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Three days to set course. Only three days to find answers that in two weeks were conspicuous by their absence. Real Madrid has just three days to resolve its long list of defects, before visiting FC Barcelona for the Spanish League. It is little but it is what there is: one more ridiculous at the Camp Nou and they will begin to charge the debacle with heads.
The 2-3 defeat against a full of substitutes Shakhtar Donetsk, who was also the group’s weakest rival in the Champions League, is an absurdity that must be resolved as soon as possible, on pain of ending the credit of coach Zinedine Zidane.
Madrid has several serious defects that were already evident in the fall against Cádiz (0-1), but which were portrayed in the Alfredo Di Stefano: the generation of the game is null, it depends in excess of references who are also veterans and in the bottom of the closet finds ‘no solution’. To complete the anguish, he suffers as condemned without Sergio Ramos, his captain, and the defense becomes a flan without him.
The lost football
The matrix defect: Real Madrid has quality problems to generate football and suffers to generate and finalize goal options. And it is not that the problem is new, in fact it has been dragging on since Cristiano’s goodbye. It was previously resolved with an exceptional moment from Benzema and a combination of good references in the midfield on the mark and in attack: Kroos, Modric, Isco and Valverde offered a diversity of solutions and thus it was not essential to keep born creatives, like James .
But today Benzema is not solving half of what he has and, the harsh reality, indicates that he does not have enough relays. Without Hazard available -for more than a year-, without Bale -exiled- and with an Asensio that is still not the one from 2018, a Jovic who has not just filled the bag of number 9, and a Rodrygo who lacks weight for age and consistency, the cards in attack are running out. And defeats are the inevitable reflection.
Without captain, ship adrift
It’s incredible but true: Real Madrid, the once king of Europe, is overly dependent on a 34-year-old player, who is not a scorer but a defender. Although for the case the roles almost come together: there is no replacement for Sergio Ramos.
The data is devastating: the ‘merengue’ team has lost seven of the last eight games without its captain. There is no need to add much more.
Without Ramos at Varane’s side, the Frenchman loses his compass. Militao was not, is not a reliable replacement and many believe that, with his lack of smell and timing, he might ever be. And if the very slow Marcelo goes on one side and the confused Mendy (right) on the other, everything necessarily goes to ruin, as against Shakhtar.
Yes, the right-backs are injured, but there should be something else in the hat to solve it. Because what happens this Wednesday at the Bernabéu: they all run after the ball, they are easy prey for anyone who scores balls behind their backs, they sacrifice midfielders who end up opening more gaps in order to cover and finally, it doesn’t take that much to get there to the premises of a Courtois that, beware, was a figure in the last two defeats.
Without ‘Unit B’
One of the direct consequences of Zidane’s decision to dispense with players like Reguilón, bale or even james, is that he has been running out of reliable relays with such a tight and demanding schedule. It is perfect that he plays with the headlines who have given him titles, it is very consistent, but he knows that the last double came precisely because he had two payrolls to play the important tournaments at the highest level. Now he doesn’t have what they call ‘wardrobe bottom’.
It was very clear against Shakhtar, whom he seemed to underestimate with a very, very atypical line-up: Vinicius Jr substitute when he is the best forward he has; Benzema substitute to play the Champions League and frontal bet for an inconsequential Jovic; Rodrygo on the left, when he always worked at the other end, and Asensio uncomfortable on the right; Mendy to the right back (for emergency) and Marcelo, who has shown plenty of signs of not being at the level of two seasons ago, again a starter. And Kroos to the bank, the German who for DT was always irreplaceable.
The bet went wrong but not because of this game or that of Cádiz: the starters are immovable but, as they get tired, they require relays that are not there. Isco is not the one from before; Valverde lowered the level compared to 2019 but there it is; Casemiro feels outmatched without Kroos by his side, but the German is not at the same usual level either and among the centrals they are simply Ramos and someone else … and when Ramos is not there, what Courtois, another without a substitute, can solve in the middle The anguish.
No. They stopped signing because they trusted in excess and the bill is being very high. And the classic is yet to come, which always left blows that took heads, like Lopetegui’s, to mention just one case … Is the worst yet to come? The Camp Nou awaits.
