Musings on Real Madrid’s recent problems

It was a turbulent Saturday for Madridistas.

An early kick-off saw Barcelona drop points with Madrid facing one of the worst Athletic teams of recent memory.

Real Madrid finally seemed to have gotten their chance to get back in the title race. What occurred instead was a drab 0-0 and Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal and Casemiro getting suspended for a crunch clash against Sevilla next weekend.

On a weekend that the title looked in reach once more, it couldn’t look further away this Sunday. Below are my thoughts on Madrid’s problems and some possible solutions.

The Madridista Reaction Spectrum

Firstly, it must be addressed that the team’s problems and the problems the fans see are usually two completely different things.

This is mainly because Madrid fans are some of the most highly strung and hysterical fanbase on earth. Their reaction can usually be measured on a spectrum of “Zidane should be sacked for this reason” to “this player should be sold for this player.” In the grey fog that is the middle of this spectrum is the actual problems Madrid have.

Here is where coolness and logic rule, similar to a cat’s hatred of water, Madridistas don’t like this area. It’s a land of no quick fixes and some continuity whereas your average Madridista would prefer to burn his house down and build a newer, better house where he/she won’t need a plunger to unclog the toilet. This is the place my article hopes to enlighten and offer constructive solutions.

The Myth about your Favorite Player

I saw perhaps one of the best takes on Real’s current issues on Twitter pointing out that Madrid’s problems can’t be solved by placing new pieces into a broken system. I can’t put in words how much I agree with this. It’s naive to think that if Madrid had Alvaro Morata, Kylian Mbappe etc. that performances would improve.

Players like Marcelo, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo (at times) have all fallen from the dizzying heights they were playing at in June, you can’t buy yourself out of that issue. I’m by no means saying result would be the same, they could be worse, they could be better, problems with individuals would persist.

Rotations

Some fans with a good memory will be saying, “hasn’t this always been an issue under Zidane,” the answer is, yes, it has. Real Madrid picked up about 30 points from winning or losing positions last season and excluding a few bursts, for example, after the Clasico defeat to the Supercopa game in the Bernabéu, Real haven’t played consistently under Zidane.

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The difference between then and now is that Zidane was willing to change it up last season, he hasn’t done that so far this season. The Frenchman has made subs, but up until recently, his go to sub was Lucas Vazquez for Modric for instance. Meanwhile, more dynamic attackers like Dani Ceballos (bet you haven’t seen him mentioned before) aren’t trusted.

This problem is even worse as Zidane’s favorite options, Gareth Bale and Mateo Kovacic have been injured. The depth this season has suddenly become a weakness even though the team has game changers on the bench, they just aren’t using them like last season.

Such lack of rotations breeds complacency and complacency breeds bad individual performances as the starting 11 takes their foot off the pedal.

Why Zidane is so tentative to rotate like he did last season, only he knows. Perhaps he doesn’t trust the players on his bench (in mid-December, he only has himself to blame if this is the case). Perhaps they don’t fit into the system which leads into my next point.

The Diamond

This diamond is more bad than good. Individually, the players aren’t in the form to play it properly and the things that worked with it last season, aren’t working this season. For me, I see two solutions

1. Change the system
2. Change the roles/personnel

One way or another, Zizou can’t continue to be stubborn and do nothing. This system won Los Blancos a double and for that we will be eternally grateful, but, it needs to be adapted.

On a brighter side (and the reason I want Zidane to stay), is this team has had problems like this before and was stubborn before he decided it wasn’t working and figured it out. He has slightly hinted that he will spend in January, hopefully this is also a hint that change is coming.

Historical Hipster Take

I want to use this chance to give my own historical hipster take on Madrid’s domestic trouble. I recently wrote a feature about Real Madrid’s greatest ever coach, Miguel Muñoz. For those who haven’t read it, Muñoz was a serial league winner who managed Madrid for 13 years. His side struggled in Europe, with just two wins during his reign.

In the club’s history, a majority of his tenure was seen as a hard time for the club. In fact, the years between 1966 and 1998 are known as the wilderness years despite Madrid winning 23 domestic titles in that time.

Success in Madrid

This club doesn’t classify domestic success as important and this team more than most know it. Just two La Liga titles in 8 years is overshadowed by 3 Champions League crown in the same period. That is the environment Zidane and every coach since Muñoz is working in every league game, it’s worth a mention as an ever present in the dressing room. Wether if its a blessing or curse, depends on how we end the season.

Summary

To summarize, individual performances have dropped dramatically and favorite player won’t change that. Zidane stubbornness and refusal to rotate isn’t helping, but he is still the best choice for me.

Next: Sunday’s Real Links: Stuck in quicksand

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