On July 18, 2015, Real Madrid and AS Roma battled it out in an opening to their respective campaigns. The International Champions Cup match took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. With Rafael Benitez’s plans for Madrid relatively obscure, this was the first opportunity Madridistas from Madrid to Melbourne had to observe the fitness, formation, and approach the former Real Madrid assistant coach had to offer.

LINE-UPS:

Rafael Benitez, for those who have followed him extensively, left little surprise in terms of formation on paper. A standard 4-2-3-1, with Keylor Navas the new incumbent in the net. The back four remains largely the same (Varane for Pepe; it’s a friendly, remember). Asier Illarramendi lines up to allow Luka Modric license to roam. Youngsters Martin Odegaard and Jese Rodriguez play in the hole and up front, respectively. However, a bigger surprise to some was the inclusion of Cristiano Ronaldo on the left and Gareth Bale on the right. Many were expecting Ronaldo to accomodate Bale (whom Benitez is supposed to build the team around) by shifting to the top of the attacking quadrumvirate. But a formation on paper and its execution vary.

Roma lined up in Rudi Garcia’s standard 4-3-3. The back four remain largely the same (the fullbacks being the occasional exception), and De Rossi and Nainggolan give the midfield-3 a 2-1 deep shape, allowing Salih Ucan the (for lack of a better phrase) license to roam. Francesco Totti is a deep forward (not an orthodox 9, not a false 9, but more of a Benzema-esque 9-and-a-half). This allows him to string crosses to the wide players Gervinho and Iago Falque. Just by looking at the formations and speculating (with some background on both of the managers), it appears Benitez has the double-pivot to nullify Ucan, but that would make little sense considering Modric-Illarramendi aren’t exactly fit to do that. Rudi Garcia will seek to dominate the build-up, starting from de Sanctis, to the back 3 of Castan-de Rossi-Mapou. The fullbacks (conservative Cole and marauding Maicon) accomodate accordingly. The distribution will attempt to involve Ucan and Totti, to exploit the spaces left behind by Madrid’s fullbacks. Is this what will happen? The main battles will be between Totti and the space between the two banks of Real Madrid, Carvajal/Marcelo vs. Falque/Gervinho, and how Bale vs. Ronaldo. Let’s see what Benitez has up his sleeve.

TACTICAL ANALYSIS: It’s abundantly clear that Gareth Bale will play in the center of the team. While Ronaldo stays firmly on the left, Odegaard and Jese rotate positions with Gareth Bale frequently. The reason Benitez may attempt this is to emulate Bale’s final six months with Tottenham, where Villas-Boas gave him complete authority in the final third of the pitch. But Tottenham isn’t Madrid, and Roma (and if this idea sticks, Spanish futbol) isn’t the Premier League. The Premiership, for all of its glamor and entertainment, lacks tactical acumen. The modern game is all about controlling space, the World Cup epitomized that. The Premier League has an unhealthy dosage of space, which is why the English teams are consistently outclassed in Europe (don’t believe it? Watch Man City-Barca. Pellegrini’s charges do not press in a cohesive manner, read @tikitactic’s analysis here for more: https://defendingwiththeball.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/man-city-1-2-barca-aka-do-not-give-messi-and-busquets-that-much-space/ ). Gareth Bale, for all of his talent and experience, thrived in the right circumstances. But against a manager as tactically savvy as Garcia, it wasn’t going to happen.

Almost immediately, people watching the match can notice the threat posed by the Italian outfit through the wings. In consecutive plays, Gervinho forced a corner, and a through-ball was threaded into the right wing to force Madrid into a second corner (where we see Benitez’s work has still not been cut, as the marking was horrible and several players were ball-watching…Roma hit the post and Marcelo cleared off-the-line). Roma did not stop there. Rudi Garcia is a profoundly fast learner. His team’s offense has been reeling from a combination of a Totti-dependencia, Doumbia’s form, and the ever-present issue of being unable to break teams down. This match showed Rudi Garcia had a new element to his game. As mentioned before, space (and controlling/exploiting it) is crucial. And where there is space, there is a broken system. With the fullbacks up, Modric advanced, and Illarramendi being Illarramendi, Roma had a perfect opportunity to test some new experiments.

Counterpressing/gegenpressing/”fighting press”–exploiting space while a team is defensively transitioning using a select number of triggers. Some triggers include pressing when the opponent makes a square pass, when the opponent has their back away from the goal, when a goal kick is made to a short player, and more. Rudi Garcia ruthlessly used these pressing triggers to exploit Madrid’s wings and isolated centerbacks (we all know Ramos’s vulnerability in isolation). So, here are some examples of Roma pressing Madrid at the right times:

In the sample above, a Madrid player plays a pass into Gareth Bale, whose back is facing the opponent (a pressing trigger, yellow). Bale then turns-over the ball. Roma could now pass the ball into Ucan (crimson, weaving between the space left by the extra man in midfield). Here, Ucan has a good stance. Gervinho and Falque could easily jettison down the exposed wings (red), as Marcelo (black) and Carvajal are in bad positions (this doesn’t actually come to fruition, as the interceptor simply passes it out to Ashley Cole. This is where Garcia could refine attacking patterns).

In this sample, Garcia shows just how much he is willing to adopt from other managers. In this example of counterpressing, Garcia goes more Pep than Klopp. Guardiola’s teams are historically known to distribute the outfield players into equally distributed zones to give a numbers advantage whenever the opponent has the ball (requires great communication and precision in the triangular movement). And by forcing the team back, it creates a deep block (which further isolates the opponent who receives the ball in a zone anywhere near advantageous). Here, Roma’s intensity forces Madrid into a deep block (black circle). Any ball cleared (which will have to be booted, as any square pass that close to Navas would be hazardous against this Roma) will be deftly recycled by the Italian side (red circles outnumber Odegaard 4:1). Real Madrid looked impotent on the defensive. Rafael Benitez has promised to fix that, and that (surely enough) takes time and patience. Meanwhile, Roma’s side are poised to kill, as this is Rudi Garcia’s third year at the club. His success has earned him the trust and the time. That much showed. But enough about Roma pinning Madrid back…what exactly did Benitez due to Roma?

Well, pressing has become an essential part of the game, as it necessitates exploiting space (which is, once again, the key to playing in the modern game). So, just like his Italian predecessor, Rafael Benitez forced several Madrid players to wear the blue-collars and do the moving and pressing to accomodate Gareth Bale and, to a lesser degree (much to his dismay), Cristiano Ronaldo. Roma played a back three in possession of the ball, with de Rossi dropping deep to give passing options to Leandro Castan and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. In a makeshift 3-4-3/4-3-3 (hybrid) formation, Roma had to be careful to let Bale on the loose against a back three. Back to the accomodating circumstances of Madrid, Odegaard, Jese Rodriguez, and Luka Modric worked extremely hard to force any mistake from the fast-declining De Rossi or the energetic Nainggolan, or Mapou Yanga-M’Biwa. It was a sensical approach by Benitez, but unlike Rudi Garcia, Benitez didn’t organize his pressing. That, or Jese and Odegaard just run aimlessly when they press.

In this passage of play, Ashley Cole plays a cross-ball to Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (a semi-competent player on the ball, as of the last few games in Serie A). Jese Rodriguez should have had far more urgency to do the work for Cristiano and Bale to run into space (as one can see, it is abundant with de Rossi so far advanced and the midfielders nowhere to be seen). But Jese seems to think he broke the club’s transfer record fee. If nobody up top works for the team, Roma’s bad positioning can go unpunished several times. At the very least, Jese should have put MYM under pressure (not to mention that Odegaard is nowhere to be seen, while Modric is busy with Nainggolan).

Throughout the first half, it is clear the two players who are contributing least to the team are Illarramendi and Ronaldo. Gareth Bale hasn’t done much, either, but being switched all across the front four gives him a pass. Ronaldo obviously didn’t take it very well, showing his lacksadaisical side. As for Illarramendi, he was asked by Benitez to do 2 tasks: 1) In response to Iago Falque and Maicon double-teaming Marcelo, the #24 was supposed to shift out wide cover the left wing (memories of di Maria are firmly evoked). Here, he was at his most useful. On several occasions, he had great positioning to push Maicon between Marcelo and the boundary line. Another occasion, his positioning led to a stray pass to be pounced and converted into a counter-attack. But that was it. His pace let him down, and he had to resort to tactical fouls several times (some advantageous, others…not so much.) His pace let him down.

2) This may be a failure on Benitez’s behalf. But judging by Illarramendi’s silly movement, it would not be surprising to learn that his incompetence was to blame. Toni Kroos normally become a deep-playmaker lying between the centerbacks (the de Rossi role in this match). But Illarramendi left it as a back 2, making the formation effectively a 2-5-3. When Luka Modric is the only one being organized in the midfield, coupled with the static work rate of Ronaldo and Bale, Illarramendi only serves to be a hindrance. When the fullbacks push up, several managers decide to leave the 2 centerbacks alone (something very feasible with quick centerbacks like Ramos and Varane). But this is due to the mediocentro moving up and contributing positively to ball circulation. Illarramendi not only abandoned Ramos and Varane, but he also was clumsy in his movement.

FIRST HALF CONCLUSIONS:

Real Madrid

STRENGTHS:

-Sheer quality of Gareth Bale when given the proceedings (few and far between, but best chances)

-Carvajal and Marcelo playing the roles of wide playmakers well

-Raphael Varane

-Luka Modric. He is the silver lining of a black cloud. The front four of Madrid were isolated very often (Odegaard, Jese, B and C). But Modric’s quality helped to shift the gap. But having Illarramendi behind you isn’t exactly assurance. Luka’s stamina kept it together.

-The lingering counterattacking movements honed from Mourinho and Ancelotti.

WEAKNESSES:

-Fullbacks too high

-The double pivot is not supposed to be used the way Real Madrid did it

-Disjointed attack in relation to the team

-Lack of work rate from Cristiano Ronaldo

-Gareth Bale’s work rate and lack of efficiency

-Weaknesses highlighted in the article

Roma

STRENGTHS:

-Rudi Garcia’s cunning and acumen. Roma look like Atletico when they force Madrid to rely on Carvajal’s crosses into the box. They look like Barcelona when they have an extremely high block. They look like Borussia Dortmund when they press in advantageous time, conserving energy (unlike Dortmund) by doing so intermittently.

-Exploiting width

-Intense work rate

-Midfield advantage

-Intense marking

WEAKNESSES:

-Daniele de Rossi’s shocking positioning (has to be an anomaly, did well during the tail-end of Serie A in the role)

-Extremely inexperienced in defensive transition

-Still learning Rudi Garcia’s new methods

-The fullbacks are useless. The timing, the communication, and the careless passes (not to mention letting Illarramendi bully you)…shame on the LB and RB. And were they a bit more useful, perhaps Gervinho might have made some substantive damage.

SECOND HALF:

Pepe, Isco, Kroos, Arbeloa, Benzema, Nacho, Cheryshev, and Lucas Silva come on for Madrid. Doumbia replaces Totti in the first half. Torosidiss, Florenzi, Iturbe, Pjanic, Keita, and Leandro Paredes are introduced at half-time.

Gareth Bale is the only big star who remained. This is very telling as to how he’ll figure this season.

These substitutions are probably nothing more than opportunities to rest and rotate, and entertain the audience. But one gets the impression that the substitutions changed the shape of both teams. For instance, Toni Kroos instantly gave the side more shape with his intelligence. That already is more than what Illarramendi did.

Lucas Silva gave much needed stability in the midfield. He did the quiet work. It was more of a personell and fitness substitution than it was tactical. But he did quiet the midfield down. And since Illarramendi (who covered the left for Marcelo) was subbed out, Alvaro Arbeloa was brought in purely to stay back. And Isco was added to help him out in case he gets taken advantage of (something Arbeloa is very capable of doing).

As for Roma, a clear switch in defensive shape was made. With Totti replaced with Doumbia, it made more sense to ditch the counterpressing approach as Roma lacks someone as sharp as Totti is under tense situations. So, instead of a 4-3-3 shape, Roma converted to a 4-1-4-1, a far more conservative approach. It gave more incentive for Roma to counter-attack (rather than play with the ball) and exploit Doumbia’s searing pace.

Isco’s dynamism greatly helped things. But Benzema was rather disappointing, his concentration and physical shape looking…average. Perhaps he should ditch the IO Hawk and start running, leave Rihanna and hang with Rafa. Nevertheless, his attitude in going wide for Bale’s sake was admirable (as opposed to Ronaldo’s seemingly disinterested demeanour).

Miralem Pjanic had the effect Isco had on Madrid. But he is not as quick as the former Goldenboy, and that was made obvious.

At somewhere around the 60 minute mark, both teams suddenly lost interest. Both managers seeming to be satisfied with what they’ve both learned on the night. Real Madrid gained more and more traction, but in the end, it came down to penalties. Roma seized the moment.

CONCLUSIONS:

Rafael Benitez will need to go back to the drawing board. But this match should be taken with a grain of salt. It was a game for marketing purposes. But we get to see perhaps a hint of what roles Bale and Ronaldo will play. Some set-piece practice is definitely in order. Asier Illarramendi needs to find his way fast. Isco and Luka Modric have taken their chances. Kroos has shown what he could do. But just like Ancelotti, Benitez will need to teach some discipline to the Brazilian duo and Carvajal. And the less said about Arbeloa, the better. The future is bright with Lucas Vazquez. Martin Odegaard should perhaps be sent out on loan. And it looks like Keylor Navas is the new number one.

As for Rudi Garcia, he made a huge statement on the night. But the same positive vibes were present last season when Roma defeated Real Madrid in the U.S., as well. Garcia won’t have the luxury of playing a relaxed Real Madrid every matchday. Juventus certainly won’t be fazed by this performance, despite its craft and guile. But the signs are positive. Juan Iturbe needs a more defined role. Roma still have to (huge emphasis on HAVE TO) sort out the offense. Francesco Totti makes the first half formation work. But he couldn’t even last the half. Seydou Doumbia was a bust.

But it is early days. It was a great match, and I’m sure both Madridista and Romanisti alike were both relieved to finally have the dose of football they’ve been missing since the end of the season.

Thanks for reading, please leave your thoughts in the comments below!