Dani Carvajal and Marcelo aren’t themselves right now
I want to apologize in advance for my analysis of this section. It’s clear to me from watching the preseason and his play early in league play that Dani Carvajal is not himself. Not even remotely close.
We as Real Madrid fans have become so accustomed to seeing Dani and Marcelo bursting down the wings and helping on the attack while also playing great defense. Especially today, Carvajal played terrible going forward.
In the first half alone, there were at least three occasions when Dani blundered a dribble, or couldn’t handle a long pass from the midfield that he uses touches down to his right foot with ease.
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The most notable of these blunders was when he was sprinting forward into the box and was sent a long ball over the top and tried to settle it down in stride, and simply pushed it out off the end of his cleat.
Marcelo did a good job trying to create chances down his usual left wing but didn’t link up as well with Ronaldo, which I think was one of the main problems.
Marcelo also looked tired out early in the second half. He did take a good amount of contact and fouls in this match, but still, it’s THE Marcelo!
It was also frustrating to see Carvajal and Marcelo try so many crosses into the box, with none of them creating any real chances. This may have been in Zidane’s game plan, but it’s hard to believe that many crosses were tried.
They didn’t work in the first half, they didn’t work in the second half. Frustrating.