Managing Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo has been struggling with a niggling hamstring issue for the last few weeks.  Mourinho decided to risk him against Lyon and for 70 minutes against Atléti, and managed to win both.  However, during the Atléti game, Ronaldo allegedly re-injured his hamstring and will be out for 2-3 weeks, likely returning for the Champions League quarterfinal match against Tottenham on 5 April. 

However, it seems like a number of people think this is a cunning ruse to get Ronaldo out of international duty with Portugal for the next two weeks.  Tim Sherwood, the former Blackburn legend and current Tottenham coach sent to scout the Madrid derby match, claims he doesn't think Ronaldo really suffered a hamstring injury.  Sid Lowe also doubts the injury, claiming that the idea is to allow Ronaldo to fully recover from his injury instead of going off to play for Portugal for two weeks and thinks that the Madrid player will skip the game against Sporting and return for the Spurs match as planned.

Of course, given our attitude toward international football (we don't like it), we think this is genius! Go Mourinho!

Real Madrid put Lyon to the sword at the Bernabéu tonight, easing past the French team 3-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.  Mourinho made two key tactical shifts from the first leg, playing the marauding Marcelo instead of the more conservative Arbeloa at left back and the mercurial Benzema instead of Adebayor to lead the line.

One of the reasons Madrid had trouble breaking down Lyon in the first leg was Mourinho's tactical miscue in playing Arbeloa instead of Marcelo.  No doubt the reasoning was that the Spaniard offers more defensive security than the marauding Brazilian, but two issues with this emerged.

First, playing a more defensive player on that flank meant Arbeloa didn't attack as much down the wing, both failing to pin the opposition fullback/winger by forcing them to come deep to defend and inviting pressure and attacks down that side, as more space was available in front of the deep-lying fullback.  Second, playing an inverted winger (that is, a wing player who starts on the opposite side from his natural foot, such as Arjen Robben, a left-footer who plays on the right, or Ronaldo, a right-footer who plays on the left) with a similarly 'inverted' fullback means that both players have the tendency to cut inside rather than running at defenses to put in the cross.  Thus, Ronaldo had no one on the overlap to provide an outlet for his passing and to draw defenders off of him and often found himself stymied by two or three defenders.

At the Bernabéu, Mourinho made no such mistake, and his choices paid off in the key role Marcelo played in the match.  The match started off relatively even, with Madrid having the lion's share of the possession but failing to make chances against a resolute Lyon side.  Lyon played a deep defensive line and looked to play on the counter, so Madrid's passing failed to draw out defenders, while the Merengues were unwilling to commit too many men forward as it might allow Lyon the chance to counterattack incisively.  As the first half went on, Real's dominance began to fade as Lyon created some decent chances from breaks down the wings, earning a few corners and putting some crosses into the box.  Spells of Lyon possession also led to some nervous defending from the Whites, leading to yellow cards for Carvalho, Marcelo and Pepe.

Madrid had to conjure up something special to break the deadlock.  In the 37th minute, Ronaldo and Marcelo exchanged passes on the edge of the box before the Brazilian dribbled through with a superb piece of individual skill before finishing handily past the excellent Lloris.

In the second half, Lyon pushed forward desperately, looking for a goal.  Puel brought on Gomis for Briand during the interval, bringing Lisandro Lopez across to the left to keep Ramos in check.  Madrid, however, were happy to sit back and frolic in the open spaces left behind by Lyon on the break.  In the 66th minute, Benzema displayed the predatory instinct that has helped him to a remarkable scoring streak in the last few games by taking advantage of confusion between Cris and Lovren on a longball to spring free and put the ball through the legs of the onrushing Lloris.  Ten minutes later, di Maria chipped a third over Lloris after a slick counter and a clever headed pass by Ozil.  Mourinho was happy to take the opportunity to bring off Ronaldo, di Maria and Benzema and bring on Lass, Granero and Adebayor to see the tie out.  A broken Lyon team made no attempt to score a consolation goal, happy to keep Madrid from turning the tie into a rout.

Madrid saw themselves past their bogie team in Lyon and their curse of the last 16, where the Whites have failed for the past six years.  Here are the last 8:

Real Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk
Chelsea
Manchester United
Tottenham Hotspur
Internazionale
Barcelona
Schalke

Madrid effectively conceded the league this afternoon with their goalless draw at the Riazor as Barcelona breezed past Mallorca 3-0 to extend their lead to seven points at the top of the table.  Dani Aranzubia was again the hero as the veteran keeper, coming off of scoring a vital goal for his side in the previous round of fixtures, managed to keep los Blancos at bay with a series of excellent stops.  Deportivo broke up Madrid's attacking rhythm effectively with persistent fouling in the first half before putting ten men behind the ball in the second to withstand a flurry of chances.  Ultimately, wasteful finishing was the culprit, as the Merengues had numerous chances to put themselves in front.

Ronaldo played well, putting a ball in the net that was correctly ruled offsides before drawing superb saves from Aranzubia off of shots and a free kick.  The Portuguese winger also hit the post with a low drive and played a terrific cross to leave Benzema with a tap-in for the chance of the game, but the Frenchman was unable to score.  Adebayor, coming in as a late substitute, also managed to hit the post.

Karim Benzema's profligacy in front of goal cost Madrid the three points today, despite his having a good first half.  Perhaps this is a signal to Mourinho that he should consider playing Benzema as an impact sub for Adebayor in the second half as he did to great effect against Lyon, where his energy and dynamic movement wreaked havoc with a tired defense.  The Togolese was particularly effective tonight, drawing fouls left and right as well as having a number of good chances.

One issue with the team was the inefficacy of the fullbacks.  Sergio Ramos and Marcelo were both wasteful and ineffective in attack and overly troubled with a weak Depor offense.  Playing against a highly defensive team that chooses to pack ten men behind the ball, cede the wings and occupy the center, having good overlap play down the flanks becomes crucial to draw defenders out and create space for the attacking players.

Madrid had looked unlikely to win the league before this draw, which really puts the team out of effective contention.  Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, however.  So long as Barcelona remained in real touching distance, the team would have been forced to commit valuable attention and resources to what was still the longest of long shots.  Now, Madrid can focus on the more realistic and frankly important objective of the Champions League as well as the Copa final against Barcelona.

My view is (and perhaps Gabe will disagree) that La Liga is no longer worth anything to win as a competition.  It has become so non-competitive with only Madrid or Barcelona having any chance whatsoever of winning it that it has ceased to be a valuable prize.  Much like in Scotland, the only question is whether one team or the other has the upper hand in that particular year.  The Champions League has to be our real objective, as Madrid have underperformed in the competition for years and reclaiming it is vital to our reestablishment as one of the top teams in Europe and the reclamation of our lost respect.  It used to be that teams quaked in their boots when they drew Madrid in Europe, and this simply has not been the case for the past six years.  This is much more crucial than winning the league over a Barcelona side whose star is already on the wane.

Getty Images

Well, it could have been better. After Karim Benzema, the ex-Lyon player scored the second time he touched the ball (in minute 64), Real Madrid finally looked like they were going to take the three points from the Gerland for the first time in years. Sadly, it wasn't to be, as Gomis tied things up for the home squad in the 82nd minute.

The good news, though, is that Benzema's goal signifies a vitally important advantage for los blancos as they head into the return leg at the Bernabéu on March 16th: an away goal. Madrid will have a double advantage, then: 1) a 0-0 draw works to go through to the next round, so Lyon are obligated to score, and 2) Mourinho hasn't lost a home game in 8 years. Oh, and Madrid's defense is infinitely better at home (someone look up the stats on that--I'm too exhausted).

We should have been given a penalty when we were already up 0-1 on an extremely obvious hand ball in the box; I'm not going to say any more about it, because Mourinho already did: "There are other errors that you can't accept. There was a free-kick and in the slow-motion replay you can see it clearly. I was 50 yards away and I could see it. He (Stark) was five yards away with all his assistants and he didn't. I don't understand. It could still be decisive in the tie. I just hope it won't be." Yikes.

I did a live blog over on Bleacher Report for the game--you should check it out! You should notice--and you will because I'm pointing it out right now--that I correctly predicted the final score, saying "I could also see a 1-1 tie (Madrid is really bad away from home in the Champions for some reason)." Boom.

Anyways, I'll leave you with the conclusion I wrote in my sweaty state after biting my nails for the final 10 minutes of the game (I was worried that Lyon would come back, Arsenal-style, and sink us into a 2-1 hole).

In the end, after everything is said and done, Madrid can look back on this game and be relatively happy. Sure, Sergio Ramos played like junk, and is probably responsible for the goal (and could easily have been responsible for at least one more), and the defense looked pretty bad at times, but they went to a really tough stadium that has given them tons of problems and pulled out a good 1-1 draw. The away goal is always vitally important, and Madrid will be able to sleep easier thanks to Benzema's strike.

At the same time, the team showed a lot of weakness on the break. Lyon's first half was inspired, moving the ball from end to end in seconds; Madrid looked tired and out of the loop at times. After halftime, though, Madrid came out fired up and immediately picked up the pace. Benzema played an incredible 30 minutes of football as a sub, and managed to pick up a goal against his old team (always a good feeling). Mourinho will be terribly disappointed by Madrid's defensive mis-steps in the second half: as well as they played for the first 30 minutes of the half, they just couldn't keep it up.

Finally, Sergio Ramos looked terrible. I mean just god awful. Everyone was getting by him, he was making mental errors, and didn't add anything on offense (well, actually he did hit the post with a header). We'll have to see how this plays out, but Mou will surely consider sitting him in the next leg in favor of Arbeloa, and maybe bringing Marcelo back in.

C/O Dennis Doyle/Getty Images

I'm gonna post my newest article here verbatim, because I think that it's important for people to read it. I pretty much argue that though Madrid has an incredible player in Cristiano Ronaldo, we need to find other viable offensive alternatives--the reason Cristiano has been so incredible for us is because we need him to be incredible. We use him on almost every offensive possession, and defenses are beginning to realize that stopping him means crippling our attack (as evidenced in our most recent Liga matches).

Cristiano Ronaldo is a really good football player: that’s a fact, and really should not be contested, no matter how much you dislike the guy. He gets a lot of flak for his past indiscretions--on the football field (his diving, particularly when he played for Manchester United), and off (he’s a bit of a diva)--but ultimately, he’s a great player. He’s extremely fast, doesn’t seem to get tired, is ultra-competitive, and has incredible ball skills that compliment his unbelievably powerful shot--among other things.

Currently, he’s in the middle of his best statistical season: he’s averaging more than a goal per game (32 goals in 30 appearances), and already has more assists than he did all of last year (9 as opposed to 7). In his Real Madrid career he has scored 65 goals in 65 matches, with 16 assists. If he ends up playing in around 50 matches this year for Real Madrid at this pace, he’ll score more than 50 goals: that’s eight more goals than during his Gold Ball season of 2008, and he already has more assists. Those numbers are sick--awe-inspiring, even.

But football isn’t a numbers game. Sure, whichever team scores more wins the game, but one player’s statistical dominance can signify that the team actually relies too heavily on that individual player. Teams that produce great statistical performances from a few players tend to have serious problems when an opposing team successfully guards their star player (or players) because they have no viable plan B.

Here’s an NBA parallel: Amare Stoudemire has so far had one of the best statistical seasons of his career for the New York Knicks. There’s no doubt that Amare is a great player, and that the Knicks are a much better team with him on the floor--but he’s their plan A and plan B (Raymond Felton is plan C, followed by Danilo Gallinari at plan E, Wilson Chandler at plan G, and Timofey Mozgov at plan й), and when he isn’t playing well, the Knicks will probably lose. [Don’t be fooled by my Knicks-mockery--I really enjoy watching them play, and think Mike D’Antoni is an offensive genius.]

It’s the same with Real Madrid (though to a bit of a lesser extent): if a team can completely shut down CR7--a tall task--Madrid suddenly has to find a new way to attack, and has to pin their hopes on players like Mesut Özil, Ángel di María, or Karim Benzema. This isn’t to say that Madrid is unable to attack without Ronaldo; rather that erasing CR7 removes los blancos main goal-scoring threat, the player who tends to be on the end of those quick, vertical counter strikes that epitomize Madrid’s football.

In many ways, a rejuvenated Kaká will solve Madrid’s problem: he could be a very viable plan B if he returns to his 2007 form, because he has the potential to take over a game and draw defenders towards him. If this Kaká emerges as the season progresses, Madrid will suddenly become a much more deadly team because opposing defenses will have to worry about a plethora of viable attacking options. Not only would his presence invigorate Cristiano Ronaldo, it will also draw more defenders away from other midfielders like di María or Özil, who flourish with more space.

Real Madrid can and should keep riding Ronaldo’s amazing play--there’s no reason to think he’ll slow down, and he has no history of major injury (knock on wood). But they do need to find options that can compliment his particular set of skills. A rejuvenated Kaká should add a lot to the team, but this eventuality is uncertain: in light of Kaká’s series of knee injuries, Madrid needs to look to other options to lighten the amount they rely on CR7.

Cristiano’s dominance this season (and really in his whole Madrid career) should come with the caveat that he has an incredibly high usage rate. Both Pellegrini and Mourinho run their offense through him; this allows teams to focus in on him, to expend almost all of their energy in shutting him down. While this doesn’t normally work--I mean, look at those numbers!--there are some examples of good defensive teams shutting Madrid down by constantly hammering CR7. Los blancos need another consistent offensive spark to take pressure off Cristiano--whether this comes in the form of another striker, Kaká’s resurgence, or even a return to form of Benzema, Madrid as a team will benefit greatly from scaling back their reliance on CR7 because it will make them more consistent.

With more viable offensive plans, Madrid would become less prone to losses against teams that hammer Cristiano. They could still rely on him offensively, sure, but there would be other consistent, viable options to turn to if he has a bad day or is shut down by an opposing team. There’s no harm in a high usage rate, just the problem of over-reliance: Michael Jordan has the highest usage rate in NBA history, but he didn’t win a championship until Scottie Pippin’s usage rate began rising. The same will be true for Real Madrid.

Here's hoping we sign Van the Man, and that Kaká comes on strong in the second half of the season!  

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