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When Real Madrid finished the 2016-17 season on a high, claiming both La Liga and UEFA Champions League titles, while blowing their opponents out of the water.
As a result, a lot was expected from Los Blancos once the 2017-18 season commenced. While the team did oblige by claiming UEFA Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup during pre-season, there was a sharp decline in the team's form, especially in the league. That decline resulted in Madrid virtually losing the La Liga title by the end of December.
Since the turn of the year, however, Los Blancos upped the ante, especially in the Champions League, which resulted in an unprecedented 3rd successive title. That was the only saving grace from a rather forgettable season for the club.
What then, did Real Madrid get wrong during the 2017-18 season? Here are the 3 things:
#3 Transfer policy
One of the main reasons which propelled Los Blancos to a historic double during the 2016-17 season was the presence of a terrific squad, comprising of James Rodriguez, Alvaro Morata and many more. These players were instrumental in grinding out results in the absence of regular starters such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric.
Since these squad players, especially Morata and James, weren't happy with their bit-part role, they were allowed to leave the club along with Pepe, Danilo, and Mariano Diaz and without adequate replacements, this turned out to be a huge blunder.
The players that the club bought as replacements were simply not good enough to fill the void left by James and company. Also, the club hierarchy's decision to sell both Diaz and Morata, while retaining Karim Benzema was pathetic, to say the least.
Although the club made some great signings in the name of Dani Ceballos, Marcos Llorente, to name a few, the club made a big mistake by expecting too much from these youngsters, especially in their first season.
#2 Poor La Liga defence
Although Real handsomely beat Barcelona during the Spanish Super Cup, Ronaldo was handed a 5 game suspension following his red card in the 1st leg. This incident turned out to be too hot to handle for the Merengues, which was evident during the initial stages of the 2017-18 league season.
During Ronaldo's absence, the attack looked blunt at times, and even after Ronaldo's return, his form took an unexpected nosedive, which resulted in Madrid dropping crucial points against minnows such as Girona. To make things even worse, Zidane persisted with the same 4-4-2 diamond formation despite Isco's loss of form, which affected Ronaldo's efficiency as an attacker, since he relied on his off-the-ball movement to get in good goal-scoring positions.
Things reached the absolute climax when Barcelona demolished Real at the Santiago Bernabeu. This was their 3rd loss even before the Christmas break, which was the exact same number of games that the team lost during the entire 2016-17 season. That loss was the ultimate nail in the coffin for the Blancos, which virtually ended their title defense.
#1 Prioritizing wrong
After the defeat against Barcelona in the first Liga Clasico of the season, one thing was sure that Madrid was not going to mount a serious challenge for the title and given the unpredictability of the Champions League, it was important to prioritize Copa Del Rey in order to not go the whole season trophyless, but the club got its priorities all wrong.
During the second leg of the quarter-final of the Copa Del Rey, Zidane's decision to field a second string side paid rich dividends for opponents Leganes. The team from the outskirts of Madrid made no mistake in dumping Real out of the King's Cup, further piling misery on the already disappointing domestic campaign.
Although Los Blancos salvaged some pride by winning Champions League, it was still a disappointing result for a club which was tipped to win the treble even before the beginning of the season.
