When you say Carvajal declined to being an average fullback, isn't that a motivation issue for you?
No. He was consistently a very hard worker on the pitch. You never see him waltzing back to defend like you do Marcelo, Kroos, Isco, Benzema, Bale. Injuries, bad partners.
Anyways, for me, it's motivational. Not necessarily that they don't want to anymore, but after winning a lot of titles, it's harder and harder to keep a good level vs teams like Valladolid at home. This translates into a sluggish, slow game, without any sharpness, which is relatively easy to contain.
A motivated Madrid would've won this game 10 out of 10 times.
Did you watch the game? Because it honestly feels like you didn't.
Last night is NOT the case of these players not being motivated. The game wasn't 'sluggish and slow' at all. They want to win, but they're either limited or old. They were chasing the score from minute 1 and they don't find it easy doing so. In the first half crowd was behind them with it being the first game back at home and they really were trying very hard.
But if you look at what kind of chances we created, you'll easily see where we struggle. It is NOT the fact that they're not 'trying' hard enough like [MENTION=15376]DonAK[/MENTION] implied with his trolly post. It's the lack of sharpness (Isco, 10 turnovers; James, played without much of a preseason + had an issue), but most of all lack of quality. When we're on the front foot and pinning an inferior team down like we did in the 1st half, there are several players whose limits are exposed.
a) Bale has 2 weapons - heading and beating a fullback to deliver a cross, often tries to do that with the outside of his left foot as well, instead of using his weak one. Other than that, he doesn't offer a lot from the flank. He's not agile enough to do the Robben cut-in bursts and telegraphs them. But that is why you scarcely see him doing anything else. At the very least, he is a very good crosser.
b) Benzema - he's a 32 year old striker who for all of his career worked on the ball a lot more than he works off it. Which effectively makes us need the tireless space seeker like Cristiano. A Jović. An Icardi. Whoever. What's worse is that because he has the annoying habit of asking for the ball, he is responsible for a lot of turnovers when he is muscled off it. He never had the best strength & balance.
c) Isco. Because at this point I don't know if he will ever regain a reliable touch that is needed off an attacking midfielder whenever we dominate. James finds it 100x easier to jump back into the team and make good decisions + not lose the ball like a mug. Also James is much better at finding his place on the pitch. Seen that shot he had from outside the box on a corner set-play they tried at least twice? Yeah. Isco is always played for his main quality of being a magnet for opponent's defenders. He drags players out and makes space. But what good is that when you have old dudes like Benzema, Marcelo and a guy like Kroos on his side? It's marginally better when a young winger is next to him, but not by much, because Asensio and Vini are mental younglings and they don't always realise what to do.
This isn't motivation. A lazy team doesn't pin the opponent down for such lengths of the game. And notice we're not talking about an entire game, only portions of it - they're getting old. Particularly in early summer and midday fixtures when the heat is on in Spain, they struggle.
