30 Games Unbeaten! the truth about Madrid's record

Forgive the ill-construction and concentrate on the message


This thread is more about our formation, the 4-3-3 formation that helped us to stay unbeaten in 30 games as of march 15, 2014.

30 games unbeaten is no mean feat so it would be unfair to rubbish the formation that played a big role in this record but I think we should try to put fairness aside and criticise the flaws.
It would be more unfair if we don't highlight the strengths of the formation


THE STRENGTHS


DEFENSIVE RECORD
I believe we have conceded about 10 goals or less since we switched to the 4-3-3.
This record means that defensively, the formation is very sound.
Most people have been erroneously attributing our defensive record to the form of the defenders but I believe that is wrong, the team as a whole takes credit for this because once we lose the ball, everybody right from ronaldo to alonso takes part in pressing the opponent and force them to surrender possession or make hurried and ill-thought decisions.
The pressure put on them means that by the time the opponents get close to the defenders, that is if they even get there, they would be under immense pressure to make a decision because they can feel the midfielders breathing on their neck, thereby leaving the defenders with little work to do.


POSSESSION
The formation also allows us to hold possession for long periods of time even though a large percentage of the possession is always between the defenders and the midfielders without any penetration.


GOAL-SCORING
With the attacking triumvarite of Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema, you are sure to score a few goals every game regardless of how bad you play and with this formation, the goals have kept coming.



WEAKNESSES


POSSESSION
Statistics would show that we have a possession average higher than 60% but in reality, almost all of the possession happens between the midfielders and defenders, both knocking the ball back and forth in the same annoying barca fashion.
Most of the times the attackers are involved in keeping possession, it is when they drop deep.


CREATIVITY/PENETRATION
With a left and right back, left and right midfielder and left and right winger, the game is condemned to be concentrated on the wings which means that majority or all of our penetration/creativity comes from the wings.
When next you are watching a madrid match, watch the very bigggg space between alonso/modrid and the BBC boys.

The formation lacks creativity and all we do is knock the ball in a predictable fashion from left to right and then right to left.
The formation needs individual brilliance to carve out opportunities.
It wasn't designed in such a way as to allow teamwork create chances through the middle except modric or di maria pull one of those impossible and daring runs through the middle, or when benzema drops deeper to an attacking midfield role.




GOAL-SCORING
Since the formation lacks penetration and creativity through the middle, we are mostly left to individual brilliance or should we call it triumvarite/BBC brilliance to create goal-scoring opportunities.


PASSING ACCURACY UNDER PRESSURE

The formation was formed during a period when most or all of the teams we played were contented with sitting back for a draw or honourable loss instead of putting pressure on our players when in possession.
Since it was formed in that period, it is normal for us to see the best of the formation when playing against such teams.
Playing with such opposition, our players have a lot of time on the ball to make a good decision and pass the ball accurately, but whenever we are faced with teams who put us under pressure, like atletico madrid in the league, athletico bilbao, villarreal and malaga, our passing becomes awful.


CONCLUSION
It would be disrespectful to rubbish a formation that has put us in such a favourable position and like they say, half a loaf is better than none
The position we are in right now is more than half a loaf, but the performance we get from the team when we play the big matches is just half a loaf.

To an extent, the formation is in line with the promise of entertaining football, but only when we play less ambitious teams.

If we can maintain our defensive discipline in this formation, and BBC can continue to produce those rare but customary moments of class, we can win the treble, but not in an entertaining, all-conquering fashion like Bayern Munich or Barca did.

Regardless, this formation has much potential for improvement and as a madridista, I am satisfied with the position we are in....

What have you noticed about the formation?

Agree with most of that. Defensively we have definitely improved and so has the pressing. We are starting to press more in a more tactical and intelligent way. The positioning when pressing is getting better, which means it's harder for the opposition to get through and create chances. One of the problems however is that Ronaldo doesn't always track back, which means we defend with a 4-4-2, instead of the 4-1-4-1.

Also sometimes I don't think the pressing is intense enough. Sometimes we allow the opposition too much time on the ball and we end up sitting back. Like for example last night against Malaga. The backline should be positioned higher, Pepe/Ramos/Varane are all quick defenders so they should be able to handle it. Another thing is sometimes when Alonso presses, there's no one left in midfield. Happened against Malaga, which means they have the entire midfield to run into. Hopefully we can fix these problems.

Now in terms of possession, I agree. Our passing is way too sloppy when we play against teams who press high up the pitch. In fact it's so sloppy, we end up sitting back and abandoning our style of play. Like against Bilbao for example. For a team that aspires to play possession, there's still a lot to improve on. Also I think our possession could be a bit more appealing in a way, because right now it's just very basic. I don't think the players are confident enough. So again, hopefully with time everything will improve.

In terms of 'passing between defenders and midfielders'. I agree again. I don't think there's anything wrong with a slow build up, but we need to start dominating more in the final 2 thirds of the pitch. The thing is Modric and Di Maria are more all action midfielders, as opposed to intelligent dictating midfielders. I mean Modric is occasionally good creatively, however the chemistry isn't really there yet.

Goalscoring wise we've definitely got one of the best attacks in the World. Bale/Ronaldo/Benzema are all good individually, which means we always have a chance of scoring out of nothing.

@ Yohan Modric
Spot on analysis!
If we manage to scoop some important trophies even if not all, I hope we don't get too complacent with the results cos as things stand, results are almost sure to come.
Like they say, why fix what is not broken?

The problem with modric is that we can see it in him that there e is a world of creativity waiting to explode but he seems to try to be very careful, even when he does the risky things.

I think all my analysis now makes more sense to people who might have thought it was a knee jerk reaction.
I could see this happening from the beginning - the clasico defeat and other defeats.
It was just a matter of time
The formation sucks big time..as in biggg timeee!!
It lacks team work creativity, it depends solely on individual creativity and now we are paying for it
The formation cannot help us manuever big teams, talk less of big matches.
Even if we win the league, we should know that we failed to win any big match which is really badd.
Am sad cos we keep going through this heartbreak.
We beat other small teams and build a record that gives us some optimisim, but when the going gets tough, we realise that our records were just a farce.
Am sad and losing hope for this team

As shown in this clip, the defensive line is way too deep, which allows Messi time on the ball to find Iniesta. Obviously Bale isn't tracking back correctly either.