"A very bad first half, and a very good second half. The second half gave us confidence, but we must not forget the first half. We simply do not have the luxury of being so bad at the start of any next match."
Carlo Ancelotti, the coach whose team started a lot of matches "that bad" since he took over the summer before last (1)
There are many logical reasons why football fans ignore coaches' statements and post-match press conferences;
Including, for example, that it rarely provides real analytical value, and is often dominated by diplomacy and political calculations, so to speak, in addition to the huge and growing gap in the degree of understanding of the game between fans and coaches.
These reasons do not apply here. Ancelotti is a direct man most of the time, and his long history in training on the one hand, and his success in winning titles in the season of his return to Real Madrid on the other hand, gave him a great deal of audacity in dealing with these occasions.
When he was asked about the dispute with Rodrigo Goech at the moment he switched against Villarreal, for example, he said very frankly that he had told the Brazilian that he should not forget his greeting while leaving the stadium, simply and without calculations, then at the same conference he stated that the Brazilian himself would be ideal in the role of playmaker No. 10 If he decides to play 4-2-3-1.
(1)
The second reason is the fact that a large segment of Real Madrid fans see the Italian as the leader of a different tactical school than the one to which the likes of Klopp, Tuchel, Guardiola and others belong. It relies mainly on a simple general framework for playing, its most important goal is to provide a tactical base that allows its players to improvise and show their skills, which is one of the characteristics that distinguished this team throughout its history;
The presence of genius players who come up with the unexpected, and thus succeed in ending difficult matches in most of the times.
This is what makes the Italian's statement so important and revealing for several reasons.
The first is that it does not reflect the truth at all.
In fact, if Ancelotti had said the exact opposite, his statement would have been more logical and consistent with what happened in his current term.
think about it;
A good number of La Liga matches start with Real Madrid performing less than expected, which is what happened in the knockout matches in the last version of the Champions League, and it is also what is repeated this season with the King’s Cup matches, and despite that Real Madrid won most of these matches, So the logical statement here would be: no one has the luxury of starting games that bad, except for Real Madrid Ancelotti.
(2)
Indeed, no other team has won so many important matches after starting them badly at Real Madrid's rate under the Italian's leadership, and this is exactly the problem.
Surprisingly, the phrase in the title of the report “without a clear personality” is not quoted by a journalist or analyst, but rather what Ancelotti himself used to describe his team.
(3)
Of course, Ancelotti said it in praise of the current team, adding that he does not have a clear personality because that is his “will”, because the club wants a team that can adapt and adapt to all circumstances, and as he put it: “He can do many things.”
"this bad"
The problem here is simple.
There is no such thing as a "team without a clear personality", and this has nothing to do with Real Madrid or football even, because if you put a group of people in a closed room for several hours without any external influences, this group will produce a certain pattern of human communication;
One of them will emerge as a leader, dismiss those who are different from their point of view, and after they disagree and debate and wrestle, the rest will settle on a certain way of dealing.
It's like George Carlin famously said about elections: "If you don't go to vote, you lose the right to object later, because you gave others the right to decide your fate for you."
Likewise, in Real Madrid, at a time when Ancelotti asserts that his team is “without a clear personality,” the team actually forms its “clear personality” through the interactions of its members with each other and the opponent, because Ancelotti allowed them to do so, and he also lost the right to object.
(4)
The evidence for this is also simple;
The aforementioned statement seems to have come out after the derby match against Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals of the King’s Cup, but in fact it came after a similar display against Villarreal in the previous round of the same tournament. His first half ended with two clean goals for the Yellow Submarines before Ancelotti’s team returned with three goals in the second half, Despite this, the team imposed his personality on Ancelotti himself and returned the ball against Atleti, and we would not be surprised if the same thing happened against Real Sociedad in La Liga, despite the Italian's reaffirmation that the team must start well.
“This badness” in the first half has become a character for this team and its personality, as well as the enormous unprecedented ability to return from difficult situations. We can even say that the team became addicted to this narrative after last season, as well as a good sector of its fans, simply because it gives them the right to laugh. The last, and there is no louder laughter than the laughter of the dead who suddenly came back to life, even in drama.
Evidence for this is provided by Ancelotti again, the man who promised a “new beginning” and a “bright future” after the El Clasico defeat in the Super Final, to surprise everyone that that narrative that was repeated until it was decided became stronger than him, and that it became filling the void that he decided to leave voluntarily separately. prescription.
(5)
This leads us to moments of extreme surrealism, when the coach himself comes out after this promise saying that he "does not understand how a team can perform so badly in the first half and then so well in the second half".
Contemplate this statement for a moment and you will realize that the team that started most of the Champions League matches last season poorly, and was able to return to the result over the biggest teams and the most powerful coaches, now believes that it does not need anything more against Villarreal, Sociedad, Bilbao and Valencia.
on the contrary;
The matter is completely understandable, natural and logical, according to the previous data.
(6)
impersonal victims
Real Madrid team (Getty Images)
The important question here will be how all of this is reflected in Real Madrid's performance on the field, what are the "general principles" of Real Madrid's current playing style, how quickly the team collapses when it does not bear fruit, and when it is difficult for it to return.
The most prominent example will be from the last El Clásico match.
In a previous report, we explained how Ancelotti outperformed Barcelona's pressure in the building stages of the game by expanding the distances between his players in a spaced structure, allowing Los Blancos players to use their individual technical skills to break the pressure through dribbling and carrying the ball, and how Modric's landing caused the first third and his escape from Oversight by moving the game to the opposite side, as Vinicius and Mendy set off in a position of numerical and qualitative advantage that caused the first goal.
(7)
This attempt failed twice in the last El Clasico, so Modric and Kroos went down to the first third, losing its effectiveness through Xavi’s precautionary measures on the opposite side of the field, and here it was time for the shot that caused Barcelona’s first goal, and at first glance, it seemed like a fatal mistake from Camavinga in acting. with the ball.
The game begins with a hand pass from Courtois towards Rudiger to start the attack, and it seems clear that Barcelona's pressure has determined his passing options;
Pedri and De Jong are committed to monitoring the duo Modric and Kroos, Javi blocks the way for the long diagonal pass towards Carvajal, and Lewandowski blocks the German defender’s way back towards Militao and Dembele accompanies Mendy, and the most important of all is Busquets monitoring Camavinga.
The moment the attack began for Real Madrid, in exchange for Barcelona's pressure.
(Social Media)
Once the ball is received, Rudiger finds only two options;
Either passing to Camavinga under pressure as the only player capable of receiving the ball, or throwing a long longitudinal farther towards Benzema for fear of Barcelona extracting the ball in the first third, and most importantly, he must decide quickly because Dembele started running towards him to force him to pass after Mendy put him in his shadow while Known as "Cover Shadow" in pressure literature.
The French midfielder starts to move to ask for the ball, which is what happens.
Passing options in front of Rudiger.
(communication Web-sites)
Now let's examine the three options for the poor Frenchman in this situation.
The first option is to receive the ball by turning in one movement, "Receiving on the turn", a solution that is not allowed by space constraints due to Pedri's proximity to Camavinga. The second option is to return the ball to where it came from, with the risk that Dembele may intercept its path.
Finally, there is the option to pass to the free man (Ferlan Mendy) with one touch, which is the only solution to advance the ball from this position, but his problem is that it requires the use of the strong (left) foot of Camavinga.
Options for dealing with the ball in front of Camavinga.
(communication Web-sites)
Camavinga - with an expected and logical lack of experience - went to the last solution, which is the same solution that Busquets expected from the start, so you can easily notice that he deliberately sidestepped the Frenchman while pressing to close the pass towards Mendy, hence the goal.
Busquets anticipates Camavinga's behavior and intercepts the ball.
(communication Web-sites)
Dembele passes the ball directly to Pedri, who visually scans his position more than once before receiving the pass.
(communication Web-sites)
As a result of Pedri knowing his surroundings, he is able to pass with one touch directly to Lewandowski.
(communication Web-sites)
The adaptation lie
In the end, Camavinga took responsibility for the mistake, but the problem here is not an individual mistake, but rather an ill-considered tactical position that limits the players' options and exposes their intentions to the opponent.
Notice Busquets' body language and posture from the start of the game and you'll realize he didn't suspect for a moment that Camavinga was going to try to pass the ball to Mendy, and that's where the goal was made.
The problem is that Barcelona had only had rare opportunities from open play before this moment, and the answer was in the style and drawing of the worn-out play structure on the part of Ancelotti.
The problem is that the crisis was not only individual here, as Ancelotti stated about the Villarreal and Atletico Madrid matches, but rather it was in the ideas themselves, and the team paid for it and young players who should not be put in such situations.
We do not know how all this can be considered adaptation, adaptation or the ability to "do many things" as Ancelotti describes it.
In fact, since the beginning of his current term, Real Madrid has shown only one face in almost any major match;
Retreating in a medium or low mass and relying on the wingers’ kicks behind the opponent’s lines after Modric or Kroos took care of solving the preparation dilemma in the first third, and in many of these matches the opponents were able to create many opportunities at that stage, but Ancelotti’s players were more decisive than not measured.
That's what usually happens in games like this, except it didn't happen against Barcelona.
The second goal, for example, came from an unnecessarily fabricated shift by Carvajal. While the right decision was to continue to monitor Jaffe, the Spanish full-back volunteered to transform a position of weakness for Barcelona into a position of sweeping advantage, when he got out of his position for no real reason and left Jaffe in a huge space that he used later. In making Lewandowski's goal that killed the match, a shot associated with Real Madrid defenders in the last decade;
The foolish, ill-conceived courage that often cost them dearly.
Carvajal watches Javi as De Jong prepares to receive in deep midfield.
(communication Web-sites)
De Jong misses the ball, thinking the space behind him allows it.
(communication Web-sites)
Instead of continuing to follow Javi, Carvajal risks going off and receiving a dangerous through ball in the space he has just left.
(communication Web-sites)
this is the problem;
These shots often cost Real Madrid dearly in El Clasico matches only.
Perhaps because of the balance of mental and psychological superiority that Barcelona has accumulated in the last decade over its eternal rival, which makes it difficult to return to Los Blancos in such matches, but the shots themselves do not cost much in the Champions League matches or throughout the season, but rather in the memory of the Meringue players, defeats were associated with Barcelona achieved huge championships at the end of the season, like what happened last season, and the same thing was repeated in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
A quick look at Real Madrid's tally over the past decade confirms that it is the team that glows with randomness, improvisation, and individual moments of magic in major matches.
All teams and clubs in the world go through such periods, and they all suffer, but none of them achieved what Real Madrid managed to achieve during them, to the extent that randomness replaced the system, and it became the origin and everything else was the exception.
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Sources:
1- Ancelotti: “Rodrygo would be perfect as a playmaker in the 4-2-3-1” – Managing Madrid
2- Ancelotti: “I don't understand how a team that played the second half so well can play the first half so badly” - Managing Madrid
3- What did Carlo Ancelotti say to his players at half-time in the Villarreal match?
- As
4- If you don't vote, you still have every right to object - The Washington Post
5- “It is the beginning of a new era.” Ancelotti promises Real Madrid fans a bright future!
- The Guardian
6- Real Madrid 3-1 Atletico Madrid;
Rodrigo, the super substitute, and the problem of Simeone - The Athletic
7- Real Madrid and Barcelona.. in the hands of Amr!
- Al Jazeera