The Impact Of Alberto Toril On Real Madrid Castilla

After Allejandro Menendez was sacked as the manager of Real Madrid Castilla, Alberto Toril the former Real Madrid Castilla and Espanyol player was promoted from the Juvenil A to coach the Real Madrid Castilla.

That move of promoting Alberto Toril seems be the one of the wisest decision the club has made in a while, and it shows with Alberto Toril stacking up 8 wins in 8 matches.

Alberto Toril having worked with and led Pablo Sarabia, Alvaro Morata, Alex Fernandez and Daniel Carvajal to a triplet with Juvenil A, constructed the squad around them and relegated players like Pablo Gil, Raul Goni, Mandi and Raul Ruiz who were signed from other clubs by Allejandro Menendez to the bench.

Alberto Toril even promoted Victor Merchan and Denis Cheryshev to the Real Madrid Castilla, and also brings 17 year old Jese Rodriguez—who is tipped as a great talent who's style is considered a mixture of both the Ronaldos (R9 & CR7), to the Castilla sometimes for a few appearances.

The philosophy of Alberto Toril is clear, he doesn't only want to win, he wants to win in style, which is clearly visible in his last interview to RealMadrid.com after defeating Cacereño 2-0 in the last game at home. He said:

"Estoy contento con el resultado, pero hemos perdido el estilo de partidos anteriores y hay que recuperarlo."

Which loosely translates to:

"I'm happy with the result, but we lost the style of previous games and we have to recover."

People who follow me on Twitter, know that I am a self confessed Alberto Toril fan, and why shouldn't I be? The man transformed Real Madrid Castilla from a mediocre mid-table team which was rotting away in tenth, eleventh or twelfth position to a team, which is not only sitting pretty in promotion play-off places but is also looking like a prime promotion candidate.

Here's a few stats to show the magnitude of the good work Alberto Toril has done for Real Madrid Castilla since taking over.

Attacking Flair With Defensive Stability

When Alberto Toril managed only his second game, which they won 5-0; the official Real Madrid site had a line which made me chuckle, "Castilla becomes friends with the clean sheet again."

Under Menendez, the Castilla managed to score 21 goals in 19 matches where they failed to score in 7 matches. The Castilla of Alberto Toril has already outscored the Castilla of Allejandro Menendez; playing 11 fewer games, they have scored 27 goals in 8 matches.

The biggest improvement under Toril isn't the free-flowing attack, but the rock solid defense. Under Menendez, the Castilla conceded 24 goals in 19 matches and kept only 6 clean sheets (2 of them are from 0-0 draws), while under Toril the Castilla has conceded a mere 3 goals in 8 games, and have kept 5 clean sheets in 8 games, which is just one less than what Menendez managed in 19 games.


Away Games: From Toothless To Ruthless

Real Madrid Castilla under Allejandro Menendez won only 1 of their 9 away games, and drew 2 games, collecting just 5 points out of a possible 27. Under Alberto Toril, Real Madrid Castilla won 4 of their 4 away games, collecting all 12 points.

Under Allejandro Menendez, Real Madrid Castilla managed to score only 5 away goals and failed to score in 5 of their 9 away games. The turnaround in fortunes was visible from the first game as Alberto Toril's whose first game in charge was an away game to Coruxo which the Castilla won 4-1. Since then Alberto Toril's team has scored 10 goals, and have scored in every away match.

The defensive ability away from home has improved under Toril as well. Under Menendez, the Castilla conceded 14 goals in 9 games and could only manage to shut out their opponents 3 times (out of which 2 games were 0-0 draws). While under Toril, the Castilla has conceded only 1 goal in 4 games, shutting out the opposition 3 times.


Home Games: Strengthening The Fortress

Under Allejandro Menendez, the only source of points on the board for Real Madrid Castilla was home games, and despite that the home record under Menendez isn't even close to impressive, collecting just 19 from a possible 30.

In the 10 home games that Allejandro Menendez managed, Real Madrid Castilla only managed to stack up 6 wins, drawing 1 and losing 3. While Alberto Toril has managed 4 and won all of them.

The most shocking stat at home is that under Allejandro Menendez, the Castilla only scored 16 goals (failing to score on two occasions) in 10 games which is 1 less than what the Castilla has managed in just 4 games (17 goals) under Toril.

Despite Alberto Toril setting out a more attack minded team compared to Allejandro Menendez, Castilla under Toril has conceded only 2 goals (0.5 goals conceded per game) at home keeping 2 clean sheets in the process, while under Menendez the Castilla leaked goals at the rate of 1 goal per game, conceding 10 goals in 10 games, and kept only 3 clean sheets.


Conclusion

The change in fortune is all due to the fact that Toril promoted players from within the academy instead of signing players from other clubs like Menendez did. I have pointed it out time and again that this generation of La Fabrica which includes Carvajal, Alex, Sarabia, Morata and Jese is one of the most talented generations to come out from La Fabrica in a while, Toril having worked with them, realizes that and that's why Real Madrid Castilla is now finally playing to it's full potential.

Due to the recent results the canteranos of La Fabrica are getting noticed by everyone. And by everyone I do mean everyone, many scouts from big and small English clubs and other Spanish clubs have been spotted watching the Castilla games.

Not only this, Alvaro Morata is finally scoring the goals that Jose Mourinho ordered him to score during the winter break to get into the first team, and is now "being promised" a spot in the first team at the start of next season by Jose Mourinho. Although I still doubt the "promise" of Jose Mourinho. But on the other hand Mou is speaking about him, that means Moratito is finally grabbing his attention.

Although it may be a little to early to say, but I think with his philosophy of 'not just winning but winning with style' and ability to bond with the players (like Alex Fernandez said in his interview), Alberto Toril might just become the manager of Real Madrid's first team in the future. Boy, I sure hope so.


Hala Madrid!

Lyon - Real Madrid Champions League Review, Florentino Perez, & The Riazor

Real Madrid visited the Stade de Gerland, in Lyon, on the 22nd of February, 2011, to begin the journey of ending our round of sixteen curse. Mourinho didn't make many changes to the line ups we're already used to, but he went for a more defensive approach by dropping Marcelo and inserting Arbeloa.

Real Madrid: Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Ricardo Carvalho, Pepe, Alvaro Arbeloa, Sami Khedira, Xabi Alonso, Mesut Ozil, Angel Di Maria, Cristiano Ronaldo and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Lyon: Hugo Lloris, Lovren, Cris, Cissokho, Reveillere, Toulalan, Kallstrom, Cesar Delgado, Michel Bastos, Gomis and Gourcuff.

The first half was pretty lackluster, and somewhat disjointed on the path of Los Blancos. No real chances were created and no attempts made at Hugo Lloris until Angel Di Maria's long range shot in the 30th minute which was later followed by Ronaldo's freekick. Apart from those chances, the first half was all about Lyon. We had the possession, but they ran all over us each time they had the ball. They didn't have too many chances themselves, but that was partly due to the hard work of our back four. They were kept on their toes all night.

The second half saw a more lively performance from the away side. Quick passing and incisive runs that we had expected from them right from the first half; and very tight pressing each time they lost the ball. The second half also came with some gifts of pure bad luck. Cristiano Ronaldo's well taken direct free kick hit the post and narrowly missed Sergio Ramos' head, and just a few minutes after that, Serio Ramos' header went of the post, and missed the on rushing head of Ricardo Carvalho.

Mourinho then thought it necessary to make a change. He pulled off Adebayor, who happened to be having a forgettable night, and brought former Lyon striker, Karim Benzema. 40 seconds after he came in, he. along with Ozil, managed to wrestle the ball off a Lyon player (Delgado, I think) before the German controlled the ball perfectly to slot in a beautiful pass to Ronaldo who didn't need more than one touch to play in Benzema who had already made a dashing and intelligent run into the box. The French man controlled the ball like the star striker that Perez intended to buy, before slotting it home through Lloris' legs.

The crowd went wild......oh wait, no, the whole Stadium went silent, including the player who scored the goal. Benzema did not celebrate the goal out of respect for his former club (classy). The Frenchman's goal made for wonderful poetic justice because he is now the first Madrid Player to score a goal in Stade de Garland, after having called that same place his home, just over a year ago.

Another highlight of the game was Florentino Perez' reaction to the goal. The old man was obviously under a lot of pressure knowing what the fate of his team has been in that stadium in the past. After Benzema scored, he stood up with his hands in the air, then held his head (maybe he remembered where he was) then put his hands back up in the air.

I know this Sir Florentino has made a lot of mistakes in the past, but his reaction to the goal showed how much love he has for this club. In one of his interviews before the match, he admitted that he let his ego affect his judgment during his first stint as president, but that he is now a changed man. On a more unrelated not, he even hinted at the possible signing of Dani Parejo(Getafe), and Jose Callejon (Espanyol). Okay, I'm going off point.

Back to the game..... Real Madrid seemed to take their foot off the pedal after the goal(even though it was never really on the pedal in the first place), before Lyon striker, Gomis slotted home a deflected set piece play, that left him alone with Iker Casillas for the equalizer.

Before the equalizing goal for Lyon, Mourinho had taken off Mesut Ozil for Marcelo, and an injured Sami Khedira for Lassana Diarra. Apart from the play that led to Benzema's goal, Mesut Ozil did not have much more to take home from the game. He was sub par. After that goal, it was Lyon, Lyon, Lyon all the way to the final whistle.

All in all, it wasn't the kind of performance we would have expected from the team. A 1-1 draw away from home is never a bad result in the Champions league, but a win would have been much better to go home with.

Some stats revealed that the whole team ran for 110.6 kilometers with Alonso covering the most distance (11.5km). Di Maria came second with 11.13 km, Ramos third with 10.5km and Carvalho was fourth with 10.1 km.

A 0-0 scoreline in the Bernebeau will mean Real Madrid goes through; 1-1 will mean extra time/penalties, 2-2 and above will mean Lyon goes through, and of course any of the two that wins or loses will go through or go home respectively.

Ronaldo is one yellow card away from being suspended, including Raul Albiol.

Real Madrid has never been eliminated from Europe after having drawn 1-1 away from home, so there is hope, but after my pre clasico write up, about how playing on a Monday was in Real Madrid's favor, (historically speaking), and still going on to lose the way we did, I have now realised that records are meant to be broken. Whatever happened in the past does not affect what will happen against Lyon in the Bernebeau. All that matters is that we try our best to win.

The second leg will be played on the 16th of March at the Santiago Bernebeau stadium. You can only expect the stadium to be packed like it was against Sevilla in the Cope Del Rey semi final match (2nd leg), for the singular reason that it's our chance to break the curse of the round of sixteen.

Moving on, Real Madrid will face Deportivo La Coruna in the Riazor this saturday 26/02/1011. Thanks to the beauty that was Guti's backheel, we were able to break the curse of the Riazor last season. Real Madrid had never beaten Depor in the Riazor since 1992 before last season. Obviously, the stadium is a tricky one to play in, so we must paly hard to get a good win.

That's all for now. We apologise for not posting stuff as frequently as possible. There's never much time to squeeze out from my day, to write anything, and I'm sure the same is the case for Deepak. We would also welcome any guest posts we can lay our hands on. Thank you.

Muna

Follow us on twitter @rmcanterano and @Muna_92

Hala Madrid!

Alex Fernandez's Interview To Real Madrid.com

As long as Real Madrid's official site do not start publishing the interviews of canteranos in English, you'll have to live off of poorly translated articles via Google Translate. And god forbid, if it's a video interview, you can forget about it completely.

But my wonderful friend on Twitter who runs RMCastillaLive there, has translated the interview of our young central midfield genius—Alex Fernandez and has allowed me to publish it on the blog, for everyone to read. So if you have a twitter follow RMCastillaLive and while you're there you can follow me(rmcanterano) too.

I hope to get more interviews of people related to La Fabrica soon. But for now, enjoy, feel the Madridismo and the passion.
________

Name: Álex Fernández
Team: Real Madrid Castilla Player
Age: 18 years
Position: Midfielder
Joined: Infantil A (2005/2006)


On Arrival To The Academy:

Good, especially had a lot of dreams, not all players can enter this club, it's very difficult. You have to work a lot; there are many sacrifices even for parents. And well, my best memory I think is my family's happiness, being able to enter the club that my brother was already in. And well with the hope of someday being able to play together, and in the end it's been for Real Madrid's second team.

The Best Moment:

I would say last year with the Juvenil A team, being champions with Alberto Toril and some teammates that are with me at Castilla now. I think it was the greatest year I have had as a footballer, and the truth is I will never forget it.

The Move To Castilla:

The step to Castilla has been a very big step. It was hard to adapt but I think it happened because I had a good year with Juvenil A and because of the everyday work, after all if you work hard at Real Madrid you are rewarded.

International With The U-19:

I'm lucky for being called up with the Spanish National Team, but I think it's because of the everyday work. It's hard to get in, but I think everything is going well for me at Real Madrid as well as the National Team, and I hope it stays that way.

A Year To Grow:

Having many minutes at this level gives you experience to, if you are lucky, someday play in upper levels and well, have a foundation. I think Segunda B is the beginning of the professional career.

His Brother Nacho:

He is a role model, at home, in the locker room, outside the locker room. I think he is my model to follow and the truth is I’m really happy to be able to achieve one my dreams that was to play with my brother at Real Madrid.

Álex As A Player:

I don't think I stand out neither a lot or in something in particular, rather I would say I'm a complete player; I have a little of everything. I attack and defend, but it's not like I'm a player of a specific thing.

Feeling ‘White’:

I'm a Madridista since I was little and I think that's a plus when playing for this team. And the truth is that for any boy that is a Real Madrid fan playing for Real Madrid, I think that is, footballistically speaking, having everything.

A Kiss To The Crest:

I think winning that final meant moving on, moving on as a footballer, moving on together as a team. The moment you score and you feel, I don't know, you feel plethoric, and many things come to your mind, your family, your teammates and especially the Madridista feeling. I think there were many Real Madrid fans there and all my teammates hugging me and I kiss the crest because I feel the colors, I felt the goal like I had never done it in my life. I think it meant the 2-1 for us, and it was very important for the team and for Real Madrid.

His Dream:

Win a Champions League trophy with Real Madrid.

Alberto Toril:

Well, I think it's how close he is to us. I see a team of people with some that play less, and others that play more and even then they are all happy. Alberto is a person that gets close to his players and I think it also influences the fact that he is a former player, he knows very well the world of football and having a coach that played at top level is the best that can happen to a footballer.

Castilla's Winning Streak:

Well, we were confident on the coach's work, on our work and we have been going one week at a time. We haven't been thinking in long terms, we have been going slow. The victories have been achieved and we hope to continue moving in that direction. We are very happy, Alberto has place a lot of trust in us, the team is happy which is what really matters, there are good vibes, and that is the dynamic, I’m sure we will keep on winning.

The Pre-Season With The First Team:

Well, I think it was an achieved dream, one of the several ones I have. Playing along with players like Cristiano, Kaká or such, it's the best that can happen to a footballer, especially like me, who has been a Madridista since he was little. And I'm very happy, thanks to José Mourinho and Aitor Karanka who trusted me. The truth is I tried my best in the pre-season and, hopefully, in the future they can count on me.

____________
Hala Madrid!

More To Come: Real Madrid Posts In The Future

I have been horribly cut off from the matches, my computer and my television, following what my neurologist calls as "stress in the brain with a hint of migraine," he says that I have been overusing my brain and have been thinking too much, so in order to calm my brain down, I have been forbidden to do anything (of course I sneak in a few activities, like writing this post), even drive my ass out of the house.

So seeing as how Mourinho didn't have the guts to take all the blame (he was completely at fault) and poured it all over the players (who were at fault as they showed no fight, but to be clear we lost because Mourinho got it wrong); I had planned a tactical analysis on the El Classico. Which as seeing my condition will be delayed, so I'm confused whether to actually publish it or not. Need your opinion.

Pablo Sarabia, Alvaro Morata and Antonio Adan, all got their first team debuts in the past week, which as a big positive; Jose Mourinho has now give 5 canteranos a debut (Juan Carlos, David Mateos, Antonio Adan, Pablo Sarabia and Alvaro Morata), but I still won't call it utilizing the academy like the rags AS & Marca or the others are; a post on that too; the Jose Mourinho ass kissing should stop.

That's about it, I'll undergo a CAT scan followed by an MRI in the coming week, as the medicines aren't working as they should (I'll most probably change my doctor); it's nothing serious, but still wish me luck.

Will jump on these posts as soon as I get fit! In the meantime, if you want updates and random blabbering from me, follow me on twitter: @rmcanterano

Hala Madrid!

PS: Seeing as Muna is busy with college and stuff, I'd really appreciate if anyone is willing to do a guest post for me. If you are willing mail me: d3epak91@gmail.com

Pablo Sarabia & Alvaro Morata (Might) Make The List For Auxerre

According to the Madrid based AS; Alvaro Morata and Pablo Sarabia have both made the list of 19 players to be called up for the last group stage match in the Champions League against Auxerre. To be very clear, Real Madrid haven't yet released the official list on their website, and AS have based this list on the players who have been training for the match.

Now this is all well and good but, Alex Fernandez (Ginger) was previously called for the match against Ajax but he didn't even make the bench for that game, which was disappointing to say the least.

Mourinho has been teasing us by calling up canteranos for games and training but he doesn't even let them make the bench, let alone get a few minutes of playing time with the first team.

I seriously have had enough of this teasing, give them their chances Mou, I wish to see these canteranos play for the first team even a few minutes would be appreciated.

PS: I know I haven't done news pieces in a while but I felt happy reading this, thought I'd share!

Hala Madrid!

Sergio Canales Suffering From The Esteban Granero Syndrome: Loaning Canales Out Is A Good Idea

Sergio Canales & Esteban Granero—two different players but two very similar stories, both of them won the hearts of many Madridistas in the pre-season with wonderful performances but started to fade away as the season progressed, both of them lost the support of many Madridistas and the manager but a few Madridistas remained faithful, kept asking to give them more chances.

Esteban Granero started the pre-season very well, got a wonderful response from the Bernabeu crowd in his first home game of the pre-season. He started the first few matches of the season, did well, but then when he was started to be played out of position, his performances dipped and he found himself on the bench.

Granero did not take his benching well, not in terms of his attitude but in terms of his confidence and form. Granero's confidence dropped drastically when he got benched, and whenever he did get the opportunity he tried to do too much.

By trying too much, I mean he tried to play unlike his natural game, he tried dribbling past players, took on long shots from ridiculous distances and started ignoring passes in search for glory just to prove to the manager that he is useful to the team as an individual; but he failed miserably.

Although I love Granero for his determination to get back on the starting eleven, I always criticized him for trying to achieve that by not playing his natural game, which got him in the team in the first place. This is the only place I thought Pellegrini failed—restoring Granero's confidence and telling him to keep it simple.

Jose Mourinho has certainly calmed Granero down and has got him playing like he used to; but Jose has has created a new "Granero of last season" in Sergio Canales.

Sergio Canales like Granero did very well in pre-season, everyone loved him (at least I did) because of his quality of dropping very deep to get the ball, his hunger for the ball was commendable, he used to fight very hard to get back on the ball if the team had lost the ball, play fabulous little one-twos and linked the midfield to attack very well and apart from all these qualities his ability to pick out a "Guti-esque" pass saw him find a place in every Madridista's heart as they had just lost their Pim-Pam to Besiktas.

But after the signing of Mesut Ozil, the season started with Canales finding his chances limited and like Granero, Canales too is trying too hard to get in the team, deviating from his game, that saw him come to Real Madrid, he is trying the "killer-ball" way to much, just so that he can rack up wonderful assists and get in the starting eleven instantly, and hence he is playing poorly.

Mourinho isn't doing him any favors by dropping him from the team, dropping him will only lead to destroying his poor confidence further, instead Mourinho should talk to him, let him know that what he was doing in the pre-season is the reason that he wanted him to stay in the first place and give him a few more chances. It's not a case of case of Mou can't bring him back his confidence it's much more of a case of he doesn't want to because he has a lot to deal with at Real Madrid.

A player of Canales's qualities and abilities can be very useful for Real Madrid as he will drop back and join the attacking players with the midfield—one thing that I don't find Ozil doing right now (Ozil's very young and can work that into his game, once he does, he'll be even more lethal). Canales is a great talent, and what happened to Granero was awful, loaning him out in the winter would be the best thing to do for his own good as he's just getting ignored right now. What do you think?

Post Clasico Blues: Words Of Encouragement To Fellow Madridistas

I know this is probably one of those times when thoughts of suicide begin to creep into your whole being. When you're wondering, "Where the hell did it all go wrong?" If that's the case with you now, then you're not alone.

Every true Madridista would feel the same way. It started with the embarrassing 5-0 loss to Barca; then the Madridistas at the Camp Nou who abused their own players on their way out of the stadium; the one match ban on Mourinho; the fines placed on Iker, Ramos, Alonso, Dudek, Mourinho and even the club itself; and the fact that Higuain might need a surgery before he plays again.

As if that was not enough, we have two of our defenders in Ramos and Carvalho suspended from the next game against Valencia. Series of events like these make me want to pick up my father's hand gun from his wardrobe and start shooting everybody in the neighborhood. However, it's necessary to sit back for a moment and analyze this outbreak of unnerving events. Calmness is required.

For those of you who want to see some of our supposed fans cursing out at the players, here's the link.

Firstly, this is in no way a review (although Canterano is working on a review). Reviews for this game can be found everywhere on the internet, however, this is a call for Real Madrid fans to suck this all up, and move on.

What happened on Monday night was an epic fall, a break down, a crash landing, and a collapse. It could not have happened worse than that, but here's the good news; from now on, the team can only improve. Sure, this loss has affected the players psychologically, and mentally, but once they can get through this, we'll be going for gold.

This is the height for Barca, they cannot get any better than this, so they'll do well to enjoy the time they're now spending in dream land, because after that, it's back to the real world and who knows, it maybe downhill from there. This is also when I'm happy we have Mourinho as coach. This is the time for him to wield his motivational prowess and get the squad and its fans back on their feet. What happened that day was a disaster, but it's now history.

During Mourinho's press conference after the match, he said:

"You must be anxious to return to work and win the next match. I wish the Valencia match was tomorrow and not Saturday. After such a bad match you must go right back to work, play and win."

Now that's what I mean. Get up and play. Mourinho got humiliated at the Camp Nou during the group stages while he was at Inter Milan, but later restricted the cules to watching the rest of the Champions League from their ridiculous sofas at home. The team can only learn from this, and like I said before, from now on it's forward ever and backward never.

After this kind of match, it's only normal to feel nostalgic about Manuel Pellegrini's Real Madrid side that played a much better game against Barcelona last season, but sometimes, tragic advents like this have to occur for significant rectifications to ensue.

About the Ramos and Ronaldo incidents; while some of you saw two players disgracing the white outfit, I saw two players with a lot of passions and emotion for this club. Pep Guardiola had no business holding the ball away from Ronaldo. Why does everybody suddenly bring up all this fair play crap once Real Madrid is involved? For crying out loud, Barca was two goals up, the provocation from the Spaniard was totally uncalled for.

If players and coaches think they can screw with Madrid players anytime they like, NEWSFLASH: They'll kick your ass on the field if they have to.

The team was down, adrenalin was flowing, and tempers were rising, so the least any of the Barca boys could have done was carry on with the game that was already going so well for them instead of playing all the childish provocation games that sure messed up the already ravaged atmosphere in the Camp Nou.

That said, Ronaldo should have known better than to shove Pep on the shoulder, HE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN OUT HIS TEETH INSTEAD.

Ramos' tackle on Messi was not justifiable in anyway. He should not have done it, but did his supposed Spanish teammates have to be all over his face when it happened, considering that the referee was already sticking out a red card?

Then father Puyol had to fly around like a bloody sissy, to do what? Get Ramos sent off twice? I was watching the game, and I thought that whole scuffle at the end was a good way to end a miserable night.

However, that's not what the great Real Madrid represents, and Ronaldo and Ramos must learn to keep their emotions in check. Learn from Saint Iker and former captain—Raul. He did not get a red card throughout his career, not because he never got angry, but because he could control himself.

The whole world seems to have bowed down to Barca, and even though they deserved that win, nobody is getting a "congratulations" from me. They played well and won the game quite deservedly, but it ends there.

I started out as a Real Madrid fan, and I'm going to finish as one. This is just a test of loyalty. Many fans have been lost, but in the end only the real ones will remain. In De La Red's words, "My Heart Beats Madridismo," and it will continue to be so forever.

Hala Madrid!!


Muna