Real Madrid still struggling to fill Casemiro void ahead of Eibar match

Real Madrid host Eibar on Sunday in a game that at this stage of the season can hardly be described as a must-win, but everyone at the Bernabeu not wearing claret and blue would certainly prefer if the home side picked up three points.

Zinedine Zidane’s team have drawn their past three fixtures in all competitions, against Villarreal, Las Palmas and Dortmund. Until now, talk of a crisis has been conspicuous by its absence; Zidane has far too much goodwill safely banked after last season to be placed under the unforgiving microscope of the sports dailies as early as September. However, the Real coach does have some issues to address, and Sunday would be an opportune time to make a start.

It still seems odd that Real are so reliant on the injured Casemiro, a player who barely featured in Zidane’s first eight games in charge, playing just 20 minutes against Espanyol. However, the Brazilian has now become the undeniable foundation of the side. Results in the absence of Casemiro, after he suffered a leg fracture at Espanyol, are far from coincidental: three games, three draws.

Real won their final 12 Liga games of 2015-16, 10 of which Casemiro started. The two he was unavailable for were against now-relegated Getafe and Rayo.

This season, Zidane’s side have won their opening four games. Casemiro played the full 90 against Real Sociedad and Depor, but he missed the home win over Osasuna and was forced off against Espanyol inside 20 minutes. Toni Kroos replaced him, and Real went on to win 2-0, but since then, with the German occupying Casemiro’s role, Real have looked considerably more vulnerable.

Here’s the issue: Kroos is not a holding player by nature. When Casemiro is in the side, the Germany international can roam forward in support. When Casemiro is required to anchor the team against high-pressing opposition with a fluid front line, Kroos struggles — as he did against Las Palmas and Dortmund. That is not a criticism of Kroos, who is a supremely talented player, but even Zidane has been alluding to the departed Marcos Llorente, on loan at Alaves and currently Europe’s second-most-prolific tackler, according to whoscored.com. Llorente has picked up two man of the match awards this season and made more tackles than anyone on the pitch in Alaves’ 2-1 victory over Barca at Camp Nou.

But Llorente is not an option, so Zidane will have to continue to improvise against Eibar, a team who are more than happy to go toe-to-toe with any opposition. It was an approach that served the Basque outfit well for most of last season, when they were a permanent fixture in the top 10 until a late slump that saw them eventually finish 14th. Up to the winter break, Eibar lost only five times. Three of those defeats were doled out by Real, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Although Jose Luis Mendilibar has a more pragmatic approach than Gaizka Garitano, who guided Eibar to their first-ever season in Primera, Sunday’s visitors can still pack a punch when they fancy it, and Mendilibar is an astute tactician.

That will require Zidane to approach Sunday’s game with caution, and Mateo Kovacic could be called upon to add to his already healthy haul of 450 Liga minutes in place of an attacking midfielder. The Croatian has a Liga appearance record this season to please fans of number sequences: 90, 0, 90, 0, 90, 0.

Fans of Real Madrid might prefer a less-rounded approach to Kovacic, who is more of a box-to-box midfielder than Casemiro but makes a good number of interceptions and adds a little steel to the midfield. That said, James Rodriguez is also singing to Zidane’s defend-from-the-front tune this season; the Colombian is making the same number of tackles on average to date than Luka Modric.

Eibar will not be expecting a lot from their trip to the capital. In their only two Liga appearances in the Bernabeu, they have been roundly beaten 3-0 and 4-0.

Mendilibar lost arguably his most creative player, Keko, in the summer in addition to on-loan Atletico striker Borja Baston, who bagged 37 percent of the side’s goals last season. Former Real midfielder Pedro Leon was an excellent addition and is the side’s current top scorer, but nobody at Mendilibar’s disposal now is likely to get anywhere near Baston’s 18 strikes during 2015-16 — just one fewer than Gareth Bale and four short of Antoine Griezmann’s mark.

On Sunday, there are two priorities for Zidane: victory and a clean sheet. His side have yet to keep one at the Bernabeu this season, and Eibar have scored in every fixture. There will be tougher tests for Real to come in the absence of Casemiro, but Zidane needs to find a formula that protects his error-prone back four until the Brazilian returns.

Rob Train covers Real Madrid and the Spanish national team for ESPN FC. Twitter: @Cafc13Rob.