The glaring lack of balance in Real Madrid’s game brings to the surface a ghost of the past that is still close and so far away at the same time.
In a mixed start to the season for the Merengues, one of the major problems which explains Madrid’s difficulties is undoubtedly the lack of control of the game in midfield. Indeed, the departure of a certain Toni Kroos shook up the Madrid midfield, even requiring Tchouaméni to be the first booster and fill this role for which the German suited so well.
However, a player like Kroos, capable of managing the tempo of the match as he wishes, of extending the balls to ventilate the game when necessary or of finding passes in small spaces, is very difficult, if not impossible in itself to replace as its profile is unique.
“The matches are always played at Toni’s pace”
This is also where the statements of former Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro made in 2019 go: “He manages the ball and controls the pace at which we play. If Toni wants us to play slowly, We play slowly. If he wants us to play faster, we play faster. Real Madrid matches are always played at Toni’s pace.
It’s now only 125 days since he said goodbye to Real Madrid and it seems a long time ago as if the club had lost a vital element of its success. Casemiro adds that Real Madrid were playing with “Toni Kroos as a starting point”. In addition, Carletto and his son Davide miss him very much. The first admitted it recently: “It’s true that we can’t find who can replace him. He is irreplaceable. We will have to adapt and look for another path.”
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For his part, the German tries to calm things down. He doesn’t like being associated with the poor form of his former club: “A lot of people say the team misses me. It’s nice but I don’t like it when they say that because it’s disrespectful to them. They have to accept that I’m gone, it doesn’t help things to say that my absence is felt. Now we have to adapt,” he said in his podcast Einfach mal Luppen.
In passing, he recalled the departures of other great players: “Real Madrid adapted to the departures of Cristiano, Ramos…. They always knew how to adapt and continued to win,” he said. he declared before announcing that he would be present at the Bernabéu on Saturday to watch the match against Villarreal.
In any case, Casemiro is not the only one to have anticipated that the absence of Kroos would be detrimental. Vinicius has already expressed himself clearly during his farewell: “It’s terrible news to know that we will no longer have you with us, you could have given much more, much, much more.” Bellingham for his part defined him as “a master of play who sends the ball where he wants” and Valverde always saw him as “an idol: “I admired him all my life”. His legacy will endure and his departure, as Casemiro predicted, still hurts today.
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