The final whistle blew at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on October 26th, where they received a 4-0 demolishing by rivals Barcelona and left them sitting 9 points off the top spot. It was a dismal performance by their standards, being out-fought and outplayed by Barca in every metric, from xG (2.58 to 1.48) to shots (15 to 7), and possession (57 to 43)
Although it is still early in the season, questions have begun to swirl around Real Madrid and more notably, their transfer dealings in the offseason. Kylian Mbappe signed for the club on July 16th after a years-long saga for around 150 million Euros. So far this season, the French superstar has played in 10 matches and scored 6 goals for Los Blancos in the league, mostly coming from the striker position — a deviation from his favored left-wing slot. Considering his record-breaking transfer sum, the 25-year-old has failed to impress.
But it was his performance in the 4-0 destruction where questions really started being asked about his role in this Real Madrid side. One of these questions was raised by, none other than, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti. According to reports from Spanish outlet Relevo, Ancelotti has grown frustrated at the lack of defensive effort from Mbappe, who stresses that his team’s system requires hard work out of possession — which includes attackers tracking back to defend. In the 4-0 loss, Mbappe only ran 8km, by far the lowest in the entire team. The failure to work hard defensively forced Madrid’s midfielders to cover more space, which allowed Barcelona to exploit the gaps during counter-attacks.
Until Ancelotti is able to figure out how Mbappe can effectively coexist with the likes of Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr., it is clear that Real Madrid has far more team chemistry without Mbappe. It also remains a perfect testament to the issues behind the Galácticos transfer approach, because they now have the best two left-wingers in the world in Vinicius Jr and Mbappe. Due to their large outlay of money to acquire him, Real Madrid is forced to start Mbappe and shoehorn him into a team that doesn’t need him, thereby self-manufacturing an imbalance.
Look no further than the fact that his former team, Paris Saint-Germain, is excelling without him so far this season. They are currently undefeated, and top of the league in France. They are far more structurally sound and are less susceptible to counter-attacks, only conceding 8 goals in 10 games.
There is still plenty of time left in the season for Mbappe to turn it around. Suggestions point to accommodating him to the right wing considering his technical ability in a formation that favors wing play, where Mbappe’s best performances have historically come from. In the meantime, Real Madrid must balance between signing big names for fame and signing players who will effectively fit the team. Â
