Toni Kroos and Real Madrid in crisis mode

Following Sunday's 5-1 defeat to Barcelona, European champions Real Madrid find themselves languishing in ninth place, seven points adrift of their title rivals and without a win to their name in five league outings.

Off the pitch, club President Florentino Perez has faced criticism over Real's transfer policy, while Spanish publication AS called the loss the "last shovel of dirt" on the grave of head coach Julen Lopetegui, who was expected to be replaced by former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte imminently.

Read more: Toni Kroos defends Joachim Löw after Michael Ballack criticism

On the pitch the players are setting unwanted records while failing to match the lofty standards set throughout years of success. Club captain Sergio Ramos admitted Real's "current situation is terrible," while midfielder Casemiro described Madrid's performance against Barca as a "disaster."

The post- Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo era is not going according to plan and Toni Kroos and Co. seem short of answers.  

None absolved of blame

A tale of two halves is an oft-used cliché in football that has far greater poignancy when referencing Kroos' calendar year. Back in May the 28-year-old was celebrating a third consecutive UEFA Champions League title after another impressive season in the Spanish capital that saw him named German Footballer of the Year.

Since then, however, Kroos has had to endure the heartbreak of Germany's miserable title defense at the World Cup and the frustration of one of Real Madrid's worst-ever starts to a domestic campaign.

Given his reputation in world football and his stature in both camps, it's not surprising that a share of the blame has been laid at the World Cup winner's feet.

His catastrophic back pass that led to CSKA Moscow snatching a 1-0 win over Real at the start of October, was called a "suicidal maneuver” by AS, while the game against Barca saw him "outplayed by [Sergio] Busquets” in the eyes of pundits up and down the country.

The critiscism being leveled at the Germany player is similar to the German press' response to his sub-par performances in Russia, which were littered with uncharacteristic individual errors and bereft of creativity. Kroos, though, remains unfazed. 

"Remember that in the last few years, we have not only played good games, there have been bad ones too," he said.

In search of solutions

Kroos is right to point out that Real have gone through bad patches before, but a record-breaking goal-scoring drought of 481 minutes that was ended in the 2-1 defeat to Levante underlined the gravity of the situation.

"We are creating and we are doing everything we can to get good results," continued Kroos, who believes it would be wrong to pin the problems in front of goal on one big-name departure.

"Of course it's changed a little bit [since Cristiano Ronaldo left]," Kroos said. "We started the season well and had games where we scored three or four goals and nobody was missing him. It makes no sense to speak about players that aren't here."

While the likes of Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale ultimately shoulder the goal-scoring burden, a player of Kroos' caliber cannot be satisfied with the lack of impact he's had on Real's end product – he's yet to be directly involved in a goal this season.

"Confidence in my opinion, is not a problem," Kroos said. "We have many World Cup and Champions League champions, and we have shown we can turn around tough situations."

The prospect of Antonio Conte's apparently imminent arrival would bring with it the "firm hand" Perez wants to get Kroos and Co. back on track. In the words of captain Ramos: "Real never give up." However, they are facing a mighty climb back to the top.