Over the summer, when Real Madrid were making a splash first by hijacking Spain’s head coach right before the World Cup and then by jettisoning the greatest player in their history, there was a sense of rejuvenation at the club.
One chapter, the Cristiano Ronaldo era, was being closed.
But by hiring Julen Lopetegui, a manager renowned for his work with youth players, including Madrid stars Isco and Marco Asensio, as well as for preferring Spain’s famed, possession-based, tiki-taka system, Madrid must have thought they had the perfect boss. He was – surely – uniquely positioned to get the most out of a squad balanced between veterans like Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Marcelo, and a young cadre led by Asensio and Isco.
Then, in a summer in which they were constantly linked with the likes of Neymar, Eden Hazard, and Kylian Mbappe they spent £35 million on Thibaut Courtois, and exercised a buy-back option on Lyon striker Mariano to purchase him for around £27m.
Real Madrid chose to replace their consistently good goalkeeper in the summer rather than the man who averaged 50 goals per season over his nine years at the club.
— Andrew Gaffney (@GaffneyVLC) October 20, 2018
Logic.
In signing Courtois, a goalkeeper perhaps better than incumbent Keylor Navas but if so, not by much, perhaps Madrid thought there was no harm in having two of the world’s best goalkeepers at their disposal. But it was a strange move nonetheless, signing a player in a position that didn’t need reinforcement, while replacing a striker who guaranteed 40 to 50 goals a season not with a proven goalscorer, but a 25-year-old former academy product.
Is it all that surprising that Madrid recently set a new club record for minutes without scoring a goal, while losing four games during a five-match winless run?
Real Madrid have now gone 465 minutes without scoring—their longest goal drought in their 116-year history 👀 pic.twitter.com/rgeSobJ2aw
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 20, 2018
That run has left Lopetegui under intense pressure. The early-season form of Benzema has fizzled out and Bale, yet again, has missed time with injury – though he’s been Madrid’s best player when fit.
Isco’s appendicitis surgery and subsequent absence has also hit the squad, but the players that are fit – Modric, Kroos, Benzema, Asensio – should be good enough to make up for injuries and illnesses elsewhere.
Benzema was meant to benefit from Ronaldo’s exit, as he would no longer have to play the selfless foil to a prolific scorer. But after two-consecutive braces early on in the season, the Frenchman has now gone eight games without a goal.
Yet he’s Madrid’s joint-top scorer. Is it any wonder they’re seventh in the table?
The players, publicly at least, remain behind Lopetegui, despite the poor run of form and the speculation surrounding his job.
As they should, because while it may be taking time for Lopetegui’s philosophy to take hold, Antonio Conte may be an even more difficult manager to work for, because of the tactical shift he’d bring and the defensive work rate he’d require.
Isco comes out in defence of his manager! 👊 #RealMadrid pic.twitter.com/PVGduWeWJN
— Sport360° (@Sport360) October 22, 2018
The former Chelsea, Juventus, and Italy manager has made a habit of reviving a grand club’s flagging fortunes – Juventus were similarly a seventh-placed team when he took over.
But a striker struggling for form may not benefit from Conte’s approach – just ask Alvaro Morata. Bale and Asensio would be the ideal players for a counter-attacking team with their pace and skill, but it may not matter if Benzema can’t be revived or Mariano – or young signing Vinicius Junior – can’t be developed.
Even Conte needed strikers like Diego Costa and Carlos Tevez for his success.
Plus, Hazard ended up chafing under the Italian’s style, and it’s likely Isco will eventually feel the same way.
In all likelihood, if Madrid have the patience to endure some more suffering, which is a high expectation from the club, Lopetegui will over time start getting the best out of this team.
But he’ll have to overcome the bigger issue at Santiago Bernabeu: a transfer policy that saw the club that let go of a 50-goal scorer, and then make their biggest signing of the summer a goalkeeper.
