Pressured or unpressured, the team has been prone to careless giveaways, and like the men’s team, have suffered from overly-aggressive defensive gambles from one or two players on any given defensive sequence. They’ve been blown away defensively, and have struggled circulating the ball cleanly.
Through eight league games, Real Madrid Femenino slide in 12th place - with two wins, a draw, and five loses.
You couple that new-found defensive soundness with the return of Mendy, and great reads from Militao, and there is room for optimism that Real Madrid’s defense can improve considerably by the spring time. All three of Ancelotti’s trio were more conservative with their between-the-line movements in the final third - allowing the front-three to cook while they ensure Shakhtar were starved of transition attacks. The positioning of Real Madrid’s midfielders, from a defensive standpoint, were at its best all season against Shakhtar in Kiev. If he doesn’t get that right, Shakhtar get an easy pass to Alan Patrick as the third-man runner (see Kroos pointing to Patrick at the top of the play, in a rare moment where Modric fails to cut the passing lane). Once he recognizes his marker has peeled to receive a pass, the Brazilian gets there first despite being behind him. Slightly hedged off the outlet in case there is a run made behind the defense, he’s ready to pounce wherever the ball goes. Militao is aware of everything happening around him. He knows where the ball is going and knows where, and when, he needs to fly into action: Militao is Machiavellian in these situations. It’s nice to see Militao growing as a reliable reader of the game amid a backline that desperately needs a calming leader. Sergio Ramos was a master at it - coaxing passes to the target he’s marking only to sneak up and thieve an interception. Step-up interventions out of the back are so risky.
Militao has been the one constant who times his reads right. It’s not a deep pool, but Militao has made the best and most efficiently-calculated defensive gambles from the center-back position for Real Madrid this season.īad gambles have been a theme this season. This one analyzes Lorena Navarro’s off-ball movement, Militao’s defensive brilliance, Odriozola’s Fiorentina stint, and more, including how good Benzema is behind the ball.Įder Militao’s subtle and great defensive reads Welcome to the first ‘observations’ column of November, a historic occasion, where I also cover Las Blancas - a new wrinkle I’m adding to these articles regularly. These observations - where I look at Real Madrid ’s history, its players on loan, Castilla, tactical tidbits, and other relevant thoughts - are now a regular thing.
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