The defensive device of Real Madrid has cracks

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A month ago, when Madrid had only given up a draw throughout the season, against Osasuna at home (0-0), Carlo Ancelotti warned: “The key to success last season was defense.

In recent times, we have lost some duels and the team is not always compact”.

He said it with almost unblemished balance.

On Monday, after Vallecas' slump (3-2) and a record that was no longer so immaculate, similar arguments appeared in his analysis: "We lacked the forcefulness of the rival and concentration in individual duels," said the Italian.

Carletto's "fantastic and unforgettable" year ends this Thursday against Cádiz at the Bernabéu (9:30 p.m., Dazn; Benzema is still out) with the nuts of the defensive system, at least, not as tight as the previous season.

Beyond the recent curves in the white results, the balance until the World Cup break shows more cracks in its containment device.

In these first three months, he has only kept a clean sheet in five of the 20 games (Getafe, Elche, Leipzig, Celtic and Eintracht) and in the League, in just two of 13 games, his worst record since 2013-14, also with Ancelotti at the helm.

Last season he did not concede in 42% of the duels in the tournament and in this one, only in 15%.

The 13 goals against him are far from the figures of Barcelona (current leader), effective in Spain (five received with one more day) although also very vulnerable in Europe (12).

Behind the absolute data there are some parameters that help explain why it has slackened its performance backwards.

He recovers fewer balls per game (57.1 compared to 52.8 the previous season), intercepts fewer (8.8-8.2) and his goal is not so great: 71% success in his interventions (seventh in the

league

Courtois, who missed six games due to an attack of sciatica and left two worthy saves against Rayo, currently offers lower numbers: 66.7% of saves, nine points less than the previous season.

The causes are collective, as Carlo Ancelotti already pointed out in October, but in this very experimental course, with the World Cup in the middle of the calendar, it is still unknown how far Madrid's possible structural problems go and where the foreseeable dispersion of the locker room begins before the imminence of the appointment of Qatar.

In the offices, the last performances (two defeats, a draw and a victory) have generated discomfort because it is considered that the heads of many players have begun to think about Doha ahead of time, while the white coach, at least in public, denies the biggest.

“Players don't throw their leg back.

In training, they play on a small field and tackles are more frequent than in a match.

A month ago we were fine and the World Cup was also close, "he defended this Wednesday.

For his part,

in Manchester, Pep Guardiola seconded the opinion of the majority.

“The players have one eye on the World Cup.

It's normal, the same thing would happen to me, ”he admitted on Tuesday.

change in axis

Carletto's public explanations about the slump of his team in recent weeks have to do with the physical, with the lack of freshness due to the accumulation of commitments.

The statistics, at least in that, prove him right: after Cádiz, there will be five more games than last season at this point.

“The intensity has dropped due to playing many games.

This is noticeable against teams, such as Rayo, that are not in Europe and can play at a higher level, ”said the Italian on Wednesday, who overall says that they have met the objectives for this section.

In the purely defensive section and beyond opinions (and possible realities) about the contamination of the World Cup, the white team also presents some difference compared to the previous year.

Casemiro, a pivot who rarely left his place, left and Tchouameni arrived, with more experience and who, as Carletto warned on Wednesday, still has to learn when it comes to positioning himself.

The non-negotiable bet on the Casemiro-Kroos-Modric in a low block was the movement that finished squaring Madrid last year and the one that shot him in the League.

Now, it must adapt to another landscape: due to the exchange in the axis and because the rotations, until now at least, have been more common.

In the absence of the foam of the World Cup, Madrid's pre-Qatar balance speaks of some youngsters who alleviated what seemed impossible, the continued absence of Benzema (nine complete games), but also of the loss of reliability of the defensive gear .

The latter, according to Ancelotti, was the key to success until May.

“It seems that Vinicius is a provocateur, but he is the one who receives the most fouls, slaps and pushes”

One of the most lost in Vallecas was Vinicius, protagonist and victim at the same time of continuous brawls with Ivan Balliu, who later confessed that he had resorted to "another football", to "tricks", to mark territory and that the Brazilian "had in mind the head that the list of Brazil had come out [for the World Cup]” to make him see that that night it was not convenient for him to go to the clash with him.

An issue about which Ancelotti had a message: “It seems that Vinicius is a provocateur, but reality says that he is the player who receives the most fouls, slaps and pushes.

There is a word that is not very common in Latin countries:

.

It is the most important in football, ”he explained.

Should I learn from it? They later asked the Italian.

He first answered yes, maybe, that he was still young.

But then he thought better of it.

“What do you have to learn?

Provocation is unusual.

You can't teach to avoid provocations because you think there aren't any,” he stressed.

On the new absence of Benzema, he assured that "he had not been able to return from the small annoyance".

“The first one who is disappointed is Karim.

He arrives at the World Cup as a Golden Ball and with a few minutes in his legs to have a good condition.

It is nonsense to say that he has been erased.

It has not been a serious problem.

He has not stopped, because he has continued to train individually, but the sensations were not good, ”he settled.

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