Bad times at the Bernabéu: Real Madrid’s four biggest problems right now

After another poor result, this time in the Champions League to minnows CSKA, Real Madrid is staring down the barrel with the season just a month old. Oh, and collective tongues have started wagging again about the Ronaldo-shaped void in the team.

The 3-0 defeat to Sevilla last week was easily dismissed as a foregone conclusion given Real Madrid’s historic struggles at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Another goalless stalemate to city rivals Atletico Madrid was deemed as a fair result given the stature of the Madrid Derby. But we were certainly not expecting a tame 1-0 loss to CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.

Three games without a win. Three games without a goal. Pandora’s box has officially opened, and the Whites look absolutely stunned. And why not? From winning the first three league games at a canter to horribly misfiring in the last few games, things have plunged faster then you could say, Jack Robinson.

Although the season is barely six weeks old, the on-field performances have raised plenty of concerns. There’s nothing to write home about this team right now, barring a plethora of negatives. But cutting our beloved team some slack, I’ll write the four biggest problems currently plaguing the European champions.

Attacking woes

To quote the cliche, “let’s address the elephant in the room”. Real Madrid has scored as many goals in the last three games as Liverpool’s Premier League medals. Yup, the same team that has cleaned every European biggie’s clock in the last three years is now enduring it’s longest barren run in 11 years. That points to some serious attacking woes.

Gareth Bale’s bright start to the season is once again blighted by injuries that has sent him back to the dreaded treatment room. On the flipside, Karim Benzema’s revival looks ephemeral, unfortunately.

Forget scoring, the Frenchman hasn’t even mustered a single shot on target in the last six games! Summer arrival Mariano Díaz returned to a lot of fanfare but is struggling to get time on the field. Marco Asensio has still not refined his talent while Isco is having a patchy run too.

So in a nutshell, Real Madrid is like the Ruger GP100 revolver without it’s .357 Magnum cartridge. And to make matters worse, trolls taking digs at president Florentino Perez’s decision to sell Cristiano Ronaldo have once again started to surface.

The Portuguese cannot be replaced per se, but the club’s failure to bring a marquee forward with a promise of goals is coming back to bite, while just giving away his iconic No. 7 shirt to another player wasn’t the solution.

For a team that’s notorious for banging in hundreds of goals every season, scoring one has now become the hardest job.