The first game without Gareth Bale saw Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane select Lucas Vazquez and James Rodriguez to cover the Welshman's absence, the former impressing whilst the latter was, overall, a disappointment against Sporting Gijon. There is no doubt that Vazquez can cover a lot of what his striking colleague offers - width, pace, overlapping runs, 100% effort, and determination - and as such, Bale's omission feels less significant. Did James Rodriguez make the most of his chance to break into the line-up however? After being replaced on 70 minutes following an uninspiring performance, where he was more instrumental in the first half but faded in the second, you'd have to say no.
Zidane began the game with a 4-4-2 and the aim was that James, who was playing on the left wing, would swing in crosses to the striking duo of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as acting as a link to the central midfield duo of Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic. In the 55th minute, Zidane noticed that Sporting were controlling the central areas and therefore switched to a 4-3-3 with Modric as the holding-midfielder, James on the right and Kovacic to the left. Perhaps the coach was trying out that particular trio in preparation for Real Madrid's trip to the Camp Nou on Saturday, albeit Los Blancos' attacking threat appeared to be affected as a result. Marco Asensio and Isco replaced James and Kovacic late in the game with Isco again making a big impact in the 10 minutes or so that he was given.
Comments
Post a Comment