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As far as achievements and history are concerned, there are very few clubs in the world that can rival Real Madrid. They have always set a very high standard but in this season their performances in both domestic and European competitions have been disastrous. In the Champions League, they were defeated by CSKA Moscow on both legs of their encounter and were recently humiliated by Real Sociedad in front of the Bernabeu faithful.
Julen Lopetegui was sacked and was replaced by Solari after the El Clasico humiliation but they are still struggling to get back to their usual best. Several factors have been associated with this poor showing by Los Blancos and experts have proposed a plethora of options to improve the overall team performance of the Los Blancos.
In this article, we will take a look at the few necessary changes required to get the Real Madrid team back on track.
1. Replacing Florentino Perez
Almost a decade has passed since Perez took over as the club’s president and on paper, the results have been impressive. But, by looking deeply into the amount of money he has spent and managers sacked, it is clear that Perez has made a lot of questionable decisions. It is fair to say that Barcelona has convincingly dominated Real Madrid in the last decade at the domestic level and the main reason for this decline is Perez’s reluctance to find a long term solution for the club’s problems.
His tendency to make transfer decisions on his own without consultation and the influence he has on the team selection process has not helped the Los Blancos in any way. He has failed to find a proper replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo and his decision to appoint Lopetegui as the manager has proved to be disastrous for the club’s fortunes this season. Real Madrid is in dire need of a fresh face to run the club and unless Madrid script an impressive turnaround, Perez will find it difficult to retain his position.
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2. Signing an experienced striker
During his nine years at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 451 goals with a goal ratio of 1.2 and it is simply impossible to find someone who can match his goal scoring record. Everyone expected Real Madrid to sign a solid centre forward from one of Europe’s top 5 Leagues, someone who can score 30 goals per season and give some confidence to the rest of the team.
While they did sign the youngster Mariano Diaz who had scored 18 goals for Lyon in the 2017/18 Ligue 1 season, he was never a regular starter in the lineup and got injured when Madrid was in the midst of a crisis. Karim Benzema has never been a consistent goalscorer and Real Madrid must find a classic number 9 in the summer transfer window.
If they don’t finish in the top three this season, Madrid won’t be hesitant to pay a few extra bucks to sign Lewandowski or Icardi for a huge sum.
3. Adapting a single formation
Real Madrid have never been known to play a particular brand of football and the tactics have changed according to the comfort of the manager. Zinedine Zidane majorly employed a 4-1-2-3 with Casemiro screening the defence. Zidane insisted on sturdy defence and transitioning at full throttle.
When Lopetegui took over, he changed the system to a 4-3-3 and wanted the team to retain possession of the ball. He also deployed a very high defensive line and that caused a lot of problems for Real Madrid. Solari has also favoured possession-based football and has continuously deployed 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 formation.
These regular changes in the team’s playing style this season has unsettled the players and the role of each player is not well defined. Since Madrid are conceding a lot of goals this season, the most suitable formation could be a 4-2-3-1 with two rock-solid in the central midfield with Casemiro and a more creative Marcus Llorente at the heart of the defence.
4. Managing the workload of key players
In October 2018, Luka Modric openly accepted that he is not playing anywhere close to his best this season and said that he was in dire need of ample rest after a tiring world cup campaign.
Three months have passed since he made that statement and to everyone’s surprise, he has still not been granted any off time from football. This season, Toni Kroos has looked like a shadow of his own self and sometimes looks bored during the middle of a game. Gareth Bale has been plagued by injuries again and age is slowly getting to Marcelo and Sergio Ramos.
All these players have been an integral part of this team for a long time and the question is whether Madrid should still rely solely on these players. Dani Ceballos, Valverde and Llorente have all impressed with their performances this season and it is time for Real Madrid to start trusting these young bloods by giving them more game time by rotating the key players effectively.
