Wonder what Maureen´s plans are for Marcelo then?
Transfer Business at Other Clubs (aka the other Wish List)
I'm guessing he'll move him up to left wing forward /left midfield. To give them an option when DiMaria is unavailable or ineffective. He played Marcelo further upfield towards the end of last season and got a few goals/assists that from him that way.
Real Madrid have been trying to replace Marcelo for years. He's not good enough defensively.
Last season was his first full season at fullback for them and he was blinding in both directions.
Yet Mourinho has spent €30M on a replacement?
The manager doesn't make signings at Real Madrid and that's how they behave in the transfer market.
Captain wrote:Last season was his first full season at fullback for them and he was blinding in both directions.
Reminded me a bit about a left-sided Maicon. I still don't understand how he can be so solid in the defence when he's such an attackminded player by nature. Replacing him with Coentrao would be a big mistake, but Real make big mistakes all the time.
Mourinho might not actually make the signing, but Coentrao is being bought to directly replace Marcelo, that wouldn't be happening if the team who makes the decisions, and Mourinho obviously has his say, felt Marcelo was about as good as anything else around. I'm biased because I've seen a lot of Marcelo in seasons gone by and never been impressed with him. Always felt he was a really stupid player when not in possession. Although I didn't see too much of him last season.
Klaus wrote:Captain wrote:Last season was his first full season at fullback for them and he was blinding in both directions.
Reminded me a bit about a left-sided Maicon. I still don't understand how he can be so solid in the defence when he's such an attackminded player by nature. Replacing him with Coentrao would be a big mistake, but Real make big mistakes all the time.
Because he plays in a League where Lee Dixon could come out of retirement and look solid at one of the big two?
@ Captain: Perhaps that was true when Valdano was still the GM/director, but after the Benzema saga, he was pushed out of the club by Mourinho, and I believe Jose's in charge of most of their transfers now- especially for the first team.
Ricky: No, that's not it. If that had been the case everyone would sparkle, and they don't. Marcelo was simply electric last season. Spanish defending is underrated around here.
Captain wrote:Last season was his first full season at fullback for them and he was blinding in both directions.
So true. Last season was the first time I have been impressed with Marcelo´s defending. Surprised the hell out of me since I didn´t think he had it in him. Surprising as well IMO that Maureen splashes 30m on a direct competitor of Marcelo´s off the back of his performances last season.
How much have you seen of Coentrao because he looks half the defender that Marcelo was last season to me. There's no way that I would assume he is coming straight in to take Marcelo's spot. Seems strange to me but Madrid are a strange team.
Marcelo is only 23, played almost exclusively as a winger in 2009-10 and mostly got his games there in 2008-09 as well. Last season I would rate him as the (not one of) best attacking fullback in world football and easily top three amongst fullbacks fullstop that I saw last season.
Klaus, I would rate his attacking game as more expansive than Maicon's on last season's evidence. A little bit less dynamic and powerful but smarter and a better user of the ball and space.
Captain wrote:Klaus, I would rate his attacking game as more expansive than Maicon's on last season's evidence. A little bit less dynamic and powerful but smarter and a better user of the ball and space.
He was definitely better than Maicon last season. His intelligence really surprised me too. Generally I don't have much time for fullbacks that spend so much time in the attacking end of the field, and I have even less time for players who are dumped at the fullback position because they can't cut it as wingers. Everything about his decision-making reeks of intelligence though.
From what I've seen of Coentrao and what I've seen of Marcelo, I think the Brazilian's attacking game is far superior, but Coentrao looks the more solid defender. Like I said though, I watched Marcelo about 7/8 times last season, and a 4 of those games were vs Barcelona - where he definitely struggled defensively.
I know it's no real indication of anything, but I do wonder why Andre Santos starts ahead of Marcelo for Brazil? In fact, Marcelo doesn't even get a look in.
Coach doesn't like him.
Capi nailed it there. I think Marcelo has improved leap and bounds as a defender. I was quite surprised how good he was defensively when he was rated as one of the worst defenders just a year ago which forced Pelligrini to always play him on the wings
Ricky1985 wrote:I know it's no real indication of anything, but I do wonder why Andre Santos starts ahead of Marcelo for Brazil? In fact, Marcelo doesn't even get a look in.
Because Mano hates Marcelo.
He pissed him off after he supposedly faked an injury before the scotland friendly and since then Mano hasnt quite forgiven him. Bit silly if you ask me since lots of big players do the same thing.