Football: After listening to the advice, I became the strongest free man.

For one thing, Kroos and Modric often prioritize staying in contact with defenders who are under less pressure, resulting in the team playing a slightly higher proportion of back passes than Barcelona (14.73% vs. 14.01%), and 31.66% of forward passes. The ratio is the lowest in La Liga.

Secondly, the team will also lack penetrating passes in dangerous areas. After all, Kroos and Modric will be limited to the midfield and backfield, and this 4-3-3 formation does not leave anything for James. Due to the position, it is basically impossible to expect smart passes that frequently pass through the opponent's defense.

Thirdly, this idea of ​​consolidating possession of the ball essentially means "opening up a battlefield in a relatively safer rear". It is true that there are many people in the backcourt, which is helpful for passing the ball. However, once the ball is lost, , the results are self-evident.

In fact, even in this peak season, Real Madrid's midfield and backfield passing is far from that stable. Although the team loses the ball every minute of net defensive time, the frequency is quite respectable and is the third lowest in La Liga; but it loses the ball as high as 3%. The power occurs in the backcourt, but the proportion is the 17.20th highest in La Liga. It is not uncommon for midfielders and backfielders to dig holes for themselves, as shown below.

So far, Real Madrid's passing and controlling method does not seem to be too threatening. However, this slow-paced advancement is neither all components of an offense; nor is it the only type of offensive system.

Real Madrid also relied on its strong performance after advancement and more diversified offensive routines to score 106 goals throughout the season.

It must be mentioned here that Zidane emphasizes passing and control but is not obsessed with it. The team is unambiguous when it should be simple and direct.

The more smart pass passes to the side, it is true that the penetration of the middle is impossible, but Real Madrid does not seem to care at all about whether there is penetration from the middle. Anyway, it was the end of the peak of the BBC. No matter how it is placed, in most cases, crosses are enough to rely on. arms.

The team contributes one cross every 1.45 minutes of net possession time, ranking second in La Liga in frequency; and its cross accuracy rate of 2% is also the second highest in the league.

The biggest advantage of maintaining the offense in a relatively simple way such as crosses is that it is extremely easy to accumulate relatively reliable shots - although these shots are difficult to avoid interference, they are at least close enough to the goal.

In the 16-17 season, Real Madrid formed a shot every 1.98 minutes of net possession time, beating all teams in La Liga at a frequency; and because the shooting areas are mostly concentrated near the small penalty area, it can at least increase the probability of scoring through distance, and each shot is expected The number of goals scored is as high as 0.128, second only to Barcelona led by MSN.

In the end, relying on the superposition of times, the team's average number of expected goals per game was almost the same as Barcelona's. The actual number of goals was slightly less, mostly because Barcelona's shooting accuracy was better (the real goal scoring rate was 0.058 for Barcelona and 0.041 for Real Madrid). .

Of course, Real Madrid has never given up its "excellent tradition" of advocating crosses over the years. This is also a reasonable positional battle plan naturally determined by its frontcourt configuration.

So why are crosses in the 16-17 season so much more reliable than those in the following two seasons?

The first reason is that the frontcourt configuration is rich enough.

At that time, Bale had not completely fallen out of favor. He still made 17 starts in the whole season. Morata also came to the bench to support him. In addition, Ronaldo continued his strong performance. Real Madrid did not lack people in the opponent's penalty area, and even Vazquez, James also has a certain awareness of grabbing points in the penalty area. In the end, although Real Madrid was suppressed by MSN next door at the top of the list of touches in the penalty area, as many as 6 people were shortlisted in the top 30 list, continuing to grab points resources. His ability is unparalleled in La Liga.

What needs to be especially noted is that Bell did not "let himself go" like he did last season. Zidane seems to have this ability, allowing Bell to reduce the ball holding and go to the penalty area to grab points.

Here are some animated pictures of Real Madrid passing the ball to grab points. Let's focus on how many troops Real Madrid accumulated in the penalty area at the moment of the cross.

When the winger passed the ball, Morata and Ronaldo grabbed the point at the same time.

After Isco separated, he immediately entered the penalty area to grab the point. When Carvajal passed the ball, Bell and Isco in the penalty area grabbed the front point, and Ronaldo grabbed the back point.

When Danilo passed the ball, Real Madrid formed a three-man rushing point near the opponent's small penalty area.

The above group-style point-grabbing charge not only creates multiple contact points, but also makes the offense relatively more flexible. On the one hand, when a winger passes the ball from the outside, the number of responders in the penalty area can still be guaranteed. Real Madrid therefore ensures more success. In addition to the leading striker Cristiano Ronaldo, there are as many as 5 players who have contributed more than 7 goals this season.

When Ronaldo passes from the side as shown in the picture below, Bell cuts in at the right time and Morata resolutely grabs the front point, which can ensure that there are enough contact points in front of the goal.

On the other hand, the group charge allows you to play some small tricks from time to time when grabbing points, such as "the player at the back point detours to grab the front point". This move is somewhat similar to the off-ball movement using screens in basketball. Of course, the premise is that in Enough troops must be concentrated in the penalty area to have the possibility of "covering".

Note that James, who entered last, made a circle from the right area of ​​the penalty area, threw it to the left side of the goal, and gained the advantage. And Iniesta, who was marking him, was attracted by the other two Real Madrid players who were competing for points. Without a group-style grab, this kind of movement would simply not exist.

Of course, Real Madrid's own aerial advantage is indeed huge within La Liga.

The team achieved a super-high success rate of 53.02% throughout the season, ranking first in La Liga. Its lead over second place is equivalent to the gap between second and tenth, which makes it stand out from the crowd.

Having this confidence means that once a group charge is formed, the opponent will most likely not be able to tell who is the focus of marking.

It's easy to talk about sports battles. After all, it's always good to take care of Ronaldo when defending against points.

However, during set kicks, Real Madrid's midfield and backfield will participate in grabbing points, and the situation will become extremely complicated - Ramos frequently saved the ball at set kicks during the season. The media kept promoting the "big heart", but somewhat ignored that Real Madrid itself It is a team with extremely terrible set-piece attacks - 30.49% of the team's set-piece attacks can eventually lead to shots, ranking fourth in La Liga in terms of quality.

In addition, the small routines mentioned above in the group charge will obviously be easier to implement in the set-piece attack because more troops are invested.

With this idea in mind, when we look at some of Ramos's killer hits, it is not difficult to find that the "cover" of his teammates is crucial.

Before Ramos fought for the top, it was obvious that Bell provided him with a screen.

Real Madrid charged in a group style, and the number of people fighting for the top was even more than that of the defending Barcelona. In fact, even if Ramos couldn't hit the ball, Ronaldo basically fought for the top without any defensive interference.

Before Ramos fought for the top, Varane moved forward and helped him take away a defender; then Ronaldo helped him block a defender. There was almost no physical confrontation before Ramos touched the ball.

However, positional warfare is ultimately a relatively inefficient offensive method, although in most cases all teams have to resort to this method to solve the problem.

Zidane himself does not reject some relatively simple and direct routines. The team's fast break has not restored the fast whirlwind level of the Mourinho era. The counterattack ratio of 7.14% "only" ranks third in La Liga; but it is terrible. The difference is that 3% of counterattacks can eventually lead to shots, which is a quality that beats all other teams in La Liga.

The parallel advancement like the following tide was implemented very well in the 16-17 season.

It must be noted that although Real Madrid did not have a top frontcourt ball-handler at the time, there were many midfielders who were good at handling the opponent's press with the ball alone; although the team did not frequently face off with the ball on the offensive end (the frequency was 14th in La Liga) ), but its success rate of 44.85% ranks first in La Liga.