The three fault lines worrying Mourinho's Real Madrid | OneFootball

The Whites are going through their first spell of doubt this season after the defeat to Atlético and now trail Barcelona by six points in LaLiga.

Real Madrid head into the end of September with more doubts than José Mourinho expected at this stage of the season. The 2-1 defeat to Atlético in the Madrid derby left Los Blancos in fourth place in LaLiga and six points behind Barcelona, who lead the table with a perfect record after the first seven matchdays. The result also once again put the spotlight on the way a team that had started the league campaign with very high expectations is functioning.

One of the main questions concerns the team’s balance. Real Madrid have shown problems controlling certain matches and have also raised doubts in some important games. The pressing system and intensity Mourinho wants still need greater consistency, while build-up play remains one of the areas the Portuguese coach will have to fine-tune over the coming weeks.

In attack, not all of the players are going through the same spell either. Kylian Mbappé continues to be one of the main attacking references, but Vinícius has yet to find his best form and other important players have not fully settled either. With a six-point gap to Barcelona, the margin for error is starting to shrink, and the next stretch of the season will be important in determining whether the doubts in September are just a rough patch or the first serious problem for Mourinho’s project.

Villarreal, the opponent to bounce back against

On October 10, after the international break, Real Madrid will host Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabéu on Matchday 8 of LaLiga, a clash in which Los Blancos need all three points to keep pace with Barcelona and avoid fueling the crisis rumors.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.