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After three games without scoring a single goal, the trumpets are blaring at the Bernabeu. After all, it has been a long time since the Blancos have achieved such an infamous feat.
This never happened under Zinedine Zidane and definitely not with Cristiano Ronaldo in the team. Dropping points against Sevilla and Atletico Madrid always plays a fear at the back of the minds of Madridistas. However, not being able to take out anything against CSKA Moscow is perhaps the lowest point in Lopetegui’s short Madrid career thus far.
With this, there are calls for the former Spain boss to be sacked. If things don’t improve, there is actually a chance that Lopetegui will have to face a fate similar to what Rafa Benitez tasted during his time at the Bernabeu.
However, it would be naïve of Florentino Perez to sack him and here are 5 reasons why…
#5 Too early
The obvious one. It is only just the first week of October and it would make absolutely no sense to sack a manager just under two months into the new season. You see, when a caterpillar goes into a cocoon, it doesn’t instantly become a butterfly and fly out flapping its majestic new wings and bathing in the glory of its newfound beauty.
It takes about 15 to 20 days even for something as small as a caterpillar to become a butterfly – and, in this case, we are talking about an entire football team with all its individual players and their unique skill set.
For two-and-a-half-years, Madrid played a very disjointed brand of football with no real team identity. While it is true that every player’s individual brilliance was at its peak, Zinedine Zidane could never truly carve out a system wherein everyone’s best amalgamated to make Madrid the best goddamn team on earth.
It is for this reason that Zizou’s Madrid couldn’t dominate on all ends despite winning there Champions League titles in a row.
So, in order to make this bunch of individuals play like a team, it will need some time.
#4 Identity
Speaking of playing like a team, Madrid have been showing a lot of improvement on that front. It has only been around two months since the players are in full flow in the training and the work that Lopetegui has done is quite apparent.
Madrid are now more cohesive as a unit and can often be seen making some beautiful passage of plays that wow the viewers. While the full and final product looks like quite a distant future, the promise in itself is worth the patience.
Even if Lopetegui fails to win a trophy this season, the Blancos should stick with him because of the cohesiveness that the team has shown thus far. Yes, Madrid have not played well in their last three games but it has to be noted that Isco’s absence has hurt the team since he is the most essential cog in Loptegui’s pass-and-play system.
The Galacticos are yet to win a game after the former Malaga star got operated for appendicitis.
#3 Spain drama
Florentino Perez owes him this much. After the fiasco with Spain, Florentino Perez – known more for his business acumen and less for mercy – should stick with Julen Lopetegui no matter what.
While the construction magnate revealed that Spanish FA knew about Madrid’s approach from the very beginning, he needs to shoulder the responsibility of approaching a coach just days before their World Cup campaign was to begin.
It was not as though Lopetegui was highly in demand at the time and that clubs were approaching him left, right and center. Perez could have easily waited till the end of the World Cup and still gotten his man.
However, he did not. In the end, no matter what happened behind the scene, some of the fault for Lopetegui’s Spain demise has to go to Perez.
And that is why he owes Lopetegui at least that much.
#2 Lackluster players and injuries
The World Cup was a gruelling tournament, especially for the teams that went deep and had to play more. In this regard, Croatia had the worst of it because not only did they reach the final but had to play 360 minutes of football in the knock-out games prior to that.
As a result, the jadedness can still be seen in Luka Modric, who could barely even walk during the extra time of Croatia’s semi-final encounter against England. Ever since the beginning of the season, he has looked tired and he is not the only one.
Toni Kroos has been inscrutably lacklustre. He has casually misplaced a number of passes so far this season and against CSKA Moscow, it ended up costing the game for Madrid.
Marco Asensio’s rise promised a lot of things but his limitations as a footballer are becoming apparent with each passing game. Benzema, meanwhile, started the season on fire but has extinguished in the last 5 games.
Raphael Varane, too, isn’t looking like his best version after returning from the World Cup. All of this, coupled with Madrid’s injury problems – Isco, Marcelo, Carvajal and Bale are currently having issues – is making it incredibly hard to Lopetegui to keep everything together.
#1 Didn’t get proper backing
Florentino Perez seems to have changed his approach in the transfer market. No longer does he spend hundreds of millions of euros to bring in star players to the club. The last time he signed a Galactico was four years ago when James Rodriguez joined the Bernabeu for a fee of €80 million.
This summer, he had all the reasons to spend big. Real were already a striker short and Ronaldo also left, making it imperative for the Spanish tycoon to sign a potent goalscorer.
However, in the end, the only attacker that Madrid signed was former player Mariano. As a result, it is safe to admit that Lopetegui wasn’t backed in the transfer market and Madrid’s lack of scoring problems can’t entirely be blamed on the manager.
After all, he wasn’t backed in the summer transfer window. Had he got someone like Mbappe and Madrid were still struggling to score, then it made sense to point fingers at Lopetegui.
Right now, however, the former Spain manager needs backing in at least one window as even the thought of sacking him at this point makes no sense at all.
