Tactical Analysis: Decoding Real Madrid’s defensive flaws

4. Finally, conceding goals of a very avoidable nature

It’s fair to think of it as just pure misfortune if it happens to your team once or twice but it seems as if Los Blancos have developed a reputation for conceding these very avoidable goals. Of course subjectivity on most counts of a bad foul or an instance of poor zonal marking on corners can be debated upon endlessly. But with most of these examples it does seem to be a clear-cut case of either a lack of discipline or general awareness or both.

These account for goals conceded as a direct result of corner-kicks, free-kicks, penalties etc. The vulnerability on set pieces has always been an issue ever since the Ramos-Varane era ended. As already mentioned, players like Alaba and Mendy suffer from defensive dead-ball situations while others like Militao and Rudiger excel.

Apart from set pieces other examples include cheeky near post finishes (Rayo’s second goal), goals as a result of a lost 1v1s out wide (like against Barcelona) or from range. Real Madrid seem to be allowing teams to get into such positions more often than they did in previous seasons. That is both unusual and takes us back to the other aspects of our general play as already discussed.