Critique! Who is to blame for the crisis at Madrid?
Real Madrid failed to make a franchise signing after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo against popular demand and this decision now appears to be haunting them presently.
The club chose to put belief in Julen Lopetegui who also believed that the job could be done with the current personnel at the club.
They appeared to be flying in the opening stages of the season, then came the international break, and this preceded the seeming decline of the club recently, leading to an intense goal drought.
But who is to blame? The Madrid hierarchy? Julen Lopetegui? Or the personnel he has at his disposition?
This is my critic’s corner and I daresay they all get a share of the blame.
Firstly, the Real Madrid hierarchy who thought they had done it all and seen it all after three successive UCL triumphs. It seemed they forgot that they had not taken a significant fight to Barcelona for the La Liga for a while.
They also appeared to forget that the departed Ronaldo was the major catalyst to their UCL triumphs and recent scoring records, hence they refused to opt for a suitable world-class replacement although their rivals reinforced significantly.
READ: Report – Real Madrid give Lopetegui ultimatum
Well, the result can be seen presently. There’s no way that the Los Blancos would have gone without scoring in 4 comsecutive games if Ronaldo was present, and this is a fact as his fear factor in the team alone would send shivers down the spine of any opponent.
It is also a fact because they never suffered such occurrences when he was in the side. This has previously occurred but not in Ronaldo’s time at the Bernabeu. It speaks volumes.
It might also seem too early to write off Julen Lopetegui, but his antecedents at Porto don’t speak well of his tactical and managerial abilities either.
His time at Porto was an absolute disaster for a club of Porto’s standard in Portugal. Well, let’s wait and see if he can prove us wrong by turning the fortunes around at Madrid under the intense pressure he has found himself presently.
The players must also share some part of the blame. The likes of Bale, Marcelo, Ramos, and others were too quick to downplay and write off Ronaldo’s importance to the club with their mouths to the press
They should have done the talking on the pitch where it matters most and this has not been the case thus far. Worse still, the road to recovery for the Los Blancos is obstacle-ridden going by the way injuries also appear to be hitting the squad, the latest being the anonymous Karim Benzema.
All being said, It’s still early days, and we wait to see how the Madrid hierarchy, Julen Lopetegui, and his men turn things around. We wait till after the international break.