Granada 0 – 4 Real Madrid: 3 Key Takeaways from the La Liga match

The“B-Team” from Real Madrid put four goals past Granada to secure a crucial three points in La Liga. Here’s Alex McVey with 3 key takeaways from the match.

Zinedine Zidane is really spoiled for choice

Once again, Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane chooses to roll out a heavily rotated lineup from the starting XI that defeated Atletico mid-week. With Ramos and Casemiro the only returning players, Zidane took a gamble that his backup players would be able to make an impact against an already-relegated Granada side.

Zidane has insisted that there is no such thing as an A-squad and B-squad at Madrid. Still, it’s painfully obvious that many of the players rolled out against Granada would not have been chosen against a stronger team.  Nevertheless, the squad players at Madrid have done the most with the limited opportunities they’ve been given.

Previously at Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti was scoured for his seeming inability to trust the backups at his disposal, creating huge injury problems. Not so for Zidane, who has managed to do near wholesale rotations in the La Liga matches against bottom-half teams.

James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata each bagged a first half brace to put the game beyond reach for Granada early on. Madrid’s squad players looked sharp and hungry for goals as they dispatched with a sub-par Granada team with ease.

Even Real Madrid’s much maligned backup full-backs, Fabio Coentrao and Danilo, played a part in the demolition, each grabbing an assist. Danilo, a player many thought should be shipped on in January after his own-goals cost Madrid dearly in the Copa del Rey, and Fabio Coentrao, who has previously told the media that he didn’t think he was fit enough to be training with Real Madrid, have both contributed in key matches down the home stretch.

Real Madrid should do whatever it takes to keep Alvaro Morata

Alvaro Morata was downright magnificent today, demonstrating why he is currently one of the hottest prospects on the transfer market. Morata is scoring at an outrageous rate. He is currently Real Madrid’s second most prolific scorer this season, surpassing Benzema who has played substantially more minutes.

While it’s true that Morata is typically getting a run-out against poor teams with bad defenses, his goal to minutes played ratio is still ridiculous. It’s obvious that sitting on the bench hasn’t hurt his confidence or his form.

Morata’s turn and curled shot for his second goal was a thing of absolute beauty. It was like something out of the FIFA video game.

He was also close to securing a hat-trick near the end of the match, but managed to send his shot wide, preventing him from putting the cherry on top of an already very sweet night.

Morata is just way too good of a striker to be warming the bench. The time has come for Real Madrid to put Morata front and center in their attacking plans. If that means selling off Karim Benema, who in my opinion is an under-valued and under-rated player, then so be it. Benzema has been a valuable servant to the team, but he is simply not performing at the same level as Morata.

Simply put: Real Madrid should do absolutely whatever it takes to keep Morata in Madrid next season.

Madrid keeps a clean sheet… but just barely

Real Madrid have had a tough time keeping a clean sheet lately. They’ve had an especially difficult time keeping a clean sheet away from home:

But they managed to do so today, with backup goalkeeper Kiko Casilla in between the sticks for Madrid. Despite what the scoreline says, this was not necessarily a vintage defensive performance from Madrid.

Madrid did absolutely everything they could to try to allow Granada to have one goal at the end of the match.  Granada was able to inexplicably cut through Madrid’s back line toward the end of the match, and a combination of careless mistakes and sloppy giveaways nearly cost Madrid dearly.

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Kiko Casilla was forced into making 3 total saves in the match, but the saves amounted to a total of .1sQxG (only saving .1 expected goals). Besides Casilla’s saves, the only thing keeping Madrid’s clean sheet was extremely profligate shooting by Granada.

Had Granada managed to put just a few more of their shots on target, Madrid would have been facing another match without a clean sheet.

Fortunately, that was not the case, and Madrid managed to keep their second consecutive clean sheet. Hopefully this trend keeps up as we move into the final crucial matches of the season.