With an elite attack made up of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, things were expected from Real Madrid this season after their 2023-24 double of La Liga and Champions League titles.
Carlo Ancelotti’s appearance has made La Liga more sensible, however, things have not gone as perfectly as expected. Manchester City in the next two sets to succeed in the Champions League circular of 16, a handful of defeats in reverse. The opposition at the moment has left lingering concerns.
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They have been beaten through Barcelona (twice), Liverpool, Milan and Bilbao’s Athletic Club. Barça’s 5-2 drumming in the Supercopa de España ultimate in January after a 4-0 defeat to arch-rivals opposed to the Catalan in October led Ancelotti to Reconsider their big-play tactics: with an idea of prospective solution at the time of being dropped one of the 4 attacking stars on the bench.
Last weekend, Madrid lost 1-0 to La Liga Cuarto Bototom Espanyol in a place where Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Bellingham and Rodrygo did it again.
And now they face two massive games in 4 days, hosting Atletico and then travelling to Manchester for Tuesday’s first leg opposite the city. The injuries mean Madrid will likely not have a fit senior backup center for either game. . But that’s another story.
Going above and beyond
Madrid does not have a senior center in shape. How will opposites Atlético and Ciudad line up?
So, what happens to them in those main competitions? And can Ancelotti solve it?
At the heart of Madrid’s upheavals opposed to other high-quality games is an inability to save your warring parties from construction attacks in the middle of the field.
Those upheavals were never more evident than in that first defeat to Barcelona at the Bernabeu on October 26. The visiting Catalans strolled through the front line that night, with Vinicius Jr and unconvincing Mbappe protecting from the front in a 4-2-2 formation before Barca overloaded the midfield with their technical and artistic players.
Madrid’s forwards have struggled to press all season. In their La Liga opener, as opposed to Real Mallorca in August, midfielder Bellingham filmed in the tunnel at halftime asking his 3 before locating more. Another clip, from their 3-2 Copa del Rey quarter-final win over Leganes on Wednesday showed midfielder Luka Modric appeared to be asking for more defensive assistance from Vinicius Jr.
Going above and beyond
Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappé and the structural prices of a Galactico attack
There are plenty of examples of this La Liga route through Barca to decide: the most damaging when Marc Casado took the ball past Madrid’s two forwards and into midfield, before passing a pass to Robert Lewandowski, who then scored the opening goal. Esthere is another, as Pau Cubarsi’s cross is allowed to pick up a simple ball from midfield Pedri, taking Vinicius Jr and Mbappe out of the game with a minimum of fuss.
Pedri can turn and Madrid’s midfielders check to push, they fail to fill the gaps, without help through their colleagues in defense.
Barca’s overload, the ball can slide into the giant area pocket in front of the box on the back four, where Fermin Lopez is loose to gain possession.
Madrid tried to be more on foot and respond in the final Super Cup a few months later, wary of not giving Barca’s deeper midfielders too much time or letting players establish themselves as before. Two forwards in a more man-to-man approach.
While the England midfielder followed the more inside player, Casado, the two teammates behind him, Eduardo Camavinga and Federico Valverde, followed the other two Barca midfielders. Unlike in October, no Barcelona player was expected to remain marked.
But that more proactive technique has brought its own problems, with movements by Gavi and Pedri, holding back Madrid’s midfielders. able to take a foot to avoid the pass of anticipation.
Meanwhile, Gavi opens up and hangs out at Camravage with him, opening up for Kounde to shoot at Lewandowski, who fell in that wide in front of the byline.
Antonio Rudiger jumps ahead in pursuit, but, again, it is too far past because the striker plays a first ball ordered to Lamine Yamal, who cuts the inside and equalizes.
Only two incisive passes in the center and Madrid are open.
From that point on midway through the first half, Madrid’s technique has become confusing, with players not knowing when to press the top and when to sit in a diminishing block.
Shortly after Lewandowski finished the substitution and made it 2-1 from the spot for 36 minutes, Madrid tried to step up and quell Barcelona’s buildup. They built up a 4-2-4 form as Bellingham continued to stick to Barca’s innermost midfield and the two wide players pushed.
Again, it is the move of a Barcelona midfielder who dragged one of Madrid’s midfielders out of position, opening up the area for Cubarsi to locate that damaging pass to Lewandowski.
While Madrid can effectively push the weaker games they oppose in domestic football, the technical quality of Barca’s build-up, especially the cebararsi, which they can constantly cut through their low tension, punished their inability to close down central areas.
Ancelotti tried to play it safer after conceding a third, returning to a 4-4-2 form with Bellingham Urgent ahead throughout Mbappe, but even that wasn’t certain. The vertical distance between the lines meant that Barça continued to locate space.
Here, an undeniable pass from goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to Cubarsi’s forces to the Madrid midfielder ahead and follows the runs of Gavi and Pedri. But Bellingham can’t close the 18-year-old center fast enough before picking up the ball in midfield, leaving Madrid, leaving Madrid, leaving Madrid, leaving Madrid, leaving Madrid in a four-on-four scenario at the back.
The gaps were there and the time was off, no matter how they approached the press.
Madrid’s struggles with their press were damning evidence that playing with the 4 Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Bellingham in the squad gives them little flexibility in terms of form when they are out of possession.
There are limits on the front. A source from the training staff, who wishes to remain unnamed in relations, advised after the Ultimate Super Cup that Madrid cannot play a diminishing block, as it would mean one of the wingers who has to preserve the flanks.
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Rodrygo has played that role that Madrid has fallen most deeply into a 4-4-2 form in that last assembly with Barcelona last month, yet he has struggled to keep up with Alejandro Balde’s leadership runs in normal fashion. Defensive instincts and power on their own right side, Barça discovered that joy by attacking this flank.
Sitting down and inviting pressure, with a weak attacking team in individual duels, does not seem a valid solution to Madrid’s problems.
So the logical first step is to remove one of the 4 attacking players to shape a more solid midfield base opposed to the more powerful sides, however, that is less difficult than what has been done, given the quality, prestige and goal-scoring form of Madrid’s front line.
On Friday, at his press conference of the Atletico game, Ancelotti said that he can still forge defensively with 4 attacking players and that his upsets in the extra subsequent step than it seems.
“Some other people think a striker can solve a challenge,” Ancelotti said. “The defensive challenge is a collective challenge: it is a challenge of the forwards and the midfielders.
“We are in a general defensive emergency. We lost Global’s right-back (Dani Carvajal suffered a serious knee injury in October), (Eder) Militao, (David) Alaba. . . Thankfully, it wouldn’t possibly be a long-term emergency, however, we want to have been without very vital defenders this season. “
As Ancelotti suggests, even cutting off one of the strikers absolutely does not fill the gaps. Valverde would likely be the player who lines up in the right midfield aspect, a position position close to the team says he prefers not to play. He also wishes to move to the left, as Vinicius Jr cannot be trusted to see the flank, leaving Madrid exposed to the same upheavals they faced in the first Clasico defeat in October, a 4-4-2 flat that we go to space in space. .
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Here we see him opposed to Milan at the Bernabeu in the Champions League just over a week after Barcelona’s defeat there, as the midfield duo of Aurelien Tchouameni and Modric pushes and shall we the visitors’ Pulisic Christian Pulisic in the centre circle. This time, Bellingham and Valverde can’t do it because they oppose wonderful players.
So even if you remove a GalacTico striker from the team, the solution is clear.
It remains to be noted how Ancelotti coached those 3 games opposed to Atletico and City. In January, the player who looked like the maximum maximum will probably leave the starting lineup Rodrygo, but the coaching staff values him highly and he has obtained seven Objectives in 8 games during the month beyond the month.
Madrid have sometimes been justified in expecting their 4 most sensible to overwhelm weaker portions, after all, they have picked up 34 problems to an imaginable 39 opposed groups lately at the back of La Liga, however, the structural burden opposite to the warring parties capable of a more incisive accumulation game has been clear.
Ancelotti has decisions to make.
Additional reporting: Mario Cortegana
(Main photos: Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images; Wyscout)