Real Madrid lost to Valencia 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday afternoon, with a Vinicius Jr equaliser being cancelled out by Hugo Doro’s injury-time winner. Here are three observations from the title-deciding loss.
Set pieces, set pieces, set pieces
At this point, it is just getting annoying. Real Madrid seem to be close to conceding every time their opponent looks to take a corner. There is fear among every Real Madrid fan each time they see the opposition’s tallest defenders in acres of space inside their own team’s penalty area. It almost seems inevitable.
Real Madrid have conceded 10 goals from corners this season. Nine of them were in La Liga or Champions League. That triples what they conceded last season (3), and still more than they did the season before that (4), or the season before that (3). In fact, that is the most goals from corners Real Madrid have conceded in La Liga or Champions League since 2017-18, where they conceded nine goals from corners. Los Blancos have already equalled it, and will likely surpass it. Guess who they are facing next? Arsenal.
What is everyone doing? How many times does it need to happen before the club tries to fix it? Every single time, someone or the other is unmarked in the box. It is not just corners, either. Early crosses have the same effect as none of Real Madrid’s defenders act quickly enough to disrupt the cross. It is something that has been happening all season.
The other problems have also been happening all season. It is all just under one umbrella of club mismanagement. Real Madrid have had problems that have stemmed across the entire season, and yet, nothing has been done about most of them.
Carlo Ancelotti’s coaching
It is tough to even defend it, at this point. Ancelotti proved he was still the best in the business when he won La Liga and the Champions League without a striker last season. Fair enough.
But now, when he is given a near-perfect squad, he keeps making the same mistakes. Late substitutions, bad build-ups, bad defense, no intensity, lack of ideas, wastage of resources, gaping holes across the pitch, set pieces: these are just some of the problems Real Madrid have been dealing with all season. Ancelotti is not the only one to blame for all of it — the players are definitely at fault — but he is not doing well in the things that he can actually control.
Real Madrid have the same patterns from a few months ago, the only difference is two of their best players are now in form. Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham have been sparing Ancelotti’s blushes ever since they remembered how good they are, and that is the only difference between the team that lost 2-0 to Liverpool a few months ago, and the team today. If those players don’t perform or get on the scoresheet, Real Madrid struggle far more than they should.
Real Madrid, with the squad they have, should be blowing teams away. Valencia were 20th not long ago. They were 16th when they played Real Madrid. They had not won away from home in almost a year, but when they faced the second-best team in the division, everything started making sense. That had less to do with how well Valencia played and more to do with how terrible Real Madrid were.
“We have deserved to lose games previously, but this one we deserved to win,” were Ancelotti’s words after the match. If the coach himself is not willing to admit that the team simply was not good enough after a home loss to a team close to relegation in the most crucial time of the season, then nothing can change. Absolutely nothing. Nothing about the loss is new problems coming in; it is just the old ones have still not been fixed.
A collective failure from the players
Real Madrid’s coaching is to be blamed, but on some level, the team itself has to take notice.
Firstly, for some reason, Real Madrid are still rotating penalty takers. I don’t understand that. Just let Mbappe take every single one.
Now, the players were also shockingly bad. No one apart from Jude Bellingham, Fede Valverde, and maybe Mbappe had a good game. Vinicius Jr scored a goal, but he also missed a penalty.
Lucas Vazquez kept making mistakes in the back and did not get subbed off for 85 minutes. Real Madrid’s defense was not good enough. Their midfield was not good enough, and their attack was not good enough.
It is time Real Madrid stick to the lineup. There is no need to play Tchouameni at centre-back, just like there is no need to play Vazquez at right-back. Just stick with a position for every player, and play them there till the end of the season, otherwise, these things will keep happening.
Real Madrid should not have to start Vazquez as a right-back. There is no way that the youngsters in the academy would be much worse. There will be room for improvement. Let them play.
