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I think it is true that the concept of ‘tempo’ in football analysis walks a tightrope between being tangible and a (feared) intangible. It is a visible and obvious characteristic, but it is free of the optimistic tangibility that a numerical statistic provides. Well, there is still time for an old discussion that overdetermines and complicates this concept, instead of reducing and simplifying the scope of its meaning.
Herein lies an attempt to generalize and expand our understanding of tempo in a football match, but with contextualized observations of Real Madrid’s 2024-25 season so far. Indeed, Carlo Ancelotti has made no secret of the fact that a changing relationship with pace is the current battle within the ranks.
Take your own pace
In short, the pace that a team takes to a soccer match is the speed with which it develops its attacks. Tempo, however, is not just an inert fact of the football match, but a constitutive one, recording the narrative of the match as it unfolds. Here are two hypothetical (but common) scenarios on a football field, to illustrate how choosing tempo works. first of all It defines the contours of how the football game is presented to the viewer.
Game 1
The A team is built slowly, without hasty attacks. Focus on safety, structure, and often a resting defense ready to attack.
In response, team B sits compact and tense, waiting for an opportunity to launch a high-tempo counterattack.
This results in a soccer game that is more static than transitional, and that gains speed in bursts when team B recovers the ball.
Game 2
The A team develops fast, hurried attacks and committed players, combining them with aggressive high pressing.
In response, team B does the same by recovering the ball, resulting in a more transitional than static game.
Unless either team agrees to slow down the game through instructions or some form of player intervention, end-to-end football is more or less guaranteed.
Game pace is not a variable, metric, or statistic like any other that comes after the fact; It plays a much more constitutive role in a football match, determining the shape of its development as it unfolds. The choice of pace is then undoubtedly one of the most crucial decisions a coach must make when establishing the basic tactical concepts for the season.
let there be rock
“We can improve and play better, but I think Real Madrid fans are used to seeing rock and roll football, without many touches. I really like to see my team defend well, come from behind with the ball, not waste time in possession, being vertical.”
– Carlo Ancelotti, after a difficult 3-1 Champions League victory over Stuttgart on September 17.
Losing Toni Kroos to retirement means losing the element that asserted control of the pace: a single point that accelerated and decelerated the game according to his incredible criteria. It was the first phases of preparation that Kroos not only dominated, but monopolized, to set the general rhythm of the team from the beginning.
But rock bands don’t usually bother playing the metronome. So, while Real Madrid fans were choosing their favorites among the midfielders chosen to replace the incumbent German, Ancelotti had planned to change the playbook entirely. It was no longer a question of who in the group would take on the role of Kroos; it was about switching to another plan in his absence: more vertical, ideally focused on quick counterpressing and therefore playing at much faster paces. All the preparation circuits now aimed directly at the forwards, whose rhythm had to be exploited, catching the opponents early.
Allegro – Fast tempos (120-168 BPM)
If the rhythm of a team constitutes how it is presented on the big screen, at the beginning of 2024-25 Real Madrid appeared chaotic, too direct and poorly organized in counterpressing. Something similar to losing control due to speeding is what happened in the first months. A band without a metronome, which little by little begins to lose its pulse.
Antonio Rudiger and Thibaut Courtois/Andriy Lunin often bypassed the midfield, preparing to look for the ball directly over their heads to the forwards. Fede Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni, as initial options for a double pivot, avoided taking proper responsibility on the ball in deep areas, further allowing direct behavior. Lacking a target man or any kind of aerial presence up front, the forwards lost dozens of aerial duels while pressing inefficiently and with minimal impact to reduce the transition threat. Persistent pressing was perhaps anticipated with all hands on deck in an organized manner, but a lack of consistent effort across the entire XI meant that once the opponents won the ball back, simple ball circulation carried them through the press. of Real Madrid with ease.
Very soon, the entire game descended into Game 2 of our previous hypotheses, or a version of Game 1 where Real Madrid would be Team B. The general nuance in the team was lost, not found, because it was not sought. A brutally idealistic approach, which has logical foundations on paper but often seems unsure of itself in the evidence; It is not something one associates with Ancelotti.
Andante – “Walking Step” (76-108 BPM)
Eduardo Camavinga’s crucial game against Villarreal in late October is worth focusing on, as his return from injury brought much-needed balance to the team’s preparation. Camavinga, who was constantly positioned between the centre-backs to facilitate more significant channels of progression, was the most important architect of Real Madrid’s 2-0 victory against Villarreal. Facing a Marcelino García Toral team guarantees a fluid transition; A constant reliance on the previous strategy would surely have hurt Madrid more on the scoreboard, as the Yellow Submarine has demonstrated its offensive scoring ability this season. Camavinga was arguably the first midfielder to offer a glimmer of poise amid the directness of this season, pulling the reins of a chariot that has been prone to tilting.
And after two disastrous results against Barcelona and Milan (both games he missed), Camavinga soon returned to the XI in La Liga against Osasuna and Leganés. While the matches ended 4-0 and 3-0 respectively, the crucial point to highlight was the return of balance and responsibility in midfield, and greater care with pacing. Dani Ceballos joined the action against Leganés, and his alternation with Camavinga as a deep ball forward helped the team to organize better. As the weeks passed, a new injury to Camavinga would mean Ceballos took the reins with aplomb, thriving as a classic Spanish No. 6. Starting in December, he benefits from a level of responsibility that perhaps he has never had before at Real Madrid.
Moderato – “Moderately” (108-120 BPM)
“You have to choose between building progressively or playing directly. The responsibility lies with the coach, who chooses to play directly.”
– Carlo Ancelotti, after the victory in Stuttgart.
To complicate matters, let’s throw this quote directly against the discussion in the previous section; Were Camavinga and Ceballos slowing down the pace due to instruction or intuition? Who makes the decision? How do managers and players feel about the decisions each other makes?
We can only assume that the responsibility Defining the orientation of the team’s rhythm certainly falls to the coach. However, it is perhaps crucial to conclude that a single player can assume responsibility in real time and contribute to making the game situations that arise on the field more controlled. At any given moment in a soccer game, players who exercise both responsibility and the necessary mental and technical tools can bring balance to a game that was destined to play out differently.
The rhythm, therefore, can Being a shared good is the biggest conclusion that emerges from the premiere of the Real Madrid season. And to see a team currently abandon the question of tempo in this third space (the blurred ownership lines between players and coach) is a curious aberration in our football world. Just as early linguists learned more about human speech by investigating aberrations in oral culture, we can learn a lot about the tempo of this period of change for Real Madrid, where the team’s tempo is contested territory between the coach and the players. players.
