3 big issues concerning Real Madrid under Lopetegui

Barely two months into his new job, things haven’t turned out to be quite as good as what Real Madrid head coach Julen Lopetegui would have hoped.

He was given the marching orders by Spain just before the World Cup began and now he is on the verge of being shown the exit door from Santiago Bernabeu too: Real Madrid are seventh in the LaLiga standings, albeit only four points behind leaders Barcelona.

However, their recent form: four losses, one draw and only one win in the last six games put a big question mark over Lopetegui’s capability of leading the team which were crowned Champions League title for three consecutive seasons. And to make it worse, now the Spaniard and his busted flushes are facing their biggest challenge of the season: a visit to Camp Nou for the El Clasico.

A loss would likely get Lopetegui a phone call from Florentino Perez giving him his notice.

Beneath all the crumbles, there are three main reasons why Real Madrid failing under their new manager:

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#3 Cracks in Real Madrid team were present even before Lopetegui was even appointed

Real Madrid's defence has been atrocious

Although the Champions League podium spotlight outshone the problems, there were times when the media were abuzz with Real Madrid crisis in the first half of the 2017/18 season.

Real Madrid ended third in the LaLiga table, 17 points behind Barcelona. The most worrying part for the capital club was that they conceded 44 goals from 38 league games – twice as many to what Atletico Madrid conceded and 15 more than Barcelona.

This season, Los Blancos conceded nine goals from nine games, which is slightly better than last season’s average of 1.3. An improvement, indeed – but not quite enough. Lopetegui’s decision to keep utilising his defence high up the pitch, as what is seen against Levante, made his team prone to counter attacks and left spaces behind to be punished by the opponents.

To make it even worse, on the other side of the pitch, his offensive line is also misfiring terribly.

#2 Ronaldo-less attack has failed to click consistently

After a good start, Bale and Benzema have lost their shooting boots

Marcelo's 72nd-minute goal against Levante couldn't save Real Madrid from the embarrassment of a loss. That particular goal, however, ended Los Blancos' run of 482 minutes without a goal.

This is what separates Lopetegui and his predecessor Zinedine Zidane. Under the Frenchman's tenure, Real recorded a 73-game scoring streak between April 2016 and September 2017.

From nine league games this season, Real pocketed 13 goals. Compare that to Zidane's men that had scored 18 goals last year. The fact that a full-back ended the goal drought for the team says it all.

One can argue that losing Cristiano Ronaldo was a huge factor in creating Real's attacking issues. He was indeed the main source of goals for the team. In his last season too, he struck a total of 44 goals including 27 goals in LaLiga.

Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Marco Asensio, who were hoped to fill the boots of the now Juventus man, have only combined eight league goals in total - fewer than a goal per game.

This problem tracks to another pertinent point of Real's failure to do the business in summer's transfer window.

#1 Real Madrid were dormant for most of the summer

Real Madrid beefed up the goalkeeping position, while attack was the most pressing concern

Before the transfer window shut, Real Madrid did sign Thibaut Courtois but did not land a forward to fill the void left by Ronaldo. Big names like Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Eden Hazard were linked to Real, but it was Lyon's Marino Diaz who was eventually announced as new signing instead.

The club president Florentino Perez lashed back to the criticism and insisted they had acquired what they needed in summer: "We had an exceptional squad already and we took advantage of this time to reinforce various areas," Perez said as quoted in Marca.

"The best goalkeeper of the World Cup, (Thibaut) Courtois, has arrived; a great defender in Odriozola; a goalkeeper with an extraordinary future (Lunin), one of the great rising stars of Brazilian football in Vinicius as well as Valverde and Reguilon from the academy.

"Now we can add Mariano, who has goal scoring in his DNA."

Mariano has featured only four times in LaLiga - three of which have been from the bench - and has not scored in any of those games.

In the end, the failure to find an alternative goal source in transfer window, either because of Perez's hesitation to spend big or inability to attract big targets, has caused problems to Lopetegui's early reign - which won't be any longer if the situation persists.