3 Biggest Concerns for Real Madrid's Fans in 2015-16 Season so Far
Fifteen games for 10 wins and just a single defeat: Concerns, really? You're joking, right?
Well, not entirely.
The thing about concerns is that they're a relative concept. What's encouraging for some can be concerning for others, such as being three points behind Barcelona in the table: For Rayo Vallecano that would be bloody brilliant; for Real Madrid, not so much.
Of course, three points behind Barcelona is precisely where Real Madrid find themselves at present following Sunday's defeat to Sevilla, Rafa Benitez's side having succumbed for the first time this season to hand a slight advantage to their fierce rivals ahead of the looming Clasico.
For some, that will be the major concern. For others, it will be the incessantly busy medical room. For another group, it will be something else—everyone is concerned about something.
So below, because it's the international break and, like you, we haven't got a lot else to do, we've done our own assessment of Real Madrid's biggest concerns at present, examining some of the themes of the season for Los Blancos in 2015-16.
(Later in the week, we'll be more positive—we promise.)
Uncertain Mentality, Identity
"It looked as if the game was under control," said a frustrated Benitez, "but it turned out it wasn't."
He was right, but which game was he talking about—Sevilla? Celta Vigo? Paris Saint-Germain? Atletico?
It's a concerning question.
Specifically, the Real Madrid boss was talking of his team's 3-2 defeat to Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, but for Madrid, it remains uncomfortably true that such a line could be used to describe a number of recent performances.
Five nights earlier, Benitez's men had fortuitously escaped a strangely passive performance at home to PSG. A week before that, they were close to being overrun by a 10-man Celta. Before that, Atletico gave them a similar fright.
Importantly for Madrid, subsequent damage has been minimal; Sunday's loss was their first of the season. But that's not the central focus here.
Regardless of points, goals, statistics or any other numerical indicators, there's something missing in Real Madrid at present. In a manner that is uncharacteristic, they're not stamping an authority on contests, not imposing themselves on their opponents. In all four aforementioned games, Madrid took the lead and then ceded control thereafter, an assertiveness curiously absent in a team of such quality.
It's as if, collectively, there's a confused identity, as though Madrid are stuck in an uneasy middle ground, caught between swagger and safety. Between instinct and instruction. Between who they are and who they're attempting to be.
"I think we were a bit static, although I can't explain why," said Sergio Ramos on Sunday. But it was something else he said that was more significant: "We need to change our mentality."
That Price Tag
Marca called it "a mare," and frankly, that's what it was. The more concerning part, however, is that it wasn't a first.
For Danilo, Sevilla's Yevhen Konoplyanka continued an undesirable trend for the Real Madrid right-back, butchering the Brazilian down the hosts' left flank, tying his legs in knots with trickery, pace and relentless energy—just as Maxwell had done before him. And just as Nolito had done before that.
It was, said Marca, "a night to forget" for Danilo—though "another night to forget" might have been more accurate.
Quickly, Real Madrid are developing an uneasy conundrum at right-back, and it's one that is their own doing. When the club signed Danilo from Porto in the summer, plenty of eyebrows were raised, not so much because of the player himself but for the price required to get him: €31.5 million.
And that is the problem: the price, not the player.
Had Danilo not been so costly, this situation wouldn't exist and his presence within the squad would only be positive. But that's not the case. Instead of simply adding depth, representing another option or tactical alternative to Daniel Carvajal, the Brazilian puts political pressure on Benitez through his price tag. The sheer sum attached to his name demands that he plays even when his performances don't.
And right now, they really don't.
To date this season, Danilo has shown that, while he's a potent weapon going forward, he's limited defensively: With his lack of agility and quick feet, pacey opponents skip by him too easily; with his lack of positional discipline, they're regularly free from him.
Against La Liga's minnows, it won't be a problem. But against better sides, like Sevilla, it will be—particularly if Carvajal returns from injury but is forced to watch on from the bench as dollar figures decide the positional battle.
Ronaldo's Disengagement
A look at the raw numbers suggests everything is fine: 13 goals in 15 games, say the record keepers. But everything isn't fine. Something isn't quite right—something that's difficult to put your finger on.
On Sunday at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, Cristiano Ronaldo was strangely peripheral as his side traversed the spectrum from dominant to dominated. Against PSG, he was something similar. Ditto for the trip to the Vicente Calderon. So too with the second half against Celta.
It's odd, and it's uncomfortable viewing.
For the Portuguese, it's not that he's been poor, it's that he's felt somewhat detached and uninvolved from it all, as though he's no longer a central focus and instead just another player, another cog. The body language heightens such a sense, too, a frustration to Ronaldo totally palpable, a lack of spark evident.
"Bad vibes," said Marca rather neatly.
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