Real Madrid: The Ups and Downs from a humiliating loss to Valencia

STAGNANT OFFENSE

There was no real threat coming from Real Madrid in the second half. That’s because the offense was stagnant. There wasn’t enough movement, no real impact with the things that they did, most of which was just crossing the ball:

Isco played for 82 minutes but he didn’t do enough to make a case for Zidane to consider him as a regular starter for the team. He tried some things in the first half but even that waned down in the second. Marco Asensio didn’t have a good game at all. Apart from a couple of moments, he was a bystander, like in the game against Huesca, and had a long walk of introspection after his substitution. Vinicius also didn’t do much, he tried to take on players but lacked productivity and was pretty ineffective. Karim Benzema, apart from this brilliant goal, didn’t have a lot to do either.

After going behind, Real Madrid just looked like a team that had accepted defeat. There was no real threat coming from them in the second half, even less so after conceding the third and fourth.

VALVERDE’S INJURY

Well, the long list of Real Madrid injuries just got even longer. Fede Valverde, who has probably been Real Madrid’s best player this season, has fractured a bone in the game against Valencia. Even though Odegaard has returned, Zidane will definitely miss the energy and work-rate of Fede, who is going to be out for at least a month.

This was a pretty tough article to write. Real Madrid need to improve, and fast, and need some sort of inspiration to keep them going. Things like this can’t happen every other game. Things need to change. The players should be a lot more focused.

They face Villarreal after the international break. The Yellow Submarine are very talented, and are playing good football under Unai Emery, and second in the league table with 18 points. With no Casemiro or Eden Hazard yet again, it remains to be seen how the team will improve in the coming weeks.