Xabi Alonso came to Real Madrid with the image of a progressive coach, with many tactics and very modern in thinking, like what he once showed at Bayer Leverkusen. However, after 7 months leading Los Blancos, the Spanish coach has shown much more pragmatism than that.
This pragmatism was shown in the recent Spanish Super Cup final. Instead of using the club's forte formation of 4-3-3, Alonso let Real Madrid play with a 5-man defense when defending. Perhaps this is the way Alonso chose to approach the match with him knowing he cannot play fair ball control with Barcelona. All tactical variations are no longer diverse, only bound in this form.
Xabi Alonso was once coached by Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. He also said he learned a lot from these two people in the past. During this time at Real Madrid, perhaps Mourinho's colors are seen more clearly from Alonso's coaching style. In the past, many times Alonso under Mourinho had to play deep defense against Tiki-Taka of Barcelona and this time too.
Before the El Clasico match, Barcelona is considered a much higher team based on the form and achievements in La Liga of both sides. Previously, when facing Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, Alonso's Leverkusen often prepared very carefully and diversely in playing style. But this time, everything seems to be deadlocked against Barca who is very strong.
The ending is sad anyway. We played with a fair mindset, they were quite lucky to have a goal. Real Madrid was very close to the equalizer but failed. Finally, congratulations to Barcelona. My job is to help the club overcome this defeat and continue to move forward" - Xabi Alonso shared.
After the match, there were many doubts about Xabi Alonso being sacked. However, so far, there is no sign that owner Florentino Perez will replace the general. Perhaps what needs to be concerned at this time at the Bernabeu is not who will be suitable to replace Alonso, it is the question of whether the current squad is strong enough to compete?
At the end of last season, Real knew they needed to reform their defense and spent more than 120 million Euros in the summer to bring in Alvaro Carreras, Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander-Arnold. To date, only Carreras has met expectations. Huijsen and Alexander-Arnold often have fitness problems, while injuries also affect captain Dani Carvajal and central defenders Eder Militao, Antonio Rudiger.
Among these, only Huijsen and Carreras are ready to play in the match against Barcelona on Sunday, contributing to Alonso's decision to adjust the squad and use the 5-man defense. This tactic has been effective at some point, but Huijsen may be considered to have made a mistake in Robert Lewandowski's goal that helped Barca lead 2-1. Meanwhile, young center-back Raul Asencio is also partly responsible for both goals of Raphinha on Barca's side.
Real Madrid has also not found a worthy replacement for their ability to create midfield play after the farewells of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric. This makes it difficult for the team to control the ball and the game according to Alonso's wishes, even when facing midfield opponents in La Liga or Champions League, not to mention El Clasico.
One of Real Madrid's incurable diseases is still the left wing. Both Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo like to play and play well in this position. Mbappe's inability to recover from a knee injury makes him unable to start and his replacement in the center forward position is Gonzalo Garcia. The inability to operate smoothly further shows how much Real depends on Mbappe at this time.
Despite the defeat, at least, the spirit of Real Madrid players is very good, showing that they have no intention of breaking Xabi Alonso's chair. Vinicius Jr. ended a 16-match non-goal streak with a beautiful solo. It seems that the problems between the Brazilian striker and his coach have been put aside, if not completely resolved.
Xabi Alonso's challenge at this time is still to solve all the problems in the squad, helping his best players regain their fitness and squad organization to be able to compete in La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.
