Raúl González Blanco | 1998-2003 | 2007-2009 | 2010-2012

[Uzair]

Club: Real Madrid


Growth Type: Early/Lasting

VIDEOS:



ADDITIONAL LINKS:

http://www.as.com/futbol/video/fiebre-m ... sftb_1/Ves

http://www.bdfutbol.com/en/j/j2296.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Gonz%C3%A1lez

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_ ... lez_Blanco

http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/ ... r/Raul.htm

[Korinov]

Club: Real Madrid



EXPLANATIONS:

Spoiler: show

This sets aim to depict two of the late seasons Raúl played for Real Madrid. Despite being cast out of the National Team in favour of younger players like Villa, Torres or Güiza, the 2007 - 09 period were good years for the white '7'. After years of chronic underperforming, Raúl was reborn from his ashes and would score 44 goals in two seasons, recovering an undisputed starting place among the merengues and lifting two trophies (spanish league and supercup), having already won another league in 2006 - 2007 under Fabio Capello's direction.

To achieve those goals, Raúl was forced to reinvent himself. He had never been a specially fast player, but several fitness problems (including a serious injury) in previous years had left him really slow (something he was usually ridiculed about). To counter the unavoidable truth of his declining physique, he polished his game vision, his anticipation and his sense of opportunity. He had been always considered a sharp and opportunistic striker but it was in his late years when he became one of the most intelligent forwards in the history of spanish football. He was slow, not specially strong (although he had become a bit bulkier and better balanced than in his younger days), his dribbling was nothing outwordly and everyone knew it. Yet his impressive positioning and ability to read the flow of the game like clockwork allowed him to maximize every single chance and become an even more ruthless striker than he'd ever been (despite having lost a bit of his 'magical' touch from the younger days).

To build this set, and after watching several compilations and a few complete matches from the period (originally intended to create a set for Van Nistelrooy in his Madrid era, I'll post that in a few days), first I compared his classic prime and his present-day sets, then took some notes from Konami's sets in PES 2010 and 2011. I know the 93 value for ATT may look a bit surprising (44 goals in two seasons isn't an outwordly feat after all) but I really think he deserves it; to put it simple, there's no single forward in present-day La Liga who can be compared to late Raúl in terms of game reading and attacking intelligence, not even Messi or Higuaín. His ability to literally 'become invisible' and dissapear from defenders' radar just before jumping out of the shadows and appearing right where he had to be in order to score was just impressive; his detractors called it 'luck'... I call them ignorants, no one can score such a number of poachy goals by mere luck, and being in the right place in the right moment is precisely one of the things that differentiates top strikers from just decent ones.

As for the Talisman card... well, I'm completely open to debate, but I finally decided to give it based on the effect his behaviour on the pitch had among his teammates. His hard working attitude, which made him to keep trying and fighting till the last minute, really drove them forward. The way he constantly pressured the opposition defenders and keepers when they had the ball... even if he wasn't really that good at it in terms of truly getting the ball, when you see a guy who has won almost everything at club level (including three UCL), who is a living legend for his club, behaving like that again and again... if you have some self-esteem, you go right after him. In his late years Raúl was not only the deserved captain of Real but also a true leader and an example of demeanor and commitment on and off the pitch. It's not difficult to guess why Madrid supporters still loved and admired him like they did, despite him being well past his prime.

His haters (and there're quite a bunch of them) may call him what they want and also blame him for everything bad that has happened to the spanish NT since the stone age, but I'll personally regard him as one of the best strikers and most commited players I've ever seen on a football pitch. It's true that some of his most partisan supporters became incredibly exasperating in 2008 when demanding his return to the NT, but blaming him for that would be like incriminating Pep Guardiola because some die hard Barça supporters really believe their team is the only one in the world that plays 'real football'.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Nickname: "Señor Raúl"

Club: Schalke 04

[as_10]

his SP should be 78-79, he always lacked power, he uses his amazing accuracy to score

[Alcohomicide]

Raúl does/did have a bit of power, as you can see in his screamer against Barca, but he definitely relies on his pure technique and accuracy. His finishes have always been crisp, though. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pdmU9ZI0N_E&fmt=18 What a player!

[sencesor]

Alcohomicide
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:21 am

Re: RAÚL González | 2000/2001
Raúl does/did have a bit of power, as you can see in his screamer against Barca, but he definitely relies on his pure technique and accuracy. His finishes have always been crisp, though. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pdmU9ZI0N_E&fmt=18 What a player!

this video just illustrates why he deserve a decrease in shoot power..

i mean raul s.p. 80 & r.v.n. 78 ?!?

sorry guys but nfw..! the other way around is much more appropriate to both of them imo.

just an example:
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=N5bf0GXcL ... re=related

raul s.p. 78.

rvn s.p. 80.

after saying that, indeed, what a player...

[Alcohomicide]

I don't know. Because that goal there is a volley, it was bound to be powerful. Raúl's scored far more goals from outside the box than Ruud, including some freekicks.

He's scored quite a few belters for Spain too. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LvaSCqycPB4

I have seen no evidence to suggest Van Nistelrooy has a more powerful whack, other than one volley compared with several goals from range and dead balls (Generating all the power himself) from Raúl. Haha!! But aye, Raúl for me is one of the greatest attackers of all time. No doubt.

'Up to you if you want Van Nistelrooy rated higher in power, but I personally think it's madness.

[sencesor]

Alcohomicide
Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:36 pm

Re: RAÚL González | 2000/2001

'Up to you if you want Van Nistelrooy rated higher in power, but I personally think it's madness.

bit carried away there dont u think..?

for the topic - one "screamer" in a 5 & a half minute video, is not a better evidence of shoot power imo, then a video of one powerful kick (that i wouldn’t call a screamer either...), statistically i win the argument big time

but hey, this is just one guys opinion (which like assholes - everybody got one) - no sense on loosing sanity over it..


p.s. he definitely deserve *chip shot though..

[Alcohomicide]

Well, it's just that he's scored a couple of freekicks too, which obviously require all the power to be generated by the kicker. But maybe it's like Berbatov and his pace, he has pace he just doesn't use it as much. I just think he's more powerful than Ruud. Although only maybe when he wants to be as he obviously relies more on precision finishes and lobs more than savage strikes.

[sencesor]

o.k. s.p. 80 is good for raul (as for rvn imho..) no need to up or decrease stat there.

[Alcohomicide]

I tried them both and this seems fair. You can still chest up and and decimate the ball with a volley on the turn with RVN ala Charlton/Juve and Raúl can still generate his deceptive power from a deadball.

[Alcohomicide]

Jump needs to be raised. He is being dominated in the air when I play and only scores headers when totally unmarked, which was never the case.

Balance should be 81 I feel.

[Uzair]

Jump needs to be raised. He is being dominated in the air when I play and only scores headers when totally unmarked, which was never the case.

Balance should be 81 I feel.

yeh jump needs to be raised a few points. disagree with balance increase though.
maybe his tech needs to be raised a coupla points as well. his touch was fantastic and he was good at the trap and turn type shooting.

[Xyder]

For me:

Balance 79~80
His height it's so usual, but his weight it's low to his height, seeing the goals in the Alcohomicide video, we can see that he can resist some fights with the defenders.

Header 85
His precission with all the shoots to goal with the head are incredible, he never gets an a powerfull header, but a lot accuracy.

Jump 79
Ok his jump it's underrated but he never jump a lot, he has more precise with the head than a special jump.

Technique 94
His ball trap and first touch are from another world, probably not in the god region, but a little step behind.

Mentality 86~87
He always work for the team and make some important goals in the last minutes.

[Uzair]

For me:

Balance 79~80
His height it's so usual, but his weight it's low to his height, seeing the goals in the Alcohomicide video, we can see that he can resist some fights with the defenders.

Header 85
His precission with all the shoots to goal with the head are incredible, he never gets an a powerfull header, but a lot accuracy.

Jump 79
Ok his jump it's underrated but he never jump a lot, he has more precise with the head than a special jump.

Technique 94
His ball trap and first touch are from another world, probably not in the god region, but a little step behind.

Mentality 86~87
He always work for the team and make some important goals in the last minutes.

i agree with those figures - 79 for balance and 87 for mentality.

[Alcohomicide]

Those stats look good. I will test them out and compared with other players. I totally agree on technique. I know his team work has always been good, but do you think it's over rated?? It's quite impressive for a player who was more about finishing moves.

[Uzair]

i could've sworn i set his TW at 87. hmmm, could go lower than that actually to 84/85.

[Brezza]

I agree with those figures and a general teamwork decrease as well. Updated

[Oriello]

I see I missed the machine press again and the newspaper is already put to bed .

I wanted to suggest a possible increase to Conditioning 8, here comes the 'Oriello's Appearance Parade' XD

Wikipeida English page, around this time period for Real he appeared in 54 games before this season and right after it, and 48 in theis season specificlly. Obviously factor in some Spain internationals, especially for the 2002 World Cup, 4 games brings it to 58 at least in that season! He is almost reaching Pele/Lampard standards of 60 games a season .

I tried to verify the numbers through other sources but Real Madrids site does not help as it does not give season by season break down, but the totals do add up, so I assume wikipedia is validated throught the power of math. And Raul is consistently reaching seasonal totals of 50+ or near 50 games.

[Alcohomicide]

That's a great point, Oriello. It's gonna be a weird feeling when Rául is gone. I've always thought of Real Madrid as Raúl Madrid.

[Xyder]

i could've sworn i set his TW at 87. hmmm, could go lower than that actually to 84/85.

Agree, his TW has improved when his attacking abilities has decreased.