5 Talking Points: Real Madrid 2-0 Valencia

#2 Real Madrid lacks the killer instinct

Bale failed to convert two good opportunities in the first half

Take nothing away from Madrid. It was a good all-around show by Los Blancos. But they didn't have to wait till the 83rd minute to get the winning goal. They came fast off the blocks in the first half and were rewarded with the goal. But what about the remaining 40 minutes or so in the first half. They dominated, yes. But they could have done so much more with the momentum they had.

Reguilon was setting the tone in the left wing while Carvajal was firing up the right-hand side. But ultimately when the ball came to the middle, Real Madrid's forward made some poor choices. When Valencia had crowded the box with defenders, they tried to take the ball into the box and dribble past, ultimately not getting a shot. When they tried shots, they managed to fire it wide or over the bar, or like Bale did on a couple of occasions straight at Neto.

The huge amount of misses was luckily not punished by Valencia. In the second half, Madrid was pushed to the backfoot, chances came not so frequently as they did in the first half. Valencia's defense showed more solidity as there were hardly players forwards for Madrid as compared to the first half. Modric and Carvajal fired a couple of shots without any precision.

The only real threat in the second half before Vazquez's goal was the shot from Asensio. Madrid should have looked to play with the same intensity as they did in the first half but they did not. There were more players in the defensive areas because they let Valencia control so much of the ball. They should have tried to kill the game off, long before Valencia had a sniff. All they had was 3 shots on target out of 13 and a lot more shots could have been taken.