Real Madrid's Attacking Issues Remain Despite Win Against Eibar

It was uninspiring and short on joy; the mere fact that the goals came from a set piece and a penalty told most of the story. 

"Back to winning ways in stodgy fashion," said Marca after Real Madrid's 2-0 victory over Eibar on Sunday, the Madrid-based daily adding that Real are "holding onto a life raft." And it certainly feels that way, huh?

Entering the clash at the tiny Ipurua Municipal Stadium trailing Barcelona by nine points and Atletico Madrid by five, Madrid desperately needed the win they ultimately secured, but it also felt as though they needed something more. A real performance, perhaps. A convincing one. A throwing off of the shackles. 

But that's not what transpired. 

In the hills of the Basque Country, Madrid controlled the game but never dominated it, doing enough for a result but not really doing, well, enough. "Everyone in Benitez's team has a look of bored orthodoxy about them and a worrying lack of emotion," said AS afterward, neatly capturing the puzzling feel around this team—the sense that, while nothing is disastrous, few things feel the way they should. 

Those things include the peripheral existence of Cristiano Ronaldo, the lack of fluency in midfield and the disjointed appearance of system. 

Right now, Real Madrid just don't feel much like Real Madrid. 

Uncertainty in Midfield

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What is Real Madrid's best midfield right now? Who makes the cut? And in what roles?

Not long ago those questions had obvious answers, but not anymore. 

On Sunday against Eibar, Rafa Benitez used a trio of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic; against Shakhtar Donetsk, the trio was Modric, Kovacic and Casemiro; against Barcelona, he used Modric and Kroos on their own; against Sevilla, it was Modric, Kroos and Casemiro. 

In four straight games, Benitez has used four different midfield combinations. In doing so, the manager has exhibited some of the defining traits of his very established approach—rotation and the use of specific XIs for specific opponents—but what's been left behind is a sense of uncertainty, a confused mentality. 

Kroos is emblematic of that. 

This season, the German has been well below the standards he set in 2014-15, but much of his dip in form feels attributed to a task that's forever changing. Against Eibar he returned to his position of last term, sitting as a deepest member of a midfield three, but in the games prior to that, he'd played as a more advanced part of a three and as one half of a holding pair. 

As such, Kroos, much like his team as a whole, seems caught in an uncomfortable middle ground between attack and defence; instead of playing instinctively, there's a hesitancy to his game at present.

The dynamic of the midfield is suffering as a result. 

Ronaldo's Position Needs Defining, the Attack Depends on It

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As he often has recently, Cristiano Ronaldo played an interchanging role with Gareth Bale against Eibar at the Ipurua, switching between the left side of the attack and the centre-forward position throughout the 90 minutes. 

In theory, there's nothing wrong with that, but in practice, it's not working. "Cristiano is still missing in action," said AS. 

No longer the winger he once was, the Portuguese doesn't operate like the wide man the team needs to maintain balance between the two sides of the formation, his tendency to drift to the middle of the attack often leaving the left flank vacant.

So why not just start centrally, then? Well, that's problematic, too. 

When operating through the middle, Ronaldo doesn't present himself as a focal point for his team-mates to play around in the way a conventional centre-forward would. Not one to play with his back to goal, not a player who'll scrap to win the ball from a clearance or a goal-kick, Ronaldo is instead always looking to get in behind the defensive line—either to run onto a ball played vertically or to attack a ball played in from out wide. 

Of course, playing in such a manner can be lethal, but without someone else in the attack presenting as a target and winning contested balls (Karim Benzema's absence is really hurting), the team can't play through the middle with purpose. There's no central figure for the midfield to play through or around, and the system becomes disjointed. 

Admittedly, the return of Benzema will ease this issue—a 4-4-2 with Ronaldo alongside the Frenchman and Bale on the left would be good to see—but the half-and-half positional existence that Ronaldo has taken on needs to be changed. It's not working.