You’d hope that, as a fan of the team that is supposed to be the best in the world, you do not get to write many of these intros. But, in this case, you do. Real Madrid have just lost 3-1 at home to Milan in the Champions League, leaving them at 17th before the remainder of matchday four is played on Wednesday. it is not looking good. Here are three observations.
Collective failure in midfield and defense
Usually, the silver lining after a terrible result like the one nine days ago against Barcelona, is that it is assumed that the club would look for a comeback. It would look to put the bad loss past them, and work on improving things.
Real Madrid players and coaches spent the week talking about how they need to be better defensively. It was obvious, but then going from that, to making the same mistakes against Milan is, quite frankly, baffling and shameful. The only reason Real Madrid didn’t lose by four goals here is not because they played much better than they did against their eternal rivals; it is because the team they were facing were just not as good and clinical as Barcelona.
Milan, who have only won once away from home this season, battered Real Madrid in their own backyard. A 3-1 scoreline is flattering, because if it wasn’t for Andriy Lunin’s heroics in goal, it could have been far worse.
The defense was a mess. The midfield looked disjointed. You could fit a blue whale in the gap between Real Madrid’s defensive and midfield lines. It is genuinely woeful and embarrassing how a team with as many superstars as Real Madrid could play the way they are playing, like they don’t even want to win anymore, like they are entitled.
The defensive mistakes that the team is making week in, and week out are surprising even for the people who somehow knew this would happen. It is so easy for opposition players to bypass Real Madrid’s midfield as if they are pieces of wood and go unmarked into the box with no coverage from the defenders.
Aurelien Tchouameni had one of the worst games of his career, and I’ve defended him for as long as possible because I genuinely think he has a lot of talent. Saying that, the way he has been playing recently has been anything but what everyone should expect from a player of his calibre. He has had more bad performances this season than good ones, and each time it feels like he is finally making progress, he shuts it down with another poor performance, much like the rest of the team.
The right-back situation is worrying, but nothing will change
Usually, it makes sense for Real Madrid to avoid signings in the winter transfer window, so that they can plan well for the summer. That ends up not happening quite often, but that is what, in theory, the plan is. The problem arises when Real Madrid sorely lack depth in defense, and are made to pay for it on the pitch.
Real Madrid knew this could happen. One long-term injury — which is not as uncommon as it used to be — could change everything. And it did. One centre-back signing in the summer could’ve also changed everything. But it didn’t happen. I have been an advocate for how well Real Madrid have planned the squad in most positions, but the defensive depth chart is one thing they simply have not looked at in the last year. They got away with it last year, when they had Nacho Fernandez. You can’t do the same for a second year running without facing problems.
But, even now, there won’t be any signings. Real Madrid’s Lucas Vazquez just got burned by an electric Rafael Leao on an immeasurable scale. Just 10 days ago, Raphinha was the one doing the damage. It’s not an irregular occurrence. Vazquez is a solid player, but he has his limitations. We have seen that his entire career — having him do the role he is supposed to do is fine. Anything more than that and you’re setting him up for failure.
A centre-back signing helps because Militao can then move to right-back. A right-back signing also helps for the reasons stated above. The fact that neither of those things will happen makes it much more problematic than it needs to be. They don’t look at Castilla — rightfully so, the right-backs there are much worse — and they don’t look at the academy, but they are not looking at the obvious solutions, either. The defense is paper thin, both in terms of vulnerability and depth.
Do Endrick and Arda Guler… exist?
Arda Guler and Endrick have played a combined total of 13 minutes in the last five Real Madrid games. Combined. Those 13 minutes have been all Guler. Endrick has not even played a single minute of football for over a month.
It is shocking to see that a team that is desperate for energy, fearlessness and creativity is not looking to get their two youngest players out on the pitch when nothing else is working.
Real Madrid have looked complacent at times. They don’t do enough with the ball, they lack ideas, they lack physicality and they have shown for the second time running that they just don’t want the win like their opponents do. That is not a Real Madrid thing, and something needs to change.
Defensive issues are huge, of course, but Endrick and Guler can help this team massively if injected into the team. Guler especially, who is so good at picking the final pass and giving the attack some much-needed structure, is stuck on the bench, looking at the pitch with confusion, desperate to make an impact, much like his Norwegian counterpart did almost a decade ago. The team lacks inspiration. It needs someone to make things happen, they need to try something different.
Guler can solve a lot of things — he cannot solve Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe missing a bucketload of chances — but he does help with other things, and both of these players are too good to be rotting on the bench for two big games in a row.
