Real Madrid: The loss to Mallorca is on Zinedine Zidane
By Hasan Karim
‘All good things must come to an end’. Real Madrid’s unbeaten league start came to an uninspiring close as they lost to Mallorca. With a flat performance being compounded by an embarrassing defeat, this one falls at the feet of Zinedine Zidane.
Real Madrid haven’t lost to Mallorca in a decade – in fact, the last time they lost to them, Gonzalo Higuain scored for Real in a 3-1 loss at home. The last time Real Madrid lost to Mallorca away from home? 2006, a game in which Zinedine Zidane was still playing. Whilst losing is something that can happen, losing with such a dreary performance is unacceptable.
There are plenty of factors that contributed to the loss for Real Madrid today; the side lacked any real intensity as they generated next to no threat. However, despite the players being massively culpable for such a pathetic performance, the biggest portion of the blame falls at the feet of Zinedine Zidane.
Given that Real were without Eden Hazard, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos for this game, rotation was expected. When the team news was announced, many were left perplexed at what the Frenchman was trying to implement. The Frenchman rolled Casemiro and Isco as a two, James on the right, Vinicius on the left with Benzema and Jovic up top.
A very guns blazing set-up, but it seemed that the gun was firing nothing but blanks all evening. Real mustered up one decent chance all game with Benzema hitting the bar. Outside of that? Nothing. The lack of chance creation did not warrant the decision to leave the midfield so exposed and it backfired when Mallorca scored.
After the hosts took the lead, Los Blancos never looked like they had it in them to figure out how to break the dam. With the the first half concluding, it was clear changes were needed. Isco lacked sharpness which showed in his performance. The decision to field the Spaniard was particularly frustrating when you consider Fede Valverde, the perfect two-way midfielder to complement Casemiro, was left on the bench.
When the game resumed in the second half, no changes were made to the XI. However, the team did move players around, with James Rodriguez moving to the left and Isco drifted further up, but this made little impact in the way of changing the result. The team lacked any systematic cohesion in the build-up, and it left players looking either lost or completely isolated.
Once the changes were finally made, it seemed too little too late. The game had descended into chaos as Zidane’s men hopelessly chased the game. As the second half ran down, it seemed less and less likely that Real would pull it back.
Once the final whistle sounded, anger was the only logical emotion. This was a perfectly winnable game for Real, even with stars missing. Mallorca had won just one of their previous few games and were not in the ascendency heading into this game.
Next. 3 bright spots from loss to Mallorca. dark
Zidane’s heavy rotation now looks foolish more than anything – yes, they have a crucial game against Galatasaray in midweek, however, that does not excuse this result nor the decision to rotate so heavily.
With Barçelona now a point ahead, and Atlético have continuing their misfiring start, Real are playing chase in the league. The only solace? Hazard, Kroos and Bale will at least be featuring in the coming games.