Real Madrid: 3 ways Eden Hazard has been missed
3) Breaking down low blocks
There has been a consistent theme in all of Real Madrid’s games this season. If a team decides to press Los Blancos high up on the pitch, Madrid will most probably bypass the press after a certain period and score a goal. Real have enough press resistant players to easily play through a press. But Los Blancos have struggled when a team decides to sit back and set up a low block.
In the past, the main reason Madrid would struggle against such teams would have been getting caught on the counter attack and conceding a goal. This season Los Blancos have zipped up their transition defense so getting caught in transition isn’t an issue. No, the issue this season has been creating goal-scoring chances against teams who set up a low block.
While Madrid has great players who patiently play the ball around from side to side to break down a low block, it doesn’t work all the time. In situations like this, you need a player who can run directly at the defense, dribble out of tight spaces and drag defenders out of position creating space for their teammates.
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The only players capable of doing that in Real Madrid are Eden Hazard and Vinicius Jr. However, Vinicius still has to improve a lot in terms of his decision making and can’t affect a game the same way Hazard does yet. So in reality, Eden is the only player capable of consistently breaking down low blocks through his dribbling and ability to get out of tight spaces.