It is now becoming very normal how generous Real Madrid can be at the back that you are always sure to cash out some money on Both Teams To Score(BTTS) Odds through betting whenever they are to set out on the pitch.
It doesn’t matter which team Real Madrid are up against, Levante, Real Valladolid, Atletico Madrid or Barcelona, they always end up conceding a goal. As a matter of fact Real Madrid have scored 9 goals and conceded 5 after just four matches into the season, unacceptable of a team gunning for a title.
Now, I am not in any way implying that Real Madrid are the only team conceding goals inexorably, no, what I am trying to imply is that they are fast turning it into a habit, the tendencies to always leave a space at the back for opponents to score which is unacceptable for a club of their caliber.
There has been situations whereby the team is willing to defend and keep a clean sheet but at the end of the day, it will seem like mother luck has doomed them from the very beginning at the back. For example against Levante yesterday, the team looked compact and solid at the back all through the first half while they went into the break three goals up. It took just the first opportunity from the Levante team to leave the ball at the back of their net. When you watch these things play match after match in the same fashion, you wonder if it is a jinx at play.
Most times we blame the disappointing goals conceded by the team on the backline or goal keeper and I am telling you right this moment that they are to be apportioned the higher blame for their duty is to guard the post from goal scoring threats but the blame also falls on the entire team. The problem with Real Madrid defenders is that they cherish attacking far more than they do defending and in the process whereby the opponents have a run at them, they find it difficult closing down passing lanes and hounding attackers. The one man who is very good at reading opponent’s moves and dispossessing attackers is Brazilian Casemiro but at the end he is just one man against an army of 10.
Against Levante yesterday, the first Levante goal scored by former Real Madrid striker Borja Mayoral saw Raphael Varane watch the ball roll past his front while he was returning back without an attempt to unnerve the Levante player about to reach it with a sweep if there was any and next it was Sergio Ramos standing at the back of a striker opponent who was in front of his own goalie, how problematic that can be. Series of defensive lapses like this is the reason why Real Madrid are conceding goals at an unbelievable rate and the team finding it difficult winning the league.
Finally, defensive compactness and organization is something a coach needs to imbibe in his players, the ability to perfectly read and block opponent’s intent to reach your goalpost and stay concentrated for the whole 90 minutes with the thought that a moment of lapse can lead to a loss. I hope to see a better defensive display from Real Madrid in coming matches and I know it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for Real Madrid to obtain and retain an Italian defense but we can only hope.
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