That move of promoting Alberto Toril seems be the one of the wisest decision the club has made in a while, and it shows with Alberto Toril stacking up 8 wins in 8 matches.
Alberto Toril having worked with and led Pablo Sarabia, Alvaro Morata, Alex Fernandez and Daniel Carvajal to a triplet with Juvenil A, constructed the squad around them and relegated players like Pablo Gil, Raul Goni, Mandi and Raul Ruiz who were signed from other clubs by Allejandro Menendez to the bench.
Alberto Toril even promoted Victor Merchan and Denis Cheryshev to the Real Madrid Castilla, and also brings 17 year old Jese Rodriguez—who is tipped as a great talent who's style is considered a mixture of both the Ronaldos (R9 & CR7), to the Castilla sometimes for a few appearances.
The philosophy of Alberto Toril is clear, he doesn't only want to win, he wants to win in style, which is clearly visible in his last interview to RealMadrid.com after defeating Cacereño 2-0 in the last game at home. He said:
"Estoy contento con el resultado, pero hemos perdido el estilo de partidos anteriores y hay que recuperarlo."Which loosely translates to:
"I'm happy with the result, but we lost the style of previous games and we have to recover."People who follow me on Twitter, know that I am a self confessed Alberto Toril fan, and why shouldn't I be? The man transformed Real Madrid Castilla from a mediocre mid-table team which was rotting away in tenth, eleventh or twelfth position to a team, which is not only sitting pretty in promotion play-off places but is also looking like a prime promotion candidate.
Here's a few stats to show the magnitude of the good work Alberto Toril has done for Real Madrid Castilla since taking over.
Attacking Flair With Defensive Stability
When Alberto Toril managed only his second game, which they won 5-0; the official Real Madrid site had a line which made me chuckle, "Castilla becomes friends with the clean sheet again."
Under Menendez, the Castilla managed to score 21 goals in 19 matches where they failed to score in 7 matches. The Castilla of Alberto Toril has already outscored the Castilla of Allejandro Menendez; playing 11 fewer games, they have scored 27 goals in 8 matches.
The biggest improvement under Toril isn't the free-flowing attack, but the rock solid defense. Under Menendez, the Castilla conceded 24 goals in 19 matches and kept only 6 clean sheets (2 of them are from 0-0 draws), while under Toril the Castilla has conceded a mere 3 goals in 8 games, and have kept 5 clean sheets in 8 games, which is just one less than what Menendez managed in 19 games.
Away Games: From Toothless To Ruthless
Real Madrid Castilla under Allejandro Menendez won only 1 of their 9 away games, and drew 2 games, collecting just 5 points out of a possible 27. Under Alberto Toril, Real Madrid Castilla won 4 of their 4 away games, collecting all 12 points.
Under Allejandro Menendez, Real Madrid Castilla managed to score only 5 away goals and failed to score in 5 of their 9 away games. The turnaround in fortunes was visible from the first game as Alberto Toril's whose first game in charge was an away game to Coruxo which the Castilla won 4-1. Since then Alberto Toril's team has scored 10 goals, and have scored in every away match.
The defensive ability away from home has improved under Toril as well. Under Menendez, the Castilla conceded 14 goals in 9 games and could only manage to shut out their opponents 3 times (out of which 2 games were 0-0 draws). While under Toril, the Castilla has conceded only 1 goal in 4 games, shutting out the opposition 3 times.
Home Games: Strengthening The Fortress
Under Allejandro Menendez, the only source of points on the board for Real Madrid Castilla was home games, and despite that the home record under Menendez isn't even close to impressive, collecting just 19 from a possible 30.
In the 10 home games that Allejandro Menendez managed, Real Madrid Castilla only managed to stack up 6 wins, drawing 1 and losing 3. While Alberto Toril has managed 4 and won all of them.
The most shocking stat at home is that under Allejandro Menendez, the Castilla only scored 16 goals (failing to score on two occasions) in 10 games which is 1 less than what the Castilla has managed in just 4 games (17 goals) under Toril.
Despite Alberto Toril setting out a more attack minded team compared to Allejandro Menendez, Castilla under Toril has conceded only 2 goals (0.5 goals conceded per game) at home keeping 2 clean sheets in the process, while under Menendez the Castilla leaked goals at the rate of 1 goal per game, conceding 10 goals in 10 games, and kept only 3 clean sheets.
Conclusion
The change in fortune is all due to the fact that Toril promoted players from within the academy instead of signing players from other clubs like Menendez did. I have pointed it out time and again that this generation of La Fabrica which includes Carvajal, Alex, Sarabia, Morata and Jese is one of the most talented generations to come out from La Fabrica in a while, Toril having worked with them, realizes that and that's why Real Madrid Castilla is now finally playing to it's full potential.
Due to the recent results the canteranos of La Fabrica are getting noticed by everyone. And by everyone I do mean everyone, many scouts from big and small English clubs and other Spanish clubs have been spotted watching the Castilla games.
Not only this, Alvaro Morata is finally scoring the goals that Jose Mourinho ordered him to score during the winter break to get into the first team, and is now "being promised" a spot in the first team at the start of next season by Jose Mourinho. Although I still doubt the "promise" of Jose Mourinho. But on the other hand Mou is speaking about him, that means Moratito is finally grabbing his attention.
Although it may be a little to early to say, but I think with his philosophy of 'not just winning but winning with style' and ability to bond with the players (like Alex Fernandez said in his interview), Alberto Toril might just become the manager of Real Madrid's first team in the future. Boy, I sure hope so.
Hala Madrid!
Love your passion for the Castilla deepak, as i share it as well.
ReplyDeleteThe best three things that Toril has done IMO:
1) Know how to utilize Morata
2) Switch Sarabia from the wing to play the position "in the hole", asking him repeatedly to drop team and help the team play the ball up. It has done wonders for the team.
3) Wingers track back. Juanfran and Juan Carlos have been putting in 11+ km every game, which is amazing for the division they are playing in. It is helping improve the attack, and starting play from the back.
Welcome back to posting!
My heart beats for La Fabrica. :)
ReplyDeleteAgree with all the 3 points, Sarabia as a mediapunta is doing so well, he's unstoppable playing there, the opposition resort to fouls to stop him, true story.
Alberto Toril is doing a bang up job, how do you feel about him managing the first team in some time?
I think its definitely too early to say. He has been doing a great job, but lets see if the squad makes it to the second division and how they fare there.
ReplyDeleteTrue, a little too early, but I like to be optimistic about it. :) The way Alex described he connects with the players, makes me think he is fit for the job in the future.
ReplyDeleteGreat Article mate. Here's to Alberto Toril and his Castilla boys to become an integral part of the 1st team in the coming future - Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot. Hope so too. :)
ReplyDeleteI think the best course that Real Madrid can and should take is in four to five years' time, when Sarabia, Morata, Jese, Carvajal, Alex and co are old enough and mature enough to be promoted permanently to the first team, they should replace Mou with Toril. Having worked with them in such close capacity since their Juvenil A days, he'll be the ideal man to get the best out of them. Moreover, as I've said before, I don't see Mou as our permanent coach and I'd rather have someone like Toril lead us at the helm with this fresh group of talented youngsters. Assuming by then we'd see Higuain, Ozil and co (I mean the younger ones of the current team, assuming they stay on and not abandon ship for more lucrative offers elsewhere, with the exception of Higuain because I think he's one of our best signings of the decade and doubt he'll leave anyway) mature and play at their peak, we'll be unstoppable! I know you hate it when I say this but the parallels to a certain second rate Spanish club that recently struck big is uncannyly similar. Ahem. :D
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with promoting the "nuveo la quinta" and promoting Alberto Toril along with them, to get the maximum out of them, I just don't agree about waiting 4 years, all of them will be mature enough to start for the first team in an year or two. The young lot of Madrid will stay here as well, who would be stupid enough to leave? Higuain may not be a canterano but his Madridismo puts him with the canteranos, so I don't see him leaving.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is no resemblance to the Catalans, please, we have younger players, those they have aren't YOUNG, they didn't achieve anything when Xavi, Iniesta were young, we are better,
Good article, but Toril did not promote Merchán nor Denis to Castilla. Both players were there at the beginning of the season. Two seasons ago, he brought Madrid C back to the top third of the league after the firing of Díaz Carlavilla mid-season. Always enjoy when one of our own comes back to lead the cantero!
ReplyDeleteThanks. :) I'm pretty sure both Denis and Merchan played in the Real Madrid C than the Castilla, both of them made brief cameos for the Castilla as far as I know, like Jese is doing for the Castilla from Juvenil A right now. I might be wrong about him coming directly from the Juvenil A, but all the sources said he got promoted from Juvenil A, I'll check again, thanks for pointing that out.
ReplyDelete