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Real Madrid is one of the biggest and most successful clubs in the world. The club is the 3-time consecutive winner of the prestigious Champions League. The club currently has 8 players in the Ballon d'Or shortlist. Many of their players will go down as legends and will be remembered for a long time.
However, all is not rosy at Real Madrid since their 3-time Champions League winning manager Zidane has left the club. Their legendary talisman Christiano Ronaldo has shifted to Juventus.
At the start of their season, they lost the European Supercup to their crosstown rivals Athletico Madrid. They recently went on one of their lengthiest goal droughts in a long time. So what are the problems that caused the current disastrous scenario in which they reside?
#5 Defensive Lapses
Real Madrid have always been leaky at the back but with some of the top attacking players in the world, they just hid the cracks. The Real Madrid fullbacks are some of the best attackers and move forward when their team attacks and this is now compounded by the high defensive line employed by Lopetegui's tactic.
This leads to a large space being left behind, and when against Barcelona, it leads to their defence being shredded to pieces. Sergio Ramos had come to the club as a 19-year-old and when he will undoubtedly retire as a legend having won all major titles in football.
However, the hidden truth is that he has been waning for years. With goals aplenty, it was overlooked. While the players are still classy, their occasional lapse in concentration has leaked many a goal. The team also lacks proper backups to their first team defence and it has turned into a major problem. This season they have already shipped in 14 goals from their opening 10 LaLiga games. It is high time Real sorted their defensive dilemma.
#2 Ageing Core
There is a proverb that "All good things must come to an End ". There were times when they walked into the pitch and win was a guarantee, but not anymore. Every great team faces this daunting prospect of replacing their stars and the time has come at last for Real Madrid to do so.
The core of the team including Modric, Benzema, Ramos, Marcelo have all been playing together for a long time. These are some of their most consistent players and are approaching or have reached the wrong side of 30 and are slowly losing their touch.
While a complete overhaul may not yield the desired results, the time has come for the board to address this fact as there have been many an instance of teams failing to keep up with their A-game on changing their core (just look at Manchester United). The time has come for the board to splash the cash or to grow their youth and replace their above-mentioned stars.
#3 Managerial Selection
Julian Lopetegui is a good manager. But was he the right one to have been selected by Real Madrid post-Zidane and Ronaldo to lead them? Not so much. His previous club managerial stints came at Rayo Vallecano, FC Porto and surely they are not clubs of the same pedigree as Real Madrid(no disrespect meant).
He was not a serial winner nor was his playing style the one Real Madrid employed while they were enjoying success. His only notable stint came with the Spanish National Team as they went unbeaten for 20 games. But was that enough for him to land one of the biggest managerial jobs in the planet?
Was that enough to lead a group of footballing geniuses and win them over? Was it prudent to thrust a massive job to Lopetegui when the board judged serial winners such as Mourinho & Ancelotti unworthy? Questions need to be asked of the Board & Perez
#4 Ronaldo's exit and the lack of proper striker
Christiano Ronaldo is a phenom and he needs no introduction.A supreme athlete, a footballing legend and a sale of such a genius are unthinkable but that's what Real Madrid did. The board decided that it was prudent to let go of their greatest player and goalscorer and it was equal to ripping off the Band-Aid from an open wound.
He was someone who papered off the cracks at Real Madrid and made the club look invulnerable. After he left the first few matches were hopeful as Real Madrid came out on top & everyone was starting to make his departure a small loss but without him bailing the club out of crunch times, the fortune of the club changed.
It was unwise of the Real Madrid board to let go of Ronaldo without obtaining a proper player who could guarantee a portion of his insane goal stats. Benzema is no longer the world beater he used to be and it is high time the board addressed it.
#5 Injuries and lack of Squad Depth
Injuries have been the main reason behind the downfall of this team. Right when the team had started playing as a cohesive unit, crucial players were hit with injury. Bale as always was one of the first to be injured followed by Isco and so on, and this led to Lopetegui's downfall.
With such crucial attacking players injured it shouldn't have as a surprise when the goals dried up. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem had proper backups been available as was the case in the LaLiga title-winning season under Zidane.
Players such as Rodriguez and Morata are game changers and they helped the team get over many a crunch situation. Injuries are part and parcel of the modern day and no team can hope to win a title without proper backups and Real Madrid at this moment precisely lacks backups.
The task and challenge at hand for the next manager of Real Madrid is a big one.
