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Last season, Real Madrid were touted as the strongest attacking side in the world, breaking Barcelona’s hold over the La Liga title in a record breaking season. Despite a shootout loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League semis, they won the Copa del Rey as well as the league, and the world awaited a La Decima. Fast forward the last 6 months and we find a team 16 points behind Barca, marred by injuries and team discontent. So what exactly happened, let’s have a look.
MODRIC IN REAL
Nobody can ever argue about the quality of Luka Modric but his transfer sure raised a few questions. The biggest concern was his position in Mourinho’s 4-2-3-1 which led to quite a few experiments. While he was a star attacking playmaker in EPL, he could not accommodate so swiftly to the demands of playing in so many positions, CDM being the most challenging of them. As a result, he has never been able to play up to his potential till now.
STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE FAILURE
Despite defensive worries, it is quite interesting to note that they have conceded almost as many goals as Barcelona or Atletico Madrid. So clearly, their offence has to take the blame here. A major attribute of their success last year was their devastating counter attacks that allowed them to outscore their opposition even after conceding first. Their offence lacks the same consistency and fluidity that it had last season even when they have maintained the same players more or less. Why?
Mourinho’s tactics utilize two inverted wingers who receive long balls from deep lying midfielders to launch blitzkrieg counter attacks. While this was a very successful strategy before, having utilized this for two years, their opponents are now used to it. Fighting fire with fire has become the new formula, where the teams allow Real possession and hit them on the counter. Borussia Dortmund is a prime example of a team who play on the counter and did the same against the Los Blancos, who were outplayed in both their fixtures in the Champions League group stages.
PERSONNEL ISSUES
Other than Cristiano Ronaldo, no other attacker for Real has been consistent for them. Di Maria, who used to tear apart defences with his skillful dribbling, has lost his incisiveness after his injury. Even with his indifferent form, he has been continually played even when they have other choices available. Who? That would be none other than Kaka, the man who has been grossly under-utilized even after his return from an injury-hit phase.
Other than those options, Real always had a Plan B when the other teams parked the bus, so to speak. That was unleashing Mesut Ozil, who could always unlock their opponents’ defences with a killer pass. But following a lacklustre EURO 2012 with Germany, Ozil has failed so far in reproducing the form that saw him rival Andres Iniesta. His loss of form could also be attributed to inconsistent playing time, which has often resulted in him being subbed out at half time and failing to receive consistent minutes over Modric.
WING BACK WOES
With the depth in squad that Real Madrid boast of, they never should have been hit by an injury crisis, but sadly for them, even the best of teams need their regular players. The chief among them is Marcelo, whose long injury period has revealed the dependence on their wing backs to cover the flanks. His injury would not have hit them as hard if Coentrao had been fully fit this season. The right back position has also witnessed quite a few experiments, with many unexpected players finding themselves at that position, including Modric.
CONCLUSION
To keep a very long list of reasons short, it can be fairly surmised that morale is at an all-time low, what with Mourinho’s EPL return rumors making rounds and growing rifts in the squad, including the manager’s rift with Iker Casillas. It is not that they are doing horribly, it’s just that the expectation that people have of them are just that high.
Managing an all-star squad was never going to be easy and the second generation of the Los Galaticos are learning that the hard way with a tough road ahead of them.
