The victories against Alaves in LaLiga and Talavera in the Copa del Rey have served to buy time, but they do not offer guarantees. The coach’s credit is still at rock bottom and the club’s doubts persist, not so much because of the specific results but because of a much more worrying reality: the football is not improving and the feeling is that the sporting project is going nowhere.
On Saturday, there is a new test against Sevilla and then a new period of reflection in the offices. The future does not look good for Xabi Alonso unless there is an immediate and strong reaction. If he passes the Sevilla test, the Spanish Super Cup looks like the acid test. Against Atletico and Barca, only victory seems to be able to provoke a definitive boost until the end of the season.
It is true that the players’ interest has increased. Their attitude too. But Xabi’s plan does not work. The team has lost its identity, does not convey conviction and lives each game on the edge of disaster. If it had not been for Lunin and his great save in stoppage time in Talavera, we would probably be talking about a dismissal right now.
Xabi is trying to get the situation back on track, but the feeling at the club is that he has lost all the strength with which he arrived in May. Right now, it is as if Madrid have changed coach. It is not the Xabi that was expected, but a coach who is now balancing not to upset the dressing room and who has completely lost his sporting identity.
Climate of urgency
The coach’s situation cannot be separated from the moment Real Madrid is going through in the competitions, especially in LaLiga. The team has been going through weeks of doubts, with bad results that have left them four points off the top of the table and a constant feeling of fragility that has ended up being installed in the environment. The crisis is one of play and confidence and has been wearing down all the figures of the project, with the coach at the head.
The context is more than delicate for Xabi Alonso, who is not only fighting against the results, but also against a climate of permanent urgency in the club, which does not understand transitional years and always seeks immediate results.
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