Last season, Real Madrid scored a massive 102 goals in the Spanish League, and 16 goals (in 8 games) in the Champions League – more than any other team until that round. This season, after six games in all competitions, they have managed to score a mere 8 goals at an average of 1.3 goals per game. This is in no way idealistic to a club like Real Madrid, where focus is primarily on attacking and scoring goals.
True, Jose Mourinho is the head coach. True, he’s someone who prefers the “safety first” approach. True, the present team is built on a solid backline and a counter attacking approach. True, Higuain and Ronaldo, the two men who had a combined 53 goals between them in the league last season, are hopelessly out of form – but isn’t it still perplexing as to why a team that has the likes of other attacking resources like Di Maria, Benzema, Ozil, are struggling to find the back of the net?
–
The Problem
From the outside, it is very clear that Higuain and Ronaldo are yet to find their goal scoring feet. But that alone is not the cause. If one digs a little deep, there’s certainly something wrong with Mourinho’s tactics or maybe there’s something that’s missing. It’s a known fact that Jose Mourinho is one of the best coaches around; but is he really ready to take the Iberian nation by a storm? His defensive approach worked extremely well at Inter and Chelsea. But it sure is not working all too well at the Bernabeu.
Gonzalo Higuain: Misfiring on all cylinders!
The system is just not working well with the players he has at his disposal. They are creating plenty of chances and one would expect Gonzalo Higuain to dispatch most, if not all of them. But unfortunately that’s not happening and the total dependency on Higuain alone to score goals is hurting Madrid badly. Of course there are other resources, the name Cristiano Ronaldo and “goal” could have been used as symonyms last season.
During his tenure, Manuel Pellegrini played Ronaldo and Higuain together upfront. Although many criticized him for using Ronaldo as a striker instead of playing him on the wing, where Real needed width. But yet one could see the impact that Ronaldo used to make, when he was deployed as a striker. When Higuain and Ronaldo played together, there were two deadly strikers for the opponent defenders to keep an eye on. Ronaldo, being the better player of the two, was being marked out and surrounded by defenders. That would give Higuain the space and time to work on the ball and he ended up scoring truck loads of goals. Ronaldo used to chip in with goals as well, mostly on the counter-attacks and from set pieces. But this year, Ronaldo is being played as a conventional winger, which is not delivering the expected output.
Real Madrid is getting the width they lacked last year, but the wing play does not look effective. The reason being Higuain’s inability to lead the line alone play as a lone striker. Seldom does he rush into the six yard box to head in or tap in a cross – a quality that a striker playing alone upfront should possess. The same happened with him in the World Cup. He did score 4 goals in 4 games, but was crowded out in the game against Germany, where he played as a lone striker. He definitely needs support up front because he can’t hold his own there.
The other problem is, Ronaldo being restricted to play as a conventional winger. His cut-in and shoot policy has been terrible this season as the opponents clearly know his game now, which has become too predictable. He has generally been playing on the left. But when he and Di Maria occasionally swap wings, Ronaldo doesn’t take the right wing position, instead takes up the free role behind Higuain which jams up Ozil’s space and forces him to move out wide to the right – thus restricting creativity in the middle and the chance to produce a decent final ball.
So what Jose Mourinho could possibly do to overcome these problems?
–
The Solution
It’s easy to think that Real will eventually start scoring as it generally takes time for a new team under a new coach to find it’s form. But Mourinho has to think about making minor tweaks to the system. Since Higuain is struggling up front as a lone striker, why not use another man to divide the scoring responsibilities? This immediately begs the question, who that can be? Can it be Benzema or Ronaldo? Both the options sound interesting and can prove to be effective.
Option 1:
If Ronaldo is used, that would mean less width on the right (assuming Di Maria switches to the left) which can be covered up by playing Pedro Leon who is good at crossing the ball into the box which can indeed benefit Real because Ronaldo is a good target man to aim at. That would also mean Higuain having lesser responsibilities and being his natural self in front of goal. But, that would also mean a slight change in the formation. Real’s defense has been absolutely solid and has conceded only one goal in six games.
But Option 1 can be deadly!
So Khedira can be sacrificed so that Ronaldo moves to the forward line to partner Higuain, and Pedro Leon can cover up the right wing, leaving Alonso with the responsibility of the anchorman. Khedira is someone who is being used as an anchorman to stop the counter attacks. But since under Mourinho the attacking players also track back to win the ball, Alonso won’t have too many problems to stop the counter attacks. Besides, Ramos and Marcelo don’t move forward too often, so withdrawing Khedira for Pedro Leon will make the attack look more potent.
Option 2:
On the other hand, if Benzema is played as the striker along with Higuain, Ronaldo resumes his role as the wide man along with Di Maria on the other wing. Ozil will play the free role behind the two strikers. Khedira will be sacrificed to make way for Benzema. Alonso and the defense will have similar responsibilities like the ones in option one, except that Pedro Leon tracks back more than Benzema does. But on the attacking front, the second option looks even more promising as Benzema is an out and out striker compared to Ronaldo.
This is how option 2 might look.
However, the only problem with the second option is, if one of Higuain or Benzema is out injured for a long time, Madrid will be in trouble – as they’ll have only one out and out striker. But it’s worth taking the risk if Mourinho wants his team to score more goals. Both the options can come handy in games where the opponent will just want to defend and defend for the entire ninety minutes by parking the bus in front of the goal.
It’ll be interesting to see if Higuain and Ronaldo will indeed start scoring goals frequently or if Mourinho will try to change his system. Whatever the case, it is better if Real Madrid starts pouring in goals if they are not to be booed by their own fans. Alas!, even worse – if the white handkerchiefs come out.
The upcoming second Champions League game will tell the story about where Real Madrid are heading on attacking fronts. Watch this space for more as we’ll analyze Real Madrid’s performance on technical basis.
Nice read 🙂
Please take my comments with a pinch of salt. I agree with your analysis partly, but not completely. Last year Ronaldo had more of a free role, rather than that of an out and out striker. Something like he had in his United days or like ‘dinho had in his barca glory days. He played on the wings but could easily come in the center. During this time, I actually saw kaka playing out wide on the left (And hence he too was rendered useless) . As the double pivot was there it solved the issue of players getting in each others’ way i.e. With no other player coming in to CR’s way. I remember both Alonso and Lass used to stay deep. If anything, Lass was the more adventerous of two. When Kaka used to come in, CR usually used to have Marcelo as his assistant (apprentice) . He and Kaka (or Van der Vaart later) used to divert attention from CR and higuain, thus enabling them to score goals. This strategy was akin to ‘Give CR or Pipa the ball and they will score’. Thus for me, I’d say the same problem has come up only in a different form.
However, this tactic of depending on 2 players was horribly exposed when faced with teams with a plan. If a team packed the mid and had a few decent players (i.e classic 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 with an emphasis on defence) aka Lyon and Barca, they could send their wingbacks up front to keep Marcelo in check. This deprived CR of his ‘diversionary’. With the mid packed and a lone striker (Higuain) upfront, both CR and Higuain were crowded out. With no creative mid-fielder (I thought of Vaart and Kaka more as decoys than as CAMs as I never saw them actually in middle.) There was no link b/w the 2 DMs and 3 or 4 upfront. Lass’ passing range is limited at best and in absence of width Alonso’s ball distribution options were severely limited(Especially when you take into account, that there was virtually no right wing). To add to this misery, Real’s tendency to play ‘Barca’ like i.e. keeping the ball on ground and not pelting the opposition’s box with crosses deprived the strikers upfront of a valuable mode of service – the aerial route and headers. Both Pipa and CR have mean headers. Mp’s tactics could work against lesser teams who had no reading of the game. And hence the goals. Last season, we came up short only against those teams, who had a very good understanding of game and could anticipate well. We could not win against an extremely aging Milan.
I think, Mou can see all these weaknesses.
1) That’s why he is playing Marcelo consistently on the LB (despite Arbeloa being more sound defensively) as he has already developed a good Understanding with CR. Remember, only against the very best of team did MP play arbeloa in place of Marcelo. Remember Mou tried desperately for Maicon who is a RB or another CB. His efforts towards bringing in a good LB (Cole) were never that desperate when we compare it to trying bring in Maicon. Both of the coaches must have seen something that we can’t from our televisions.
2) He is also ‘forcing’ CR to stay outside as he wants him to adjust to his new role and contribute from the same. This is where he will be most effective. He doesn’t need to act as striker or CAM. If combines with Marcelo and Marcelo can learn to defend a little better, the left wing will be devastating
3) I read an interesting point about someone, complaining about the number of crosses we have been trying to attempt. This is a very valuable art. Ignoring it means completely removing an attacking dimension. Pep had tried for same plan B, by getting Ibra.
4) Khedira can actually stay back, and Alonso can act as CM, this will give width to the team and increase Alonso’s options. So no point in ‘sacrificing’ Khedira. With a high backline and 2 marauding WBs, I don’t think it is advisable to have only 1 DM, that too a passing DM like Alonso. This will look like a ‘Maradona’ tactic. Any team will be able to over-run our midfield. Something like Germany did against Argies.
5) Continuing on the above point, xabi is a passer who does his defensive duties by natural sense of postioning, rather than running around like a terrier. He is no Masch or Lass. When these guys can hold the mid alone, I don’t think it is possible for Alonso to do it alone: because “Alonso cannot run”. He has never played a lone holding midfielder. (IMO). None of his coaches (Benitez, Aragones, Del Bosque, MP or Mou ) have shown that they believe he can do it on his own. Again, all these people are really good coaches. No reason to doubt them.
To conclude, I totally agree with Mou’s tactics, even if they are not working rgt now. The direction is totally right. (IMO). Although I’d like him to give chances to Granero and Pedro Leon, in place of Khedira and Di Maria.
@prakhar: I totally agree with you about our weaknesses of last year. But regarding this year’s tactics, i think it is very clear from the post that we lack that extra man in the box. Sacrificing Khedira won’t be a huge problem because i don’t see small teams over run our midfield. Besides, the full backs are much more aware of their defensive duties than they were last year. And also, players like Di Maria and Ozil track back very quickly. So that virtually acts as that “extra” anchorman.
Dude,,, Mourinhio is not a type of manager who would let go of his defense freely in the opposite half for goals and not worry about the goals his opposition score… For him 1-0 is equal to 10-0 as long as Madrid is winning!
And Option 1 = Deadly??? Dude… Firstly… Alonso is not a CDM and with Ramos and Pepe always eager to go beyond the strikers (I’m not kidding… they have both been Offside several times) the defense becomes extremely vulnerable.
@Luis: Agree that Jose will always be content with 1-0s….And option 1 can be really dangerous if it works….especially against the smaller teams….but i totally agree with you that it might not work against a rich midfield because Alonso is not exactly a DM….and regarding Ramos and Pepe, they won’t bomb forward too much because they won’t be given that freedom under Mourinho except in perhaps the set piece situations…