Has
the magic touch evaded Real Madrid??
The beginning of the end
After winning the long awaited La Liga and their Champions league trophy (twice in three years); they completed the puzzle with the Spanish Supercup victory against their arch rivals Barcelona on August. The team regained their status as 'Invincible' once again under the hierarchy of Zinedine Zidane. After their
thunderous start to their new season they fell short of goods as they
progressed to their new season in La Liga. The MVP of Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo
was their saviour the previous season and showed his brilliance against Barcelona
but a lapse in concentration from his end caused him to get a ban for next
three games for shoving the referee in La liga. The holders missed Cristiano badly
as he does not have a proper replacement yet. This hindered their goal scoring
prowess badly. In retrospection, Real Madrids previous bench squad consisted of world
class players and due to insufficient game time they had recieved, left the club for
professional objectives and in time for the FIFA world cup selections.
The problem
The problem Zidane is facing this season is that he cannot
look upto his bench for solutions unlike last season as they are currently
going through a transition where they are stocking up new raw talent which they
want to polish and get the most out of…
Like they did with Asensio who was a steal for $2 million
from Mallorca. They thought they can refurbish their entire bench with highly
rated Spanish youngsters Example: Marcos Llorente and Achraf hakimi from
Valdebas(Real Madrid academy), Theo Hernandez from Atletico Madrid, triggered
the buy back clause of Borja Mayoral at Wolfsburg. Reclaimed Jesus Vallejo who
was on a loan in Germany. This change in their bench caused the spiral of chain
reaction which is currently affecting Real Madrid who time in and out is trying
to come out of this crisis but are out of options.
The bench which once
was with the likes of James Rodriguez, Álvaro Morata, Danilo, Pepe is now
filled in by youngsters who are highly rated but lacks the necessary experience
that the previous players gave to the team in order to perform in multiple front
(champions league, Spanish Supercup, league)
The famous starting 11
Not just the bench, the famous starting 11 of the team too
are just the shadow of themselves before. Modric the engine, looks like age is
catching up with his slow predictable movement. The telepathic understanding
between Kroos and Modric seems to have been lost, which once used to sync the
entire team in difficult times. Bale is unreliable as he is a player made of
glass (Jokes apart) he has played the least last season and his injury record is
one of the worst in clubs history. Marcelo was reliable source of attacking
frontier looks like he has forgotten how to defend, he is more of winger than a
defender; 42% of the goals conceded are from his side so that sums up his
season pretty much. Benzema was (just fine) last season with his performances.
This season has been pathetic in numbers for him as 5 league goals in 16 games
is really not the number a regular number 9 of Real Madrid should be scoring.
Ronaldo our saviour at vital times of the last season too are not reaping goals
after his ban, he too is going through a dry patch in league this season just
scoring 6 league goals, out of which half of them are from the spots.
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