Real Madrid have not been bad so far this season, and are still unbeaten in La Liga, but thus far, it is fair to say that the absence of Toni Kroos has been more noticeable than the arrival of Kylian Mbappe on the pitch. Carlo Ancelotti’s side look yet to fully click, although the return of Eduardo Camavinga from injury will aid things.

The German metronome’s impact on their play has been conspicuous by absence, with ball circulation slowing, less incisive passes, and Los Blancos’ grip on matches loosening. Even with more firepower, so far the eye-test shows that Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes and now Mbappe are not receiving the ball in such advantageous situations.

As highlighted by Marca, Toni Kroos was completing 0.82 switches per game last season for #RealMadrid.

The closest this season so far is Fede Valverde, who is just over half of that rate. pic.twitter.com/bjVuLaCEhX

— Football España (@footballespana_) October 17, 2024

In the same line of argument, Miguel Angel Garcia at Marca has highlighted that Los Blancos are making more passes in the final third, but are struggling to play as many through balls, long passes and are playing in front the defence rather than through it, making them more predictable.

A large part of that is Kroos’ ability to spray the ball around, in particular from a deeper left-sided position to Fede Valverde or Dani Carvajal. Last season Kroos made 0.98 switches per 90 minutes, completing 0.78 of them, while in 2022-23 that figure was 0.98 with 0.82 completed. Dani Ceballos was the player who played the most switches outside of Kroos with 0.69 per 90, and 0.64. Three seasons ago Kroos put up numbers of 1.65 attempts and 1.29 completions every game, and four years back it was 1.13 and 0.89 respectively. The 2021-22 campaign saw Luka Modric follow (0.26 per game, all completed), and Sergio Ramos before (0.53 completed out of 0.93).

@winigoat7 pic.twitter.com/vJUcQDSr8N

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The same figures for this year show a dramatic drop-off without Kroos. Valverde, who was previously on the receiving end of Kroos’ switches, is now the player with the highest success rate, completing 0.43 per game from 0.5 attempts, while Eder Militao completed just half of his 0.69 attempts per game, the most of any Real Madrid player. As Angel highlights, Valverde’s rate of success is about half of that the German was putting up.

In a team which thrives off getting their quick forwards into space, and utilising the runs from deep of Jude Bellingham and others, the ability to stretch out the opposition is key to then slice through them. Perhaps those figures help to explain why Los Blancos have looked a lot more blunt this season in possession.

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