Real Madrid made their debut under Xabi Alonso against Al-Hilal on Wednesday evening, and while it was the dawn of a new era, it was characterised by an uncomfortable and sticky heat in the Miami sun. Their opposition were just as comparable.
Despite the adverse conditions, and the very early stage in Alonso’s time at the club, there were a few takeaways from their 1-1 draw with the Saudi Arabian giants.
Real Madrid are still in preseason
But first it has to be acknowledged that if Alonso is to be allowed to cook, it might take some time to bring this team to the boil. Both he and Thibaut Courtois were keen to point out that they had only spent four training sessions together, and it showed. The combination of the heat and the lack of conditioning at times had Fede Valverde moving in treacle.
President Florentino Perez might be desperate to win this competition, but he will have to accept that Real Madrid are closer to preseason than peak form.
Real Madrid are committed to the press
One of the myths about Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid is that they did not press. The Italian tried in fits and bursts, and in several different seasons, but could never quite configure it to purr like the German machines in the North of Europe. Alonso’s side at times did it poorly, but there was a commitment to do so, and they did manage to the ball back higher up on various occasions.
A long-standing issue, Alonso declared a desire for flexibility in his presentation, but it is fair to suspect he might be a little more rigid no this topic than his predecessor.
Real Madrid will attack responsibly under Alonso
One of the most notable differences was just how conscienscious Real Madrid’s defenders were on the ball. There were times when Trent Alexander-Arnold or Fran Garcia could have pushed forward and wide, but put the breaks on. With possession deep in Al-Hilal’s half, there were always three defenders level or behind the ball, and that safety catch helped limit Al-Hilal in the second half.
Real Madrid haven’t had a defender like Dean Huijsen in a long time
There is no doubt that Dean Huijsen, who is just 20 years of age, has imperfections, and those were visible without the ball. However it was hard not to get drawn into his meandering forward and swept passes, always weighted, always on time. It was refreshing to see Huijsen step into space when offered it, and several of their best attacks late on came from Huijsen behaving more like Luka Modric than most of their other midfielders.
Xabi Alonso is compiling evidence for the transfer committee
It was noticeable that Modric only came on in the final minutes, and Dani Ceballos did not get on at all. That is despite Jude Bellingham, Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni struggling to inject tempo into the game, with Arda Guler often their best solution in that regard. It was seen how much Los Blancos missed a midfielder with interpretative skills akin to Modric or Toni Kroos’ last season. Even with Alexander-Arnold, Guler and Huijsen to take some of the burden, it seems to be setting Alonso an unnecessary challenge to coach around that.
