The other day, over dinner with my father, a conversation stirred. Psychologically, which player position on a football pitch endures the most amount of pressure based on their role in the team? Like all things, there’s a laundry list of variables considered, but we were quick to point out the relevance of the goalkeeper and back line’s merit. After all, if the attackers miss an opportunity, the match stays the same apart from a couple sighs from the terraces. On the contrary, if a mistake is made in on the other end, you could be shamefully retrieving the ball from depths of your own net. The concession of a goal delivers a direct and meaty blow to the morale of the squad, especially if error-fueled. Yet, as the conversation progressed, my attention began to circle the striker’s ballad. Eventually, the sighs of missed chances evolve to groans, from groans to moans, from moans to shouts, from shouts to piercing whistles of disapproval. All of sudden, in a bad run of form, nearly every index finger in the community you represent is jabbed sharply in your direction. The air thickens and heavies around you and your confidence is all but crushed by the mass of the public demand for goals. The vicious cycle feeds off the energy created by its own entity and some strikers never fully recover – recent examples include Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll, amongst others.
That is why at Real Madrid, where the viscosity of the expectation is nearly solid, the management needs to handle the form problems of Karim Benzema delicately. Because even with the high profile arrival of Gareth Bale and the contract renewal of Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema’s misfiring antics aren’t going unnoticed. Yesterday, Madrid hosted their southern neighbors Getafe in one of the city’s derbies that lacks the attention it deserves. The Bernabéu was nearly overflowing with Madridistas that had all turned up in eager anticipation of “Garethcito” Bale’s home debut. To the dismay of all, however, the Welshman pulled up lame in warm-ups, but the mass of 70,000 plus fans in attendance were still treated to a routine 4-1 whipping of the visitors despite going behind early. Nevertheless, when Benzema made way for young Álvaro Morata with 10 minutes to spare, the French international was met by a shrill chorus of whistles for his handful of missed chances. Stand-in left back Álvaro Arbeloa attempt to delude the objection by encouraging the stadium to support the striker with applause of his own, but the harsh criticism from Real Madrid’s pungent support disregarded the former Liverpool defender’s two cents.
For all the gunpowder Ancelotti’s squad possesses, amongst his ranks is only a single established number 9 - Benzema. During the past four seasons, the workload of the single central striker’s position in Madrid’s typical shape had been divvied up between Benzema and Gonzalo Higuaín. Now with the Argentine a part of Rafa Benítez’s project in Napoli, Benzema is flying solo in the attempt to play master to the academy’s apprentices, Morata and, at times, Jesé. Last season, Benzema’s goal tally was already showing signs of wear and tear, scoring 10 less in La Liga than he conjured up in 2011-2012 when Madrid lifted the domestic crown. It’s a credit to Real Madrid’s system to finally show faith in their young products as opposed to selling them off and buying established stars, but one can only wonder whether or not the padawans can really fill the void should Benzema go injured or stale. Higuaín not only provided quality to Madrid’s potent attack, but him and Benzema leaned on each other for competition for a lengthy period of time, keeping the other in check motivationally. With Pipita in Italy, is the seesaw unbalanced for competition at the striker spot in the Bernabéu changing room?
Morata and Jesé represent something that Madrid have lacked since the melancholy departure of Raúl - a hometown hero. Sure, Dani Carvajal and Diego López have returned as prodigal sons of sorts, Arbeloa does a job on occasion, and Casillas remains club captain in lieu of the Greek tragedy he stars in, but all of Real Madrid’s reliable cantaneros are deployed for defensive duties. And though the Madrid faithful tend to throw on apathetic faces at the amount of La Masia drones that function effortlessly in the Barcelona squad, discreetly they’re praying for a people’s champ of their own.
In a time that’s not as far to the wind as it seems, Madrid released two strikers into the wild to forage outside the walls of the Bernabéu named Roberto Soldado and Álvaro Negredo. The club saw potential in each but elected not to wait around to see if it ever developed due to that same ubiquitous pressure to deliver the goods that continues to pop up in this article. Immediate results were a priority and hence so were cream of the crop purchases of ripe talent, ready to be plucked off of other clubs with deep checkbooks. Hold down the fast forward button to last season and the two want away Madridistas were the two highest scoring Spaniards in La Liga for their respective clubs, Sevilla and Valencia (Negredo 25 goals, Soldado 24). That’s far more than Benzema and Higuaín managed during the campaign by a long shot. Their performances obviously didn’t go unnoticed, seeing as the two Spaniards have found homes at very respectable Premier League sides, but will Madrid learn from these past events by nurturing Morata and Jesé or do their futures lie elsewhere too?
If there was ever a time for Morata and Jesé to prove their worth, the time is now in Benzema’s stutter because at Real Madrid, the clock ticks two seconds at a time. Up until this point, Karim’s international goal drought that has now amounted to 1,217 minutes in roughly 14 months hasn’t really materialized in Madrid’s famous white strip but some get the feeling now it was Jose Mourinho that was bringing the best out of the former Lyon front man. Mourinho has a particular way with strikers that all the Chelsea fans are hoping proves true in his second stint there. Historically, you can trace the clubs he’s been at and identify certain forwards that really thrived with his guidance. Drogba was sculpted by Mou at Chelsea, Diego Milito caught fire at Inter, and Benzema followed suit after the Special One took the reigns at Madrid. In fact, in Benzema’s first season in the capital under Manuel Pellegrini, he only managed 9 goals in all competitions. The next season with Mourinho, he was only a mere goal shy of tripling that number. To push the issue even further, Karim notched 32 the following year when Madrid won La Liga. It’s noteworthy to mention that Benzema is the superstar we all know him to be because of his years under the Special One’s wing. Will he soar without him?
When all eyes are on you, you need to perform. There is very little leeway for much more shyness in front of goal for Benzema. In light of his present situation, Madrid’s fans should get behind Karim because if confidence is the element he’s lacking, to point the finger is only detrimental to both parties’ ambitions. Strikers go through slumps; it’s part of football. A yucky performance at Villarreal and a boatload of squandered opportunities against Getafe have overshadowed the fact that the Benz did score two away to Galatasaray in the Champions League last week. The quality is there, it just needs to be sucked out by the support of the fans and tested by the whippersnappers of Real Madrid’s academy.
