Madrid Universal
·30 August 2024
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Yahoo sportsMadrid Universal
·30 August 2024
Real Madrid’s start to the new season has been far from convincing. After a win and a draw in their first two games, the men in white slipped up once again last night at Gran Canaria and took home just one point against Las Palmas.
Vinicius Jr was on the scoresheet for the men in white as he stepped up and converted a penalty in the 69th minute to cancel out Alberto Moleiro’s opener.
The men in white, however, did not have what it takes to complete the comeback and thus had to settle for just one point.
Facing the press after the team’s underwhelming result at Gran Canaria, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti spoke at depth about what went wrong for his side on the night.
“It has been a bad first half. We have a hard time finding the play right now. We have to endure and suffer a little because the team does not have a good balance. We are not fast in circulation and we find it difficult to recover the ball,” he began.
Ancelotti then lashed out at his side, stating that there was no improvement despite the draw on matchday 1.
“That’s all that happened against Mallorca, I haven’t seen any improvement. We have to look for a quick solution and we will find it.”
Speaking on the team’s level last season and why they were not able to find the same chemistry this time around, the Italian gaffer said,
“We have a hard time finding the solidity of last year. Now we can’t look for excuses, because the calendar is tight and we have another game on Sunday.”
“I have to be clearer in the strategy to give clarity to the players. It’s costing us more than you might think,” he added, taking responsibility for the defeat.
Despite the setback, however, the manager found the silver lining and revealed that he knew of the team’s flaws at this point.
“We have to work and focus well on what we have to do. Fortunately, these three games have shown me many things that are not going well.”
Ancelotti was then asked what specifically went wrong against Las Palmas, and his reply was centred around the lack of energy and enthusiasm in his side.
“I have detected that the game is slow, there is not much mobility. The ball reaches the forwards when the opponent is locked up, without the ball it is difficult for us to be compact and we leave spaces between lines. The problem is pretty clear.”
With the problem clear, the media then asked him what the solution was to the team’s current setbacks to which he refused to blame the players and took complete responsibility.
“I have to look for it, not the players. When there is a problem, it is the coach who has the responsibility to find the solution.”
“I’m going to look for it so that the team can play well again and be solid. The template is closed,” he added.
The coach even added that his team left a lot of spaces between lines, giving opponents apt space to break.
“When we have the middle block the equipment is not compact, there is a lot of distance between the lines.”
“We have done the very high pressure well, what we need is to be more solid in the middle block and recover the ball more,” he added.
Finally, Ancelotti was asked if there was a mental aspect to Real Madrid’s deficiencies given the overall lack of spirit in his team on the field.
“I don’t think it’s a mental problem because the team trains well. It is a problem that sometimes happens in soccer, that you are not able to find the best way to play, be solid and forceful. I don’t see a lack of attitude or character.”
“Things are not going well and we have to fix it soon because the season has started and we can’t leave ourselves points like the ones we have left in the last two away games,” he concluded.
Source: Real Madrid TV