Mbappe makes Real Madrid stronger… or weaker?

Real Madrid at this time a year ago was full of optimism. Coach Carlo Ancelotti proved to be a good man when helping the Spanish Royal team conquer both La Liga and the 2024 Champions League.

When Ancelotti's magic is over

The team is like a dragon with wings when recruiting Kylian Mbappe from PSG. Many people imagine Real Madrid becoming a super team when owning the quartet Mbappe - Rodrygo - Vinicius - Jude Bellingham. But they forgot the philosophy that adding legs to a snake or wings to a dragon is only for beauty but not for effectiveness, even for hindrance.

Mbappe's presence at Real Madrid has helped Real Madrid's attack score more goals, but the French striker has reduced the number of goals of others. For example, in La Liga, Mbappe contributed 31 goals but caused Vinicius to drop from 15 goals in the 2023/24 season to 11 goals, Bellingham from 19 to 9, Rodrygo from 10 to 6. The picture is even clearer when in the 2023/24 season, Real Madrid scored 87 goals but last season only scored 78 goals.

The Mbappe effect is dangerous because it not only reduces Real Madrid's attacking power but also its defensive power. The return of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois should have helped Real Madrid play more solidly and concede fewer goals, but in reality they conceded 38 goals, a sharp increase from 26 goals in the 2023/24 season. In other words, the Mbappe version of Real Madrid caused Real Madrid's defense to concede one and a half times more goals.

Remember that Real Madrid won the 2023/24 season with 95 points while Barcelona won with only 88 points, 4 points more than Real Madrid. So Barcelona's victory was not entirely due to their excellence under Hansi Flick but mainly because Real Madrid fell behind.

With Mbappe, Real Madrid is not stronger.

It is not wrong to say that Mbappe is the culprit for Real Madrid's loss because the French star rarely participates in defending from a distance. That puts pressure on the midfield and gradually accumulates to the point of forming gaps for opponents to exploit. In 38 matches in the 2023/24 season, Real Madrid kept 21 clean sheets, compared to only 15 last season.

Everyone saw the problem of Real Madrid, and of course the Real Madrid leadership with the advice of experts also saw it, even saw it clearly. That is the reason the Real Madrid leadership happily said goodbye to coach Ancelotti.

Ancelotti is a legend in the coaching world. However, in the trend of young coaches with modern tactical ideas, Ancelotti seems to have fallen behind. If he had not fallen behind, Ancelotti would not have let Real Madrid suddenly fall into free fall, even though he blamed defensive injuries for paralyzing the team last season.

An analysis from The Athletic suggests that managers at the Bernabeu have less decision-making power than at many other clubs. Those who are chosen tend to stand out for their ability to manage team relationships rather than for their grand tactical ideas. Real Madrid’s style of play is therefore often based on the quality of the players rather than the tactical system of the coach.

When he was selected to return to Real Madrid in 2021, Ancelotti and his staff stressed that players improve when they play together. They believe that the squad needs space to shine as a team and as individuals. However, that approach has not always worked and last season's weaknesses were evident.

Ancelotti's reign at Real Madrid has come to an end.

Obviously, Ancelotti is not suitable to be a coach who uses an iron fist to restore order at Real Madrid, especially after 4 years of playing the role of a fatherly coach who is always considerate of the players and does not offend anyone.

Give all hope to Alonso

The decision to replace Ancelotti with Xabi Alonso was quick but not surprising. Alonso was chosen because he has Real Madrid DNA in him and is respected by the fans.

Alonso has enjoyed success with Real and Spain as a player and has the authority to command the dressing room. Alonso is also a talented coach, having learned the ropes under Jose Mourinho, Rafael Benitez, Pep Guardiola and Ancelotti.

Real Madrid's board of directors has absolute faith in Alonso, so they parted ways with veteran players Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez. This ensures Alonso absolute authority and makes it less awkward for his former teammates when making decisions. As a defensive midfielder, Alonso is also expected to change Real Madrid's operating philosophy.

Every coach at Real Madrid is under pressure from the President and star players.

Real Madrid have been unusually active in the transfer market this summer, signing three defenders so far: Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Álvaro Carreras. Their fourth signing is midfielder Franco Mastantuono, and they have not bought a striker.

This shows that Real Madrid knows how to focus on defense and give Alonso a more balanced squad. So how will Alonso solve the problem of attack?

The Basque coach shared that he had accepted Ancelotti's opinion on the issue of balancing the squad with four attacking stars: Mbappe, Vinicius, Rodrygo and Bellingham. Alonso emphasized that the players must defend together and work together as a team. In other words, Alonso wanted the squad to have only one star: the collective.

Many will be worried about Alonso after Real Madrid's performance at the Club World Cup, especially when they lost 0-4 to PSG in the semi-finals. The decision to let Alonso lead Real at the World Cup was hasty because it would have been more reasonable to let Ancelotti finish before leaving.

Perhaps Real Madrid's board of directors wanted to bring in a breath of fresh air early and give Alonso a chance to test out his ideas before the start of next season. Therefore, Alonso had little time to prepare and reaching the semi-finals was acceptable. Now, the young coach has another month and a half to think and assemble, people can expect Real Madrid to really transform like the Leverkusen effect.

Remember, three years ago, when Alonso jumped into the Leverkusen hot seat in October 2022, the team was second to last after round 8. At the end of that season, Leverkusen finished 6th and qualified for the Europa League. The following season, Alonso helped Leverkusen go unbeaten and win the double in Germany, leaving Bayern Munich empty-handed.

Therefore, we can believe that Real Madrid will play better this season than last season, at least in a competition that requires stability like La Liga. As for overthrowing Barcelona, we may have to wait another season.

Source: https://znews.vn/mbappe-lam-real-madrid-manh-hon-hay-yeu-di-post1574889.html