Carlo Ancelotti’s lack of squad rotation is tiring his squad at Real Madrid, says Guillem Balague
Thursday 8 January 2015 18:57, UK
Carlo Ancelotti’s lack of squad rotation is tiring his squad at Real Madrid and is exposing a number of problems on the pitch, according to Guillem Balague.
Real slipped to a 2-0 defeat at bitter-city rivals Atletico on Wednesday thanks to Raul Garcia’s convertion from the spot – after Sergio Ramos was adjudged to have fouled him - before Jose Giminez headed the second 15 minutes from time.
Atletico will now defend their two-goal lead at the Bernabeu when the sides met in their second-leg last-16 Copa Del Rey tie next Thursday.
And Balague believes Ancelotti’s lack of rotation, coupled with a strenuous fixture list could be blamed for their second defeat in as many games.
“I saw a stat which said that as a team, Real Madrid ran less in their defeat last week to Valencia than they had at any other point of the season,” he said.
"So we are talking about a Real Madrid that physically seem a little bit affected. They are also generating less in footballing terms and there is less connection between the midfield and attack.
“Coupled with that there are players out of form - Gareth Bale, perhaps, and Cristiano Ronaldo hasn’t been at his best now for three or four weeks.
“It is also now only one goal that Real Madrid have scored in the last two games which suggests they are not being efficient going forward either.”
After a number of good chances for Real to break the deadlock at the Vicente Calderon, captain Ramos dragged Garcia to the ground, with referee Clos Gomez unhesitant in his awarding of a spot-kick.
And the Sky Sports’ Spanish football expert believes that moment, along with others, proved a number of players at Real were experiencing a dip in form, a dip which saw them end their 22-game winning streak with back-to-back defeats.
“There is no doubt that it was a penalty,” Balague added.
“In the last few weeks we’ve seen little mistakes like from Sergio Ramos and he’s committed to the challenge again here and been penalised.
“There have been a lot of little mistakes from everybody at Real Madrid in the last week. There are a lot of players there that are out of form at the moment in time.”
