BarrileteCosmico wrote:The mother of all knee jerks. Ancelotti is tactically superior to Mou and this will show in the big matches. Give him some time.

“Look, if I have a triangle in midfield – Claude Makelele behind and two others just in front – I will always have an advantage against a pure 4-4-2 where the central midfielders are side by side. That’s because I will always have an extra man. It starts with Makelele, who is between the lines. If nobody comes to him he can see the whole pitch and has time. If he gets closed down it means one of the two other central midfielders is open. If they are closed down and the other team’s wingers come inside to help, it means there is space now for us on the flank, either for our own wingers or for our full-backs. There is nothing a pure 4-4-2 can do to stop things.”

Mamad wrote:Why Arbeloa is starting over Carvajal and Modric was on the bench? someone explain.

hrealmadrid wrote:I think Ramos and Khedira have a bad rep right now. Both can play and be utilized well with proper instructions and a functioning system. This one really comes down to Ancelotti mates.

Problem with Sami is that he was forced to play as a DM, B2B and deep lying playmaker all in one, obviously impossible. Illa provided very little support for him last night. Once Modric came on the game changed. No reason Modric shouldn't be starting when Alonso is out.

Ramos (and I know I might be in the minority here) is a solid CB, although his decision making can be off at times. The problem is that Pepe is running around like a bloody penguin on acid making extremely poor decisions, over committing and over exerting himself. The guy has a football IQ of like 3. Ramos then has too much pressure and too much to deal with by himself. Add this up with a shat RB like Arbeloa and two over-exerted and confused CM's, and we have a recipe for disaster at the back.

Individual quality won't make much of a difference in this non-existent system. Ancelotti needs to wake up or he'll be out by Christmas.

The Spanish media are reporting that Carlo Ancelotti met Real Madrid's players before the team's training session. After that, The Italian coach was seen in José Ángel Sánchez's car leaving a restaurant called Zalacaín.

Both meetings had a positive outcome, according to the press. Cadena COPE reported that Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos exchanged some words with Ancelotti in front of the rest of the squad. According to COPE's report, both captains tried to encourage their teammates. For example, Pepe's attitude towards Benzema during the last derby was retracted. Pepe apologized to Benzema and the striker accepted his apology. That's what  COPE reported. Ramos also asked his teammates to work harder as, in his own words, "Cristiano Ronaldo is the only true star in the team". It's hard to imagine Sergio saying that, because he has a quite high self-esteem.

La Sexta Jugones reported the meeting first. José Luis Sánchez said that Ancelotti was relieved by how the players dealt with the talk. Sánchez visited Punto Pelota on Monday night and went a little bit further. He said that the meeting went on for 50 minutes. Ancelotti reportedly asked for a better attitude, while the players accepted Ancelotti's words.

Josep Pedrerol revealed that Ancelotti told José Ángel Sánchez and Florentino Pérez that he wants to sign a striker this very same winter. Pedrerol didn't say whether the board accepted his demand or not, but he did report that Pérez and Sánchez showed Ancelotti their trust on his work. According to Punto Pelota, Cristiano Ronaldo would like to pair up with Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.