It’s pretty high up in the Real Madrid manager’s handbook that you should not lose a match before an international break, especially not when you are on a bad run.
Julen Lopetegui broke the rule at the weekend and now faces two weeks of speculation over his future.
Spanish paper Diario AS’s front page basically gave him until the Clasico at the end of the month to sort things out. Santiago Solari, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho are the first names to go in the tumble drum ready for the next prize draw, be that before Christmas, in the new year or at the end of the season.
Florentino Perez remains a fan and a friend of Mourinho, it’s far too early to call him a candidate but Madrid have rehired managers in the past (Fabio Capello, Jose Camacho and John Toshack) and Mourinho has also gone back for a second stint at the same club (Chelsea).
Conte was on the shortlist in the summer but concerns over his disciplinarian approach went against him. Solari, a former Madrid player, is currently in charge of Real Madrid’s B-team ‘Real Madrid Castilla’ and would be the easiest to hire.
There will be no change in this international break and the longer President Perez sticks with Lopetegui the more time he has a buffer against the criticisms that could easily be directed his way for not reinvesting in the summer after the club sold their best player for €100million.
‘The big signing this season was the roof’ Marca commentator Roberto Palomar wrote on Monday in reference to the stadium upgrade complete with new roof that will cost over €400m and will see them borrow €150m repayable over 35 years – all reasons given for the recent lack of spending.
That lack of summer activity has left Lopetegui exposed and with Isco, Dani Carvajal and Marcelo all out injured and Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema both also not 100 per cent the 52-year-old coach can look back enviously at previous managers who used to be able to name a bench that included James Rodriguez, Pepe, Alvaro Morata and Mateo Kovacic.
At the weekend Lopetegui threw-on 18-year-old Vinicius Junior. It was a change based more on pressure from the president to blood the €45m signing than on his own conviction that the Brazilian is anywhere near ready to make an impact.
Perez went down to the dressing room on Saturday after the game and it wasn’t to congratulate Lopetegui for bringing on Vinicius.
They had been beaten at a stadium where they had not previously lost since 1931. It was the fourth game without a win or a goal. They have now dropped 10 points from a possible 24 in the league competition they are supposed to be prioritising this season.
It has taken Lopetegui just 11 games to lose four times. Mourinho went 46 games in charge before he clocked up his fourth defeat; Zidane went 58 games.
Madrid are now 55 minutes from clocking up their worst spell in front of goal ever. A home game against Levante in two weeks ought to mean they don’t pass that particular milestone but alarmingly against Alaves at the weekend they seemed to have lost belief in front of goal.
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