Where should Alonso and Real Madrid go?

lost to Atletico Madrid away, and Real Madrid's new season winning streak was ended. Since taking office for three months, Alonso has started by adjusting training methods, reshaping tactical styles and changing rotation modes, trying to create a brand new team. Unfortunately, the illusion created by the 7 consecutive wins in the two-line team was annihilated at the Metropolitan Stadium, and the honeymoon period between the young coach and his new boss came to an abrupt end. This young team seemed to have embarked on the old path of the Ancelotti era again.

[Derby defeat, illusion]

possession rate (63%-37%) and pass times (538-306) are both far ahead, creating less than half of the opponent's shooting (6-13), and the absolute number of opportunities is far less than that of the opponent (2-6). Atletico Madrid scored 5 goals with a 7-foot shot. The answer given by Real Madrid at the Metropolitan Stadium shows their inefficiency on both offense and defense. Following the 0-4 game in the 2014/15 season that led to Ancelotti's dismissal, the White Army suffered a defeat in the Madrid derby again. In the late Ancelotti era, Real Madrid was about to collapse in a strong dialogue. Alonso couldn't solve this problem either, and Real Madrid lost 9 goals in the loss to Paris and Atletico Madrid.

Before losing to Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid won seven consecutive victories in La Liga and Champions League. It seemed to have a good record, but the content of the game lacked persuasiveness. Against the relegation teams Osasuna and Mallorca, Real Madrid only won a small goal, and faced the poor Real Sociedad, which only barely scored three points. The confrontation with Marseille in the first round of the Champions League has created countless controversies. In general, you can still win hard in games, but you will lose at once when you encounter a strong enemy. Real Madrid has experienced a similar trajectory on the Club World Cup stage. Now three months have passed, and Alonso's team seems to be still standing still.

[There are loopholes in the summer window signing plan, and Alonso faces unsolved problems]

In the 2024/25 season, Real Madrid suffered from four major issues. The poor record in the strong dialogue was the main reason for the team's decline in the record. Ancelotti's team lost 13 games in various competitions, they were completely suppressed in their matches with Liverpool and Arsenal, and their experience in four national derbys was even more unbearable. The Galaxy Battleship was in a strange way. Ancelotti neither tried new formations and new tactics nor used potential new stars and young players. He also caused criticism for over-indulging big-name players. This team, which was crowned the "Triple Crown King" twice in three years, not only lost its efficiency, but also lost its style.

In the process of Real Madrid's repeated defeats, the defense line was completely destroyed by injuries, and the midfielder and center positions became short of the lineup due to the lack of reliable candidates. Despite receiving generous bonuses from the Club World Cup, Florentino still did not change the principle of signing, and Real Madrid is still implementing the strategy of introducing young players and signing stars without signing.

In the summer window of 2025, Real Madrid invested 167 million euros to sign, and Alonso got a brand new defense line, and the problems of insufficient midfield control and homogeneity of the front line still exist. Taking advantage of the high-standard training opportunities in the Club World Cup, Alonso discovered Gonzalo Garcia, and the white-clothed forward welcomed a real center. Alonso once regarded Suvimenti as a midfield solution, but because the Basques did not meet Real Madrid's signing requirements, the plan to sell Rodrigo was stranded, and Real Madrid ultimately failed to welcome a new midfielder, which laid the groundwork for the Madrid derby's crushing defeat.

[The mixed-match lineup cannot play with the "rock style", and the process of youth is facing the biggest obstacle]

In the strong dialogue last season, Real Madrid has repeatedly fallen into an embarrassing situation of stalling and losing control. Players will always be dragged down by their opponents because of insufficient running ability. After the disintegration of the midfield combination at the ceremony, Real Madrid lost its technical advantages and their physical fitness and running disadvantages were further amplified.

Alonso attaches great importance to the players' physical fitness and ball-free output, and Real Madrid's current quality of oppression still has a lot of room for improvement.

In response to the various drawbacks of the late Ancelotti era, Alonso took a series of measures to try to reawaken the players' fighting spirit. Real Madrid always insisted on "two practices a day" during the preparation period, and the players' aggressiveness on the court has been significantly improved. Even players like Mbappe have begun to actively participate in counter-attacks, and Guerre has taken the initiative to gain weight to improve their ability to confront. Considering that most players have not had the experience of playing in the three-center-back formation, Alonso gave up the blueprint he was good at and continued to use the four-back formation left by Ancelotti.

Alonso built a new framework during the Club World Cup, and Joan Améni and Guillail formed a series of connections in the middle. In the match between the Metropolitans, the running distance between the two teams is only 3 kilometers apart, which shows that Alonso's special training has played a certain role. Real Madrid's problem is that the efficiency of oppression and pressing is not high. In the first six La Liga games, Real Madrid averaged 6.5 times in the offensive zone three per game, but only once in this game, which shows that their pressing is not enough to disrupt the backcourt ball output system of strong teams, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the quality of high-level pressure.

In the game against Levante, Alonso was already trying the three-center-back system, and the Madrid derby's defeat may make him determined to change the team.

The 4231 formation that Alonso set up in the Metropolis is actually an irregular 442. Behind Mbappe and Vinicius are four midfielders. If they cannot win the ball in the frontcourt, the "wingless" formation will expose the backcourt ribs to the opponent, and Alvaro Carreras and Carvajal lack protection. Whether it is a second attack in sports war or a set piece tactic, Atletico Madrid can frequently send high-quality 45-degree diagonal long passes, and most of their shots in the penalty area come from headers. Alvaro Carreras was exhausted when he was inadequate in physical fitness and had few rivals, while Carvajal on the other side was injured and left the field under heavy pressure.. During the 7-game winning streak, Alonso's most proud achievement was to reshape Real Madrid's midfielder. Joan Améni performed well after returning to the midfielder, and Guerre even showed his potential as a core organizer. Young player Mastantono also broke the ball drought. After experiencing the Madrid derby's defeat, the Real Madrid midfielder seemed to have returned to the pre-liberation overnight, and the embarrassing situation of offense and defense imbalance is frustrating.

Alonso wanted to get a commander who could sit in the midfield, but ultimately failed to do so.

Due to the failure to completely reshuffle the midfield and frontcourt, the "rock style" in a narrow sense is not suitable for Real Madrid. The moderate style of playing is more conducive to highlighting the advantages of this team combining the old and new team. After Kroos left the team, most of Real Madrid's new generation of midfielders were engineers, and no one could control the "switch". Alonso hoped that Suvimenti could play this role, but he was taken the lead by Arsenal. When facing teams like Levante and Oviedo, Real Madrid can complete the crush with their personal abilities, and when they encounter opponents of the same level, they will easily fall into a state of losing contact in the third line and losing their heads.

Alonso's setting of the winger rotation mode has caused controversy, and his reuse of Mastantono gives people a sense of encouragement.

Since leading Leverkusen to win the Bundesliga with an undefeated record, Alonso has suffered many defeats in key battles, including a 0-3 loss to Atalanta in the UEFA Cup final, a 0-5 loss to Bayern Munich in two rounds last season, a 0-4 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup, and a 5-goal defeat at the Metropolitan Stadium this time. Facing experienced opponents like Gasperini, Enrique and Simeone, Alonso's on-the-spot command is not very experienced enough. After shining the Club World Cup, Gonzalo Garcia rejected invitations from several Premier League and Serie A teams. The young player originally hoped to make great achievements this season, but his current situation is sad.

When it was necessary to take a gamble at the last moment, Real Madrid had only a group of wingers on the left, but no center forward who could create chaos in the penalty area. Gonzalo Garcia only got a few minutes of playing time. Last season, Real Madrid suffered from inefficiency in the tough battle. Gonzalo Garcia's performance in the Club World Cup reminds people of the magical substitute Joselu that year. After the start of the new season, Alonso left the stage to Guerre and Mastantono. Gonzalo Garcia was invisible for a long time, and the local elite became a victim of the young coach's strategy of becoming younger.

[The devil's schedule comes one after another, and the young coach needs to face the challenge]

When taking over Leverkusen in the mid-season of 2022/23, Alonso completed a tactical demolition and construction in a short period of time, and survived the torture of 6 games (3 draws and 3 losses) before getting on track. With a complete preparation period, Alonso's operations have become much more stable. The experience accumulated by years of experience in the wealthy families made him choose to engage in caution, establishing Mbappe as the absolute core and introducing a competitive mechanism, which are all operations that meet Florentino's requirements.

As the coach appointed by Florentino, Alonso shoulders the heavy responsibility of reconstruction and has greater power than Ancelotti.

However, due to the fierce defeat in the Madrid derby, the reputation accumulated by Real Madrid youth team has tended to collapse. Alonso and his disciples must use victory to calm public doubts and gain a relaxed living space for themselves. After losing to Atletico Madrid, the White Army had no time to lick their wounds and started an expedition to Almaty. What awaited them later were Villarreal, Juventus, Barcelona, ​​Manchester City and Liverpool. A series of strong dialogues were dazzling, and Alonso had to adjust his tactics to deal with the next devil's schedule.

Zidane gave up the technical midfield combination and activated Casemiro to achieve Real Madrid's hegemony. Alonso also needed to complete the change by using failure as an "opportunity".

That year, Zidane also lost the Madrid Derby when he first took office (2015/16 season). He summarized his experience from his defeat and took advantage of the situation to launch the ceremony's midfield combination (Casemiro became the main force), opening a legendary time. Real Madrid's current lineup configuration is far less than the "five-year and four championships" period. He should lower his attitude when talking. Alonso once said that he would insist on creating a "rock style". Now when facing the pressure of achievements, whether he still has to stick to the established routines, the young coach must make some choices.