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Steve McManaman Says Real Madrid "Defended like school boys"

Ex-Real Madrid player McManaman rips Real Madrid's poor defense against VfL Wolfsburg.

Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Like you, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how we dropped a match to a team that's in 8th place in the Bundesliga. One person that doesn't need to do that is former player Steve McManaman.  The former Real Madrid play maker went off (and I don't blame him) in a interview with MARCA.

He summed up our defensive play pretty well.

"Real Madrid defended like Under-10 schoolboys," McManaman said.

He didn't stop there, Marcelo was next on his list. And really don't get me started on that shameful dive he took. So embarrassing.

"Marcelo crossed the field with his arms behind his back [for Wolfsburg's second goal], and [Maximilian] Arnold gets two yards ahead of [Sergio] Ramos."Defensively, the right-back (Danilo) and left-back (Marcelo) were just all over the place, coupled with Pepe and Ramos, who looked like they hadn't played with each other before."I was astounded as to how bad they were."

He went on to make sure that not only the team is to blame for the poor showing, but the manager Zinedine Zidane has to be held accountable for the drubbing by Wolfsburg.

"The whole team should be lambasted and the manager will take a hit," McManaman went on."You can't have super Zidane on the paper on Sunday [after beating Barcelona] and then not say anything today [after the performance against Wolfsburg]."[Gareth] Bale should have had a penalty in the fourth minute but that is no excuse for the next 90. They literally downed tools."

I think we can all agree that last nights effort was beyond poor, which now puts their backs against the wall. Madrid is going to have to play like it to advance to the semi's. Wolfsburg is going to come into our house with a chip on their shoulder. One that hopefully the boys will knock off.

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