Carlo Ancelotti played with fire against Real Sociedad in the second leg of the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, in a game in which he had much more to lose than to gain, and the move almost backfired. Luckily for him, the Whites managed to reach the final.
Ancelotti takes the risk
Carlo Ancelotti is aware that the players must rotate to ensure they are as fresh as possible for the key games of the season. He is also aware that the Spanish league and the Champions League are more important for Real Madrid than the Copa del Rey, but he also should have known that if they had been knocked out by the Basques in the semi-final, it would have sparked a new fire in the white house.
He must also have been aware that the next opponent in the league is Valencia, always a difficult rival, now improving, but occupying the lower part of the table, and with next week’s Champions League game against Arsenal just around the corner, it might have been a better time to rotate and give minutes to players he needs. But against Real Sociedad they could have blown up an organization like Real Madrid, but the bomb was defused at the end of the countdown.
The starting eleven he picked to play against Real was not in anyone’s predictions. Kylian Mbappé returned to left back after a season in which he has not been performing at the expected level, especially in that position. Alaba played at centre back as a replacement for Rudiger, and Lucas Vázquez was questionable at right back. It was clear that they were going to concede the odd goal, but the bleeding was tremendous.
If we add to this the passivity of Real Madrid in defense this season, it was to be expected that something like what happened in the match could happen, and in the end, we had to resort to the epic again, which lately always works out well, but it won’t always be like that.
A team without commitment
Another thing that Ancelotti has not been able to convey to the team this year is commitment. The team breaks down in defensive tasks, defends with 7 players, the men up front don’t press, and when they do it seems more like an excuse to go through the motions than anything else. In this sense, the case of Vinicius Junior is already starting to be a problem. Ancelotti himself had to reprimand him for his passivity and threatened to change him if he didn’t run (luckily he reacted, but the damage to the team was already done).
This lack of solidarity that begins with the attackers is contagious in the midfield where there is no lack of dedication, but also resignation. Seeing how a star like Bellingham is giving his all on his own to pull the team along elevates him, nothing to reproach, but it exposes the rest of the team’s stars.
And let’s go to the back line and see two full backs who are not capable of carrying out basic defensive concepts, and a center back who is not yet up to the job, resulting in the grotesque display we saw yesterday. Because the league table should not hide what happened in the 90 minutes, a lost match, but only when all is lost, is when this team wakes up.
Ancelotti is putting his job on the line
Carlo Ancelotti is putting his job on the line for next year, although this is nothing new: a lack of titles at the end of the season can condemn him or anyone else, perhaps even he has a chance of keeping his job thanks to his track record, but the truth is that he is not being able to get the best out of a squad that only reacts when it is at the limit, capable of making impossible comebacks when nobody expects it, capable of surviving knockout stages when no one else could, but everything has an expiry date, and Ancelotti can’t keep playing with fire, or he’ll get burned.