It was the 60th minute of the game against Real Sociedad, which had been in command for five minutes, when Zinedine Zidane decided to gamble. His bet on the break to change the tactical fabric of the whites had gone wrong: he arranged a team with a defense of three, to put Lucas Vázquez and Mendy as lanes. The idea was to enclose the realistic set; What he achieved is that it was difficult for Madrid to leave with the ball played from behind, that the distance between Modric (35 years old) and Kroos was wide and that David Silva governed from there that quarter of an hour that could be lethal for the whites' wishes.
That second bet of the French coach was to remove Vinicius, Rodrygo (who was returning after two months of injury) and Hugo Duro, Loaned by Getafe to Castilla, who, due to the needs of the script (understand Benzema's injury), onto the pitch by the line of attackers with whom he had started the encounter: Asensio, Isco (in a position as a false center forward) and Mariano. All three were signaled by Zidane's decision … but all three had made merits to be replaced in search of a goal that saved at least one point, which happened with Vinicius' goal with a couple of minutes to go. meeting: Among the three starters who acted as offensive line they only finished off three times between Remiro's sticks: Mariano crashed a shot on the crossbar and another went quite wide. Asensio, for his part, left a little detail of his quality in the descent and control of a ball inside the area, but his shot went to corner. Isco was not lavish in shooting at the door, it was limited to being the link between the center and the offensive. The man from Malaga was not as unfortunate as his teammates.
LaLiga Santander
* Data updated as of March 3, 2021
The answer brought a breath of fresh air. Between the relays they threw more times on Remiro's goal: Vinicius scored in his only shot on goal, but brought mobility down the left wing, Hugo Duro also tried to beat Remiro with a shot that went wide, like Rodrygo, who had twice, but his shots missed a goal. The Brazilian, who returned after injuring himself on December 23 against Granada, was seen to be active, mobile, dangerous and unbalanced. Bad news for Asensio, who has failed to take advantage of a pleasant opportunity in a good way. The same thing happens with Mariano: the forward, who does not count for Zidane, has not been able to win the position either in the absence of Benzema. The worst thing is that for the French coach the figure of Hugo Duro has more value than that of the Spanish-Dominican forward.
In the absence of Benzema in the last three games (Valladolid, Atalanta and Real), Zidane has modified his attack: in Pucelan lands he had an attack formed by Asensio, Mariano and Vinicius. In Bergamo he decided to put Isco in to form a kind of blunt diamond, especially to have control of the ball and help Casemiro, Kroos and Modric's line, with Asensio and Vinicius at the top of the attack. Against Real he changed again: he left Vinicius on the bench and introduced Mariano at the top of the attack. In the first two cases, the play went well. Before the Real he had to rectify due to his mistake …
Benzema, the irreplaceable
All this does not only highlight the almost irreplaceable presence of Benzema in Zidane's onces. The Frenchman, the team's top scorer this season (he has 17 goals), is about to return to the team: he suffered a micro-break, but Zidane decided not to risk the next calendar (especially the derby this coming Sunday and the return to Atalanta in the Champions League). Karim is the hub through which all the offensive gear flows. Hence the care with the French, but what it denotes is the lack of warranty replacement parts in a key area of the white team. While Zidane does not find the key, some players are signaled …