It's been a week of more questions than answers for Real Madrid.
When Xabi Alonso was relieved of his duties as Real Madrid head coach on January 12, did many think it would fix what was happening at the club? Maybe some thought the first-year head coach was the problem, but after the Copa del Rey result, they may think differently.
Castilla coach Alvaro Arbeloa took over the reins with a game 48 hours after the Alonso news. A game against second-tier side Albacete in the Copa del Rey looked to be a game that was needed after the Spanish Super Cup final.
That did not follow the script, as the team fighting relegation in La Liga 2 sent Los Blancos crashing out of the Copa del Rey in stoppage time. Before this week, the media noise was all around Alonso failing to make Real Madrid better and manage egos at the club. The media is now looking at another man who, according to some, is to blame for 'the worst Real Madrid squad ever'.
Fans knew that Alonso's time at the club was drawing to a close, but maybe not this week. Yes, the loss to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup was a low, but the team played relatively well, and could have won on another day.
Gemma Herrero, a journalist at AS Diario, made a brilliant point. Why sack Alonso when there is a run of winnable games? The Copa del Rey game against a second-tier side, a La Liga game against second-from-bottom side Levante, then a Champions League match against 17th-placed Monaco. Maybe they would have lost the game with the former Bayer Leverkusen man on the sidelines, but it’s a legitimate question to ask Florentino Perez.
The club president is the man coming under fire after the humiliation in Albacete. Was this a situation in which Perez backed the players over the former head coach, as some believe? Alonso had a fantastic two years in Leverkusen, and his ways have brought in trophies. Perez did not give him a chance: one transfer window to improve an ageing, relatively poor team.
In modern football, time is not much of an option. However, I point you to Mikel Arteta at Arsenal, which shows what time can achieve. A failed team that did not improve drastically in year one, but showed improvement after that first season, improvements are possible with time.
Whoever comes through next will have the same problems. If that is Jurgen Klopp, he is not going to be able to make drastic changes in six months, given that the team does not have the same fear factor across Europe. So first, Perez must get the appointment right, then he must allow them to build the team in his vision, not the president's.