You forgot to mention that when Mbappe arrived at Real Madrid the club was already a ticking time bomb that is ravaged with injuries. The management thought because the team pulled through the previous season that they will do the same again that season, what they failed to understand was that, other teams had reinforced even Barcelona reinforced and we all saw what Barcelona did to Real Madrid last season. I was part of the people who criticised Mbappe saying his not a Real Madrid type of player but it was later that I understood this was beyond just one player. The teams whole backline was gone majorly with injuries. No team can function without any part of the three departments. The forwards did their jobs in most part of the game but the question is, did the back line do their jobs?
I think that the main problem for Real last season was their defense, because their attack played quite well. Even when Mbappé or Vinícius were injured for some time, they replaced each other and the attack performed quite well. Last season there were very big problems because they lost two key defenders, Carvajal and Militao were missing, and they conceded too many goals. If you remember the matches against Barcelona, it was Real’s defense that let them down.
Their problems in defense were clearly visible because the key players in the defense were out of the field for a long time due to injuries. However, besides the defense, Real Madrid probably felt the absence of Toni Kroos the most. However, this season most of the defenders have recovered from injuries and are performing for Real Madrid, while Valverde is performing well in the midfield, so now Real Madrid probably doesn't have any weaknesses in any position. At the moment, Real Madrid's attack line-up is the best attack line-up in the world because this attack line-up has players like Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, so Real Madrid probably doesn't have much tension with their attack line-up.