Morata, Bale Chief Among Real Madrid Positives but Predictability Reigns Supreme

Real Madrid extended their lead at the top of La Liga to five points with a win early on Sunday over Leganes, with Gareth Bale netting a brace and Alvaro Morata scoring once in the 3-0 victory.

Zinedine Zidane's side were nowhere near top form for the encounter and struggled to create clear openings until late in the match when the newly promoted side went in search of a goal of their own, but coming away with the points once again only showcases how much more there is to come from this Madrid side.

A few changes and returning faces made it an intriguing on-field mix for Zidane to sort through in terms of post-game analysis, but the most worrying aspect—if a win can be worrying in some regard—has to be that his side are still looking sluggish, predictable in their buildup and reliant on final-third quality shining through just once or twice a game.

Even so, the players who provide those moments of quality have much more to give, and Zidane can take heart from one returning player in particular.

Return of the Mod

After seven games out with a knee injury, Croatian midfielder Luka Modric finally returned to the Real Madrid matchday squad and made an immediate impression off the bench, playing the final half hour.

Isco had largely laboured as the attacking midfielder, claiming an assist but doing little else either offensively or defensively. While Modric wasn't Isco's direct replacement—he came on for Mateo Kovacic, who was excellent again—he showed just how much Madrid lose when looking to the Spaniard to be the main source of creativity.

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Where Isco takes touches, looks up, floats a pass and jogs on into space, Modric is all angles, movement, fired-in passes and immediately looking to move the ball on. His first game back can excuse one or two overhit attempts to open the Leganes defence, but the tempo was quickly raised by Modric's introduction and it must be Isco, not Kovacic, who is most threatened by Luka's return to fitness.

Zidane has to be brave enough to make the decision to play both Croatians at some point, rather than putting Kovacic straight back on the bench, and both together will provide the regular verticality missing in Madrid's game at times.

Morata's work rewarded

Karim Benzema's struggles in the past few weeks have been well-documented, with Spanish striker Alvaro Morata impressing far more when given the chance and contributing more to the team overall than his French positional rival.

With the No. 9 absent against Leganes, Morata took centre stage; while he might have been frustrated with Madrid's slow pace and uninspiring buildup play, his work rate and movement was utterly relentless, and he was continually a problem for the smaller Liga side.

The regular approach from the defenders was simply to go straight through the back of Morata, who got more and more irritated with each of the seven occasions he was fouled, per WhoScored—a ludicrously high total.

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However, Morata's incessant willingness to make a run, and another, and another, always off the ball and not always getting the service he deserved, was eventually rewarded.

A very cool near-post finish late on makes him the outright top scorer in the squad with eight strikes to his name—one every 103 minutes of game time for the season so far—which contrasts rather favourably to Benzema's one every 166. Add in Morata's selfless play in buildup and his linking with the midfield and full-backs down the channels, and he should be comfortably the first-choice striker for Real Madrid at present.

Whether he will be or not remains to be seen, as Zidane has increasingly looked like merely playing the regulars rather than the in-form players who deserve a spot.

Bale replicating Ronaldo success

Turn the clocks back to a pre-Euros Cristiano Ronaldo and his goals were numerous, though they followed a certain set of patterns.

There was the late ghosting into the box to reach cut-backs, often after he had initiated the move from deeper; the six-yard box tap-in that his critics bemusedly opt to see as a lesser type of goal, usually after he had sprinted 40 yards or so to get in front of defenders; and the series of rising, powerful headers above defenders and goalkeepers alike.

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He's not netting them this year, with his finishing off-target and burst of acceleration still missing, but Gareth Bale has continued his improvement and, already a mirror image of Ronaldo in some ways, has been netting similar types of goals. Against Leganes, two classic Ronaldo-type goals made the difference in the match, and a hat-trick was only denied by the goalkeeper's fine saves.

Bale's diagonal runs had gone unnoticed more than once before Isco's eventual pass found the Welshman storming through on goal, and his composure to round the goalkeeper—albeit with some fortune—yielded a deserved opener. His second on the stroke of half-time was a more important aspect of Bale's game that has not always been prevalent—a predatory strike from close range, reacting first to be the one celebrating.

A free-kick and two headers almost sealed Bale's treble in extremely Ronaldo-like fashion, but while the Portuguese master continues to stumble and struggle in front of goal, Bale's one-in-two strike rate for the season has been vital for Madrid.

He has largely scored in important moments or matches, when his goals really count, and that certainly applied against Leganes.

Zidane's thoughts

• Unbeaten, top by five points, but Real Madrid haven't been in top gear for some time.
• Raphael Varane's performance was extremely up-and-down, and consistency continues to elude him.
• At some point, Ronaldo's wastefulness in front of goal becomes a concern, but it is not yet damaging the team as a whole.
• A first clean sheet in seven in La Liga was a welcome footnote to the game.
• When will Zidane show the mettle he displayed early on in his reign and play those who justify inclusion? If he is to do so, Morata, Kovacic and Nacho should all be in the XI after the international break, regardless of who returns to fitness in the next two weeks.