Defense goes to the couch

The data is still anecdotal in the case of the second day, but Madrid provisionally holds the unseemly honor of being the second highest-scoring team in a League where the goal is precisely a rare commodity: before the goal festival in the Ciutat de València, the championship averaged less than two goals per game. The four goals received by the whites are only surpassed by Alavés, a team that Ancelotti's men thrashed on the opening day; although even, in the absence of two games to close the day, by three other teams (Real Sociedad, Levante and Rayo Vallecano).

The fragility of this start to the season contrasts with the reliability that Zidane's team, based on the coach emphasizing the need for the entire team to get involved in defense, exhibited in the last two campaigns, when he fell short of the 30 goals received at the end of the championship. Only one team was able to give Madrid more than two in the League (in the Champions League, in addition, Shakhtar scored three at Di Stéfano) last season: Valencia, who made four, three penalties with controversy included through, at Mestalla . It turned out, in the end, the only defeat of the whites at home in the regularity tournament. Except for that fateful night, at no other time did he chain two games receiving four goals.

In discharge it can be said that the rear has been the line that has been most affected by the movements of the summer and the misfortunes of the preseason. Ramos and Varane left and Alaba arrived to replace him. Added to this are the convalescence due to injury to Carvajal and Mendy, which have prevented Ancelotti from working with the full-backs that are assumed to be headlines (the youth squad could already play 25 minutes against Levante) and return Alaba to the left side when theoretically he had arrived to reinforce the rear axle. The Austrian, in addition, saw his preparation interrupted by a positive for covid. Between some things and others, Ancelotti has seen the time he had to put together his defense diminished. And now, to visit Betis, he adds Nacho's loss, so he will have to rebuild a rear again in which to relocate Alaba in the center and decide on the left wing whether to place his trust in Miguel Gutiérrez or improvise a solution alternative with Carvajal.

The coach has dedicated the preseason to successfully solving the problems that the team suffered in recent seasons. Ancelotti has raised Isco, with Bale it seems that things are on track and Hazard gave hope to Mendizorroza. The Italian coach admitted that Madrid had a problem with the goal and has remedied it: in a League that has started racana, Madrid is the top scorer with seven goals. He admitted that the team needed the contribution of players like Vinicius and the Brazilian has started unleashed: he shares the lead for Pichichi with Atlético Correa (three goals each), but the Real Madrid player, who has only played 55 minutes, has a spectacular average of one goal every 18.3 minutes.

And after the draw against Levante, Ancelotti also identified and admitted the problem. The white coach focused his analysis more on a question of attitude than of assimilation of concepts. “Defensively we have to improve. It is just a problem of sacrifice and concentration, not quality. If we have a problem there, we have to sacrifice all and be focused all. The defensive commitment is the key that we have to work,” he said into the microphones for Movistar LaLiga. To solve it, he has the endorsement of the duties he has fulfilled in the preseason.