Xabi Alonso must have watched El Clasico on Sunday, and the way Real Madrid defended, and seriously considered calling his bosses at Bayer Leverkusen and saying, "Uh, nevermind. Turns out I really like sauerbraten."
It can't really be stressed enough the disaster that Madrid was defensively against Barcelona. Giving up four goals in a half, after going up 2-0 no less, is a pretty strong statement in itself. Madrid gave up 4.2 xG against, which is the most they've ever given up since that stat has been tracked in the past 20 years. It's not even really close. The next-worst defensive performance from Madrid was seven years ago, when they gave up 3.4 xG ... to Barcelona. Sensing a theme here.
Madrid's defense has been an issue all season. They rank eighth in xGA in La Liga, behind Mallorca and Real Sociedad, who are in ninth and 12th in the table. They're ninth in shots against per 90 and seventh in shots on target per 90. The problems are pretty obvious, so what's Xabi Alonso going to do about it?
There are some things that will fix themselves before Alonso walks in the door. Madrid's central defense had an injury crisis, which essentially emptied their midfield. Éder MIlitão has essentially had two seasons wrecked by injury. Dani Carvajal blew out his knee. Ferland Mendy hasn't been as available. Nacho left for Saudi Arabia.
All those absences forced most of Madrid's midfield to move into defense. Federico Valverde has spent most of this season at right-back. Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni have had to play in central defense far more than central midfield, their natural positions. That's left the midfield to be Jude Bellingham and a collection of guys who should be holding a squeegee. Simply returning those three to their day jobs will be a massive improvement.
But those aren't all the problems. The main one being is that the midfield and defense get no support from the attack. To call Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. inert in their pressing and defensive efforts would be an insult to doorknobs. Any opponent of Madrid essentially gets a red carpet to pass the ball from the defense and into midfield.
Xabi Alonso will have his work cut out for him at Real Madrid
This is a wildly different set of circumstances than Alonso had at Leverkusen, and perhaps his biggest problem to solve. Alonso's Leverkusen's side were the most aggressive in winning the ball back in the attacking third the last two seasons (6.6 per match in 2023-24, and 5.2 this season). Madrid...let's call them sleepy when it comes to winning the ball back in the attacking third. They ranked 9th this season in that category. They were second in La Liga last season, though with significantly lower numbers than Leverkusen, and that was before the addition of Mbappe and his defensive indifference.
So Alonso's pressing ways aren't going to work in Madrid, because Vinicius, Bellingham, and Mbappe just aren't going to do it. Rodrygo may or may not be around, but if he's the third in the troika that's not much help, either. Which probably means that Alonso will have to set his Madrid teams out to defend deeper than his Leverkusen teams did. That's handy, as Alonso had been pulling his team's defensive shape a little deeper in Germany this season anyway. If new purchases and greater health can keep Valverde, Tchouaméni, and Camavinga in midfield, that's a pretty decent shield of the defense. It'll have to be, because it'll be completely exposed to the elements, thanks to the forwards all just staring at them as the ball passes them by.
But how deep can Madrid defend? Sure, launching counters into space with that forward line is heavily destructive for anyone going up against it. But Madrid can't play that way all the time, and when they do get on the ball more and get advanced, how do they stop teams countering them without the forwards trying to stop it at all?
It's easy to see why Madrid want to bring Florian Wirtz with Alonso to Madrid as a welcoming gift for their new manager. Wirtz is one of the best pressers from the front in the Bundesliga, and will give Madrid at least of a suggestion of resistance all over the field. But how do they cram him into the lineup? As a false nine between Mbappe and Vinicius and ahead of Jude Bellingham? In a 4-2-2-2? It's not seamless. To boot, Wirtz may be great, but he's not going to do the defensive running for two or three other guys without coughing up a lung by Halloween. That's if he shows up at all and doesn't go to Munich.
Certainly Madrid's first "defensive" signing, Trent Alexander-Arnold, isn't exactly an aid to their defensive problems. Alexander-Arnold was always asked to be on an island with Liverpool, as Mo Salah was given license to stay high and engineer counters. But Alexander-Arnold isn't going to get any more cover from Vinicius, either. An aging Antonio Rüdiger and an overmatched Raúl Asencio aren't the support in the middle that Alexander-Arnold has had, either. Madrid will be buying in the central defense market.
Alonso used three centerbacks for the most part with Leverkusen. That won't work in Madrid. Neither Alexander-Arnold nor a returning Carvajal are wing-backs. And there's no one on the left to be one, either. So that's out. Valverde, Tchouaméni, and Camavinga are seen as great shuttlers but not really ball-progressers. That was Toni Kroos's job, and all three acted as his minder in seasons past. Where's that coming from next season?
Perhaps Alonso's biggest challenge at The Bernabeu is that heavy tacticians haven't really done all that well with Madrid lately. Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane are the two most successful recent managers there, and both were definitely in the, "Go play" mold of managing. Even Jose Mourinho, with the biggest cult of personality, only managed one league title in three seasons, which by Madrid standards just isn't good enough. The way the hierarchy throws together a team and chases shiny toys with little consideration for how it all fits together just calls for a manager that allows a ton of flexibility.
Alonso has seen it from the inside, though, and knows that ego-managing and letting some things on the field go is just part of the DNA in Madrid. He's only had one frontline job, so we don't know how rigid his plans are. Needless to say, he's walking into a bigger fixer-upper than the biggest club in the world would like to admit.