By Myles Palmer

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ROBINHO has adapted, looks happy, and scores in most games now.

The 22-year old Brazilian really started to click at Alaves on September 25 when they won 3-0. He is amazingly perceptive about who is in front of him and either side of him and behind him. It's called peripheral vision.

Like Bebeto, Romario's partner in USA 94, Robinho is Mr Perpetual Motion, skimming over the grass, darting here and there like a high-powered hummingbird, always keeping in contact with the play, as Ossie Ardiles used to do. The difference being that Ardiles was a midfield player and midfield players do that a lot while strikers don't.

Robinho is a manager's dream because he links the play and wants to be in the game all the time. A continuity player as well as a scorer, Robinho is zippy and has brightened up the team, big time.

CICINHO has done the same on the right flank, where ageing warrior Salgado has run out of steam.

ZIDANE was superb when they won 2-1 at Celta Vigo on January 29, carrying the ball with pace and purpose, still a master, a Rolls Royce of a player, even now.

ROBERTO CARLOS has been a bionic gladiator for ten years there under ten coaches. A leader who likes Casillas to throw the ball to him, so he can start attacks. That's why I would play Flamini and Eboue against him. You can't play Ljungberg against Roberto Carlos.

JONATHAN WOODGATE is 25 and has played only 13 games for them. Newcastle sold him for £13 million but he has been out for 561 days with a thigh muscle injury. But Madrid have kept 10 clean sheets in the 13 games he has played! That is what I call a stat !

GUTI is solid and brave with a reliable left foot.

GRAVESEN is the anchor player Sir Alex should have signed.

SERGIO RAMOS was bought from Seville for £18.7 million just eight minutes before the transfer deadline expired. Only 19 but shows signs of becoming a good centreback

BECKHAM is in tremendous form but suffering from back pain. John Toshack says that his backache is caused by practicing free-kicks and corners. Replying to that, Becks says the pain is worst in the morning and he doesn't play football at night.

JULIO BAPTISTA has not looked like a £13.8 million player and was recently sidelined for five weeks with a knee ligament injury.

Baptista now says, ''We arrive for this game in an excellent mood, The game is equal because always in Europe the matches are very complicated. But we want to finish the tie in the Bernabeu. This Madrid team is able to score many goals in each match."

RONALDO walks and waits and walks a bit more. Sometimes he jogs ten yards. But Ronnie is a bit like Eric Clapton. If you are good as he was, you can never entirely lose it.

RAUL is still a yard off the pace and will not start against Arsenal, after being out for three months with a knee injury.

CASILLAS is the goalkeeper. A bachelor, he mostly dates models but they say he also went out with the King's daughter. If so, she's in good hands. He wouldn't drop her and if he did he's so quick he'd catch her again before she hit the floor. If you were King Juan Carlos, would you let your daughter go out with a footballer ?

BEFORE XMAS, former coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo used a 4-2-2-2 system which had no width. They needed a gutsy, fast winger who could operate from both flanks, cut in, hit shots, score goals, play one-twos. I used to watch them in September-October and think : They really need Damian Duff.

They had been building down to a massive flop by losing games at home. Real Madrid 2 Celta Vigo 3 in September was a rehearsal for a 2-1 defeat by Valencia in October, so when Barcelona arrived in November and thrashed them 3-0 it was no surprise. In fact, Barca got a standing ovation from the home crowd. Ronaldinho had been playing out of his skin for two weeks, Eto'o is the world's most direct striker, and teenage hot-shot Messi had at last superceded Giuly, a right winger I don't rate.

Ronaldo, Zidane and right back Salgado were only 60% fit on that Saturday night (November 19) and should not have been on the pitch.

In the next home game they only drew 1-1 with Lyon, a very good side who can draw with any club and beat most.

In a shambolic performance against Getafe on December 3, Beckham became hugely frustrated and was sent off for a crazy tackle in 55 minutes. Madrid won 1-0 but the performance was appalling, even compared to other fiascos in the last two years.

Luxemburgo was sacked on December 4.

Caretaker coach Lopez Caro, promoted from the B-team, has created a more balanced side and performances have improved. They've won nine of their last eleven and Zidane, Robinho and Beckham are in hot form.

Last Saturday they were at home to Alaves and he rested half his team: Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Woodgate, Cicinho and Gravesen. They won 3-0 with skipper Guti scoring the first goal, Robinho the second and Cicinho, subbing for Beckham, the third.

I LOVED SPANISH football long before I started watching it on Sky in 1996-97. That was Capello's only season at Real Madrid and Ronaldo's only season at Barcelona and Rivaldo's only season at Deportivo La Coruna.

Ronaldo was sensational, scoring 34 goals in 37 games, and when he was sold to Inter Milan, Rivaldo was bought to replace him.

The Real Madrid team at that time had three prolific scorers in Suker, Raul and Mijatovic.

The year before Real had finished sixth and missed out on Europe, which helped Capello to focus them on the title and accumulate 92 points from 42 games, ahead of Bobby Robson's Barcelona on 90.

As I'm sure you know, Real Madrid have always been backed by the government, the city, the banks and the King. The world's richest club, with a turnover of £186 million, Real have not won a trophy since 2003 and have never gone three years without winning something.

Feb 20, 2006

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