The new La Liga season gets under way at the weekend.Real Madrid will be hoping for a positive start, on an individual level from their players as well as in a team sense, as Zinedine Zidane shapes his side in his first full campaign in charge.A look through the squad list at Zidane's disposal shows star names at every turn, but who will the real standouts be in different areas of the team'We've assessed the squad and predicted who will have a campaign to remember on a personal level, where the unexpected success might be and who might be left waiting to have their name up in lights as the year goes on. Stars, Part 1: DefenceReal Madrid's defensive line will be similar to last season in terms of personnel, with the sole addition of Fabio Coentrao after his loan spell at AS Monaco ended. It's perhaps fair to suggest that the Portuguese defender may have headed elsewhere this summer were he not injured, and he's not hugely likely to make an enormous impact or displace Marcelo.The Brazilian was probably Real's overall best defender last season, but the entire defensive setup of the team benefited most from the presence of two others: Casemiro being brought in to anchor the midfield, and Keylor Navas with his goalkeeping heroicsand it's the Costa Rican who is the pick of the bunch.Navashas been suffering with injury all summer and missed the UEFA Super Cup as a result, but once back to fitness, he'll be an automatic pick between the sticks.Due to his tremendous reflexes, bravery in denying forwards one-on-one and great consistency, his name is regularly sung from the terraces as fans pay homage not just to his technical ability, but also his mental strength.Keylor has established himself as the top stopper in the post-Iker Casillas era and had to watch on during a very public chase of David de Gea. He deserves enormous credit for his performances and will be key to Real's title hopes in 16/17. Stars, Part 2: AttackFew teams can boast such a ridiculous array of offensive talents as Real Madrid. Picking just one to shine the most from their armoury is asking for troubleit's not just numbers in front of goal that matter, but tactical discipline, adding to the cohesion of the team overall and having consistency in making the difference when it matters most.To tick every box is difficult, but Zidane has some of the best in the world at his disposal, and one such talent isGareth Bale.The Welshman is coming into the season off the back of perhaps the best four-month spell of his career, and his mentality and attitude at this point are as important as his physical prowess and unstoppable playing style.For a more in-depth look at why he's set for such a mammoth campaign read here, but it's Bale we select as Real's star attacker for the season. Breakthrough TalentsReal Madrid don't possess a particularly youthful squad, with just three players in the seniors under the age of 23and one of those is third-choice goalkeeper Ruben Yanez, who is unlikely to make an appearance in any major fixture.A breakthrough talent doesn't have to be tremendously young, though, as evidenced by Lucas Vazquez, who finally made the his way into the side on a regular basis only last term, aged 24. On this occasion, though, we're going for the two younger squad members to make a huge impact on the team during the entirety of the season:Marco Asensio and Mateo Kovacic.Asensio impressed so much during pre-season that plans to loan him out were shelved, and the 20-year-old has essentially hurried the sale of Jese Rodriguez. He'll face a tough test to get regular game time ahead of Isco and one or two others, as a playmaking wide threat predominantly, but the former Mallorca attacking midfielder is more effective, more aggressive and more excitingand he can become a regular go-to man off the bench for Zidane.As for Kovacic, the drive and ability to carry the ball great distancesand produce a telling pass or shot at the end of his runis a quality Real miss in midfield at times with the more cultured, but low-tempo, Toni Kroos and the excellent Luka Modric, who has almost everything in his lockerexcept a 40-yard dribble at full pace and power.The 22-year-old Croatian might not be a starter, but he can play an awful lot more than last season and should show he's a reliable talent when neededother than his wild tackling, of course. Disappointments, Part 1Naturally, where some players excel, others will have to handle disappointment. The two could be linked, or it could be a case of a player having a downturn in form or not reaching expectations.We have one of each: starting with a knock-on effect of one of our breakthrough stars. If Asensio plays regularly and impresses, it reduces the chances that one of the other options is called off the bench or has a similarly impressive impact when given the chance to do so...and Lucas Vazquez is the player who could fall.The winger has the pace and work rate to give him the edge over other players in certain situations, but he is hugely reliant on attacking space behind full-backs and then picking out the right ball at the end. It won't take much for that side of his game to fall away if he's not regularly on the pitch, has a loss of confidence or his crossingan unreliable method of finding a team-mate at the best of timesfails to pay dividends.Lucas has started the season in the team thanks to injuries, but as the year goes on and Zidane naturally gravitates toward a favourite 14 or 15 more often than not, we're banking on Lucas not being in that clutch group. Disappointments, Part 2Elsewhere, there's a huge expectation on Alvaro Morata to fill a gap in attack and be a regular source of goals when Karim Benzema isn't available. If the judgement on the Spanish striker is going to be based on his goal return, he fits the bill as a player likely to disappoint.Morata brings alot of positives to this Real squad: depth with senior players at centre-forward, tremendous running of the channels and being an outlet for the teamparticularly against better oppositionand an aerial threat. He's also a homegrown talent, which is useful for future squads.But a goal machine he is not, at this point in his career.Having averaged a goal every 176 minutes since he originally left Real Madrid, the simple fact is that even if he played as first choice for the entire season and didn't miss a single minute in La Liga, that strike rate would only net him 19 goals.His aim for this year should probably be in the region of 15 in all competitions, and if he is regularly benched then even that might be a stretchif fans are expecting considerably more than a dozen, they're likely to be disappointed. Watch out for...To finish on a positive note, one aspects of Real Madrid's overall game should be monitoredThe BBC attack scored an incredible 98 of Real's 138 goals in all competitions last season, a massive 71 per cent of the team's strikes.That reliance on their prowess has to be reduced this season, and itshould be: it's not that the BBC will score fewer goals necessarily, but rather that there are alternative players likely to be involved who are capable of impacting in the box. Morata and Asensio are two, James Rodriguez is another if he gets regular game time, and the central midfielders should weigh in with a few more than the paltry half-dozen they managed between the four of them in 15/16.Additionally, Real's full-backs have proved to be immensely important in both build-up play and in finishing off moves over the summer, with Marcelo and Danilo scoring in pre-season and Dani Carvajal netting in the UEFA Super Cup.Then there's Sergio Ramos: Last season was the first since he joined Los Blancos where he scoredfewerthan four goals in a campaign. Injuries contributed to that, and he's likely to be in place more often this term. Where trophies are there to be won, captain Ramos can often be found popping up with a vital goal.If he's on the scoresheet more regularly, Real Madrid fans are rather likely to enjoy 2016/17 an awful lot.Follow @karlmatchett
Click here to read full news..
