Real Madrid: 3 reasons why the attack has been struggling this Fall

Real Madrid are fourth in the league table at the November international break and rank even lower in terms of goals scored.

Last season, Real Madrid didn’t win La Liga because of their attack. They won their 34th league title because of a world-class defense that ranked first among all teams in Europe’s top five leagues in goals allowed.

This season, the defense has taken a step back due to injuries and a couple of underperforming players. So there have been six defenses in the league that have allowed fewer goals than Real Madrid, who have suddenly struggled to keep clean sheets.

But when watching Real, the biggest problem is their attack. They fail to transition into attacks properly, leaving them open to making mistakes that enable easy counterattack goals for the opposition. Their finishing remains weak. And their attacking play is far too stagnant. There are many individual players who aren’t meeting expectations either.

Here are three reasons why Los Blancos’ attack has been poor to start the 2020-2021 season.

Real Madrid are still too reliant on Karim Benzema

Ultimately, a lot of their issues boil down to how much they have to rely on one club legend to carry the team’s scoring. When Karim Benzema had a slump this season, Real were absolutely woeful in front of goal, and that magnified their overall reliance on Benzema.

He led the team in goals and assists last season, and he was also the team’s lone bright spot as a goal-scorer in the disastrous 2018-2019 campaign. And now this season, Benzema is the team’s leader with four goals in La Liga and two goals in the Champions League.

Without Benzema, Real would be in serious trouble in both competitions, though they are already facing must-win matches in both the league and European football coming out of the November break due to their poor start to the season.

Other players need to step up. Real Madrid need much, much more from Marco Asensio, who has zero goal contributions this season. After a great start to the season, Vinicius Junior has been invisible lately. Luka Jovic has similarly faded out of the picture.

Benzema needs help. It’s the same exact story as last year. Hopefully, a healthy Eden Hazard can be the answer, but, unfortunately, that’s something Real cannot fully count on.