Diagnosing Real Madrid’s Problems: Coaching, Squad-building, Player Mistakes

These observations — where I look at Real Madrid’s history, its players on loan, Castilla, tactical tidbits, and other relevant thoughts — are now a regular thing. All previous editions can be found here.

Real Madrid are in full DEFCON 1 mode. The last two weeks, which have included bloodbaths against FC Barcelona and AC Milan at home, have been some of the worst football the team has played in years — and it has followed two months of poor football.

It is November. Real Madrid have not put together one single game where the full 90 minutes have looked good. Two halves — Alaves first half and Borussia Dortmund second half — were legitimately good. Everything else, including a decent first half against Barcelona filled with offsides and fluffed chances, has been largely forgettable.

FOLLOW: Managing Madrid On Instagram

There are real concerns with the way Carlo Ancelotti has managed this team, but this is not all on him. The defensive line has dissolved into thin air with no reinforcements in sight. Lucas Vazquez has been getting barbecued on the wing, which has also chained Fede Valverde and Jude Bellingham in deeper positions. Bellingham, for what it’s worth, plays both right-back and striker (and every other position conceivable) which manifests a problem in the system itself. The team has really missed Fede Valverde’s offensive surges.

The team’s anchor, Aurelien Tchouameni, has been a sieve on defense while careless on the ball far too often. Camavinga’s return has been bitter-sweet — he should be trusted as a locked starter given how much he contributes to the team on both ends.

There has been zero production from the current starting wing-backs, Ferland Mendy and Vazquez. Fran Garcia has outperformed Mendy, but has not been rewarded with playing time. There are others: Arda Güler, Endrick — both of whom have impressed in minutes without much reward. With each passing minute this season gets progressively worse, Ancelotti has doubled-down on the older players he has trusted the most over the last few years.

There is plenty of blame to go around: The president, the CEO, the players. But the coach is not immune to criticism. Ancelotti has to put the team in a position to thrive, which he hasn’t, yet. The team’s defense has been disastrous, and it’s not just down to personnel — it’s mostly down to scheme. Real Madrid are holding a high line without a press (more on this later in the article) and without an offside trap, with two hyper-aggressive center-backs. (And they are the only two center-backs in the squad, unless you count the corpses of Jesus Vallejo and David Alaba).

It should’ve been implemented long ago: At this point Real Madrid should start looking at playing in a low block while focusing on counter-attacks fuelled by ball-winners in midfield and speedy wingers who can blitz.

(Ancelotti abandoned the press mid-way through the 2021 – 2022 season in favour of counter-attacking football. I am surprised he has not landed on this option yet. The team can not press as designed. I believe it will never be able to press. Ancelotti does not have a track record of implementing successful pressing schemes.)

Perhaps the team needs a change in direction, a change in voice. It is not uncommon for even the greatest managers to start losing their influence after a three-year cycle.

But making a change for the sake of making a change is dangerous. The most likely interim, Raul, has not looked convincing with Real Madrid Castilla. Those calling for the more promising Alvaro Arbeloa should note that it’s almost impossible for a Juvenil A manager to leapfrog a Castilla manager. The best coaches in the world all have jobs.

Perhaps Zinedine Zidane is available, but it’s unclear whether he would return mid-way through the season if asked. Zidane had many tactical challenges, but, for what it’s worth, he would zip up the defense and introduce rigid roles while possibly rekindling Kylian Mbappe’s form.

If Real Madrid get worse, and end up dismissing Ancelotti later in the season, then it’s better to do it now than when the season is lost. But there is no way of knowing that know. These decisions are not easy. The schedule gets even more difficult from here. If you bring in someone new, whenever you make that change — and whoever it is that arrives — will have an insane challenge against some of the most difficult opponents immediately.

Given all of those reasons, the most likely option is probably for Real Madrid to ride out the Ancelotti experience, for now. If Ancelotti is to turn this around, he needs to amplify the younger players who deserve more playing time, hold the older underperforming players accountable, and start stitching the team’s defense by going into a deeper counter-attacking block. And for God’s sake, buy this man some defenders!

Here are some tactical observations from this horrendous start to the season:

Luka Modric, left-sided defense

At his peak, despite not being a defensive midfielder, Luka Modric was one of the most defensive-savvy midfielders on earth. No one would be safe from his relentless tracking. He would never abandon his teammates on that end. He was similar to Jude Bellingham now in terms of how much ground he covered defensively.

God love him, but Modric is no longer that player. This season he’s been getting dispossessed more than ever. Players blow by him with ease. He no longer has the legs to catch up to players in transition or thwart their runs.

Signs of this started to appear in 2023. On one distinct occasion, a game at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League quarter-finals, Modric started on the left (central) side of midfield, just ahead of Eduardo Camavinga who started at left-back. Camavinga was left on an island. Carlo Ancelotti adjusted by switching Modric and Fede Valverde. The defense on the left improved dramatically. Real Madrid won the game by two goals.

It has gotten worse since. He is far from the main problem on defense, but he’s not a solution either:

Modric is always well intentioned, but the burst in his legs is not what it used to be. He can track and press through spurts — but his two-way contribution is becoming fewer and farer in between as he gets older.

Modric is not the problem. Far from it. But he is soaking up minutes. Should Eduardo Camavinga have come off against Barcelona (the defense fell apart in the second half) or have started against AC Milan? Should Arda Güler get more burn? Güler is an underrated work horse on defense and has vision, shooting, and passing execution. These are questions worth asking.

No Man’s Land

Real Madrid won’t truly improve defensively until they stick to a defensive philosophy. Sometimes high line, sometimes mid-block, sometimes random aggressive press, sometimes half-press spear-headed by isolated players — it’s not going to cut it.

The press has not improved. I would say it hasn’t improved in years, but really it’s been like this for the better part of the past 25 years. There is an easy solution: Stop pressing. Why improve something that won’t improve? (more on the press later in the column).

No Man’s Land: The place where you’re neither in a compact block nor pressing coherently.

Whenever Real Madrid decided to randomly press — a deviation from their regular, non-aggressive mid-block scheme — they get cooked:

You cannot afford to be so bad at pressing when holding a high line:

This is No Man’s Land: Doing everything while doing nothing. Pick a path!

The defense looked better when all four of Real Madrid’s best midfield ball-winners — Fede Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga, Jude Bellingham — were on the field in the first half against Barcelona. But it was a rare sight, and the entire backline melted in the second half — and further wilted as Carlo Ancelotti took off Camavinga and Tchouameni.

The system can’t fall apart this easily. There have been no tangible improvements defensively in years. Hero ball cannot be the answer.

Vinicius Jr, doing his part on offense

Don’t squint. It might be an underwhelming start to the season, but Vinicius Jr is as incisive as ever. No player in the Big Five leagues has more progressive carries (63). Only two players — Bradley Barcola and Mohamed Salah — have more carries into the penalty area. Only five players have more successful take-ons. I expect his goal-scoring and assist numbers to rise, putting him in elite tier by the time the season ends. He’s already ramping up those stats. He should more assists to his name the way he’s been setting up his teammates with passes into the box — putting chances on a platter for Mbappe.

Right-backs that have to face Real Madrid have one of the most dreaded assignments on earth. There isn’t much worse than facing a superstar winger that not only dribbles at an elite level, but does it in such a relentless manner. When was the last time we saw a superstar be obsessed with cooking his full-back on every singe possession? Most wingers will alternate between slowing the game down, passing it back, or catching their breath. Not Vinicius. He is in attack mode, constantly. Wing-backs have zero seconds to relax, to breathe.

That was the first of many cook sessions that Kiko Femenia experienced that night. By the end of it, he was gassed, mentally and physically. Look at the amount of help defenders Villarreal have to send Vinicius’s way. All teams have to approach it the same way. That is why Real Madrid were easier to stop during that brief period in 2023 when Karim Benzema was injured — defenders could focus on suffocating the wing without getting punished.

Things are different now with Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, and Rodrygo Goes. The synergy just isn’t there yet. Mbappe is still floating around on offense unsure of where to be. But it clicks, almost single-handedly, when Vinicius himself is quick and decisive. The Brazilian’s passes into the box this season to cutters has been very good. The team needs to capitalize on those chances and take advantage of Vinicius’s gravity. It hasn’t yet. But there is little fault on the shoulders of Vinicius.

The re-integration of Eduardo Camavinga; the struggles of Aurelien Tchouameni.

Carlo Ancelotti can’t underestimate the importance of Eduardo Camavinga returning to the line-up. Things make more sense on both ends of the field when he’s in the line-up.

But Camavinga is not going to magically solve Real Madrid’s issues. This is why scheme matters. When he finally appeared against AC Milan in the second half, he was in a double-pivot with Modric in an aggressive high line. Camavinga at times was the last man back stopping breakaways after Real Madrid got sliced with one pass. Camavinga is good — but he’s not good enough to play defense 1 vs 5. He needs to be in a structure scheme.

Camavinga is a problem solver — a pro-active engine. He, in theory, alleviates defensive burden placed on Fede Valverde and Jude Bellingham. He’s an expert getting between the lines to provide vertical outlets for Aurelien Tchouameni. His understanding of the left-back position also allows him to seamlessly cover for overloads if Fran Garcia is on the field. He can get into the left half-space for link-up play. His slide-tackle remains unparalleled in world football, and there is little doubt now that he should play the DM position given: A) Tchouameni’s form; and B) Tchouameni’s injury that will see him out for the next month.

In the 1.5 months Camavinga was side-lined to start the season due to a knee injury, Real Madrid missed him.

Camavinga’s ball-winning in midfield leads to transition opportunities — something the team hasn’t had enough of this season:

That loose pass from the ball-carrier gets to its destination, somewhat labourly, on most occasions. Not on Camavinga’s watch. He is alert to pounce when any such opportunity arises. His physical gifts give him an advantage — he can outstretch his legs better than most (and probably all) players.

Once Camavinga wins the ball, he makes the simple pass to Endrick ahead of him, then recognizes that the team’s anchor, Tchouameni, is sprinting to join the attack. Camavinga decides to hang back. It’s his interchangeability and alertness in covering for his teammates that make him so important to the team’s balance.

The team needs him to take on a bigger role, especially with Tchouameni’s poor start to the season.

Eder Militao, hyper-aggressive

Managing Madrid Pick-up Footy In Toronto For Sick Kids: Book!

Join: Managing Madrid Discord Channel

Most of what made Eder Militao one of the best defenders in the world in the 2021 – 2022 season — in-your-shirt suffocating defense, timely step-ups from the back to intercept dagger passes, leadership commanding a high line, aerial savance — are still there. If you were to be shown this version of Militao the moment his ACL tore last summer, you would be relieved at, generally, how well he recovered.

“Militao is the best centre-back in the world,” Carlo Ancelotti said back in March of 2023. “He is really quick, really good at one-on-ones, really good with the ball and he can head the ball so well.”

Militao is not there yet. It’s hard to measure him for this reason: He does mostly good things throughout the game, but has one or two moments of error that costs the team. He started the season strong, played a great first half against Barcelona, and then just melted in the next one-and-a-half games.

Militao has had to be quick on his feet reacting to opposing breaks when Real Madrid hold a high line (mostly at home). With wing-backs pushed high up the field, the onus is on the center-backs to ensure nothing reaches Thibaut Courtois or Andriy Lunin. Militao has been quick to react on many occasions:

But as I said after that Alaves game where the above clip is from: Bigger tests against world-class, pacy attackers will come. They did in the last two games. Militao needs to be better. It may sound harsh, but the team can’t afford for him to be good 80% of the time. That 20% is costly. The margin of error this season is tiny.

It doesn’t help that Antonio Rüdiger is also hyper-aggressive in nature. They both step up and try to intercept passes out of the back. It looks great when they pull it off — not so much when their gambles kill the team.

Another reason for Ancelotti to implement a deeper block.

Fede Valverde, burning out?

SUBSCRIBE: The Managing Madrid Podcast On YouTube!

ROCK: Managing Madrid Hoodies Designed By Finn.

It’s the consistency that’s most impressive. Game to game, month to month, year to year — Fede Valverde has a high baseline that would make him fit like a glove at any team, in any system. He’s a manager’s dream — a high flying tank that doesn’t run out of gas. You don’t have to waste any mental energy wondering if you’ll get effort from the Uruguayan.

Some of that slipped against Barcelona and Milan. But it’s hard to single him out when everyone suffered in those games. He’s been so good for so long. He has been playing non-stop, racking up more minutes than anyone in the squad.

He is one of the last to blame for Real Madrid’s poor start to the season. It may have been even worse if not for his super-human effort to glue the scheme back together after the press falls apart in August and September

Valverde currently has the fourth most interceptions (22) in all the Big Five Leagues. He steps up and anticipates opposing teams who try to slice through with a dagger pass. He has been reading passing lanes brilliantly for the majority of the season.

Valverde anticipates transition attacks and snuffs them out at an elite clip:

Seconds prior to that clip, he made the interception which led to the free-kick for Real Madrid. He is constantly downloading what the opponent will do before they make the pass — calibrating to his environment to ensure he is ahead of the play on defense.

There is no question in his fight. His combative traits are an essential quality in the era of high-intensity football, especially against teams like Atletico, who come out for blood in their home stadium:

The concern with Valverde will forever not be about his own play, but the amount of minutes he’s given — and the amount of ground he covers in those minutes. Him and Jude Bellingham both fall into that category of over-exertion.

Eduardo Camavinga’s return should help. Though it may not be that straightforward. Less defensive depth means more Aurelien Tchouameni at center-back (or no Tchouameni at all, which is the current case) and Camavinga at the anchor spot. In theory, the hope was that with Camavinga returning, we could even see Valverde drive the ball forward more. So far, he’s been chained to more defensive tasks, and there won’t be much end in sight if Ancelotti doesn’t trust others in midfield. Ancelotti’s problem will be that the team is in such an emergency state, it will be hard for him to bench one of the players who keeps the system together.

Jude Bellingham, virtuoso of the sport, also over-exerted

Bellingham’s relentlessness off the ball is ridiculous:

Bellingham hunts players. With a proper defensive scheme, there should be no easy build-up sequences when he is lurking.

The sequence above resulted in a massive chance for Eder Militao in the box. He cooks those second-wave attacks with great hustle and perfectly-timed tackles to stop transition attacks. He is the ultimate glue guy.

Bellingham is impossible to dispossess. He has a nasty first-touch out of pressure and his shoulder-drops shake defenders off in tight spaces. It’s uncommon seeing him not come out of a tightly-marked situation with the ball still at his feet.

This version of Bellingham, where he plays slightly deeper due to Kylian Mbappe’s arrival, has enabled us to see him in a more box-to-box role, but it has also seen him, once again, gassing himself out. Against Barcelona, he playing almost as a right-back to make up for Vazquez’s defensive deficiencies. Against Milan, he was both making runs ahead of Mbappe while sprinting back to stop the defensive bleeding.

Bellingham almost gets punished for being so elite at so many things. Playing him in an Alfredo di Stefano can be fun when you’re winning, but individual heroics have a ceiling that gets capped once you realize it’s not sustainable.

Bellingham is a freakish athlete, something that sometimes gets lost due to his technical ability. He has the right mix of athletic and technical tools, which has allowed him to play this way — balls to the walls — for so long. But the question remains: Will he gas out by spring with the amount of ground he covers with such aggressive intensity?

Of all the players in the squad who can throttle through different gears and interchange between a 10, 8, and even as a winger or false 9, Bellingham has the most seamless ability to flex himself across multiple positions. He might be Real Madrid’s most important player for that reason — he does so much to bind the team together while ensuring it doesn’t collapse defensively due to poor defense from the forwards. He was initially seen as a luxury signing from Borussia Dortmund. It’s clear now he’s actually irreplaceable.

Bellingham will be needed in deeper roles this season. There aren’t any players in world football currently who can replace Toni Kroos (at the Toni Kroos level), but Bellingham is a candidate as someone who can slow tempo down and progress the ball vertically. Keep an eye on this. If Mbappe, Vinicius, and Rodrygo can start scoring prolifically and the defense gets better, we can see Bellingham in a more rigid role. But given the current state of the team, it’s a big ask.

Real Madrid’s press is hurting them, Part 2

Through 12 La Liga games, Real Madrid rank 10th in Passes Per Defensive Action (PPDA). They are not an aggressive pressing team (and that’s nothing new). Carlo Ancelotti does not create the bulk of his chances through rabid ball-winning high up the pitch, and currently opponents are slinging 11.36 passes before Real Madrid win the ball (a stark drop from Barcelona, the most aggressive pressing team, who allow just 6.58).

These numbers don’t tell us anything good or bad. They allow us to measure different identities. There is no ‘correct’ way of playing football. Real Madrid won the double last season, and scored the most goals in La Liga despite not being a high-pressing team (their pressing numbers last season are nearly identical to this season).

But this season has a new-found ‘problem’: Two of Real Madrid’s attackers — Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe — don’t play defense. Last season, and years prior, that issue didn’t exist. Jude Bellingham and Karim Benzema both work(ed) hard defensively. This season, if Real Madrid go into a mid or low block, the first line of defense is permeable, and if they do decide to press (not often), it’s done randomly, and without cohesion:

Vinicius goes narrow, thinking Arda Güler will press the player with the ball. Güler doesn’t budge until it’s too late, and a switch breaks the press. If Güler moves earlier, Vinicius is not over in time yet. He could press early and cover-shadow (ideal), but Vinicius coming over still leaves the team vulnerable to a switch. Real Madrid break down twice within 40 seconds. That’s the first collapse. The second collapse arrives when none of the midfielders track Sergio Gomez’s run from midfield into the right half-space when they all had ample time to do so.

Real Madrid gave up two chances against Stuttgart in the first half with similar pressing sequences — and numerous chances against Barca and Milan. They do not press aggressively for the majority of games, but do so randomly at certain junctures, and get carved with two passes from the opponent.

Real Madrid find much more success when they stick to just counter-pressing:

Real Madrid are generally fine when it comes to pressing in two specific situations: 1) counter-pressing; and 2) goal-kicks. Though, ironically, they did get cooked on an Espanyol goal-kick earlier this season.

People will rightfully point out how poor Real Madrid’s offense has been, but I lean towards fixing the defense more than anything. Sometimes it gets missed how connected defense and offense are. More transition opportunities will arise for the attackers if Ancelotti adopts a more compact scheme and retracts the line.