Once upon a time, a great coach once said, “Attack win you matches but defense win you trophies”. Another somewhat contradictory quote from a popular American Boxer states, “Best defense is a good offence”. Now, amongst these quotes, which do you find more truthful and realistic?
Bringing both tactics into the world of football, a process whereby all efforts are put into winning trophies at the end, you try to find a satisfying solution to this rather contradictory equation, which is to me, balancing both by trying to attack to the best of your strength and defending on the same rhythm or even better.
If you look at it from a more rational view, the former quote is more correct. In football, the more efforts you put into defending series of bombarding gives you a more decent chance of surviving at the end but there is also a possibility of you launching a clinical attack and ending the war with fewer casualties. Now over to the reason I picked up my pen and reached out for this page; Real Madrid.
The quote by that American Boxer was once typical of the Real Madrid team which led them to three consecutive years of European dominance. They purely weren’t good defensively. As a matter of fact they conceded more goals than many other teams but they still emerged victorious at the end strictly because they had a good offence which was hugely guided by Portuguese superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo.
After their third consecutive European trophy winning, their main man, Cristiano Ronaldo would follow the exit door and it was then expected of the team to swap tactics and adopt the quote of that great coach which involves paying more attention to defense than attack, at least until they find Cristiano’s replacement but that never was the case. They continued their favorable and preferential offensive flow to defending and without Cristiano available to shade those mistakes, they have paid dearly for it and are still paying.
A major factor of that offense preference and deficient defense is the position of the left back occupied by undoubtedly the world best left back for the past five years, Brazilian Marcelo. The defender is known and acknowledged largely for his offensive contributions. He is by far the most skillful left back in current football and still is but in all his vital contributions in offense, he is a liability to the team defensively. The truth is, with Cristiano Ronaldo available, Marcelo’s incessant offensive flow was laudable because the Portuguese was always there to finish off what he started but ever since post-Cristiano era, no one has been able to complete Marcelo. This in turn should have meant everyone recognizes their positions and maintains it but it seems that offensive preference blood still very much flows in the veins of the Whites and it is costing them dearly. These days, it appears to be affecting other players and this is surely something Zidane needs to keep in mind. Until some replaces Cristiano’s goal ratio per season, every player in the team should be mindful of how they abandon their defensive duties.
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