Real Madrid Loses But Remains Seven points ahead of Barca
Written by Adam Bader on Monday, 17 March 08, 10:10 PM
Following Real Madrid's defeat to Deportivo on Saturday, It looked like that Barcelona will reduce the gap to five points, however, they failed to do that as they draw Almeria 2-2 last night, and therefore, Real Madrid are now seven points ahead
For a full review of Real Madrid's match
The league is really crazy this year with Real Madrid slipping-up and Barcelona failing to reduce the gap. A few weeks ago It was just two points and now it is seven. However, only ten games are remaining for both teams and Real Madrid have tough games against Valencia, Sevilla and Barcelona.
Bernd Schuster, Real Madrid's coach, said that he is not worried as long as his team is still the leader.
“I'm not worried. We've been leaders for several weeks and the point difference has gone up and down throughout. All that matters is that each week we remain in this position and that we're in this position when the season ends.”
“Deportivo positioned themselves very well and it was hard to do any damage. They had nine men in defense and were able to slow us down. We knew we would have trouble, but they didn't have many chances either. I don't think we deserved to lose this match, but that's just how it is.”
“We didn't have many chances because they defended very well and gathered a lot of players in defense. They had three centre-backs and their wingers fell back and helped a lot. There were four players in the midfield in front of them, and it's just complicated to play against a scheme like that. I don't think we played a good game, but I think a 0-0 draw would have been fair.”
“The changes I made have a simple explanation. We were losing and we needed a spark in order to remedy the situation. That's why I decided to make the three changes I made.”
“Soldado is a member of the squad and I thought it was a good night for him to play. He did a good job and played his heart out while he was on the pitch.”
Real Madrid's next game is next week against Valencia and Los Blancos have no choice but to win and earn the three points.
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La Liga 2008/2009, 
Real Madrid
It seems that Barcellona want us to win the league!! and if we do win the league, I will no be so happy about it, compared to last year impressive run in the 2nd part of the league.
Anyway, everyone played bad, except for Pepe (albeit the autogoal) and some players had a quite game due to the way the game progressed (Casillas, Raul etc)
On the extremely bad list was Guti whom did not manage to make 1 single pass correct throughout the whole game.
Further more, as I always said we have noone on the right (maybe Robben), no playmaker, and old strikers.
I feel that new players must be bought to straighten the midfield and upfront. I hope is not true what I read lately that Madrid will have a quite summer transfer market. We have been beaten and humilated by Roma (which are a decent squad good very good coach though) and unfortunately far away from big teams like Man Utd, etc ...
Further to this, the possession percentage in the game is getting annoying since we only pass the ball between the midfield and our defence - nothing upfront..zero
HALA Madrid
I think we need to get another world-class striker, because we can't always have Ruud and Raul fit. We really do need someone such as Drogba.
I don't think strikers are our main issue for some recent bad results, we really lack creativity in the midfield and purchasing a new playmaker is a must this summer, just like Real Kings said it Guti was extremely bad and I personally don't have the patience to wait for him to have a good day, WE NEED CONSISTENCY IN OUR PERFORMANCE, you can't just shine in one game and than don't make a solid pass for 2-3 games, that's unacceptable when you play for Real Madrid.
Anyway all I'm trying to say is that the connection between the midfield and the attack is simply not working and you can't expect a good performance from the strikers when they don't get a ball in their feet everybody was totally unfair towards Soldado, I mean Schuster literally put him in the fire and almost everyone blamed the strikers for the lost at Depor.
I think We NEED somebody like Drogba or Diego or Luis Fabiano which out of those three is my favorite..Like i said before Raul Needs To Go or atlest be on the beanch he is not giving us results!!
Well said MADRILENO ... the midfield wasn't creating chances...so the strikers had nothing to do...thats why I said Raul had a quite game including Soldado - poor guy. We had noone on the right - NOONE...Well in all games we had noone on the right!! Drenthe was running like crazy on the left wing winning also balls when he went up to defend. Raul was also trying to win balls in the midfield - he was often there..he should have been in the attack receiving balls as far as I know. Sneijder was also a complete disaster, and why Diarra is playing attacking midfielder? Why? Since Roma game or a game before he is playing there...and is not his position....complete disaster..
I don't know if Schuster blamed Saldado (haven't read the articles) and if he did then it means he doesn't understand anything on football. Last game Ruud (RVN) played he did practically nothing - because he wasn't receiving balls - same as last saturday. You cannot built a house without stone, so you cannot score with no balls coming to you.
Well I have always questioned Schuster but lets leaves this apart. What I question though is - what would have been the league table now if and only if Barca / Seville / Valencia / Villareal are playing the same as they played last year with astonishing consistency? It seems this year all teams are inconsistent in their performance...so I feel that Madrid are lucky that their rivals are also out of form. And Barca want us to win the league! but at least they still are in 3 competitions!
Anyway sorry for the tone of this writeup, but I am a bit angry since I don't think that our glorious club is being managed properly. We spend all those money in summer, and we left right wing and midfield vacant...and fringe useles substitutes. And lets face, the starting 11 players are the same of last yr...with the exception of pepe, sneijder when he plays, Heinze when he plays and baptista when he plays...
Very Disappointed Fan
Thats my humble opinion...
Bench Raul...
Bench Guti...
But the world aint perfect;
Thats a the flaw of having a what I call "A government team"... theres always people back stage callin all the shots ; )
ALL I WANNA SAY IS... SIGN DIEGO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE... THE GUY WILL BE THE NEXT ZIZOU.. MARK MY WORDS.
really really bad news , folks. all the sites are saying that ruud is out for 6 weeks or the entire season 
. as if we needed something to pile on even more misery.it really is a ponderable question, who the hell are we going to play as a striker now?? not soldado , i hope. higuain would be good.or maybe , just mayb , its time to give someone frm d youth team a call up.
10 Madridistas have commented on "Real Madrid Loses But Remains Seven points ahead of Barca"
i almost thought dat u weren't going 2 write dis report rajab coz u were 2 disgusted by our manner of defeat. i was. the match did convince me of two things though.1.) soldado is simply not good enough. i agree this was his first start but that should have made him all the more eager to prove his worth.instead he was completely sh**.nd he was relatively match fit as he had been making some substitute appearances in d past weeks.schuster should have played higuain like last week. 2.)we need a new playmaker desperately. guti is amazing when he is on song but its not worth it if he plays two matches well and den is rotten in 4. when his passing deserts him, he becomes a liability.doesn't chase loose balls , loses possesion easier dan a youth teamer et al.
I really didn't feel like posting, but I thought it would be good to post something especially after Barca draw Almeria.