Going back to the origin of the drawing that works

15 wins, three draws and two defeats is Xabi Alonso’s record since he started coaching on the Real Madrid bench.

Of course, without taking into account the results of the Club World Cup, for the coach that competition belonged to last season and It officially started in August With the start of the Spanish League.

His first months were complicated by all the external noise that had formed around his character: if he did not have support from part of the dressing room, if they were making his bed… to the point of questioning his continuity after five months on the bench due to a series of three draws, one win and one defeat in five matches.

the The pressure of being at Real Madrid is maximum And if there’s one person who knows that better than anyone else, it’s Xabi Alonso himself, who wore the white shirt for five seasons. So he was cured of fear.

True to his calm demeanor, the man from Tolosa always repeated the same message at press conferences: “Calm down. Everything takes time.” But days passed and neither the match nor the results even arrived In San Mames he gave the “chest”.

“It was a very complete match, 90 minutes, very focused, hardly conceding chances (…) It was the most rounded match in a demanding stadium. But we dealt with it calmly, to keep going,” was the message he gave in a press conference after the victory over Athletic Bilbao.

Real Madrid pulled the chestnuts out of the fire since Xavi came up with the match plan. The team recovered 1-4-4-2, where the major victim was Arda Guler At the expense of Fede Valverde, who played on the field.

Rüdiger and army They are insurance for any coach and the Tolosara know it. In fact, against Girona when the two had just returned from injury, they were already starts and played 90 minutes.

The white team barely surrendered to the black team in attack. further than a Stratosphere stops from Courtois to BerengerReal Madrid controlled the game throughout the match.

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“Their quality and physical strength were uneven. That’s what the big teams in Europe have. They anticipate, they’re fast, they have power… (…) Real Madrid was better than us,” admitted Ernesto Valverde. By playing this way, this team will not be eliminated from the competition for titles.

In the three draws that the team played in a row in the Spanish League (against Rayo Vallecano, Elche and Girona), there were The common denominator In the last two. Both the Elche team and the Albirrojo team took the lead on the scoreboard and the white team had to fall behind.

With the closed defense, Real Madrid suffers and does not find spaces. Moreover, if Arda Güler runs out of inspiration and Mastantuono is in the dry dock after suffering a pubic injury, no other player in the team will have the key to opening such defensive “locks”.

This is the task that awaits Xabi Alonso. Although the team has DrAttack cars that secure goalsThey will not always have a suitable scenario to control the match by taking the initiative.

Against Athletic, Mbappé’s first goal and playing with the first or second touch to break the opponent’s lines was key. With the double axis formed by Tshwamini and Camavinga, Bellingham abandoned his position to continue attacking and have more influence in the matchthen made a tremendous effort to cover again from the left.

From 4-4-2 in defense to 3-5-2 in attack With Trent and Carreras playing almost as wingers, Vinicius had space to run in and do damage as he knew how, when he had space in front of him, although he did not get the goal bonus.

Real Madrid emerged from the “Cathedral” stronger not only because of the result, but also because of the match. Xavi has reasons to be happy and the battle with Barcelona continues, although a few days ago it seemed that the Blaugrana would win the duel with relative ease.