Defend well in order to attack better

Posted Wednesday, July 29, 2015 by Marca.com

From the drawing board to reality. Right from day one, Rafa Benítez made it clear that his first lesson would be to get the team to defend better, with more rigour. Or to put it another way, with more aggression and concentration, based on good tactical organisation.

After his first three games, we are getting a sense that it is starting to produce the desired results. The team have only conceded one goal in 270 minutes and that was from a contentious penalty.

From set pieces, the team look more focused after a diabolical start against Roma, when the Italians produced three goal-scoring chances from a corner.

This Real Madrid side are trying to defend with the lines very close together forming a compact block, although the flanks are left deserted with the danger which this might pose against teams who play the wide game well. Subsequent lessons will focus on this aspect.

Lots of men close to the ball, marked swings up and down the pitch and an equal workload for all are some of the tactics we can glean. The team automatically switches from a 4-2-3-1 formation when on the attack to a 4-4-2 when they lose the ball and the pressure zones alternate. Sometimes they apply it in the opposing half while in others they drop back just behind the halfway line, but never any deeper than that.

One of the new coach's obsessions is that the team does not get split into two halves - neither when attacking nor when defending. To avoid this, he is looking for there never to be more than 40 or 45 metres between the centre-backs bringing up the rear and the foremost attacking player.