7th place isn't the ranking you'd expect from a team as big as Real Madrid, especially when they have more better players and higher expectations compared to most teams in the league. So they need to improve quickly and catch up with the other teams. Especially with Arsenal and Munich widening the points gap between them, Real Madrid needs to quickly rediscover their best form and start collecting points consistently if they want to climb the rankings and restore public confidence in them.
Especially for Xabi, this is no longer the time to play around after he was threatened with being kicked out some time ago. The club and fans no longer have the patience for experimentation... it's time for Xabi to take full responsibility and create the best strategy so that Real Madrid's performance can rise and they can return to the top of the standings.