What Real Madrid need to do to compete for trophies next season

Rafa Benitez will be in charge of Real Madrid when the 2015/16 season gets underway. Can he deliver trophies?

After facing the embarrassment of a trophyless season, despite spending over €100 million in the last transfer window, Real Madrid go into the 2015/16 season with a new manager and a severely bruised ego. As if being trophyless wasn’t enough, they had to endure the pain of seeing their arch rivals Barcelona win their second treble under the guidance of Luis Enrique.

The pressure is now on Rafael Benitez to get Los Blancos back to winning ways, especially considering that his predecessor, Carlo Ancelotti, did what no other manager, after Vicente del Bosque, could do – win the Champions League. The former Liverpool manager knows that he will always be under a guillotine while he sits on the hot-seat of Real Madrid. If he ends up without a title by this time next year, he would almost certainly be replaced by someone else.

So what should he do in order to get Real Madrid back to winning ways?

Utilising the transfer market to strengthen defence and midfield

With Real Madrid, the resources are almost unlimited. They can spend however much they want and get the man of their needs. Real Madrid’s weakest area has been their defence – and that is what they need to reinforce.

With Pepe on the wrong side of 30 and the unreliability of Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid need reinforcements in the area they seem to overlook the most. The Blancos are known for making expensive – and often lavish – signings in the midfield and attacking departments, but they rarely do so when it comes to signing defenders.

Two of Real Madrid’s most expensive defenders are still in the team and it goes to show the value for money they got. However, since then, a lot of big-money signings were made, but none of them were defenders. And Real Madrid have had to pay for it. This season, they conceded twice as many goals as league champions Barcelona and threw away games from winning positions. The lack of consistency in defence has cost them time and time again and it time that they strengthen this area.

Aymeric Laporte has been linked to Real Madrid

Aymeric Laporte was linked to the Whites, but he has been the only centre back so far. Signing him would be a great move for the club as he would certainly improve the defence and build the foundation, along with the very talented Raphael Varane, for years to come.

Another area they should consider improving is the midfield. While they boast astute names like Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Isco and James Rodriguez, the apparent absence of a powerful all-action midfielder undid them against the physical teams. Last season, they had Angel Di Maria who played that part.

Now, the inclusion of Casemiro solves that problem. After an incredible season with Porto, the Brazilian has been brought back to the club and seems set to stay at the capital club. However, having a great season in the Portuguese league doesn’t guarantee the same in Spain.

Danilo is another who could fill in that void. Although most expect him to start at right-back, the former Santos star has played many times in midfield, especially during his time in Brazil, and could certainly be trusted to put in decent shifts when needed.

The best signing the Galacticos could possibly make is that of Paul Pogba. The Frenchman is the best midfielder in his age group and will certainly be the best in a few years’ time. He also fits the bill perfectly as his all-action approach is exactly the kind of midfielder Real Madrid lacked.

Tactics

Once the bidding and buying is dealt with, the ‘fitting’ part comes in. Under Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid played a counter-attacking 4-2-3-1 with Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira as the base of midfield in a double-pivot. Then Carlo Ancelotti came and made subtle tweaks and shifted to a 4-3-3 with Di Maria, Modric and Alonso in the trivote.

Real Madrid never replaced Angel Di Maria

The fluid 4-3-3 worked because of the complementary roles of the three players in the trivote. Once Di Maria was sold, that was lost and it ultimately cost the Italian his job. Now, Benitez has replaced the Decima-winning coach and there are already rumours regarding the new system at Real Madrid.

Casemiro’ s return will help Real Madrid

Casemiro will return to Real Madrid after a successful spell with FC Porto

Many expect Real Madrid to shift back to a 4-2-3-1 with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in the double pivot, Gareth Bale on the left wing and Cristiano Ronaldo as the centre forward. While this system will certainly get the best out of the most expensive players in the world, there are still some doubts regarding the ability of a double-pivot of the Croat and German to withstand barraging midfields.

However, that is not a big concern as Benitez could always play either one of Kroos and Modric as the number 10 and let Casemiro guard the defence – this way, the team will be at its most balanced state.

This system also eradicated the need for another striker. With Ronaldo donning the centre forward role and Karim Benzema being used as a backup, the Blancos wouldn’t be needing a third person to warm the bench.

Getting the best out of Ronaldo and Bale

Gareth Bale has had to endure the jeers of fans after a very average season. He often seemed suffocated on the right wing and putting him back to the left almost guarantees fans to see the best of him. This comes as a great news for Bale aficionados as he can really win games all on his own from the left flank.

Ronaldo has metamorphosed into a pure striker in recent seasons. No longer do we see him receive the ball deep, run past defenders and finish the move by scoring. Now, he is a box player and one could guarantee him to score when the ball finds him there. Playing him as the number 9 further increases the number of times he receives the ball in the box and that, in turn, could increase the already astounding number of goals he scores each season.

Having both Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo playing to their strengths is exactly what the club needs

Another thing that has been slightly overlooked by the press is the number 10 role. One of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Isco and James is sure to play there more frequently – which is their natural and best position. When Isco was bought in 2013, he took over from Ozil and wreaked havoc in all games he played in that role after he made his name known to the world playing as a number 10 for Malaga. The same is the case for James as he displayed what he is truly capable of when playing just behind the striker.

Playing one of these two as the number would certainly bring the absolute best of Real Madrid in terms of pure attacking sense as three out of the front four would be playing roles that utilizes their full ability.

Or, Rafa Benitez could opt for a balanced XI by playing Luka Modric or Toni Kroos as the advanced playmaker – a role which revealed their world class abilities to the world. This would balance the entire system as a whole and Benitez would be wise to use this against teams like Atletico Madrid.

Real Madrid’s possible XI in 2015/16

Another system that is being touted around in the papers is a 4-4-2 with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo as the center forwards. However, the chances of playing this system seems very unlikely as it doesn’t fully utilize the potential of the team’s midfield talent because of reasons mentioned earlier.

The new season is set to begin in a couple of months’ time and the former Valencia tactician has time to think his strategy to get the Merengues back to winning ways. The supreme quality of the players in the team means that they really don’t need to make any major signings – except, of course, adding one or two world class defenders.

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