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As Real Madrid's derailed season looked to come back on its track, the Los Blancos find themselves in further more misery with the turn of the calendar.
Following a laudable end to 2018 with a Club World Cup win for the third successive year, Santiago Solari's men find themselves in the same situation from where Solari took over from Julen Lopetegui, who was sacked following a series of woeful results.
Kicking off the new year, the Spanish giants got underway with a 2-2 draw against the 17th-placed Villareal side. Yesterday, Real Sociedad outperformed the hosts with a 2-0 win in the Bernabeu. Let go of the scoreline, the visitors got the better of Solari's side in every expect of the game. Real Madrid never failed to gain control of the match for the entire ninety minutes.
With the recent defeat, Solari's men find themselves on the fifth spot of the LaLiga table, ten points adrift of their eternal rivals, FC Barcelona, who're comfortably sitting on the top of the table.
While the managers and the squad are becoming the scapegoats for the mishappening in the Bernabeu, let's take a look at three things that have led the thirteen-time European champions into this misery.
#3 Failure in the transfer market
Florentino Perez, known for his dominant approach to the transfer market, has failed to deliver in the recent past. The Galactico policy, brought forward by Perez, allowed the Los Blancos to sign expensive, world-famous football players to represent the Spanish giants.
However, James Rodriguez, who is on loan to Bayern Munich, was the last Galactico signing made by the Madrid president.
Real Madrid's attack was built around Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Juventus, last summer. The Portuguese forward was the man to look upon when goals where needed, as he satisfied, being the all-time top scorer of the Galacticos.
However, since his departure to Turin, Real Madrid failed to bring a top-quality goal scorer who can fill the attacking void left by Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite being heavily linked with the likes of Neymar Jr, Kylian Mbappe, Mauro Icardi, and Eden Hazard.
#2 Players not stepping up
With Cristiano Ronaldo now gone to Juventus, the Los Blancos needs someone to step up and take the responsibility to lead Real Madrid's attack.
A team with Real Madrid's tenure is expected to score a handful of goals in each fixture, however, they've managed to score just 26 league goals, this season, nearly half as compared to FC Barcelona's 50.
With Karim Benzema struggling for his goal-scoring form for the past few seasons, Gareth Bale was expected to lead the frontline for the Los Blancos. However, his usual affair with the injuries continues as he has failed to take Ronaldo's throne in his absence.
While on the other hand, Marco Asensio said that, "I'm not the one to take charge. There are other players in the club with more experience who should be taking the charge". Clearly, cementing the fact that players are hesitating to step up since Ronaldo's departure.
#3 Sloppy Defence
Apart from the inability to attack, Real Madrid's main problem lies in their defence. Going through the history of the club, when a clean sheet was expected, Los Blancos have allowed two-three goals providing the most unexpected results.
We're halfway into the season and the Galacticos have already conceded 23 goals, three less than have managed to score.
This has been one of the worst defensive records in Real Madrid's history. Most of the times, the backline is wide open and oppositions find it easy to penetrate into the dangerous positions. With the start of the new year, Solari's men have already conceded 4 goals in just two matches.
When the attackers fail to score, the defenders can save the day for you. For example, Atletico Madrid, known for their rigid defence, have scored the same number of goals as Real Madrid but they've allowed ten fewer goals as compared to the Los Blancos. Real Madrid needs to sort their defensive woes quickly if they have to get at least something out of this season.
