Real Madrid’s biggest success this season is gradually becoming the biggest point of improvement. Jude Bellingham made the attack arranged around him by Carlo Ancelotti extremely effective. The English player scored 13 goals in 14 appearances this season. However, when he did not score, Los Blancos were struggling to find sources of goals from other positions.
In every match Bellingham scored, Real won. Diario AS confirmed that Bellingham contributed 44.8% of shots on target for the parent club. This lends credence to the idea that if opponents successfully stop Bellingham, they will have reduced Los Blancos’ attacking power by 50%. The former Borussia Dortmund player is clearly the lifeblood at the Bernabeu because he is so superior to the rest.
Real depends on Bellingham.
Bellingham went through 5 matches without a shot this season: Las Palmas (did not play), Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Rayo Vallecano. In those 3 times, Los Blancos could not win, receiving 2 draws against Sevilla and Rayo, and 1 defeat against Atletico.
People around Bellingham are struggling with shooting again. Vinicius Junior, who was injured, contributed 3 goals and 2 assists. However, that achievement cannot be compared to the 5 goals and 4 assists at this stage last season. Rodrygo only has 2 goals and 1 assist. That parameter is modest compared to the 10 phases that contributed to goals at the same stage last season.
A big part of the problem stemmed from the fact that Karim Benzema was only replaced by Joselu, who often came on as a substitute. Joselu scored 5 goals this season (one goal every 151 minutes), but Benzema in the 2022/23 season as of early November has 7 goals. Anyway, Joselu is at least maintaining similar performance to what he did for Espanyol last season. Therefore, it is impossible to say that the Spanish striker is playing poorly and evaluate how this affects Real’s front line.
Relevo predicts that, with the current frequency of contributions, Vinicius will score 14 goals in all competitions this season and Rodrygo 7. It is completely inferior to the 23 goals and 19 goals they contributed last season. With the pair of Brazil and Benzema, Real Madrid can score up to 73 goals. Even if Bellingham maintains its huge damage from now until the end of the season, the Royal Club will only score 67 goals. Remember, with the contributions from Vinicius, Rodyrgo and Benzema, Real Madrid could not compete for the La Liga championship last season. Now, it is difficult for Bellingham alone to help Los Blancos break through.
The Brazilian duo had to share fire with Bellingham.
Federico Valverde was another source of goals last season and had eight goals to his name at this stage last year. Currently, Valverde has only scored once and it does not show the effectiveness of Real’s attack.
Rodrygo and Vinicius will need to improve their performance, especially as the Samba duo become more proficient with the current system. However, the pressure on them will increase when Benzema leaves the Bernabeu. Most predict that Bellingham will not be able to continue to flourish so their contribution will be emphasized, although neither is completely comfortable with the 4-3-1-2 formation.
Ancelotti affirmed that he has enough resources at hand, but at Real right now, there are too many question marks in the team’s attack.
Lu Phong | 23:25 November 7, 2023
