Real Madrid vs. Real Betis Preview, Predictions: How Rafa Benitez Must Fix Up Its Offense After Woeful Opener
Real Madrid vs. Real Betis Preview, Predictions: How Rafa Benitez Must Fix Up Its Offense After Woeful Opener
First Posted: Aug 25, 2015 04:01 PM EDT
Real Madrid's offense got off to a
woeful start against Sporting Gijon. Now the team needs some help in
its upcoming game with Real Betis. (Photo : Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
The real culprit for the team however was the offense, which continually wasted one major opportunity after another. It seems that the exercises that Rafa Benitez is imposing in training, in which players have to work on accuracy by hitting the crossbar, are not paying off.
All kidding aside, accuracy was not really the problem though one could have a few choice words for some astonishing misses by Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The situation lies in the system that is in place as well as a few other continually baffling decisions. The top four on Sunday included Jese Rodriguez up top, Isco and Cristiano Ronaldo on the flanks and Gareth Bale as the player in the hole.
Here is the problem with those decisions.
Bale is not a natural 10. Moreover, he works best when he has tremendous speed and can use it. In Spain, being in the hole means needing to work well in tight spaces. In the Premier League, there is more space at that position. Bale for all of his technique is not good with little space. Want some evidence? Look at his output in 2014-15.
Isco is a natural player to put in the hole because he is fantastic in tight spaces. Putting him on the wing is a waste of his talents and really gets rid of the chance to use a speedy player out wide.
Ronaldo is no longer the the speed demon of years past. He has knee issues and at 30 is due for physical decline. Yet a 60-goal scorer does not suddenly lose that ability overnight, and he showed last year that he plays well in an advanced position.
Finally Jese's speed is precisely the kind you relish on the flank. That said, he is not among the top four attackers on the team. It could be argued that he is the sixth or seventh best option on Madrid's bench.
Before we look at the better lineup decisions, let us look at how poorly this front four operated. It seems that Benitez, recognizing that his players could rotate around the pitch, thus creating some unpredictability for the defense, gave them the freedom to move about.
That rotation policy usually works well when two players are doing it because there are constants that create stability for the team itself. Last year, Madrid's players always knew that Karim Benzema would always be the target man and thus would have that focal point on which to latch while Ronaldo moved from the flank to forward or when Bale and him interchanged the wings.
With all players on the rotation policy, it becomes more difficult for Toni Kroos and Luka Modric to figure out who will be where at a given point. Moreover, it makes it hard for the four attackers to know where they have to go at a given moment as the freedom could get and got chaotic.
The system however was not the sole problem for Los Blancos as it became apparent that one player could make all the difference.
The moment James Rodriguez came on the pitch in the second half, the team looked more threatening and organized. Rodriguez pushed Ronaldo up top and started making deft crosses from the left flank. He is probably best used in the hole, but he also has shown strong abilities on the wing and was starting to break down Sporting Gijon's defense. With a little more time he probably helps Madrid make it happen. For some context, with only 35 minutes of gameplay, Rodriguez had two key passes, tied for fourth on the team and had one shot on target, tied for second on the team.
He was more efficient with his play and clearly the best option to lead the way on the attack. While Benitez expressed concern over the Colombian's fitness, it is clear that Rodriguez was necessary to unlock Gijon's defenses in this crucial opener.
Then there is the question of free kicks. Ronaldo is the talisman, he scores dozens and dozens of goals. The problem is that none of them usually come from the free kick position. Last year he had one goal from a free kick. Ronaldo prefers power over accuracy. But his skills have eroded in this particular department, and he is undeniably not the best option for Madrid to take on this responsibility. While he might not like losing goalscoring opportunities, it is not as if he was scoring a bulk of his tallies in this manner, so getting him out of there would not hurt his totals. It would help his team, especially with Rodriguez and Bale taking the kicks instead. Both players have better accuracy from the free kick position. Ronaldo, as he did twice on Sunday, tends to hit the wall with his kicks or sends it over repeatedly.
Benitez has a lot of hard work to do in the coming week because Madrid cannot afford to drop more points at home, especially with a volatile group of fans that could turn on the team at a moment's notice.
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