It’s just this, a pre-season, a the important tournaments start now, but we cannot forget the terrible moments lived during this summer. They are especially disappointing because we came from the worst season in a decade, with the hope brought for Zinedine Zidane as a new manager and some promising signings. However, it’s impossible to be optimistic at this point of the year.
Real Madrid closed the pre-season with a draw in Roma (2-2), the second during the summer after the one against Arsenal. Before we saw three defeats -Bayern Munich, Atlético de Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur-, and only two victories -Fenerbahce and RB Salzburg-. The team had many problems in the defense line -18 goals conceded-, being the goalkeeper one of the best in the games. Besides, in the attacking line, only Karim Benzema looks sharp.
When making an analysis about the pre-season, the first one to look at is the manager. Zidane looks completely lost, changing the formation from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2 but without success. Besides, he hasn’t given many opportunities to the youngsters, with Kubo, Rodrygo or Vinicius eager for minutes. Zizou is also trusting the veterans, with zero response. Isco, Kroos, Lucas Vázquez, Nacho are totally lost.
And there is no sign of revolutions after last season. Only Eden Hazard is playing regularly, although we all expected more from him. The signings are not adding anything new. Jovic, Mendy or Militao have not played well enough to be hopeful with them. And Zizou is also forgetting some players that could be important like Gareth Bale, James Rodríguez or Mariano Díaz, all of them without opportunities.
With this diagnosis, there is little room to be optimistic. La Liga starts on Saturday at Balaídos against Celta de Vigo and the transfer window is still open, because the team needs a couple more of reinforcement, especially in the midfield. We need to trust Zidane and give him credit, but the results will dictate if all the decisions taken during the summer were accurate.
