Table of Contents
Xabi Alonso and Real
Madrid have started the La Liga season in
perfect fashion, winning their first six matches – something the
club has achieved only six times in its history. With rivals
Atlético Madrid up next and a tough run of fixtures following that,
can they keep the winning run going?
The last decade has been a strange one for Real
Madrid.
Few would dispute their status as one of the world’s greatest
clubs. They’ve won a record 15 European Cups after all, including
six in the last 11 years.
And yet, for many, there’s been a lingering sense that they’ve
fallen short of being a truly great team.
Were they incredibly talented and capable of winning any game
against any opponent? Absolutely. But were they consistently
coherent? With every injury-time winner, every miracle the world
witnessed, the suspicion grew that they were a team built on
individual talent and not tactical acumen.
Florentino Pérez and his recruitment team built a squad of
superstars, but the tactical blueprint often seemed vague. Madrid
usually found ways to outscore opponents, but much of the process
felt left to chance.
Xabi Alonso doesn’t like leaving things to chance. As a player,
he was meticulous in his management of the ball, and he has carried
that approach into management.
“We are still under construction,” he said after Real Madrid’s
recent win over Levante,
his sixth league game in charge, and his sixth victory, not
including their Champions
League success over Marseille.
“We have only been here for 51 days and there are still a lot of
games. We are building a solid base to be competitive in all
competitions. There are a lot of things we have to improve on but
the path we are on is good.”
It’s a recurring theme in his interactions with the media. He
knows he has a lot of work to do, and tougher opposition to face in
the coming weeks. That starts with Atlético
Madrid at the weekend, while they also face Villarreal
and Barcelona
in the coming weeks. Real now face the toughest five-game stretch
of any La Liga side, according to our Power Rankings.
Xabi’s words serve as a warning that challenges await. But they
also come as a promise that he is going to make this team even
better than what we have seen so far.
No more leaving things to chance. Xabi Alonso wants control.
Building
The Base
The starting point for Xabi has been improving Madrid’s defence
and he has done that by improving how they manage the game when
they have the ball.
The below graphic compares the playing styles of every La Liga
team from last season to the current one. For Madrid, it shows a
small, but significant change. Their build-up play has become
slightly slower and more methodical, which should result
in less chaos.
Last season, Madrid allowed 1.47
counter-attacks per game but that has almost halved to 0.83 this
season.
Without the ball, last season, and indeed for several seasons
prior to Xabi taking over, Real’s ability to pressure was
scattershot and sometimes non-existent. This season, they’re
changing that.
Madrid press more intently now, with their PPDA (the number of
passes they allow their opponents to make before attempting to win
the ball back) down at 10.8 this season compared to 12.1 last.
This campaign, they’ve won the ball back within 40 metres of
their opponents’ goal 8.8 times a game; that’s almost two times
more per game than they managed last season.
But maybe even more significant is the number of shots they are
generating from those high turnovers – 2.5 per game compared to 1.2
last season. When you have an ensemble of the world’s best forwards
attacking a scrambling defence twice as often as they were last
season, well… it’s not very good news for the opposition.
Overall, 28% of Madrid’s high turnovers have ended in shots this
season, while no other team has had as many shot-ending high
turnovers in Europe’s big five leagues this season.
It’s not just that they’re creating more chances for themselves;
it’s also shaping how opponents play. Teams are increasingly
hesitant to step out of their own half, wary of Madrid’s press.
Under Xabi Alonso, attacks take a touch longer to develop. An
extra pass or two allows their rest defence to settle. And that
ties into Xabi’s philosophy, which is a simple one: defend with the
ball. Madrid’s field tilt, a measure of territorial dominance that
looks at the share of possession each side has in their attacking
third compared to their opponent, has jumped up this season from
64.1% to 72.4%.
Where opponents once needed only a hopeful punt forward to spark
a counter, Madrid now squeeze them higher up, forcing longer, less
dangerous breaks. More of the action unfolds far from Thibaut
Courtois’ goal – exactly how Alonso likes it.
Madrid have also grown more cynical. They’ve already collected
four yellow cards for tactical fouls in six league games, compared
with 13 across 38 matches last season. If that rate holds, it’s a
major jump – and a sign of a team more committed to defending
collectively.
Signing
of the Summer
They have been helped by the signing of Álvaro
Carreras, one of La Liga’s standout players this season and an
early frontrunner for signing of the summer.
With the arrival of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean
Huijsen from the Premier League, Carreras flew under the radar.
A Real Madrid academy graduate, he left as a teenager, struggled to
make an impact at Manchester United, and spent time on loan at
Preston North End and Granada before a year at Benfica. Madrid kept
pushing to bring him home and that persistence is now paying
off.
Despite the bigger, more headline-grabbing transfers at Madrid
last summer, Carreras has been their best signing. Trent has
struggled to adapt, Huijsen and Franco Mastantuono have played
important roles but Carreras has become central to how Alonso’s
side functions.
Against Levante on Tuesday night, Carreras recovered the ball 16
times, the most by any outfield player this season in a game in La
Liga. He is the perfect full-back for Alonso’s shape-shifting side.
He gets up and down the left flank endlessly, has good defensive
instincts and can play in multiple positions. He even started at
left centre-back during the week.
Xabi The
Tinkerman
That adaptability has been another key aspect of Xabi Alonso’s
start to life as Real Madrid manager. More often than not, his
system is built around the players, rather than the players being
forced into a pre-defined idea of the role they have to play.
He’s used just 22 players so far, but he’s constantly adjusting
his selections and setups. His 3.6 changes per game is the
sixth-highest rate in the league and clear evidence of a manager
fine-tuning his formula.
One thing he won’t budge on is his double pivot. Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde have been rock solid there so far. Valverde
has traded in his wings for roots at the base of midfield, where he
can still influence the game. He isn’t physically everywhere
anymore, but his influence on the team is more precise now, more
consistent and more repeatable.
Apply
Vibes As Necessary
On top of this solid structure, Real Madrid’s individual
brilliance continues to shine. There will still be games where
Alonso is left standing on the touchline with little more than a
prayer – but he has built a framework that gives his stars the best
platform to decide matches.
Kylian
Mbappé moved to Real Madrid to win the Champions League and to
move himself closer to winning the Ballon d’Or. After finishing
just seventh in this year’s rankings – his joint-lowest in six
years – it felt like he was moving further away from winning the
award, not closer to it.
But this season, he is leading the line at Madrid like a future
Ballon d’Or winner. The Frenchman has seven goals in six games;
only Harry Kane has more (eight) across Europe’s top five leagues.
Mbappé is second (6.07) behind only Erling Haaland (6.26) in
expected goals, and his 6.2 shots per 90 is way more than anyone
else in Europe right now.
The fixtures ahead are unforgiving – the Madrid derby, El
Clásico at the end of October, plus Champions League clashes with
Juventus
and Liverpool
in the next six weeks. These are the challenges Alonso keeps
warning about.
But his Real Madrid project is firmly under way. The foundations
are in place. Now we wait to see the fruits of his labour.
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