Real Madrid's revolution was supposed to be built around their attack but resilience has been the base for the recovery ahead of their Champions League group game at home to Club Brugge on Tuesday.
At the end of last season, as Zinedine Zidane's dreary run-in came to a close and paved the way for what many expected to be a spectacular summer, polls were published by Madrid's newspapers asking fans which of the world's deadliest strikers they hoped would arrive at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Aguero, Mauro Icardi and Robert Lewandowski were some of the names offered up and, in the end, Luka Jovic arrived, the Serbian who has struggled for starts so far and is yet to score a goal.
Eden Hazard is tasked too with helping fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo, even if the Belgian's own opening in Madrid has also been underwhelming, stalled by injury and now seemingly a period of adjustment.
"We would like him to score because it will release him," said Zidane on Saturday.
"But there is no problem with him." Yet the stalemate against Atletico Madrid, in which neither side ever looked likely to find a winner, was a a stark indication of how Real Madrid have relied on their defence to ease the pressure on their coach.
"We have been compact and again we have not conceded," said Zidane after the derby draw.
"We have missed a little offensively but we are in it and we can improve."
- Bale 'doing very well' -
==========================