Quote:
Originally Posted by devo22
that Real/Zidane thing is seemingly going really well, too. 2-2 at home vs Brugge and 4th place after 2 games, not bad.
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Zidane was right to see the writing on the wall when he left and should not have went back. He should have went with Ronaldo to Juventus instead.
That squad is where Bayern was two seasons ago where they have a lot of guys that were the core of the CL winning teams getting up there in age, and they really haven't moved on from them.
Guys either haven't been in top form for a couple of years, or are now at the point in their careers where age is catching up to them
You have a big part of the core that are 29 and up now:
Ramos is 33 and his risk taking is catching up to him more now.
Nacho is 29 and hasn't been good over the last year.
Kroos is 29 and his play is inconsistent now.
Benzema is 31 and while still scoring goals, he was always better as a foil to Ronaldo.
Modric is 34 and IMO he spent all his remaining magic in that run to the World Cup finals. Just hasn't been the same since.
Bale is 30 and his struggles at Madrid are well documented.
Marcelo is 31 and inconsistency has crept into his game.
The guys they have in that prime 23-28 range aren't quite at the level of the previous crop were in their prime.
Varane has struggled since the World Cup win for France.
Courtois has been a bust for what they spent on him.
James never really fit in and is only back due to injury to others.
Lucas Vazquez is not really Real Madrid quality IMO and should be more of a squad rotation guy.
Isco has struggled with fitness and form for two seasons now.
Hazard can be inconsistent even when he's at his best.
Really it's only Casemiro, Odriozola, and Asensio (pre-injury) that looked like they were still in peak form.
They have some decent young guys coming up but still not quite ready (Vinicius, Rodrygo, Jovic, Mendy, Valverde)
