[SPANIARD]

I can't wait for the NT to get back again, I just can't bare to see us 3rd in a group like this. If this were WC2002 qualifying, I'd say yeah, throw any player out there vs. San Marino and we'll win, but after the last couple of results of seeing Armenia tie Holland, us tie Lithuania, Italy losing to Slovenia, France tieing at home to Israel.... no chances should be taken. I say this is a good oppurtunity to introduce a new face or two, while at the same time keep building a decent core of 6-8 players that will start in the actual WC. If it's a 20 man squad, I'd go with this.

GK:Casillas, Reina
DF: Salgado, C.Torres, Puyol, Helguera, Pablo, Del Horno.
MF:Joaquin, Baraja, Xavi, Valeron, Reyes, Ezquerro, Albelda (if back)
FW:Raul, Torres, Villa

Starting line-up:

- - - - - - - - -Casillas- - - - - - - - - - - -
C.Torres- - - Puyol- -Pablo- -D.Horno
- - - - Baraja- - - - Xavi - - - - - - - - -
-Joaquin- - -- - - - - - - -Reyes- - - - -
-- - - - - Raul---Villa- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

[Real_Madrid]

Feb 9th?

Isn't the CL 2nd round played on the 8th and 9th of Feb?

 

[Hala Madrid]

I know there have been some crazy results in the qualifying rounds this year but really, if we even tie San Marino at home we should just retire the national team and not waste our time.

We should win by 5 at least.

 

[Iribar]

Does Curro Torres play regularly in Valencia? at least he didn´t today. I think he never recovered well after an injury he had a year ago or so, from what I´ve seen him he isn´t on a good form.

And Baraja seems to be that average player he was in Valladolid, before his explosion in Atlético. He doesn´t make a decent pass although in this case I think it´s Ranieri´s system that doesn´t suit him.

And I don´t have anything against Valencia, eh!!

 

[barça]

Isn't the CL 2nd round played on the 8th and 9th of Feb?

No, you might be getting confused with March.

As for the team, Curro, Baraja nor Raul deserve to be in the team let alone the starting line up.

 

[SPANIARD]

No, you might be getting confused with March.

As for the team, Curro, Baraja nor Raul deserve to be in the team let alone the starting line up.

Curro has been great this season IMO, hard worker and has a great attitude under the biggest disaster of la liga. Baraja hasn't been great but I still would say he is NT class considering Xabi Alonso isn't there. Raul, well how can you not call up your captain?

Hey, I don't see anyone else making any line-ups to counter what mine looks like p

 

[barça]

Curro is not fit, he hasn't played in like a month (I think)

The loss of Xabi Alonso is a big one, Baraja will get called up but I don't think he will play. Raul will get called up but I wish he wouldn't I am not sure what is wrong with him but maybe rest and the shock of not being called up will help him. He was terrible tonight against Numancia. Not even one opportunity for a score.

I will put up my thoughts tomorrow, right now its time to spend some time with the family and enough of the computer.

 

[chizi]

What about Morientes?
Do you think he will be called up now, due to getting regular playing time?

 

[Almogàver]

Curro has been great this season IMO, hard worker and has a great attitude under the biggest disaster of la liga. Baraja hasn't been great but I still would say he is NT class considering Xabi Alonso isn't there. Raul, well how can you not call up your captain?

Hey, I don't see anyone else making any line-ups to counter what mine looks like p

I think that Curro Torres is injured. Okay, if I had to choose the squad, it would be this way.

GK: Casillas, Reina
DF: Salgado, Iraola, Puyol, Pablo, Marchena, Del Horno
MF: Xavi, Baraja, Joaquin, Yeste, Reyes, De la Peña, Luque, Guti
STR: Mista, Fernando Torres

(18 players)

I won't defend Raul, anymore, he should be out. Period.

Starting XI, using Barça's system and not the damn 4-2-3-1

                   Casillas

 Iraola      Puyol     Pablo     Del Horno

                    Baraja
    Xavi                       De la Peña
 
 Joaquin                               Reyes
                    Mista

Raul is driving us to the failure, so it's time to make a revolution and this is mine.

 

[Hala Madrid]

Koeman, what has Mista ever done to merit a starting spot in la seleccion? ok he was good last season but come on hes not even playing regularly in Valencia and he would NEVER work as a lone striker unless you have a 10 like Aimar or Valeron behind him. Baraja is a constant faliure with the NT and has been awful the last couple of seasons, he never really recaptured that sensational form of his in Valencia's campaign 3 years ago.

Iraola over Salgado? Michel has been in great form this season and has been one of Madrid's best players all along, and he plays really well with La Seleccion too. Also, Raul is not driving us to the failure, we are already failures. No matter who plays.

I would play something like this:

--------------------------Casillas------------------------

-------Salgado--------Puyol---------Pablo---------Del Horno----

--------------------------Albelda------------------------

----------Joaquin-----------Xavi--------------------Reyes-------


-----------------Raul----------------Morientes---

 

[Setzer]

Koeman, what has Mista ever done to merit a starting spot in la seleccion? ok he was good last season but come on hes not even playing regularly in Valencia and he would NEVER work as a lone striker unless you have a 10 like Aimar or Valeron behind him.

Well, look at his scoring ratio this season, he isn't playing a lot but he has scored 6 goals in about 600 minutes... that's almost 1 goal every game. I think we all agree that Mista can't be the starter striker of the NT, but why not use him in a match like this?

BTW... I'm tired of the locations they choose for the games. Almería? I don't have anything against them, but for a change I'd like to see the NT playing in a proper stadium.

 

[Almogàver]

Koeman, what has Mista ever done to merit a starting spot in la seleccion? ok he was good last season but come on hes not even playing regularly in Valencia and he would NEVER work as a lone striker unless you have a 10 like Aimar or Valeron behind him. Baraja is a constant faliure with the NT and has been awful the last couple of seasons, he never really recaptured that sensational form of his in Valencia's campaign 3 years ago.

Iraola over Salgado? Michel has been in great form this season and has been one of Madrid's best players all along, and he plays really well with La Seleccion too. Also, Raul is not driving us to the failure, we are already failures. No matter who plays.

Mista is scoring goals with Valencia, since he's playing (he was out because the team didn't want to renew him) and, as far as I know, he's doing it regularly in the last 2 or 3 months. In any case, why don't you apply the same argument to Morientes? Morientes has played less than Mista for sure. IMO, Mista is the the Spanish striker in the best form... you wanted a "10", well, he would not have a 10 in the system that I've posted, but he would have De la Peña and Xavi behind him plus Luque and Joaquín in the wings.

Baraja is the best player of Valencia this season, better than Albelda, IMO. I wonder who else could be a decent DM, maybe Gurpegi, but he won't have a chance until the doping issue is finished. I don't like Helguera in that position, so Baraja seems the best choice to me, although I'm not a big fan of him.

Iraola over Salgado, for sure. Iraola is a good defender, with a great projection in attack. His crosses are 100 times better than Salgado's ones and I don't think that Salgado is doing that well. Actually, I think that his form is poor, although I know about his match yesterday night.

Finally, Raul must be out. He can't play just for his name and he's doing that in Madrid. If Madrid thinks that they have to make him play, it's okay for me, but not in the NT when several players are doing much more better than him. He had his time and it's over... I don't know if he will show up his best form one day, for now, he's pathetic. It sounds bad, but it's the truth. Raul's form is awful, he creeps on the pitch.

I've defended Raul for 2 years, because during this time I thought that he just had a bad moment. The truth is that 2 years is enough and he can't live from the past. I don't care if he's the captain or the best player since Suarez, if he's a problem for the team, he must be out.

15 years ago, Clemente left "La Quinta del Buitre" out of the NT because that spine was unable to reach the final phase of the Euro 1992. There were several players who had been living of their names (Butragueño, Michel, Sanchis and some others who did great during the 5 consecutive leagues of Madrid), but already in 1990, there was a new generation of players that was doing great and they showed it in the Olympic Games: Guardiola, Ferrer, Luis Enrique, Cañizares, Kiko, etc.

Personally, I don't want to be out of the WC and this posibility is very serious. Do we have to wait until we're totally out of the WC to take Raul off? Butragueño had his time and Raul has it too. If Yeste, De la Peña, Torres or any other who is playmaker or second striker is doing better, then he should have play. Raul is a problem for the NT, not a solution.

And we won't have a problem of leadership in the team, since people like Puyol or Casillas have personality and experience enough to carry the team.

If Luxemburgo were fair, Owen had played since the first day and Raul would be benched. Still Raul gets the favouritism of the fans. I understand that the madridistas love him, but the Spanish NT is the team of everyone and Raul doesn't mean anything to me. I know that Raul has done great for the NT in the past, but also Butragueño, Hierro and Luis Enrique. As I've said, I've defended Raul because I know that he's a good player, one of the best of our history... but after 2 years, someone must say enough. This guy is not playing anything. He must be out.

Maybe Raul is not the cause of the failure, but he's not the solution for it.

 

[IlPrincipe]

Great Thread!

As well as you, i´m looking forward to see La Seleccion on the pitch again.

I think it was a shame that Sergio Ramos were injured in the Sevilla-Barca game (out for a month by the way). He is an absolute cracker and will be the long term replacement for Salgado when he is off, in fact the Sevilla game lost it completly when the youngster got injured. For what i have heard, rumours have placed Ramos in the San Marino game.

Agree much on Raúl but can´t see him as a problem as long as he delivers in the red skirt. In fact, the Spain captain still produces goal for the sake of it (don´t blame his non figurative partnership with Ronaldo) and should be in the squad although i don´t yet want to point out him at the startingline. Still, it is San Marino we are talking about here :eekani:

It was a shame that we lost Xabi Alonso for what perhaps look like the season out, he has really progressing in Liverpool and is considered as a world class passer and player as a whole. With him and Xaví we could control the game as we did against England lately and (if you consider the game ONLY) it was a superperfomance from our squad to say the least. Maybe it is time, considering the opponent, to play Iniesta or even Cesc next to Xaví, maybe i underrestimate the opponents but you don´t need a rocksteady defence towards this lads. Clearly, i think he should be in the backhead of La Sabio.

Hala Madrid,

We should win by 5 but we won´t. Although we would have 100% possessions gained we will clearly win by around 3, hope i am wrong but if i now my team right, I am right :depress:

But win we will.

Hello by the way to you all!

 

[Hala Madrid]

Mista is scoring goals with Valencia, since he's playing (he was out because the team didn't want to renew him) and, as far as I know, he's doing it regularly in the last 2 or 3 months. In any case, why don't you apply the same argument to Morientes? Morientes has played less than Mista for sure. IMO, Mista is the the Spanish striker in the best form... you wanted a "10", well, he would not have a 10 in the system that I've posted, but he would have De la Peña and Xavi behind him plus Luque and Joaquín in the wings.

Baraja is the best player of Valencia this season, better than Albelda, IMO. I wonder who else could be a decent DM, maybe Gurpegi, but he won't have a chance until the doping issue is finished. I don't like Helguera in that position, so Baraja seems the best choice to me, although I'm not a big fan of him.

Iraola over Salgado, for sure. Iraola is a good defender, with a great projection in attack. His crosses are 100 times better than Salgado's ones and I don't think that Salgado is doing that well. Actually, I think that his form is poor, although I know about his match yesterday night.

Finally, Raul must be out. He can't play just for his name and he's doing that in Madrid. If Madrid thinks that they have to make him play, it's okay for me, but not in the NT when several players are doing much more better than him. He had his time and it's over... I don't know if he will show up his best form one day, for now, he's pathetic. It sounds bad, but it's the truth. Raul's form is awful, he creeps on the pitch.

I've defended Raul for 2 years, because during this time I thought that he just had a bad moment. The truth is that 2 years is enough and he can't live from the past. I don't care if he's the captain or the best player since Suarez, if he's a problem for the team, he must be out.

15 years ago, Clemente left "La Quinta del Buitre" out of the NT because that spine was unable to reach the final phase of the Euro 1992. There were several players who had been living of their names (Butragueño, Michel, Sanchis and some others who did great during the 5 consecutive leagues of Madrid), but already in 1990, there was a new generation of players that was doing great and they showed it in the Olympic Games: Guardiola, Ferrer, Luis Enrique, Cañizares, Kiko, etc.

Personally, I don't want to be out of the WC and this posibility is very serious. Do we have to wait until we're totally out of the WC to take Raul off? Butragueño had his time and Raul has it too. If Yeste, De la Peña, Torres or any other who is playmaker or second striker is doing better, then he should have play. Raul is a problem for the NT, not a solution.

And we won't have a problem of leadership in the team, since people like Puyol or Casillas have personality and experience enough to carry the team.

If Luxemburgo were fair, Owen had played since the first day and Raul would be benched. Still Raul gets the favouritism of the fans. I understand that the madridistas love him, but the Spanish NT is the team of everyone and Raul doesn't mean anything to me. I know that Raul has done great for the NT in the past, but also Butragueño, Hierro and Luis Enrique. As I've said, I've defended Raul because I know that he's a good player, one of the best of our history... but after 2 years, someone must say enough. This guy is not playing anything. He must be out.

Maybe Raul is not the cause of the failure, but he's not the solution for it.

Regardless if Mista has been playing regularly the last 2-3 months, he is just not good enough to start for La Seleccion. I would even rather take Tristan (who is in good form lately by the way) over Mista and dont forget that we can also play Reyes or Luque as forwards, i just think any of these options are better than playing Mista. I would take Morientes over Mista any day of the week and twice on sundays, you simply can not compare them.

As to the Baraja thing, he might be Valencia's best player this season but thats not saying much and his game is much different than Albelda's game. Albelda IMO is a MUST in la seleccion, he is a perfect destroyer of the opposition's play and he is great at that. We simply need a player like him with our vulnerable defence and our attacking players not tracking back.

Salgado's form is NOT poor. Hes having a great season IMO and has been by far our best defender this season (and we do have a great defensive record) not only that but he has a couple of goals this season to spice things up too

Raul might not be playing as brilliantly as he used to a couple of years back but i really think that people are over-exaggerating his play. Yes hes not scoring as often but how can you when you get no service at all? I blame that on the RM midfield, its not like hes missing sitters or messes up every pass he gets. His problem is that because of the midfield and because sometimes hes even a midfield player, hes not as explosive and just stays invisible. He is Spain's top all time best scorer, he deserves better than to just throw him like a piece of meat like that.

 

[Hala Madrid]

Great Thread!

As well as you, i´m looking forward to see La Seleccion on the pitch again.

I think it was a shame that Sergio Ramos were injured in the Sevilla-Barca game (out for a month by the way). He is an absolute cracker and will be the long term replacement for Salgado when he is off, in fact the Sevilla game lost it completly when the youngster got injured. For what i have heard, rumours have placed Ramos in the San Marino game.

Agree much on Raúl but can´t see him as a problem as long as he delivers in the red skirt. In fact, the Spain captain still produces goal for the sake of it (don´t blame his non figurative partnership with Ronaldo) and should be in the squad although i don´t yet want to point out him at the startingline. Still, it is San Marino we are talking about here :eekani:

It was a shame that we lost Xabi Alonso for what perhaps look like the season out, he has really progressing in Liverpool and is considered as a world class passer and player as a whole. With him and Xaví we could control the game as we did against England lately and (if you consider the game ONLY) it was a superperfomance from our squad to say the least. Maybe it is time, considering the opponent, to play Iniesta or even Cesc next to Xaví, maybe i underrestimate the opponents but you don´t need a rocksteady defence towards this lads. Clearly, i think he should be in the backhead of La Sabio.

Hala Madrid,

We should win by 5 but we won´t. Although we would have 100% possessions gained we will clearly win by around 3, hope i am wrong but if i now my team right, I am right :depress:

But win we will.

Hello by the way to you all!

Welcome ilprincipe !

Looking forward to see more posts of yours :smileani:

 

[SPANIARD]

I'd say the striker solution is Villa. He reminds me alot of an inform Mutu, which is a high compliment. I see alot of potential in this kid, he can only get better and a game like this would be perfect (as some people thought of Mista). Looking back on the list, I left out Luque which Aragones likes as striker, as so do I because it is his natural poisition. He has loads of talent, no questions there. We also can't forget Tamudo, even though his goal scoring record doesn't reflect it, he was about our brightest light vs. Lithuania.

Agree with K4 about Baraja, expect if this were 200, Helguera would be better in that position :tongue: .

About Raul, you have to understand that in any team in soccer, rather you like it or not, that badge around his arm is basically his shield in battle. I can't disagree with many of you on current form, it's undeniable. But, what I can say is that unlike alot of other players, he brings a geat spirit, great verbal leadership to the pitch.

 

[Setzer]

Why is Mista not good enough for the NT? He scores goals, what else should he do? He's not Romario, but we're not Brazil either... Mista at least deserves a chance.

 

[Iribar]

K4, Aragonés won´t call Iraola, from Athletic he´ll call Del Horno and Orbaiz, at least that´s what EL CORREO says and they have good sources since they´re always right on this aspect. Funny thing about the article is that it says he doesn´t call Andoni because he´s not sure if he´s a fullback or a winger.:howler:

http://www.canalathletic.com/portal/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1872&Itemid=

Andoni Iraola is the best right back in the league, nuff said. In his second year in the league he has turned into one of Athletic´s best players and the most intelligent one, plus he plays all the games, even injured, as when he had to enter injured in the second half against Osasuna, the outcome we all know.

He defends well and is a great attacker which serves him to play either in defense or midfield. Numbers talk by themselves, second top assister in the league playing most of games as defender. Only Joaquín is above him (9 assists) while Yeste and Valerón have the same (6). He´s above recognized assisters as Riquelme and Deco (5), Karpin (4) or Xavi, Zidane and De La Peña (3). That, counting only the league, because he´s given 3 more assists in the Cup, which raise his numbers to 9 assists this season.... and 5 goals. And we don´t count the good amount of goals that come after rebounds from his crosses, Tiko´s goal against Osasuna comes to my mind.

And I´m not his agent, it´s just that so much talking about Zipi&Zape (Yeste&Del Horno) while....Andoni es el puto amo. And yes, let´s keep "el sabio" thinking if he´s a defender or a midfielder because we need him fit for Athletic.

 

[SPANIARD]

Iraola is having a great season and I like the fact that his PK abilities can be brought to the table. But unsurprisingly, he fills a position that we already have 2/3 players that would probably do just as good as him (Salgado, C.Torres, Ramos or even Puyol if really needed). The great thing about Bilbao is that personally, Iraola, Yeste, Ezquerro, Del Horno and Orbaiz make up the team currently have the highest amount of players that I would say are eligable for la seleccion. I don't believe all the talk that they never put on the shirt with the same pride as all the other regions; I've never seen one of them play without giving 100%, because they would be honest enough not to play in the first place. Exteberria didn't lack heart IMO, he just constantly sucked.

BTW Txupa, any changed opinions on Joaquin?

 

[IlPrincipe]

Hala,

Well, thanks! =)

Spaniard,

Since the world stage in football is tha biggest thing who can happen (competitive way i mean) it would be a strange thing considering this pro´s would lack motivation to go out and try to achieve the highest order you can come over on the football scene. The Liga and the spanish cups in all honour.

I dont´t think, however, that Extebe constantly sucked and failed, somethimes i can stretch me to say that he did some flair stuff for the skirt. But, as you can see, the firecracker Joaquín is not the one who he trespass.