How good would Real be if they replaced CR7 with

[J-Mezzy]

Falcao and James Rodriguez. I am only asking this because there is a possibility that Ronaldo will leave if they lose the Champions league and I was just thinking what moves Real could make to replace him. There is no replacing Ronaldo's impact. He is a special talent and better than any other player in the world other than Messi, but I was just curious on how much of step back Real would take by replacing his goals with Falcao and his play making with a left winger like James Rodriguez or Hazard keeping in mind that they still have Casillas, Ramos, Pepe, Alonzo, Ozil, Di Maria, etc.

Would they still contend for Champions league? La Liga? Or would they take a huge step back and have to rebuild later on?

[El Turco]

they wouldn't miss a beat.

[Foye]

While James Rodriguez certainly is an amazing prospect I don't think he is ready for Real Madrid yet.

The problem about replacing Ronaldo in Madrid is that the positions on the left are relatively week at the moment. There aren't really all that many Real Madrid caliber left wings on the market right now.

[J-Mezzy]

There are better left wingers than James Rodriguez such as Hazard and Ribery, but they are not on the market. I honestly think Rodriguez is the best left winger they could get right now unless you think Nani could fill the role.

[cgf]

There are better left wingers than James Rodriguez such as Hazard and Ribery, but they are not on the market. I honestly think Rodriguez is the best left winger they could get right now unless you think Nani could fill the role.

Bale?

[Massimo]

Arda Turan is a lot better than James. And his origin position is left wing.

[Slava]

From a fan's perspective, at United we had games where we had no business winning that day and Ronaldo would pull something off that would win the game for us, you need those kind of moments to win league titles and tough champions league games.

Eg: Fulham at Craven Cottage in 2007.
vs Porto in the Champions league etc..,

Falcao is a brilliant striker but I don't think he can manufacture that kind of quality out of nothing.

[J-Mezzy]

From a fan's perspective, at United we had games where we had no business winning that day and Ronaldo would pull something off that would win the game for us, you need those kind of moments to win league titles and tough champions league games.

Eg: Fulham at Craven Cottage in 2007.
vs Porto in the Champions league etc..,

Falcao is a brilliant striker but I don't think he can manufacture that kind of quality out of nothing.

I agree that Ronaldo is a unique talent that can change a game instantly, but there is only 1 Ronaldo and 1 Messi, and other teams still manage to win the Champions League despite not having either one of them. Chelsea and Inter won the Champions league and Bayern has been very close. This year Dortmund is also a contender. If you field a good enough team, you can compete. Falcao can't manufacture the Magic that a guy like Ronaldo can, but I still think they could contend with a loaded team like the one they have now.

I doubt Tottenham would sell Bale since he is their best player. I also don't know if Atletico would sell both of their best players to Madrid. I like Arda, but I definitely would take James over him. He is as good a passer, but much faster than Arda and a much better finisher than Arda.

[Slava]

If you look at the biggest champions league contenders over the last decade, basically teams that made the finals more than once, you'll see

Madrid - Zidane
Barcelona - Ronaldinho
Milan - Kaka
Manchester United - Ronaldo
Barcelona - Messi

You could add Chelsea here as well and their best player was likely Drogba, who at his best would likely belong in that tier.

So yeah, to be consistently successful in the CL you need one of the 2 best players in the world at the moment. Chelsea and Inter Milan won by basically shutting down the competition, Porto was an anomaly.

Can Falcao/Ozil make the same kind of impact as say Messi/Iniesta or Ronaldo/Rooney? I highly doubt it.

You also need to consider that they basically need to win over 90% of their league matches to edge out Barcelona in the league as well. Which means more often than not you need to win games that you basically had no business being in, no matter if you play mid-week in the champions league.

Ronaldo has won them more games than you could probably count. He is scoring at a rate of more than a goal a game for like 3 seasons now, as good as Falcao is he's not in the same stratosphere as Ronaldo. He's not going to take the ball in the half line and drive forward to score a solo goal or bury a free kick from like 60 yards out.

Basically Real are very vulnerable without Ronaldo. They play 2 very deep lying midfielders and depend heavily on Ozil to link midfield and attack.

[and1GS]

There are better left wingers than James Rodriguez such as Hazard and Ribery, but they are not on the market. I honestly think Rodriguez is the best left winger they could get right now unless you think Nani could fill the role.

Bale?

Shhhhhhh! Don't encourage him to leave :'(

I don't think Bale would be all that great in Spain, in fact, I think he might flop. A lot of his success has come because he pushes the ball ahead of him and runs into space. Tremendous player but many, if not all, of his highlights have come as a direct result of his pace either on a fast break or on the wing. From what I've seen, the spanish league relies more on quick passing and closes off that open space better.

Still a fantastic player, but he needs to accept that the EPL is the best place for him to be.

[and1GS]

I doubt Tottenham would sell Bale since he is their best player. I also don't know if Atletico would sell both of their best players to Madrid. I like Arda, but I definitely would take James over him. He is as good a passer, but much faster than Arda and a much better finisher than Arda.

I, sadly, think we would sell him if we got an outrage record setting fee for him. Levy is very good with transfers so I don't think we'd sell him unless we get a 60+ pound offer for him.

[J-Mezzy]

If you look at the biggest champions league contenders over the last decade, basically teams that made the finals more than once, you'll see

Madrid - Zidane
Barcelona - Ronaldinho
Milan - Kaka
Manchester United - Ronaldo
Barcelona - Messi

You could add Chelsea here as well and their best player was likely Drogba, who at his best would likely belong in that tier.

So yeah, to be consistently successful in the CL you need one of the 2 best players in the world at the moment. Chelsea and Inter Milan won by basically shutting down the competition, Porto was an anomaly.

Can Falcao/Ozil make the same kind of impact as say Messi/Iniesta or Ronaldo/Rooney? I highly doubt it.

You also need to consider that they basically need to win over 90% of their league matches to edge out Barcelona in the league as well. Which means more often than not you need to win games that you basically had no business being in, no matter if you play mid-week in the champions league.

Ronaldo has won them more games than you could probably count. He is scoring at a rate of more than a goal a game for like 3 seasons now, as good as Falcao is he's not in the same stratosphere as Ronaldo. He's not going to take the ball in the half line and drive forward to score a solo goal or bury a free kick from like 60 yards out.

Basically Real are very vulnerable without Ronaldo. They play 2 very deep lying midfielders and depend heavily on Ozil to link midfield and attack.

I agree with certain parts of your post, It is true that to be a dominant force in Europe for a long time, you need one of the top 2 or 3 players in the world. However, I don't think that's necessarily a rule. Take Dortmund for example, they have 3 top 20 ,or arguably top 10 for one of them, players in the world in Gotze, Reuss, and Hummels surrounded by a lot of talented players. Bayern has an arguably top 10 player in Ribery and a bunch of top notch players. You can't argue that these 2 teams are not serious contenders for the trophy despite not having anyone who is considered a top 5 player in the world.

I have a hard time believing that a team with Falcao, who is also scoring at a pace of more than 1 goal per game this season, Ozil, Alonso, Casillas, Di Maria, and a top notch left winger if they can get one, could not compete with Europe's top clubs.

I would agree that they would take a step back, but not as much as you think.

[Slava]

I don't see why you are bringing Dortmund up so frequently. This is the first time they have made an impact in the champions league and even now they have played well upto the group stages, you don't even know how they might fare in the knock out rounds where its more about matching up to the opposition over 2 games.

Bayern, yes to some extent but even they looked very limited when they had to break down teams like Inter and Chelsea that basically parked the bus to play on the counter attack. Their best player upto last season was likely Robben, not Ribery and its kind of clear how badly he flopped in every final he's played until now.

Ronaldo almost won Real that tie against Bayern last season while the rest of the Madrid squad looked more than a bit dire when matched up against Bayern's midfield quality.

Are Di Maria and James Rodriguez as he is now better than top wide players like Isco, Mata, Silva, Bale and Valencia? I really don't think so and you need a damn good winger/wide forward to deliver service to a player like Falcao and Falcao is not going to create opportunities for other players consistently by getting on the ball.

Can Real build a great side around Falcao? That's debatable but you'd have to chop and change quite a bit to modify a side tailored to fit Ronaldo to one that would make Falcao the focal point and they'd have to play a 4-2-3-1 with 2 solid wingers and Ozil behind Falcao.

So the current side with those 2 players will look something like this:

----------Casillas-----------
Arbeloa--Ramos--Pepe--Marcelo
----------Khedira---Alonso-------
--Di Maria----Ozil---Rodriguez--
------------Falcao------------

The only 2 consistent attacking options are Ozil and Falcao.

[J-Mezzy]

Well, what do you think Madrid will do if they lose Ronaldo or what do you think they should do?

PS, I consider James a consistent attacking option. He is a reliable offensive player in Porto and for the national team, but I don't know how that would translate to La Liga. At his current form, he is the type of player to score 13-17 goals per season as well as be a creator for others. He has scored 7 goals in 9 starts this season

[Slava]

How's he done in the champions league? I mean we see how Hulk is doing outside the Portuguese league now, so its not exactly the golden standard to measure a player in Europe.

[J-Mezzy]

I won't argue with you there lol. That is why I said that I don't know how that would translate to La Liga. I think he has scored 2 goals in the group stages for Porto which is not bad for his position.

[Slava]

Yeah but if you really want him to succeed you might want him to end up somewhere like United, Arsenal, AC Milan or even Atletico rather than a place like Real.

[Slava]

There's a very good article on how patient United were with Ronaldo until 2006 by Gary Neville.

I will never forget coming back from a game against Charlton some time after Cristiano Ronaldo had signed for Manchester United and thinking to myself: 'Do you know what? I just give up with him.'

He had been flailing around on the ground, he was never in his position and he was unreliable.

As someone who had played with David Beckham and Ryan Giggs, world-class players who worked up and down and did the ugly part of the game, playing with Cristiano Ronaldo was a constant frustration.
Enigmatic and brilliant: Cristiano Ronaldo showed a new way of playing

Enigmatic and brilliant: Cristiano Ronaldo showed a new way of playing

He would go wandering off to the left, to the right, up the middle; he was inconsistent; and he would cost us. I remember him giving the ball away at Chelsea in the Mourinho years and Chelsea scoring.

He would win us a match but then we wouldn't see him for the next game.

I remember snapping at him and going crazy once when he tried to over-complicate in front of goal, with some back-heel flick rather than a sidefoot to finish.
We were already winning 3-0, but that wasn't the point.

'What the hell are you playing at?' I said. 'That's not what we do here.'

My patience was wearing thin, as was the other players'. It wasn't that we wanted him out of the team or the club. It was just: 'When will he learn? When he's going to pick up the English game?'

But the experience of Sir Alex Ferguson meant he never lost patience.

He always went with him.

Link

You won't see this happening at Madrid.

[J-Mezzy]

Oh trust me, I won't argue with you there. These are my 2 favorite players and want them both to go to the EPL. The truth is that Messi owns La Liga and it will always be difficult to contend there. The EPL is much more competitive and if Falcao went to Chelsea(my favorite European club) and James went to United, they would both be able to compete for league titles and European titles along with City.

I only brought the idea of Falcao going to Real because of the possibility of CR7 leaving Real if the season ends poorly.

[Boognish]

Real will be in more or less the same position if CR left I think. 2nd best in La Liga (by some margin) and CL contendahs. They wouldn't have Ronaldo to win games on his own or score 60 goals a season, but they're still stacked and still not as good as Barca, w/ or w/o him.