Real Madrid: How Ferland Mendy impacts the defense

It’s important for every Real Madrid fan to know how crucial Ferland Mendy is to this team. The things that he brings to the table are too good to ignore. Heck, I can even say that there is no full-back in football right now who is as defensively sound as Ferland Mendy. It has been like that ever since he joined Real Madrid, and the impact he’s had on the team cannot be ignored.

Many people could still talk about whether it was Zinedine Zidane’s system that turned Real Madrid’s formerly vulnerable defense into one of the best in the world. I think it was a mix of both the system and the players used. But, for Ferland Mendy, I think it was less about the system and more about his quality.

Ferland Mendy is more crucial to Real Madrid’s success than we initially thought

This season he is proving that point. Of course, it’s no secret that Ancelotti’s Real Madrid hasn’t been the best defensively. They’ve actually been pretty bad, especially before Mendy’s return from injury, and usually rely on heroics from Karim Benzema, Vinicius Jr, Eder Militao and Thibaut Courtois for victories.

I came across something very interesting, some statistics that prove how important Mendy is to Real Madrid now.

Brought out originally by AS, it has been concocted that since Ferland Mendy’s return, Real Madrid have only conceded 0.6 goals per game (six matches played, four goals conceded). However, before Mendy’s return, they were conceding double the amount of goals per game in 10 matches (12 goals in 10 matches). It just shows how at ease Real Madrid’s defense is with the Frenchman in the squad.

In La Liga, he’s averaging 2.67 blocks, 1.33 clearances, 2.67 interceptions per 90 this season. He also hasn’t been dribbled past in the four league games that he’s played. He averages 2.22 tackles per 90 in the Champions League as well.

I think it’s even more critical to have Mendy in the line-up than it was last season, because of the defense not being as good as a whole with both Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane gone. Moreover, Zidane’s not there anymore, either, so it makes it really tough for this season’s Real to keep clean sheets when Mendy’s not around

One more thing that Mendy does is he covers for David Alaba extremely well, and vice versa. Whenever Alaba goes up the pitch on one of his darting runs into the attacking third as a makeshift full-back, Mendy does his best to hold his ground defensively and cover for his Austrian teammate.

In return, Alaba makes sure Mendy is helped whenever the Frenchman is being pressed by the opposition. Alaba’s incredible press resistance and Mendy’s defensive awareness make this duo one to watch for the rest of the season, and even beyond.

It’s fair to say that every Real Madrid fan that truly appreciates Mendy for what he is, hopes that the Frenchman is around for the foreseeable future, and that the injuries from last season don’t bother him anymore. It’s imperative to have him in the squad for the biggest games, and I can’t really see us doing that well without him, especially if Ancelotti doesn’t even trust the former Lyon man’s supposed understudy, Miguel Gutierrez.