Real Madrid dropped more points in the race for the La Liga against Villarreal and Carlo Ancelotti's side's struggles are down to a lack of midfield options, says Sky Sports Spanish football expert Guillem Balague
After winning 22 games in a row earlier in the season, Real Madrid have found it difficult to keep their mental sharpness as they look to stay at the top of La Liga.
It’s no secret that they relaxed, and it was almost understandable for them to do so because they still see themselves at the top of the table.
But as captain Iker Casillas revealed Real’s lull it’s not a physical thing because they finished strongly in the second-half against Villarreal. This is more of a football thing and it’s down to the lack of midfielders they have available at the moment.
Luka Modric is a huge miss to the side. He brings so much fluidity to the game and takes a lot of responsibility and big decisions, good decisions.
Even though Isco has done really well in terms of consistency and presence, the lack of James Rodriguez as well has been a big miss. New boy Lucas Silva is also still trying to find his feet, while Toni Kroos is playing more now than he has ever done in his career.
Despite scoring his 30th La Liga goal with a second-half penalty, Cristiano Ronaldo also missed plenty of chances but looked to be getting back to his sharp best.
Once he is back to full sharpness, which he is close to being, the whole Real Madrid side feel it and that will be important as we build towards this month’s Clasico.
Real Madrid may have dropped important points in the title race against Villarreal but they had plenty of chances to maintain their lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
Everybody is saying that Villarreal deserved a point. Yes they did because they were without a host not first-team regulars and with the budget and quality they’ve got compared to Real Madrid, they maximised their potential.
However, Real Madrid played well and created a lot of chances and on another day generally those chances are converted and Carlo Ancelotti’s men win.
One thing that Villarreal did cleverly was to make themselves very compact in the middle, making Isco and Kroos play in between the lines.
Real had to put a crosses into the box and that was very intelligent play from Villarreal.
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