Real Madrid star Thibaut Courtois has stated that much of what they showed in their club World Cup debut against Al-Hilal had its roots in the previous management. Los Blancos played a matte 1-1 draw with the Saudi-Arab giants, and new manager Xabi Alonso also wanted to emphasize that he had had little time to work with his new side.
There were debut for Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, with different degrees of success, while Kylian Mbappe missed because of fever. Real Madrid, however, was surpassed in the first half, even if they checked the game more in the second half, which was more for Alonso.
Courtois, known for his right talking, was critical of their performance, but emphasized that they were very much in the first phase of transition under Alonso.
“We have been with Carlo for four years, we have our routines, and now we have to turn them into what the new coach wants. We still have the automatisms of Carlo and the movements that we had to do. It is not something that can be changed in four days; it does not happen immediately. We watch videos and talk a lot. We will learn a lot from this game and things in the future.” He told Cadena Ser, before he described the fine given away by Raul Asencio as 'Dom'.
“In the first half we missed rhythm on the ball. We had to play faster and look more between the lines, so we wouldn't have to run that much after the ball in this heat. We played better, even though we had no great opportunities, and we go with the same idea in Sunday's game.”
About Alonso's playing style, Courtois said that he “had his own way of playing, another way to attack and defend.” Alonso also acknowledged Marca that it would take time for his side to absorb the concepts he tried to install.
“We are here for nine days with only three training sessions, and this is a process. We have the demand for results because we are in a competition, but whatever we want is to learn and find out what we want to be.”
“Of course we try to do different things, but you can't do everything in four days … After four years of doing things with another coach because the old automatisms are still staying.”