La Liga 2019/20: 3 Talking Points - Villarreal 2-2 Real Madrid

Real Madrid dropped two more points in a close run 2-2 draw at La Ceramica. They went behind twice and had to claw their way back into the game, but were denied a victory by some stellar play by the hosts.

Gerard Moreno and Santi Cazorla ran the game for the Yellow Submarine. When Cazorla was replaced by Moi Gomez, the former Huesca player proved to be just as threatening as him.

Real Madrid had a decent game, but could not cope with the movement of the Villarreal attacking unit. They were also denied a winner on a couple of occasions by last minute blocks and saves on at least a couple of occasions.

You could say that Real Madrid were fortunate to come away with a draw and unfortunate not to have won the the game, and both statements would be true.

Here are the three talking points of the game.

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The worrying away trend continues

Villarreal became the first side to deny Real Madrid points away from home this season

Real Madrid only won eight of their 19 away games last season. This season, they have played two away games and won one and drawn this one. They were within a hair's breadth of losing this one as well.

If they are to challenge for the La Liga this season, they will have to perform better away from home. Especially considering that their calendar in September takes them away to Levante, Sevilla, and Atletico Madrid in the league. They also have an away fixture against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League coming up this month. Their only home game in September is against Osasuna.

If Real Madrid fail to improve on this worrying pattern, they will find themselves having a very poor September and perhaps out of the running for the league even this early in the season.

Real Madrid lacking creativity

Casemiro proved to be an unlikely source of creative play for Real Madrid

There was the usual defensive frailty from Real Madrid. You could attribute it to a drop in confidence, as they lose out on tackles they would have successfully made before, find that they're unable to intercept the ball, and the second ball often finds the opponents feet before theirs. However, this is an issue and could perhaps resolve itself in time.

The more pressing issue, perhaps, is this side's lack of creativity in attack. The most likely sources of creating plays that would beat Villareal came from the full backs. Both Carvajal and Ferland Mendy made good runs and read the play well to contribut in attack.

The likes of Vinicius Jr. (who came off the bench), Lucas Vazquez, and to an extent Toni Kroos were lacking. Even Casemiro chipped in with a few good diagonals, but the cutting edge from a lot of the players was missing.

It could be a problem remedied by the return of Eden Hazard from injury, but Real Madrid may not want to get overly reliant on the Belgian.

The Gareth Bale enigma

Gareth Bale capped off a good performance by getting sent off against Villarreal

The Welshman had an immensely productive evening in front of goal. He got on the end of a well worked move to score the first goal, and produced some individual skill to put away the second. Gareth Bale even showed good movement and was involved in most of Real's good attacking moves. He was denied a hattrick on a couple of occasions by good saves or blocks as well.

Yet, there's a feeling around Bale that he's not firing on all cylinders yet. He failed to take this game by the scruff of the neck and drag his side over the line as he did on plenty of occasions in the past. He was renowned for it at Tottenham, even the Welsh national side can lean on him, but he's only produced that sort of performance in phases at Real.

Moreover, he committed two foolish challenges in quick succession to get himself sent off in the last minute, ensuring that Zidane cannot rely on him in the next game when the French boss already has a list of players missing through injury.