The team was in full control, even though some players were not at their top level. The BBC seemed as promising as ever. The midfield was magical given the circumstances; they gave us a glance at what we will see this season week in and week out. Defensively, the team was in a good shape except for some occasions. Ramos and Pepe were strong enough so Carlo Ancelotti didn’t need to play with a defensive midfielder. The two center backs had a great game and they’ll probably continue together this season. Coentrao was the best defender out of the 4 in the back, he had an excellent game. Starting the season at this level and staying away from injuries will mean the Portuguese fullback will have more playing time than last season. Carvajal on the other end did not do so well based on his best performances; he was a little shaky in the back but let’s hope it’s just a one game thing. Team captain Iker Casillas had a great game, he made several saves. With Navas on the bench Iker will have to do his best to secure a starting spot with the team.
As per Who Scored, 29% of Real Madrid attacks came from the left flank, 32% from the middle and 39% came from the right flank. This stat tells us a lot about team chemistry and players connectivity; we can see that Gareth Bale, Modric and Carvajal can create a deadly right flank. On the other hand we can see that James and Ronaldo need a little more time to play together to understand each other better and build chemistry between them and Coentrao/Marcelo. To have 32% of the team attacks going through the middle shows us how quickly Toni Kroos has adapted to the team and its style of play.
whoscored