✍️ Real Madrid Press from dynamic situations is Primitive. Players aren't aware of follow-up sequences and are distant from their men which allows the opposition space and time to act. Let's assess How Real Mallorca easily bypassed "Real Madrid High-Press" 🧵 [Short Thread]

This scene is from the 1st minute and is a domino effect. Rodrygo vacates his position and jumps onto Mallorca DM, Mascarell. The diagonal distance is too long for him so he arrived late. Mascarell has time and space to access the CB that J. Bellingham covered by his shadow.

Rodrygo's jump on the DM must be followed by Valverde taking responsibility for Mallorca LB. Rodrygo & Valverde have to swap their men as Rodrygo is the closest to Mascarell in this scenario. It wasn't the case. Notice that Vinicius Jr vacates his space & runs toward Mascarell.

Rodrygo leaving his space and Valverde not jumping onto the free man allowed Mojica to be free. Even Rodrygo returning to his position didn't prevent Mallorca from progressing around. Lucas Vazquez denied Darder and Larin from combining.

This Ex highlights Real Madrid's shoddiness in transitioning from a mid-block to a high press. Bellingham presses CB Raillo without closing off the passing angle to prevent him from finding the DM. Camavinga and Vini Jr are too distant from DM & CB (Gap between 2 lines of press)

So, Raillo finds Mascarell, who passes to Valjent. Camavinga leaves Mascarell and goes to cover the space behind Mendy because the RB Maffeo drops off to receive from the CB. Neither Valverde nor Bellingham shifts across to man-mark the DM Mascarell. Also, Mbappé didn't retreat.

Valverde retreats to mark Sergi Darder, Bellingham doesn't shift & Mbappé doesn't jump (he's too close) to prevent Mascarell from receiving freely: an available player. Maffeo had the option to pass behind Mendy to Rodriguez but he opted for Mascarell and Mallorca recycled back.

Here, Valverde and Camavinga force Mascarell to play backward. The crack appeared when F. Mendy (out of shot) didn't jump on Dani Rodriguez. So, Valverde is tied (the goalkeeper could play over) and couldn't jump onto Morlanes. As a result, the GK feeds Morlanes (free option)

Morlanes picked out Maffeo near the touchlines. The 2nd crack resided in: Bellingham didn't close off inside of the pitch and the front part of the ground to prevent Maffeo from finding free options ahead. Also, Rodriguez moved toward the right dragging Mendy with him vacated...

the middle of the park for Vedat Muriqi to drop off, receive, and set Dani Rodriguez in space (3rd man-combination) as Mendy was attracted by Muriqi's deeper movement. So, Mendy lost parts of a second to Rodriguez to create separation and drive forward to play the cross to Larin.

Real Mallorca was able to walk around Real Madrid Press but they fell short of continuing progress to the final 3rd and creating chances. Also, they didn't take some risky passes to free options ahead and they opted to recycle back. It'll surely not be the case vs elite quality.

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