5 reasons why Real Madrid are struggling

Real Madrid are set to lose another league titleReal Madrid this season have fallen short of their expectations once again. The Los Blancos are currently 3rdin La Liga 12 points behind leaders and arch-rivals Barcelona. It's safe to say the Catalans should stroll to another title win barring a major collapse in their form.Madrid have only one La Liga title since 2008 while Barcelona have won five! It's not a record a club of their caliber should be proud of. Despite huge investment in the squad, the silverware department is considerably lacking when you look at the money spent. Here are the five main reasons why Real Madrid are struggling

#5 A tiring pre-season

Real Madrid’s pre-season tour was a strenuous one for the players. Their tour locations included a lot of travelling, hustle and bustle. Several players were unhappy with the amount of flying they did over the summer.

Real Madrid travelled to three continents in pre-season. Their first trip was to Australia where they played games against Roma and Manchester City winning the International Champions Cup Australia. Next they flew to China where they took part in another edition of the same competition.

This time, they faced the two big Milan clubs Inter and AC Milan. They flew back to Europe in Germany after that playing another three games in the Audi cup against the likes of AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur. And finally, they ended their pre-season campaign with a bizarre trip to Norway to play minnows Valerenga!

Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo both recently criticised the hectic schedule the players endured under Rafa Benitez.

Modric explained in an interview with AS saying, “We failed to secure the results that were expected of us. Each person will have their own particular viewpoint on the results but I feel that physically we weren’t in good shape. Our pre-season tour of China and Austrailia was too quick. We spent more time in the air than we did training. This is a problem as it later impacts when the season starts”.

#4 Underperforming players

Real have signed several players for high fees but some of them just haven’t lived up to the billing. A prime example of this is James Rodriguez. The Columbian was signed after his heroics in the World Cup led Columbia to the quarter-finals of the competition.

Madrid paid Monaco was a whopping €80 Million to secure the services of the 24-year-old. Since then James has made 67 appearances scoring 22 goals which is not a total disaster but considering Barcelona paid Liverpool around the same amount for Luis Suarez, he has proven to be a much better asset than James has been to Real.

The performances of Toni Kroos and Isco have also been criticized this season. Isco hardly featured under Rafa Benitez but has now become a regular with Zidane at the helm. But his performances have been inconsistent, playing brilliantly in one game but looking completely anonymous in another.

The same goes for Toni Kroos. The player arrived from Bayern Munich with Xabi Alonso heading the other way but unfortunately, he hasn’t really made a mark in that central midfield role. Luka Modric, on the other hand seems to be excelling in that position but he alone cannot carry the burden of Madrid’s creative spark.

#3 Injuries

Real seem to loose the right players at the wrong time. Several of their stars have spent time in the treatment room this season when the team needed a boost in performances. The likes of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez have all been out of action for long periods.

The most significant name on that list Bale, has been out for the most number of games and has been sorely missed. The Welshman has not played almost half the games in La Liga this season including the El Classico loss at home to Barcelona.

He has suffered several muscular problems, the most recent of which sidelined him for 7 games. He recently made his latest comeback against Celta Vigo and wasted no time in getting on the scoresheet. It just proves to show how important he is to the squad

Former coach Carlo Ancelotti has also noticed the unusually large number of injuries to players this season. Speaking to Sina Sports he said, “'Since the start of the season there have been 22 muscular injuries at Madrid. Make your own conclusions, but in a club like Madrid that situation does not seem normal”.

Benzema has also been sidelined with a hamstring injury and is yet to make his latest return. In total, Bale and Benzema have missed 20 matches in La Liga alone. Both these players are a crucial part of the Madrid attack and with them missing, the entire scoring burden has been placed on Cristiano Ronaldo and despite his quality, he himself has admitted that the team misses the complete BBC trio.

#2 A revolving door of managers

In the last 10 years, Real Madrid have had eight different managers. Barcelona have had 5 but of course, Tito Vilanova sadly passed away in 2014 after battling cancer while he was in charge of Barcelona. The only other manager to have a short spell was Gerard Martino. Pep Guardiola and Frank Rijkaard have been in charge for a combined total seven of those last ten years.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s longest-serving manager in that period has been Jose Mourinho who was given only 3 years at the club. Incidentally, he is the manager to have won Real’s solitary league title since 2008.

This constant changing of head coaches is never healthy for a football club. FIrsty there is a lack of philosophy at the club due which there doesn’t seem to be a style of play the club can be associated with. Secondly, the players mentality is affected when there are so many personalities bringing in different ideas and the team is having to re-adjust to every new manager that comes in.

Rafa Benitez was the latest to get the sack and even he knew what was wrong with the club’s approach. He stated in an interview with BT Sport that for a club to win titles you need consistency and if the manager is changing every year then the rebuilding process starts again.

Barcelona have won twice the number of trophies that Real have in the last few years and that just shows how the club seems to have no sense of stability whatsoever.

Only time will tell how long Zidane is given before the board decide to change it up once again

#1 Florentino Perez

The man most responsible for everything Real Madrid have done over the past few years whether good or bad has been club president Florentino Perez. This is his second stint at the club and it seems to have gone similarly to his first one.

Perez introduced the concept of a Galactico when he was president in 2000. He started with Luis Figo from Barcelona and moved on to purchase one expensive player after another every season with the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham all joining the club. During that time they managed to win two La Liga titles and a Champions League crown.

In his second spell, he went a step further by purchasing a clutch of world class talent in a single season. In 2009 he bought Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo. That trend continued with Angel Di Maria, and Gareth Bale the next ones to join. This time, they managed only one La Liga title and a Champions League crown.

There was no doubt that the marketability of these players was high and it helped generate revenue but in terms of club success on the pitch it was never up to the mark. For the amount of money he spent and the players he brought in Real should have been winning the title every year but instead, it has been a huge disappointment.

Perez has failed to learn from his mistakes. He has sold players who are crucial to the chemistry of the squad. Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria who worked tirelessly for the benefit of their so called star players were sold, a similar move to the time he sold Claude Makelele during his first spell when he was a crucial cog in that midfield.

If Madrid are to achieve consistency Perez has to either learn to better manage his resources or step down, neither of which look very likely to happen in the near future.