Carlo Ancelotti said at Son Moix that the draw that Real Madrid had just achieved to open the defence of the Liga title had been a game from which “we can learn a lot”. It was the second night in which he had Mbappé, Vinicius, Bellingham and Rodrygo in the starting eleven: one more attacker than last season, one less midfielder than last season. The result was a fearsome team close to the opposition penalty area and vulnerable when Mallorca recovered. “We have to defend better, above all have more balance on the pitch,” he explained. And he left with clear tasks for this Sunday’s return to the Bernabéu against Valladolid (17.00, Movistar). “We have understood very well what has happened and we have tried to fix it this week,” he said on Friday. Although he will not be able to count on the injured Bellingham, the player who contributes most to that balance.
What happened last Sunday can be described as a kind of drop in tension, noticeable, for example, in the height at which the team defended at Son Moix. On the first matchday, Madrid was the team in La Liga that carried out its defensive actions closest to its goal: StatsBomb records locate them, on average, 39.8 metres from Courtois’ goal, more than six metres further back than the 46.1 metres at which they had done so on average last season. This drop was something particular to Madrid: the average of the other teams (45.1 metres) barely varied compared to last year (45).
This notable loss of height had to do with the drop in intensity. Last weekend, they were the least aggressive team in the league, the one that was least on top of their opponents. In the two seconds after receiving the ball, only one Madrid player got on top of them 57 times. Last season, Ancelotti’s team pressed almost twice as hard in those first two seconds, 93.7 times per league game.
“The defensive aspect was not good,” said the Italian at Son Moix. “We struggled to win the ball back, we struggled to apply pressure after losing the ball. This is what we have to improve. When we talk about the defensive aspect, we talk above all about attitude and collective commitment.” Mallorca played with more air than Madrid usually allowed. Between recoveries, Arrasate’s team made an average of 14.1 passes, 23.7% more than the 11.4 that Ancelotti’s rivals made last season.
One of the factors that has led to the drop in tension is the inclusion of Mbappé in the starting eleven, one more striker, which meant one less midfielder. In addition, the Frenchman has been accustomed to little defensive effort. Last season he pressed in the French league an average of 7.7 times per game, half as much as Vinicius (14.4), Rodrygo (14.4) and less than half as much as Kroos (16.3) and Bellingham (18.3).
In Mallorca, Mbappé pushed himself even less: he only pressed three times. Vinicius also used less than his usual amount of pressure from the previous season (9). That night, Rodrygo did remain close to his usual amount, with 15 pressures, something that Ancelotti acknowledged on Thursday, alluding to the imbalance that his new arsenal can cause: “It is clear that in an offensive team, the forwards have to work a little harder and he is doing very well.”
In this context, Bellingham was particularly important, trying to fill part of the void at Son Moix and doing the opposite of Mbappé and Vinicius: he pressed more than last season, 21 times. But the Englishman was injured in training on Thursday and will be out for around a month, which complicates Ancelotti’s search for balance.
In this exploration, against Valladolid this Sunday he can opt for a profile like Modric – the first change in Mallorca for Tchouameni – or Güler; or for Brahim, who was the usual substitute when the Englishman was out last season. The Malaga native finished the season as the second who pressed the most (19 times per game), only behind the also injured Camavinga (24.9).
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