Real Madrid have a few problems. Two big ones were evident in their boring draw against Mallorca this weekend: Left back and right back. Their fullbacks were truly atrocious, offering nothing going forward (though they seemed to spend a great deal of time congesting midfield) and constantly being caught out of position during defensive phases.
In my opinion, Real Madrid lost the game because the fullbacks spent more time getting in the way than anything else. There was just no width in their play, and while the lack of runs being made by forward players didn't help the situation, though I have no doubt that this will improve as the team gets to know one another and the manager, the fullbacks needed to get forward and stretch the defence in order to create space for the forwards.
The other problem was in central midfield. Lass Diarra started out sitting deep, with Alonso doing what he does best and Canales in front as the playmaker behind Higuain and between Di Mara and Ronaldo: a clear 4-2-3-1. Clearly it would be Diarra's role to cut crosses out and intercept while helping retain possession but he clearly struggled in this role. He did well to tackle and try to win the ball but when he had the ball there was nowhere for him to go. Alonso was being crowded out while Canales was out on the wings.
The reason Canales was out on the wings (and not central) was to try and introduce some width into the play. You see, Ronaldo was cutting inside, as you would expect, but Di Mara was playing deeper and more centrally in order to help Diarra and retain possession. While this would have been fine, the plans were foiled by Marcelo and Arbeloa getting forward and drifting inside. By doing this, they allowed the Mallorca wings to move inside (where they wanted to be in order to run at goal) and congest midfield while also providing them acres of space to run into and cross.
As a result of all of this you had Alonso, Diarra, Marcelo and Arbeloa standing within 5m of one another, while the opposition cut passes to Alonso out, and somewhere between the left wing and all of this was Di Mara, who could do nothing with the ball when he got it because he had nowhere to pass forward or run. The forwards were isolated up front because the link man, Canales, was always drifting out wide to inject some width but because he was equally isolated his efforts were in vain. To top it all off the center halves were having to cover for the fullbacks, meaning there was a chasm in front of goal for the strikers to exploit.
The fact that the fullbacks didn't help during the first game of the season really isn't a problem. When there is a new manager, and a new formation, and six new players this kind of thing is to be expected. The real problem is that Mourinho identified the fullbacks as a problem when he arrived and the club didn't buy new ones. To be fair, Sergio Ramos is a wonderful right back but was covering for various injuries to center halves, so was not available, but the left back berth is still a major problem. Jose admitted that he tried to buy Kolarov for 11mil but Manchester City out did Real (with 17mil) and beat them to his signature, Ashley Cole was allegedly too expensive (I didn't know that was possible with Real Madrid) and a fee was agreed on for Maicon but the deal broke down when Real refused to pay him was he was earning at Inter.
All of this comes down to money and a club who could can afford to fork out the big bucks for Kaka and Ronaldo can afford to up their bid to buy what the new manager wanted, and clearly the board didn't approve those deals. Real still haven't learned from their past mistakes: all they want are attractive signings. They still haven't picked up on the fact that a team can't win by playing eight strikers and two defenders.
I have no doubt that Mourinho will get Marcelo and Arbeloa to stay wide, and Ramos will do what he asks of him. I still think they'll win La Liga but I don't see the Special One being happy with not getting what he wants and I don't see him staying very long as a result.
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