Being the manager of Real Madrid is never an easy task by any means. Unfortunately, Xabi Alonso experienced this first-hand before being dismissed following the club’s 3-2 loss to Barcelona in the Super Cup final.
There has never been any doubt about the managerial capabilities the former Real Madrid midfielder possesses, as evidenced by his time at Bayer Leverkusen, where Alonso delivered incredible success, including an unbeaten Bundesliga title-winning season.
Madrid fans would have surely loved to see Alonso repeat the same success at their club as well, but things clearly did not work out as many had hoped.
For now, Alvaro Arbeloa has been entrusted with the task of steering the team forward, and he has some key issues to address in order to get the best output from his squad as Los Blancos head into one of the most vital periods of this season.
One of the most important issues among those is the synergy between the Real players. In fact, Arbeloa has recently spoken about it, as reported by Madrid Zone, and stated:
"Yes it's definitely a goal for me to create a great partnership between Vini, Mbappe and Jude, but not just them, the rest of the team as well.
He added:
The players who play close to each other need to have a good connection. It will keep getting better with time."
Alvaro Arbeloa is already working on fixing what Xabi Alonso neglected
Real Madrid are consistently home to some of the best players in the world. As a result, handling egos and building chemistry among the superstars of the team is one of the first things a manager has to take care of at the club.
During Alonso’s time, some incidents pointed to the fact that the Spaniard might have fallen a bit short of doing so. In the meantime this recent interview from Arbeloa certainly brings relief as he is already focused on that aspect.
Nevertheless, Real are now on a three-game winning streak across all competitions, with Kylian Mbappe regularly on the scoresheet. Moreover, Vinicius Junior, who has reportedly been the subject of a Chelsea swap proposal, is also showing flashes of his old self and looks more confident.
Meanwhile, Real are set to face Benfica next in their final group-stage match. The Portuguese giants are currently managed by Jose Mourinho who needs no introduction. As a result, it won’t be an easy matchup for Real, and Arbeloa will have to get his tactics spot on to win this one.