Memoirs of a haishya: Real Madrid 0 -1 Arsenal

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Real Madrid 0 -1 Arsenal

Not that i really support any side, but i wanted Real Madrid to win. I wanted to see the real madrid i saw the previous time (ie in champions league last season). Even though they lost eventually and were eliminated in the round of 16, they performed much better than what i saw this morning (Singapore time). But the way they played was horribly childish, both in defence and in attack. The attack created zero clear-cut chances; the defence created a milion chances for arsenal. I don't understand why do the players stand still when a ball is played in from a freekick, or when a pass is made by the opposition. How are the strikers supposed to score if they stand still? And how are the defenders supposed to cut out attacks if they stand still? And they couldn't even pass properly . How, then, are they able to attack?

The only players i thought played a little better were Beckham, Robinho, Zidane, Cicinho and Casillas. And i thought the substitutions were crazy. they actually took out Robinho, when i thought ronaldo was the ineffective one. and what on earth was jonathan woodgate doing on the pitch when he's in injured? and he wasted one substitution (not like it'll make any difference actually.) Surprisingly, Beckham was the only "striker" who was running up and down the flanks, trying to spark life into the Real Madrid's attack. Zidane and Carlos no longer have the mutual understanding that i know of, though both of them were good (relatively) individually. Ronaldo didn't do much, partly cuz of the stubborn Arsenal defence, but still, he didn't even have any shots on target. And then there was Cicinho, whom i thought played well too, even though he was a defender. And when Raul came on, there wasn't much change either, much to my disappointment.

So they carry a one goal deficit to Highbury two weeks later. Hopefully they will play much better than wad they did, such that they can overcome the odds now to proceed on.

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