Three reasons why Ancelotti is struggling to bring the best out of Real Madrid | OneFootball

At the end of last season, the fact that Real Madrid had the best squad in the world of football was close to uncontested.

Adding Kylian Mbappe and Endrick to that well-rounded group of players, needless to say, made clubs across the globe fear the might Los Blancos would show this season.

Over a month into the new campaign, however, the men in white have not yet quite got going. They have been dull and flaccid in most of their outings and have been helped by sporadic individual brilliance to take them over the line.

That too had fallen in recent games with the results speaking volumes. After a draw at the Madrid derby last weekend, Los Blancos fell to a shock defeat to Lille last night and one wonders why Carlo Ancelotti is unable to get the best out of his side.

The Kylian Mbappe puzzle

Signing the best player in the world is wonderful on paper, but phasing him into an already working system has undoubtedly compromised some of the stability Real Madrid had last season.

The fact that Mbappe is a winger who plays a similar position to Vinicius Jr., moreover, has not helped as the two often overlap and leave the side without a natural striker.

Ancelotti is clearly still adapting and learning how to optimally deploy his resources and maximise the returns. That, however, is not an easy puzzle to solve especially with big names who cannot be benched.

A midfield lacking creativity

Last season, Real Madrid’s midfield was on song with every player having a defined role. Jude Bellingham was the mediapunta while Aurelien Tchouameni served as the first-choice pivot.

Toni Kroos controlled the tempo and dictated the play while Fede Valverde was invaluable with his work on and off the ball and pure game intelligence.

Real Madrid lost Toni Kroos in the summer. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Kroos is now no longer at the club, Modric is a year older and the system has largely shifted to the three-man midfield.

Moreover, the similar profiles of Valverde, and Camavinga and clashes in positions between Bellingham and Arda Guler do not make it easy for the coach to find a working combination.

The end result, thus, is a midfield that is struggling to create openings as easily as last season and the forwards thus lack the usual service.

The forward dilemma

Fielding a front three with only wingers in the squad is a strange situation, but Ancelotti has no option but to adapt to the resources at his disposal.

Vinicius, Rodrygo Goes and Kylian Mbappe are all better placed on the flank while Endrick is still very green, and the team thus lacks a lethal goalscoring threat in the box as Karim Benzema and Joselu have served in recent years.

Ancelotti has options and is currently of the idea that Mbappe can grow into that role with time. However, he must assess if that is the best way forward or if it is time for a change.

How long the manager takes to solve this puzzle, needless to say, will directly correspond with Los Blancos’ struggles on the field.