Real Madrid went through some huge changes this summer, from
Jose Mourinho leaving to breaking the world transfer record when they bought
Gareth Bale. Replacing Jose Mourinho was always going to be difficult and Carlo
Ancelotti was the man Florentino Perez chose for the job. When a new manager
comes in there are always changes but the difference between the Madrid team of
last season and this current season is huge.
Jose Mourinho is known for his attention to detail and organization, and
so far this season Real Madrid has lacked both.
I think that Madrid’s defense this season has been one of
their main problems and the same problems are occurring week after week. I am
going to look the match from last Saturday, El Clasico, and anaylse their
problems both defensively and offensively.
The main surprise for most people was when the teams for the
Barcelona match was announced that Sergio Ramos was going to play in midfield
as a defensive midfielder. This isn’t the first time that Real Madrid have used
a defender in that position against Barcelona, Pepe had been used there against
Barcelona a couple of times in the past, but Sergio Ramos had never been asked
to fill this position. The first question of many people was why do they need
to put a player behind the two central midfielders, Modric and Khederia? Well,
Xabi Alonso, who usually sits a little deeper, has been missing this season and
many teams have exploited the space between the Madrid defense and midfield
lines, and against Barcelona, I’m sure Ancelotti wanted to make sure that
didn’t happen again.
It was also a surprise to many that Gareth Bale started the
match, not only because he was rumoured to be on the bench, but also because he
still isn’t 100% fit and has been struggling for form.
The need for a
defensive midfielder
This is an example from the first match of the season
against Real Betis.
The Betis player has received the ball from his goalkeeper
and is now looking to play forward. The two central midfielders for Real Madrid
are Luka Modric and Sami Khedira. From the first pass from the goalkeeper the
two central midfielders are out of position, leaving lots of space in midfield.
There are two Betis players in behind the Madrid midfield and the player behind
Modric is pulling wide to create even more space in the middle for his
teammate, the striker, to drop into with no Madrid defender going with him. On this occasion the defender passed wide and
the space wasn’t exploited but should have served as a warning for what was to
happen in a couple of minutes.
Just over a minute later the same defender was on the ball
and this time both Modric and Khedira are drawn to the ball, leaving lots of
space in behind. This time the defender passes between the two central
midfielders, taking them out of the game. The Betis player receives the ball
and runs at the Madrid defense.
Last season Xabi Alonso would have stayed in a more
defensive position to free the other central midfielder to press and he would
be the safety net to stop situations like this from arising.
A huge problem for Real Madrid this season is every player
running backwards and nobody going to challenge the player in possession, and
that is exactly what happens here. The Betis player receives the ball on the halfway
line, turns and runs at the Madrid defense. EVERY Madrid defender runs
backwards and away from the attacker. Ramos tries to delay the Betis player but
has no support and the player knocks it past him and crosses for his teammate
in the middle, who makes a straight run, to score. Real Madrid went on to win
this game 2-1 but the early warning
signs defensively were there.
El Clasico –
Saturday 26th October 2013
Sergio Ramos – The
Defensive Midfielder and problems in the midfield
For the reasons highlighted above Ancelotti wanted a player
to sit in front of his defense against Barcelona, which is understandable
because Barca are very strong centrally and with their “false 9” tactic would
have taken full advantage of that space in between the lines. Sergio Ramos was the player he chose for that
role last weekend. There are also rumours that somebody from Real Madrid leaked
the team to the press before the game and Tata Martino changed Messi’s position
and added Cesc as the “False 9” to take advantage of Sergio Ramos playing in
the defensive midfielder position.
Now, as I mentioned, Madrid have deployed a defender in this
role before. Pepe has played in front of the defense against Barca on a couple
of occasions and played fairly well. When Pepe played this position he done so
in a purely defensive capacity and didn’t venture forward very often, if at
all. He was a destroyer and once he had the ball, he gave it to the other
midfielders to play forwards and try to create chances. On Saturday, Sergio Ramos
didn’t seem sure of his role and was consistently pulled out of position and/or
drawn to the ball. Ramos playing this position also seemed to affect the build
up play with Madrid playing long from most goal kicks and their centre backs,
Pepe and Varane, not seeming willing to pass to Ramos to start building play.
Even from the 4th minute of the match Ramos is
starting to get pulled out of position. From the Barca goalkeeper having the
ball, he decided to follow Cesc all the way in to the opposition half and he
has left space in front of the defense which Messi has dropped into with nobody
picking him up.
One minute later, Ramos follows Cesc again and the Barca
player pulls him over to the left side of the field leaving a huge space in the
centre of midfield. Xavi got the ball from Valdes and the two central
midfielders of Madrid started to press the ball. Xavi passes to Iniesta and
continues his run straight through the midfield of Madrid.
Above is seconds later in the same move. Xavi continues his
run and find a lot of space in front of the Madrid defense, all coming from a
straight run through the middle of midfield and he is now ahead of the Modric
and Khedira. Ramos doesn’t react and is the furthest midfielder from the
ball. The blue circle is where Ramos
should be because from this position he would discourage a pass infield towards
Xavi and he could also drop into defense if needed.
This is an example of the movement of Barcelona again
causing problems for the Madrid midfield. Khedira was out of position as he
followed Cesc, despite Cesc already being goal side of him. As Khedira was out
of position Ramos had to go towards the ball as there was no pressure on Xavi.
When Ramos comes forward Khedira realizes he’s out of position and tries to get
across, at the same time Cesc makes a run into the space left and Xavi plays
the ball through. Carvajal needs to make a recovery run and is put in a
dangerous situation. The first blue circle shows where Khedira should be, which
is closer to Xavi and putting pressure on him. The second blue circle is where
Ramos would be if Khedira wasn’t out of position. This would enable him to
intercept any passes that Xavi may try to make.
Towards the end of the first half now and the same problems
are happening with the Madrid midfield. Di Maria made a feeble attempt to win
the ball back from Iniesta, who passed to Xavi and got the ball back. When
Iniesta receives the ball back, both Khedira and Ramos go towards the ball
leaving Messi standing all alone. Iniesta passes the ball between Khedira and
Ramos to Messi, who passes to Cesc. Cesc runs at the Madrid defense who, again
back off and nobody challenges Cesc. Cesc passes to Neymar who makes a run down
on the wing.
Sergio Ramos was substituted 10 minutes into the second half
and didn’t look too happy with the decision to take him off. The truth is, he
struggled in the holding midfielder position. He’s a fantastic centre back and I
think he should be kept to that position. He was playing in midfield with
Khedira and Modric, who both like to go forward and both need a more defensive
midfielder they trust so that they have the confidence to go forward. Illarramendi, who came on for Ramos, is a
defensive midfielder and had a fantastic season last year with Real Sociedad.
He done well when he came on and, perhaps most notably, his team mates showed
more trust in giving him the ball to start attacking moves.
In this situation, Ramos has taken up a good position to
receive the ball and he has 3 good passing options should he get the ball.
Varane who is the player on the ball had passed to Ramos a couple of time
previously and Ramos had either played a poor pass or been caught in
possession. Varane chooses to play a long ball and loses possession.
From the moment Illarramendi came on his teammates began to
use him. Compare the picture above to the previous one with Ramos. The same
defender, Varane has the ball under pressure but this time he chooses to pass
to Illarramendi who plays first time to Khedira who makes a run up the wing.
In another example of Illarramendi not long after coming on,
you can se that he is holding a good position in front of the defense and when
Iniesta begins to run centrally Illarrameni shows him inside. The Madrid
defense don’t all run back this time and hold the position you see in the
picture. The combination of Illarramendi’s blocking run and Modric’s recovery
run takes away the space Iniesta was running into and he give away possession
when he tries to switch play.
In this example you can see how having Illarramendi on the
field helps the balance of the midfield. When Modric passes the ball to Di
Maria, Illarramendi drops deeper to give an easy pass option. When he reaches
the secondary position you can see the triangle shape that Madrid midfield now
have with Illarramendi offering balance and defensive cover.
In the first half we could see how Sergio Ramos was pulled
out of position and how much space there was in front of the defense. Compare
this picture to the examples in the first half and we can see how Illarramendi
understands how to hold his position in front of the defense and minimize the
space between the lines. From his position above he can go with the run of
Xavi, run to help close down Neymar should he cut inside or drop into the
defensive line if needed. Khedira is also in a good position to help the
defense and drop back if needed.
Midfield
differences in 1st & 2nd halfs
Sergio Ramos started in the holding midfielder role and
struggled, not only positionally and getting dragged out of position, but also
in his teammates not trusting him in possession which led to Madrid playing
long most of the first half. Illarramendi is a very good young player and done
well when he came on. He also had his problems and was caught out of position a
couple of times, not to the extent of Ramos and was more likely to be because
Madrid were looking for a goal. Illaramendi gave the midfield more balance,
helped Madrid retain possession and his teammates trusted him in
possession. I don’t think it’s any
coincidence that he started the next game against Sevilla.
Madrid in attack
In this game it looked like Madrid’s first instinct was to
stop Barcelona from scoring and try to hit them on the counter attack using
their strong, tall and extremely fast front line of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale and
Di Maria. As mentioned above, in the
first half Madrid didn’t try to play out from the back and played long and
quickly at almost every opportunity. Even when their defense had time on the
ball they would look to pass instead of bring the ball out themselves. The
starting front line was very strong but there was a real lack of a link between
midfield and the front line leaving them isolated.
Here, Varane is on the ball and has 20 yards of space in
front of him to run into but he decides to play a long ball to centre forward.
Now, Varane is a very good player with more than enough ability to come out
with the ball and if he did come out with the ball the black arrows show how
his teammates could have reacted to that movement and allowed Madrid to not
only build up better but do so 20-25 yards further up the field.
This was the story of the first half for Real Madrid. This
is a free kick in the box early in the match and nobody drops back to receive
the ball from the goalkeeper. Madrid has 5v2 in their own half and they choose
to kick long. Incidentally they give possession straight to Barcelona.
This is early in the first half and already the midfield is
disjointed and there is nobody in the centre to build up and allow the forwards
to stretch the play. Pepe is on the ball and although he has a short pass
option to Marcelo, there are no midfielders available for a safe pass. Bale
starts to drop into the space but Pepe decides to play a long ball and passes
straight to a Barcelona player.
Another example of long ball, this time with Marcelo in
possession. Despite having a number of short passing options, including playing
back to his goalkeeper, Diego Lopez, Marcelo plays a long ball towards a
forward player and loses possession.
When one of the Madrid forwards eventually get the ball, in
this case Bale, and begin to attack the
Barcelona defense they are vastly outnumbered 6v2 with another Barca player
recovering behind. Cristiano makes a good run across the face of Bale to try
and create space but the two Barcelona players immediately take that away and
Bale shoots from around 30 yards and it goes over the bar.
The first half way frustrating for Madrid and the forwards
weren’t involved in the match that much. Madrid set up in a 4-3-3 formation
with the forward rotating positions, but because the long ball was always
played down the centre and all three forwards wanted to go central to try and
get on the ball. Above we can see how close all three forwards became at times
in the first half. There was nobody trying to offer length or offer an option to
go in behind if the long ball was played.
We know from the earlier analysis that things improved when
illarramendi came on. not only in his defensive positioning, but also in the
build up. We can see Illarramendi on the ball after receiving from Pepe. He has
some time in possession and he has a number of passing options. He can split
the two Barcelona players and pass to Khedira, go wide to Carvajal or an
aggressive pass to Benzema. He even has two longer options from the runs of Di
Maria and Cristiano. This is a much better attacking situation for Madrid to be
in.
This is the penalty incident involving Cristiano, which
wasn’t given. It’s a good example of the 3 forward combining and the midfield supporting.
The ball was played to Benzema from Pepe just before the halfway line. Benzema
takes a touch which draws Pique in for a second, he then passes to Di Maria and
as the ball is travelling Cristiano makes a fantastic run between the two
Barcelona centre backs, and Di Maria passes first time into his path. Cristiano
drives into the box and is fouled from behind but no penalty was given.
Compare this to the 6v2 in Barcelona’s favour in first half
we looked at earlier. This time it’s 5v5 with two Barcelona players trying to
recover.
Conclusion
This was a bad day at the office for Real Madrid and they
didn’t help themselves with trying to play long ball in the first half as they
just gave possession back to Barcelona, and Barcelona’s strength is in
possession. I think Ancelotti made a
mistake playing Sergio Ramos in a defensive midfielder role and it affected the
team both offensively and defensively. Things improved once Illarramendi came
on and once Madrid stopped trying to play so direct. The movement of Barcelona in the first half
was fantastic and cause Madrid a lot of problems. Starting Gareth Bale was also
a risk because he’s still not 100% fit and he looked lost at times. A number of
times he went chasing after the ball only to look round and realize he had no
support. He still needs time to adjust to playing with his new team and the two
goals against Sevilla will have helped his confidence a lot.
Madrid hasn’t played well all season and the
defense has been a real problem. There seems to be a lack of a plan in both in
and out of possession and although it’s early in the season, Madrid will need
to improve quickly. The team is missing a link between midfield and attack and
the sale of Mesut Ozil is a huge part of that. Of course Isco can help with
some of that but as of right now he hasn’t been as influential in linking the
play as Ozil was in the last few seasons. There are lots of people that already
think that Ancelotti won’t last the season at Real Madrid, now I don’t think it
is close to that level yet but I don’t think Madrid are a far cry from even
last seasons team in terms organization and playing level; and that team
weren’t close to Barcelona so that doesn’t bode well for Madrid or Ancelotti.
