Celta Vigo 2 – Real Madrid 2: Three takeaways from the disappointing draw

A new year, a new start – or so the Real Madrid faithful hoped. However, the first La Liga game of the new year left us with practically little to be hopeful for following yet another underwhelming performance from the team in their draw against Celta Vigo on Sunday night. How the tables have turned, last time this team touched the turf of this stadium they were sealing the league title. However, only mere months later, we have seemingly waved goodbye to any hopes of a revival in this title race. Here are our three takeaways from the game.

Ronaldo must find form or be dropped

Cristiano Ronaldo put in probably his worst performance of the season. Ronaldo had absolutely ZERO effect on this game. His shot selection was shocking, his dribbles aimless and pointless, his passes were poor, and his decision making was atrocious at best.

We are now in January and the Euro 2016 winner has scored fewer goals in this La Liga campaign than FC Barcelona midfielder Paulinho. That alone is enough to show just how poor his form in the league campaign has been.

Whilst he may be showing some forms of brilliance in the Champions League, his dismal play in the league must be called out as one of the major reasons for such an underwhelming campaign to date.

Despite being such a vital figure in the team’s successes last year, sentiment shouldn’t warrant starting places. Ronaldo has not been playing to an acceptable standard for the vast majority of this season in the Spanish league.

If Real Madrid wants to have a respectable showing and at least mount a challenge for second or third, this issue must be addressed. We cannot afford for Zidane to keep bubble wrapping Ronaldo’s feelings by not substituting him for these ineffective performances in favor of a player who may actually make a difference.

His decision to sub Bale off instead of Ronaldo tonight was an awful decision. It’s time for action to take place. We can’t afford to keep shouldering Ronaldo playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This is Real Madrid, a team that should be winning La Liga’s and Champions Leagues (Or at least put in a respectable challenge).

They are not a Westend theatre handing out baftas for best interpretation of the aforementioned Jekyll and Hyde.

Zidane needs to fix the defense and midfield

And so the horror show that is Real Madrid’s defense this season continues.

Whilst Achraf Hakimi is probably the only individual who actually defensively did his job tonight, his colleagues let him down. The center backs in this game were dismal. Their positioning for the equalizer was pathetic with neither Nacho nor Varane anywhere near the scorer who had ample space and time to nod the ball in.

Alongside that, Marcelo has continued in his absolutely dire form with this match only broadcasting that further. His positioning was nonexistent and his offensive play was useless. He often gave up the ball and decided not to track back with any sense of real urgency.

The Brazilian should be dropped in order to hopefully reignite the fire we saw in him last season. However, with the PSG UCL tie now looming, many are fearing just how much damage the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe will do to this backline is quite frankly a morbid prospect. Unless a serious turnaround is seen, this team may be staring elimination from the Champions League right in the face.

Midfield is another glaring issue. There appears to be absolutely no order in the middle of the park. Whilst Modric and Isco continue to perform, Toni Kroos had an unusually bad game and Casemiro continued his poor form. The Brazilian midfielder has looked shaky all season – partly due to the fact that he has seemingly become a roaming midfielder and this, in turn, has taken the shape away from the midfield.

Casemiro was at his best as a shield for the backline, Zidane needs to restore order and actually rotate. Why are players like Dani Ceballos and Mateo Kovacic still riding the bench?!

Gareth Bale is our main hope of turning everything around

Who’d have thought the forgotten man of last season would be the man we all turn to now? I gave Bale stick for his issues with injuries. Now, he’s Madrid’s last hope to kick-start this season.

The Welshman has looked solid in every performance since his return and he only seems to be getting better. While Ronaldo was wasting chances, Bale was putting them away. His movement on and off the ball was fantastic and he thoroughly deserves the plaudits he got for this game.

What Bale needs right now is for A.) Ronaldo to get his act together and support him or B.) Real Madrid needs to pull it together and sign an adequate partner for him as well as somebody who can be a good back-up.

If Ronaldo pulls his form back and Bale continues in his great form, they should be the undisputed starting spearhead of the attack. Regardless, this showed how badly Madrid need to invest in the market.

Karim Benzema is not good enough any longer to be starting. They need to build this team around Bale right now as he is the best shot they’ve got of achieving anything this year.

Next: Celta Vigo 2 – 2 Real Madrid: Quick take reaction to Madrid’s drab draw

Stay tuned to The Real Champs for more post-match coverage!