What a contest it was! Not a dramatic one, but a very tight game. Villarreal is one such team that is known for giving you the competition to win points. They may never be title contenders, but they prove how great they are in front of the top teams for how Unai Emery has transformed the team, and Real Madrid got to see that first hand.
Villarreal gave a tough competition to Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League final where they won in penalties, to Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup where they lost in penalties, and to Atletico Madrid in the current season where they drew 2-2. And we saw a similar Villarreal in this match too.
The compact team, which sometimes relies on attacking through counters, troubled Real Madrid a lot. After being dominated by Villarreal in the first half, Real Madrid did come out stronger in the second period, dictating most of the half, but didn’t seem to trouble Villarreal much.
Was it entirely Villarreal’s skill and level of performance that outperformed Real Madrid in the first half and created a lot of dangerous chances in the second half? No. There were a lot of faults from the current table toppers and from the manager too. So, what all did Carlo Ancelotti get wrong?
Choosing the wrong Starting Line-up
Yes, it was a surprise. I don’t think anyone even thought about that line-up. Especially the defense. In the past, we have seen Federico Valverde play at the Right Back position once- against Liverpool. But then, Zinedine Zidane didn’t have much choice, unlike Ancelotti.
Yes, he might not want Lucas Vazquez to play at the defensive position, but that didn’t mean he had to play Valverde there either. Similar to the line-up against Mallorca, Real Madrid could have played Miguel Gutierrez at the Left Back and Nacho Fernandez at the Right Back position.
Why? Well, one, because it was previously tested, and the second because Nacho plays better on the right side. Miguel is not just any ordinary full-back who Ancelotti can not trust. Yes, experience matters a lot. But still, Miguel has more experience in his own position, than Federico Valverde has in this new position.
Was it the only mistake though? No. Rodrygo should have been benched and Valverde should’ve played in the midfield, giving Asensio a free role. Many would argue Ancelotti’s decision of starting Asensio ahead of Hazard, but I respect it.
Hazard is slowly coming back to the level he once played at. But, in a crucial game like this one, of course, any manager would prefer a player who is full of confidence and had just scored a hat trick over a player who needs time. Still, Ancelotti was at fault in deciding his starting line-up.
Wrong Substitutions
Villarreal dictated the tempo in the first half and Ancelotti made a half-time substitution replacing Rodrygo Goes with Eduardo Camavinga. Real Madrid did start playing better and had more control. Was it the right time for the substitution? Yes. But was it the right player to be substituted? No. Not at all.
Rodrygo was one of the few players who played better than the rest. He created chances, troubled Alberto Moreno, and also kept Geronimo Rulli under pressure. But the moment he was substituted with Camavinga taking a central role, Asensio moved to the right-wing. He became more invisible there and literally made no impact till he was substituted near the end of the game.
Secondly, Carlo should have brought Miguel on, realizing that Nacho was struggling to attack from the left side. Not only this, he brought Eden Hazard and Isco Alarcon very late in the game. Rather, at least one of them should have replaced Asensio in the 60th minute.
The last fault in the substitutions introduced was the omission of Luka Jovic. If you are still against Jovic then maybe you haven’t been looking at him closely. His volley and header against Mallorca proved to us his dominance in the air. Apart from this, in the game against Valencia, Real Madrid was losing 1-0 before Jovic came on.
He immediately threatened the backline and they had to cover both – Luka Jovic and Karim Benzema. This was what helped Benzema play more freely and we all know what the result was. A 1-2 win with 2 goals in 2 minutes is what helped Real Madrid pick all the 3 points. So, I’m sure Jovic’s presence would have changed the game.
Problems in Real Madrid’s offense
Yes, the tactics were an issue too. And especially with the line-up Real was playing. I have already told the issues with the line-up, so I will now talk about the issues in the attacking tactics with the given line-up. If you would have noticed, Real Madrid was using just two ways to attack:
A) Counter-Attacks:
Most of the counter-attacks were done when Villarreal was taking the corner. What was Real doing on the counter-attacks? It was too simple and predictable. One of Eder Militao or David Alaba would win the header and pass it to Karim Benzema who would be waiting at the edge of the box.
Karim would make the run forward till the end of Real’s half and pass it through to Vinicius who would run forward with the ball trying to escape the opposition’s defenders, but the Villarreal’s players mostly being more than equal to him. And right there, the counter-attack would fail.
B) Crossing into the Box:
The only other offensive tactic was to take the ball wide. One of the full-backs or the wingers would cross the ball into the box. Who was their target? Karim Benzema. Except for during the set pieces, he was the only threat to the Villarreal backline during the crosses. So, it was easy for them.
Raul Albiol and Pau Torres were pretty comfortable with the crosses. If they ever struggle, they would have Rulli punching or handling the ball. So, crosses were never something to trouble Villarreal, especially without the presence of aerial threats like Luka Jovic and that is why crosses did not make much impact.
With both the tactics being predictable and easily dealt with by Villarreal, Real struggled offensively. As under Zinedine Zidane, when Real would struggle to get a breakthrough, he would tell them to shoot from long distances. But this was not what Ancelotti did. If you remember, when Eden Hazard came on, he once had a lot of clear space near Villarreal’s box to take a long shot. But, with Benzema a little ahead of him, Eden decided to pass the ball wider to one of the teammates for them to put the cross in.
Eden could have easily scored from that distance. Then why didn’t he? Was it his confidence? Or was it Ancelotti’s instructions to the Belgian to stick with the tactics? No one knows. But with the way Eden Hazard played, I don’t think he would have had a second thought about shooting from the position he was in unless Ancelotti had given some instructions.
Overall, Ancelotti made some mistakes during the game. But, it is a game to forget and focus on the upcoming game against Sherrif.