Hello, my name is Corey, and I have taken up the role as the Real Madrid correspondent/blogger here at Soccernet. Many of you probably do not know of me, so let me start by giving everyone a bit of background. I have been a Real Madrid fan since 2000, when I saw my first European football match, the 2000/2001 European Cup final between Real Madrid and Valencia. It seems a surreal experience now, as I sit here in an airport in Charlotte, remembering the game fondly. Many people probably saw the highlights of Raul jinking his way around Santiago Canazares, or the awesome karate like volley Steve Mcmanaman scored, but what I remember is how enchanted I was with Spanish football. I had already taken a liking to Real Madrid, and Raul in particular during the past few months, but this game cemented in my mind my affiliation with the club and the league.

I have also been reading ESPN Soccernet for six or so years now, and am honored to be able to write for the site. Before blogs really took off, and I taught myself to read Spanish, it was very difficult to find information on the internet about Real Madrid, much less world football. Soccernet was the first place I initially looked, and have visited the site daily ever since. In fact, its my homepage. And Soccernet’s very own Phil Ball, La Liga writer and avid Real Sociedad fan, has been my inspiration for writing for all of these years. His writing on Soccernet has allowed me to further understand and appreciate Spanish football for all its intricacies and intrigue, which would have been far more difficult given I am not fluid in Spanish, but can merely make enough words out of a sentence to have a rudimentary understanding of what is being expressed.

As far as my background in blogging goes, I must first say I am not a trained writer. I took classes in school because I had to, but I by no means have perfect grammar or can claim to write beautiful prose. But what I may lack in classical training, if one even needs that to be a blogger, I make up for in experience. I have been blogging about Real Madrid and La Liga for four years, first on http://www.theoffside.com and then earlier this transitioning to my own website, http://www.realmadridfootballblog.com. I encourage you to check out the Offside’s Real Madrid page if you would like to get a feel for my writing, and also visit my current site (full disclosure, I own and operate the site). I have also written articles for http://www.laligaweekly.com and have appeared on their podcast series for two going on three years now.

I will do my best to keep the blog up to date on news and information, as well as adding some commentary on various topics through the season. One of the other reasons I write is because I enjoy discussion, especially with those who read my work. So please add your comments whenever I post something, and I will try to respond to as my comments as I can. If you visit my own site, you will see that discussion is as important as the actual articles themselves. For a start I would like to discuss the Hertha Berlin friendly, and how I saw things, or should I say I barely saw things. It was not one of those games that kept you on the edge of your seat, and I felt a little sleepy for a good part of the game as I watched it, but there were a few points I want to bring up from what I saw.

- I do not believe Coentrao will do as a central midfielder when the season begins. He has incredible physical stamina as well as speed and agility, and likes to throw his body around, but he is far more suited to playing on the wing, where he knows his boundaries positionally. Unfortunately it looks like Mou is still trying to offload Lass Diarra, which I think is a mistake, in favor of using Coentrao as a backup from time to time.

- Callejon has sufficiently impressed with his time in the friendlies, and his scoring rate has been a bit of a surprise. Having seem him play with Espanyol the past few years, the one thing that stood out besides his hair was that he was often wasteful in front of goal. Is he learning to become more predatory or is the opposition of a lower caliber so his chances are easier to convert? Probably a little of both, but he will provide a goal threat from out wide just like Di Maria, but will be content to start on the bench for most of the season. He gives the team a better option for its more direct style of play than recently departed Pedro Leon, who was viewed as lazy and lacking tactical knowledge by Mourinho.

- Varane has also been impressive, but then you have to look at will he ever get much time to play? Pepe and Carvalho are essentially the starters, and Albiol, although shaky last year, must surely be the third choice, would it have not behooved us to send Varane out to play on loan where he would continue to develop?

- I have a feeling Benzema starts the season up top with Ronaldo, not Higuain. Mourinho will not wait around for Higuain to gain match fitness and sharpness after his break, even if playing in the Copa America is his duty to his country. But this is something Higuain is use to, battling for his place and proving his worth. Both players should suffice up top I think, so why are we linked with Aguero or Adebayor or Neymar?

- Antonio Adan will make a fine backup keeper, but he will surely get the itch for playing time in a year or two and be on his way to a La Liga team as a starter. It says alot about Iker to have held off the competition of some great young keepers from the academy as well as about the academies ability to produce top talent. Kiko Casilla, David Cobeno, Diego Lopez, Jordi Codina and Cesar Sanchez are some of the guys to have played second fiddle to Iker and went on to have excellent club careers, or are starting keepers in La Liga/Segunda. That is some pedigree.

- I wont get to much in to tactics, as that will be for later, but it seems that the 4-2-3-1 that Mourinho is using is going to work a tad differently, with one of the playmakers asked to play in a wide position more often. Ozil or Kaka may end up in front of Ramos, with the other in the center on a rotation. Of course with Coentrao and Callejon added, there is also the option to play two wingers every game of the season given the depth. And of course with Sahin, it will be very hard to picture the two man midfield at this point, but I suspect Khedira, Sahin and Granero will fight to partner Xabi. Key is with Sahin and Granero more developed, the team will be less Xabi-dependent, which was startlingly evident last season at times.

That is all for now. Hope you liked it, and I will be back with more after the weekend. Please leave comments below and I will do my best to answer/reply to them, and also do not forget we play Leicester City this weekend and their is a big announcement regarding a stadium sponsor that should show up any day now. HALA MADRID!