The tactical nonsense of the classic puts Ancelotti in the trigger
Carlo Ancelotti, upset during the classic. /
Analysis
The Real Madrid coach is singled out for his erratic management of the match against Barça, where he undressed his team with incomprehensible decisions
Napoleon Bonaparte said that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan, but Real Madrid's hit against Barça has an outstanding father: Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian coach undressed the leader of the League with a series of incomprehensible decisions in the tactical section that precipitated a
historical humiliation against the historical rival and lost part of the credit that had been arrogated in a season, until Sunday, more than remarkable. The whites, who attended with a festive spirit, left the Santiago Bernabéu ready for a wake and their coach indicated. Although the domestic title seems to continue to be safe, a defeat of such depth always takes its toll.
Ancelotti squandered his team's options with his decision to undress one saint to try to dress another. The loss of Benzema, the most decisive footballer in the championship, placed the Reggiolo coach in a difficult position. The sudoku had a complicated solution, but Carletto chose the worst of all the possible ones. Placing Modric at almost nine was a disastrous invention of the transalpine, who instead of experimenting with soda, he tried with a great reserve broth such as the classic. He deprived his troop of an offensive reference that could fix the centrals and threaten in the area, he gave up his main vector of play and failed in his purpose of pressing the exit of Barça with two assets without enough legs for such a task as Modric and Kroos . A full-blown nonsense that worsened with the decisions he made as the match progressed and the tragedy was chewed, passing at the beginning of the second half to a defense of three central defenders who had not worked so far this year and who did not he did nothing but exacerbate the mess with two goals that consummated the disaster.
The outburst of a coach as experienced as Ancelotti is surprising at a time when Real Madrid had more than channeled the League and it was worth a neat result against Barça to stay the course. But the 'Benzema dependency' consumed the whites, who deserved an even more severe corrective against a Barça that signed its refoundation act with a scandalous rout that put an end to its streak of six consecutive classics without knowing the victory.
Although he tried to play down the drama of what happened, Ancelotti had no choice but to sing the
mea culpa. "I was wrong in the approach," said the transalpine, who stressed that a battle had been lost but the war was still on the right track. With a nine-point advantage over Sevilla and twelve over Barça and Atlético (although the azulgranas have one game in hand), Real Madrid would have to plummet in the remaining nine games to lose the League. It does not seem likely, because so far it has behaved as a fairly reliable squad. He has only lost three games in the championship and has already overcome potholes like the one that occurred with the chained defeats against Sheriff in the Champions League and Espanyol in the regular tournament, to which he responded by winning twelve of the following thirteen games.
Relaxation
But the embarrassing debacle against Barça puts pressure on Ancelotti and fuels the debate about his management of a squad in which there are almost a dozen sacked footballers of the stature of Bale, Hazard or Jovic. The Welshman, discarded for the classic due to a last minute indisposition, four days before the play-off for the World Cup with Wales that he would not miss for the world, has only played 78 minutes so far this year, the Belgian accumulates more A month without wearing shorts despite the fact that there are no physical problems of any kind and the Serbian is not even the third option to cover Benzema's absences. Surely the attitude of one or the other does not contribute to Ancelotti granting them a pardon, but the Italian has discouraged a large group with the obvious lack of confidence in his services.
It is also possible to attribute their aliquot part of the responsibility to a troop that was able to the euphoria of the comeback against PSG and that jumped into the classic with a possible excess of relaxation due to their comfortable income in the League. "Today we have given an unacceptable image for this club," summarized Courtois, the only one who was saved from the burning with a handful of interventions that prevented an even bigger mess. The good news for Real Madrid is that the national team break offers them space to reflect, reset and recover Benzema, the man who can cure all ills with his goals.
