Real Madrid: Five Takeaways From The Season So Far

Real Madrid have a lot of issues that scream of changes. It’s only a matter of time before they collectively start proving to be too much.

Real Madrid have had a rocky start to the season, to say the least. They have been conceding goals, they have not been scoring that many of them. They are being very inconsistent with both performances and results. That’s essentially the story of this already bizarre season.

Los Blancos have had injuries pile up, their depth truly tested due to these injuries. They have been lacking in front of goal, as has been the case for the past two seasons. They’ve also been lacking defensively, conceding goals through individual and collective mistakes, which wasn’t the case last season. In fact, their defense won them the league title.

Here, let’s take a look at the five takeaways from the season so far, both the good sides and the bad, and what Zidane can do to change the stuff he has got wrong.

The defense

The defense — just like every other part of the team’s system, but more than others — has been shaky at times, and inconsistent. This was a very unfortunate reminder of how it was at the start of Zidane’s second tenure.

Real Madrid have conceded 17 goals in 14 games, which is just over a goal per game. But, if you remove the clean sheets, the team has conceded 17 goals in nine games, and 13 of them coming in just five of them, which is just less than three per game. That’s exactly what I’m trying to explain here: At times, the defense has been good, but more often than not, it hasn’t been nearly as good as last season’s. It’s been the same thing in the attack as well. 24 goals in 14 games isn’t a good return at all (more on that later); even less so when you’re conceding this much as well, you know?

The main reason for it is the lack of certain players: Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos among others have been absentees because of injuries, while Ferland Mendy has been an absentee due to rotation. Playing Marcelo just gives the team a lot of problems on the defensive end, and it is probably best to start Mendy as much as possible.

In all honesty, though, the game against Inter was a good sign. Real Madrid were excellent in that game on both ends, in what was probably their best performance of the season. That too without Karim and Sergio. It was pretty fun to watch. I know how they performed against Alaves, more on that later as well.