Khulen Lopetegi came to Real Madrid after Zinedine Zidane and three consecutive victories in the Champions League, and already left his mark.
July 14, 2018 - on this day, Khulen Lopetegi was officially introduced as the head coach of Real Madrid. Just two days after the announcement that he will take up this post. Just one day after he was fired from the post of head coach of the Spanish national team.
Since then, under his leadership, Real Madrid Madrid had 10 matches - 4 friendlies and 6 official. There were also failures, but there was more positive in these matches.
100 days at the helm of Real Halen Lopetega, what conclusions can be drawn from the results of his work?.
Lopetegi uses a limited number of players The first team of Real Madrid has 24 players, including Vinicius, transferred to Castile. But Lopetegi always uses only 15 of them. Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal played all the official matches of the team from call to ring (570 minutes), Tony Kroos (552), Karim Benzema (542) and Marcelo (540) are not much less.
Although in the near future should increase the time of players such as Lucas Vazquez (73 minutes) and Mariano Diaz (17), as Real Madrid entered the period when he will hold 5 matches in 15 days.
In the new season in the first team of Real Madrid appeared six new faces - Vinicius, Mariano Diaz, Courtois, Odriosola, Regilon (translation from Castile) and Valverde (return from rent to Deportivo).
Until now, in official matches appeared only Courtois and Mariano. Acquired for 30 million euros, Odriosola is still waiting for his chance, which he will get already in the nearest match, and Vinisius 45-million only twice was on the bench and plays for Castile, where he scored 3 goals in 3 matches.
The team scores goals After the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, there were many questions: how the team will play in the attack, as it is going to score 50 goals, which gave the Portuguese. Lopetegi's answer is simple: one machine for scoring goals was turned into a team, which can be scored every.
Six different goals were scored by six different players: Benzma (5), Bale (4), Ramos (3), Isco (2), Carvajal and Mariano. 16 goals in six games, in the same period last season there were 13 goals.
High pressure, ball control As soon as the Spanish coach came to the team, he began to insist that his team will use high pressure, which will improve the defensive performance. And it really worked. Real Madrid is not much, but began to return the ball more often, and also gives opponents less to beat on goal. Now goalkeepers do 2.5 saves per duel, although last year it was 2.8.
But it is a merit not only of high pressure, but also more accurate possession of the ball. Under Lopetegi, Real's players give away more than 100 assists per game more (737 against 600 last season), and possession of the ball increased from 60% to 66.7%. Also, Madrid began to deal more blows on the opponent's goal: 14.6 against 13.8.
Two failures Only one official match at Lopetegi Real lost. This match was the very first and in it "creamy" lost to the neighbors from the Atletico UEFA Super Cup. The result of that match made many doubt the correctness of the decision of the leadership of Real to appoint Hullen as the head coach.
But the expert quickly regained his confidence. The first three matches of the championship of Spain were won: Pali Getafe, Girona and Leganes. But in the fourth round, the "Royal Club" met with strong Athletic, and for the first time in the championship lost points. Draw, which allowed Barcelona, ??though not much, but to break away.
Again appeared dissatisfied with the work of the coach. But all doubts in the level of the coach were dispelled after 4 days, when Real Madrid home defeated the Italian Roma in the first match of the Champions League. Now fans are looking forward to the matches of the championship of Spain, where for a week Real Madrid will play against Hispaniola, Sevilla and Atletico.
The search for the ideal midfield Lopetegi quickly figured out his attack. Attacking the top three were Asencio, Benzema and Bale. But with midfield it was harder.
In the center of the field were used Kazemiro, Modric, Kroos, Isco and Ceballos.
They played in different tactical constructs: with one supporting and two centaurs or with two supporting and one attacking midfielder. But Lopetega's final choice seems to have still not been made.
As well as with the goalkeeper's position. The Spaniard equally trusts the place in the gates of Courtois and Navasu.
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