game Real Madrid lost or tied last year, and even with three people in midfield, Xabi Alonso, a Xabi Alonso clone, and Luka Modric are not well equipped to deal with the counter when their fullbacks and wingers are fairly easy to catch out/don't track back. You'd think Ancelotti would throw on someone with grit, who would play deep, and who can actually move.

ETA: I mean, look at the second goal. That's Pepe having to step to Rakitic on the wing:

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Is that Illarramendi observing Pepe's challenge from about 5 yards away until it's too late?

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Nah, he was taken off just prior to this, but Ancelotti brought on Isco which just compounded the problem.

The midfielder tracking back looks like Xabi. That's his top speed.

I agree with all of that and had been calling, in my head, for Isco to come from about halftime. My problem is mostly with having seen this about 30 times over the past ~two years, watch it get mostly fixed, and then watch it unravel once one player is taken out of the equation.