Cervera's Cadiz style of play frustrates Real Madrid
Carlo Ancelotti's style of play has seen his side secure ten wins back-to-back. His team tend to sit deep and launch quick counters with Vinicius' pace at the heart of this strategy. Yesterday, Cervera's Cádiz side were very much a Cervera side with the coach claiming on occasion this season, some of his players stray from the modus operandi and move out of position which has seen the Andalusian side struggle this season. At the Bernabéu last night we saw him employ a four man defense with five across the middle and just a lone striker with 'Choco' Lozano being replaced at the break by Alvaro Negredo.
Hazard time
Real Madrid were without Modric and on another day he would have provided the perfect foil for Valverde with the Croatian always on hand to work his magic in opening stubborn defensive lines. Hazard was given a run-out on the right flank and was poor in the opening half but improved in the second period linking up well with Benzema. The overall feeling though is that the Belgian is not the player he once was and has lost that burst of pace that left defenders sprawling when at Chelsea.
Points dropped for Madrid
Vinicius too, is a player who needs plenty of space to weave his mazy runs and it was Cádiz's Akapo who made the better penetrative runs of the night. Despite Madrid's dominance of the ball and a few fine interventions from Cádiz stopper Ledesma, the final take-away from the match is that the home side let two points slip-away with the visitors securing a hard earned and valuable point. The game reinforces the 'Cervera style' of playing and suggests that the path to salvation for the Andalusian side is adhering to his style of play. From a Real Madrid perspective, Carlo Ancelotti will need to be more creative when faced with teams who refuse to let his side generate quick counter transitions.