After Real Madrid’s win over Real Sociedad, Jose Mourinho noted that the team had a hard time pressing La Real: “the first half was difficult, we weren’t lining up our press. Real Sociedad didn’t create danger, but they were well structured and hard to press. We prepared the game well, it was one of those games that’d be perfect for a hydration break but we had to wait to adjust things at half-time.”
Real Sociedad lined up in a 4-2-2-2 formation in deep buildup.
Real Madrid pressed in a 4-2-3-1 shape
high up the pitch. Arda Guler and Vinicius Jr operated inside and narrow to Bellingham to provide that central coverage. Valverde and Bernardo Silva took charge of Oyarzabal and Sučić.
Real Madrid’s fullbacks had dual roles: jump onto the opposite fullback when Real Sociedad funnelled the play toward one of the flanks or operate zonal and provide the overload at the backline when the play is channeled to the opposite side.
From goalkicks, Vinicius Jr joined Kylian Mbappé to press the center-backs, while Arda Güler and Jude Bellingham monitored the double pivots.
Jude Bellingham started central and drifted across, only when the goalkeeper played to Herrera. Real Sociedad’s pivot picked out Sučić, who was tightly pressed from behind by Fede Valverde. A loose touch from Sučić triggered Valverde to go full gear and prod the ball to Mbappé, who set Vinicius Junior in front of the goal:
Real Madrid’s old, well-known problems persisted. Here, Vinicius Junior communicated with Arda Guler to handle the center-back, while the Brazilian took charge of Turrientes.
As Mbappé cut off the passing lane between the goalkeeper and Beitia, Vinicius let his man shift freely across. As a consequence, the visitors could find that entry pass to break down Real Madrid’s first line of press.
Vinicius headed toward the far-side center-back, whereas Carreras and Bellingham marked Aramburu and Sučić. Turrientes moved toward the ball side without being followed by Mbappé. Hence, the visitors could access Turrientes unmarked behind Bellingham via a third-man combination:
Once Real Sociedad broke down the first line of pressure due to a lack of intensity and awareness, Real Madrid’s dominoes fell apart.
The lack of pressure and urgency allowed the ball holder to target the opposite and underloaded side and spaces behind Real Madrid’s defensive line:
Not only that, but Real Madrid’s slow retreat from some players, notably Vinicius, enabled Real Sociedad to exploit the weak side of the white team.
Here, Oyarzabal is comfortable in receiving and assessing his options. In the end, he pings the ball over the top toward the back post, where Gomez pulled off a powerful shot:
As aforementioned, Real Madrid’s ball-side fullback tended to jump on his opposite fullback.
In a moment of miscommunication between Guler and Dumfries, Sergio Gomez found himself in large space with time on the ball to clip it over the top. Konaté misreads Ochieng’s intentions, so the latter could figure out a shooting angle. However, the French striker was able to block off the shot.
In the meantime, Carreras shifted to the space around the penalty area to cover Kubo. However, Sučić came late from behind without being tracked back to power the loose ball home.
In the second half, Arda Güler was no longer marking Turrientes, as he shifted to occupy the opposite fullback; Valverde stepped up to handle Guler’s initial reference, whereas Dumfries narrowed inside to monitor the opposite winger. Marc Cucurella had a dual role, which resided in stepping out toward the opposite right-back when the play was directed to Real Madrid’s left side and withdrawing to his position to maintain overload across the backline when the ball is on the opposite side.
In this scene, Vinicius Junior forced the goalkeeper to play to Sergio Gomez, who was marked by Arda Güler, which was the change Mourinho mentioned in his post-match interview, with Valverde jumping onto Turrientes, whereas Dumfries held his position, keeping tabs on Ochieng.
Dumfries intercepted Gomez’s inside pass and regained possession. Real Madrid had numbers around the ball. So with a give-and-go, Dumfries ran beyond the left-back and offered himself for Guler to slide the pass between Martin and Gomez.
Mbappé and Vinicius dragged the backline toward the goal, so Bellingham could arrive late in the box.
Real Madrid had issues when defending in a zonal block, as well. Los Blancos sat in a 4-2-3-1 medium block as well.
When Sociedad broke down Madrid’s first line because of insufficient intensity in jumps and channeled the play to the flanks, Mourinho’s team’s ball-side pivot shifted across, while the far-side pivot covered the half-space and the out-in passing lanes.
In this example, Bernardo Silva and Valverde work in tandem to drive the right-back to a central trap and swarm around him to regain possession.
Carreras collects the loose ball and immediately finds Vinicius Jr in a high position. Both Mbappé and Guler are in good rest attack situations. Mbappé attacks depth with Vinicius Junior setting him up in front of the goal, while Guler runs freely around Turrientes to penetrate the box.
The Turkish midfield was in a good place for the tap-in; however, Mbappé drives at goal with his head down, looking to shoot.
In a medium block, Real Madrid alternated between the 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 formation. Vinicius Junior and Arda Guler dropped as wide midfielders alongside Valverde and Bernardo Silva.
Mikel Oyarzabal’s deeper positioning caused problems for Real Madrid’s structure. This sequence is a prime example. At the start, Bernardo Silva tends to pull wide toward Gomez until Guler fully recovers. Then the Portuguese tries to return to his position. With Vinicius not working his way back to provide cover on the far side, Valverde cannot shuffle toward Oyarzabal, as it would open the diagonal passing lane toward Sucic, and the visitors would be in a situation to capitalize on the overload on the far side.
Kubo and Ochieng’s runs push Real Madrid’s backline rearward. Valverde withdraws toward Oyarzabal, who is able to access the far side.
Real Madrid’s off-ball frailties continue to hinder the team by increasing the opposition’s chances to get into a dangerous position. Usually, Los Blancos‘ cracks appear across the front line, where the opposing team’s buildup line can freely pick up options and find different passing lanes. And from there, the domino effect takes place. Mourinho’s mission is to drill this group of players to defend and attack like a team and a compact unit. The defending process must be initiated with intensity and awareness to allow an optimal continuation and neutralize the danger.
