Real Madrid: 3 takeaways from Los Blancos’ 4-1 win over Alaves

Faults that must be fixed sooner rather than later

As good as this win felt, there were some things that made it a little less enjoyable. It was not a perfect win, it was far from it, and some of those imperfections may not have mattered against Alaves, but those things need to improve in the long run if Real Madrid want to challenge on all fronts. Those things can end up being decisive against better opposition, or if Real Madrid aren’t as lucky as they were this time around.

For example, there were a few things that were off in the first half, as I mentioned. Other than that, two players out of the 11 that started were far from their best.

Lucas Vazquez didn’t have a great game, in my opinion. He was found out of position many times, and there were many situations involving him that could’ve turned out to be game-changing moments, had Alaves taken those chances. He faced difficulty in transition defense. He didn’t track his man’s runs whenever the ball was crossed into the box. It was just basic full-back stuff that he wasn’t able to pull off because well, he’s not a natural full-back.

Vazquez can and will do better, though. We’ve seen him play much better and he will improve.

Another player was Eder Militao, who didn’t look comfortable with the ball. There was obviously the error that led to the penalty, but other than that he just wasn’t able to handle the press from Alaves all that great. The Brazilian also made a few uncharacteristic mistakes, and his chemistry with Vazquez wasn’t great.

Real Madrid have faith in Militao. The Brazilian will have to return it if he wants to keep his place in the starting XI, which is something he should do in the upcoming games. As I said, I’m not that worried, he should be alright, but if things like this happen in a more difficult game, he will have to face the consequences

One more thing I noticed is that the pressing, in general, was OK, but in some sequences, it was either too little or too much as it allowed Alaves to break into Real Madrid’s half in numbers. There was a sequence in the first half where both Alaba and Nacho committed to the press, but Alaves played through it, which left a huge gap in the defense for Casemiro and Nacho to cover all by themselves.

Little things like this will need some polishing, and I’m certain that it’ll happen since it’s only the start of the season. The most important thing was that Real Madrid win their first game and they did just that, in an emphatic fashion.