I know what he's trying to do... but i look at the individual profiles of our players and i shake my head.

Do you really think we can play effective possession and buildup with Di Maria, Khedira, CR7 and Bale in there? Carlo is trying to put lipstick on a pig imo.

Why is even possession play even mentioned with a front three of CR, Di Maria and Bale. LOL

Not happening mate.

I don't think the attacking trio really matters too much. Bayern do it with Robben, Ribery and CF. It's more about the midfield.

Bale and Ronaldo's job would be to finish and just make a simple pass to the midfielders. If Benzema starts, he's good at linking up etc anyway.

It can't just be assumed that Bale/Ronaldo won't listen to Ancelotti and will do their own thing instead.

Ribery and Robben are midfielders, not strikers like Bale and Ronaldo

I think the point was Di Maria, Bale, Ronaldo etc are kinda selfish, shoot too much etc, which is why they wouldn't be able to play possession. Not whether they were midfielders or strikers.

Even then them not being midfielders is a good thing. Because in a 4-3-3 the wide players are ideally meant to be goalscoring wingers like Bale and Ronaldo.

Why to play possession when most players and especially the best player is suited to a counter attacking system ? Still can't get it. Why to minimize Ronaldo's abilities ?

Even if we don't play possession, we'll still have an average of 55-60% possession against most sides. So we might as well be competent with possession.

Under Mourinho we weren't and struggled. Also counter-attacking is still possible.

Anyway most teams are suited to counter-attacking, but that doesn't have to mean they rely on it. Bayern could with Robben/Ribery/Gotze, Barca with Sanchez/Neymar/Messi, PSG with their attackers etc.

I don't know if some realize this, but we play the majority of our games with more of the ball than the opposition. When it becomes necessary to breakdown teams rather than depend on the counter or attacking individualism, having some semblance of attacking structure is going to be huge for us.

I can't even begin to comprehend the logistics of a permanent front three of Ronaldo Bale and Di Maria, I have to believe that isn't in Carlo's long term plans. I think at some point, when Bale is ready, we're going to see alot of Di Maria in his Argentina role or off the bench.

if casillas was off his line like diego lopez was for that second goal people would start crucifying him....varane had covered sanchez, i don't get y lopez was out his area

hey guys,
its been a while since i've been on here. forgot my username, pretty sure it was hiero_4 but thats not the point of the message. I have been lurking around reading your thoughts and have decided that it was time i said something.

The key issue with the defeat were the tactics used. You do not play a centre-half as a DM in the biggest game of the league. Ancelloti got this wrong. IMO, you start with illaramendi and modric. i see khedira as an influential player at madrid, however, in this type of game he is not the player to be playing. why? he does not have the technical ability, once he has recovered the ball, to play a positive pass forward and to launch the counter. face it - we are not a possession side. and for this reason, khedira does not play in such games. against a high pressing team like barca, we need modric who can defend as well as launch quick counters.. and illara, who once he has the ball can spray it out wide or at least has the ability to find a more gifted player, i.e. di maria, isco, benz, marcelo, quicker.

Then comes the issue of isco. For the life of me, i have no idea why he did not start. Bale was a bad decision, but everyone knows perez had to show off his latest galactico while the world was watching, so no point bothering there. With isco we have a player who is comfortable on the ball, can take a few players with him and create space for dimaria/bale/ronaldo to run into. With isco on the pitch, im sure we would have seen a more balanced squad. He is more suited to link up play, and works well with modric. You all hate on that trident in the midfield but you will see, it is our best formation with the players we have. Bale would have been a more effective player had isco been on the pitch, but if not Bale, im sure morata would have utilised the extra space afforded him. And with morata, anyone know why he didnt even make the bench?? he did well against malaga.

We also need to see more of carvajal. He did us a solid on the weekend and played well. He was our best defender IMO. Why he didnt start against juve ill never know.

And the last two cents ill add is about lopez. solid start to the season but as i thought his first slip up will be his last.. unfortunately that sublime chip by alexis has opened up the door to iker, and the pressure that ancelloti has done well to withstand will prove too much and iker will start tomorrow night.

thats the end of my epic.. keen to hear your criticisms!