3 things Real Madrid must do to avoid dropping points to Granada

Real Madrid must be disciplined defensively

This match against Granada is the sort of match Real Madrid should be winning, and the easiest way for them to lose is to beat themselves. If they do not allow a goal, there is a high chance they win the match. That seems obvious, but I want to underscore that Granada have only one player with more than two goals, and he is their lone attacking threat. That is none other than Luis Suarez.

Outside of him, there is nobody else to worry about. That is, unless Real Madrid make two critical mistakes, which are mistakes they have often made against teams in the league that they should be defeating.

The first is mistakes in the penalty box on set pieces, or, as a corollary, giving up set pieces through needless fouling.

And the second mistake is more common. It is simply losing sight of markers or not defending as a team in transition. As a corollary to this comment, Real Madrid cannot give easy transition opportunities through ill-advised passes out of the back or square balls over the middle of the pitch in the attack.

If Real Madrid can make Thibaut Courtois’ life easy and keep Granada to shots outside the box, forcing them to dribble through Los Blancos one-on-one, then they will be in business. Granada do not have the attacking quality to hurt Real, unless Real make things easy for them through a lack of discipline. Nowadays, passing is a part of the defensive strategy, too, so Real must follow the lead of their midfield maestros, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, by making smart plays on the ball.

Thankfully, their center backs, Eder Militao and David Alaba, have been just as wonderful in this regard. Now, it’s up to the entire team to play with this kind of calmness and intelligence.