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In their 9th LaLiga match of the season, Real Madrid hosted Levante hoping to regain their form. Their historical goalless streak was a real worry for the fans and Madrid badly needed a victory in front of their home crowd to restore some hopes of winning the league title.
However, the string of disappointing performances continued as Levante secured a two-goal lead at the end of the first half. Morales opened the account at the 6th minute with a good counterattacking goal and Roger added to the trouble of Madrid with a calm penalty shot at the 13th minute.
Real Madrid looked like their usual self in the second half and Marcelo gave the Santiago Bernabeu crowd something to cheer for with a thunderous strike. But at the end, it was not enough and Madrid succumbed to yet another defeat. Here are the 3 factors for their loss.
#1. Varane’s poor defending
The one bright spot in Madrid’s disastrous start to this season has been Varane’s defending with him covering all the empty space left by Ramos with pace and pinpoint tackles. But, he looked off-colour during this game and was the main reason for Levante’s two goals.
In the 6th minute, Morales ran into the huge empty space in the middle of the pitch and Varane who was tracking him should have made a tackle but strangely he left Morales to run even deeper and Madrid eventually paid the price for it.
The second one was a silly handball at the edge of the penalty box and Roger scored and added some salt to the wound. Varane has been on a very tight schedule for the past 1 year and it seems as if all the heavy work is finally getting to him. Two high pressure international clashes during the break also did not help his cause.
#2. Julen Lopetegui
For now, it looks like the end is near for Lopetegui. The Madrid fans have never encountered such a barren run of form in their whole history and his tactics have not impressed anyone in Madrid. Right from the start of the season, the problem has been pretty much the same for Madrid and Lopetegui is yet to find a solution.
They are playing a very high defensive line, add to that Ramos coming in searching for crosses in the box and the defence looks pretty dire. They have not conceded many goals because of the brilliant Varane but when he has off days like on Saturday any team can run through Madrid’s defence.
By now, he should have spoken to Ramos about his adventures into the opposition box but it doesn’t seem like it. Also, sideways passing has not helped his cause either as Madrid have rarely played this brand of football in their history.
#3. Lack of intent in the midfield
Even after all this, no one can disagree with the varied amount of world-class midfielders that Madrid posses they can beat any opposition on their day. Let it be Casemiro with his tackles, Modric with his passing, Kroos with his accuracy and Isco with his skills.
But, one key thing has been missing with Madrid’s midfielders this season, passing with intent. This season whenever the passing lanes have been closed out by the opposition, the Madrid midfield has lacked creativity and dynamism and the trend continued against Levante.
All the midfielders including Luka Modric seem to be taking the easier route by passing back rather than finding some space to pass the ball forward. Like on Saturday against Levante, this has resulted in forwards dropping deep to pick up the ball which is not a good sign for any team.
