With 18 goals in three games, for all intents and purposes Real Madrid are firing on all cylinders. Usually Carlo Ancelotti's side panics if the score line remains 0-0 at the half-hour mark and from there, as Elche manager Fran Escriba noted ahead of Tuesday's clash at the Bernabeu, anything can happen.
Ancelotti promised rotation and the Italian is not a graduate of the International School of Football Mind Games. Changes were made, but as Escriba noted, they would have little effect on the outcome of the encounter. With Cristiano Ronaldo in your side anything is possible and even the most pessimistic pools players would have predicted a 5-1 win for the home side even had the Portuguese been rested, as some have suggested he ought to have been.
Four goals later, Ronaldo continues to embellish his legend at Real, and on Tuesday Elche was very much on the receiving end of the player that still leads Real Madrid despite the raft of expensive -- and some may say pointless -- acquisitions.
Player Ratings (0-10; 10=best)
(GK) Keylor Navas, 7 -- Reacted well to his first test in La Liga, adjusting to a free kick deflected off his own wall, but might as well have been sat in the stands thereafter. Came close to stopping Edu Albacar's penalty and marshalled Coro's fizzing effort past the post.
(DF) Dani Carvajal, 6 -- Incurred an early yellow card in an uncharacteristically nervy display that invited Elche to pry his side of the pitch when on the front foot. But also got forward when possible, as required, and gave Real options on the overlap. Still has a way to go until he is first choice for club or country, but on the right track.
(DF) Raphael Varane, 6 -- Most of the French defender's passes were aimed at Sergio Ramos as the last line of defence had little to do all evening. Another player yet to fully convince his manager, but one who is doing nothing to suggest he shouldn't eventually replace the creaking Pepe.
(DF) Sergio Ramos, 7 -- Ditto, but the Spain defender's forward runs and presence on the field suggests he should be made captain sooner rather than later. Forget the tiresome debate about Iker Casillas -- Ramos is Real's real leader for now.
(DF) Marcelo, 6 -- If points were awarded for dives, Marcelo would have a decent shout on Splash! Conceded a free kick when given little choice to prevent Victor Rodrigues from a one-on-one with Navas, then took a dive to gain Real an unwarranted penalty. The Brazilian then provided a wonderful cross for Ronaldo's second and continues to win over this half of the Real blog by being a better winger than defender. Still, a bit cheeky.
(MF) Toni Kroos, 7 -- With Elche preferring the flanks for attacking purposes, there wasn't much for Kroos to do other than help Real fans to forget that Xabi Alonso is in Munich. The most glowing reports on the Basque were those that stated you didn't really notice he was on the pitch at all. Kroos cleaned up when needed and distributed the ball well. Xabi who?
(MF) Asier Illarramendi, 5 -- Robin to Kroos' Batman, Ilarra didn't do a lot, but then he had very little to do. Throw him in against Barca or Bayern and we might see if he is a Real Madrid player.
Against the likes of Elche, nothing ventured is nothing gained. Illarramendi neither advanced his claim for a more regular role, nor did anything to jeopardize it. Unfortunately for the young Basque, that sums up his Real career in a nutshell.
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(MF) James Rodriguez, 7 -- Provided a lovely cross for Gareth Bale's opening goal, a wonderful lay-off for Kroos to batter one in, and provided the ammo from set pieces well enough. But the question remains: Why? Is he capable of Angel Di Maria-style runs, or of tracking back at all? From the work load Isco had to shoulder on Tuesday, it seems not. Sexy set-piece delivery, yes. Ugly midfield work, definitely not.
(FW) Gareth Bale, 7 -- Opened the scoring after an anonymous 20 minutes, but that's basically his remit at Real -- do sod all until the ball reaches you.
A crashing header sent Real on the way to a comfortable victory, and other than that, Bale operated on the fringes of the game. Still, the Welshman's Real stats speak for themselves and he was hardly bought as a box-to-box midfielder.
(FW) Isco Alarcon, 7 -- Rewarded with a start after his cameo in Riazor, Isco had a quiet first half, but that's hardly surprising considering his lack of match time. One lung-bursting run down the left to assist Ronaldo in the second half as he grew into the game showed his potential, and while eager in defence you have to wonder if Isco will seek a loan move in January to secure first-team football.
A glorious pull-down and a merry dance to win a free kick will have excited suitors but the false nine is redundant at the Bernabeu; ignore fatuous goals-to-games ratios and ask where the instinctive link-up play was, and Karim Benzema has little to worry about.
(FW) Cristiano Ronaldo, 9 -- Deflected a shot in defence -- not one of his fortes -- then conceded a bizarre penalty by hoofing Pedro Mosquera, apparently accidentally -- although in fairness, Elche were due one after last season's travesty at the Martinez Valero. Ronaldo then buried one at the other end with venom. Added another with his head for 3-1 and essentially killed the game.
At that point the Portuguese had hit seven goals in the league this season from 10 shots on target. Another Ronaldo hat trick was bettered still by a four-goal haul on the night -- with Messi's new role as provider at Camp Nou the Pichichi trophy already has Ronaldo's name etched on it. El nuevo Fenomeno? Few would argue.
Substitutes:
(DF) Alvaro Arbeloa, 5 -- Brought on to spare Carvajal a sending off, Arbeloa can now concentrate on a career as T-Bag's double in Prison Break; the former Spain defender has as much chance of breaking into Real's starting 11.
(FW) Chicharito, 5 -- Put a glorious chance into Row Z in the brief time permitted; welcome, Real fans, to two goals forward, one step back. Chicharito will hit a few, and he'll hit the Castellana with the rest.