MADRID, 30 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has said, after the team’s second draw away to UD Las Palmas (1-1), that they must find “a quick solution” to start winning games and recover “last year’s solidity”, as well as denying that the problem is “footballing or mental”.
“It was a bad first half, we’re having trouble finding the goal at the moment. We have to hold on, suffer a bit, because the team doesn’t have a good balance, we’re not quick in moving the ball, we have trouble recovering the ball, poor balance, more or less the same as what happened to us against Mallorca. I’ve seen improvement in the team, but we have to find a quick solution. I think we’ll find it,” he said at a press conference.
In this sense, he stressed that “it is not a footballing problem” or “a mental problem”. “I have detected it because the game is slow, there is not much movement and the ball reaches the forwards when the opposing team is closed. Without the ball, it is difficult for us to be compact, we leave space between the lines. The problem is quite clear, we have to find a solution,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s a mental problem because the team trains well. It’s a problem that sometimes isn’t felt. In football, it happens that you’re not able to find the best way to play and be solid and forceful, as this team always is. I don’t see a lack of character or a lack of attitude. Things aren’t going well, we have to fix it soon. We can’t drop points like we have in the last two away games,” he continued.
The Italian coach also urged them to “work and focus” on what they have to do, after three games that have shown “many things that are not going well.” “We are struggling to find the solidity we had last year. Now we don’t have to look for excuses because the schedule is tight, we have to look for improvement very quickly. We have another game on Sunday. I have to be clearer in the strategy to give clarity to the players. It is costing us more than we could have imagined,” he stressed.
On the other hand, Ancelotti said that it is he who has to find the solution and that “it cannot be the players who find it.” “When there is a problem, it is the coach who has to assume the responsibility of finding the solution. I believe that I will find it. The solution is for the team to play well again and be solid,” he indicated.
“When we have the middle block, the team is not compact, there is a lot of distance between the lines of the midfielders, the forwards and the defences. I think we have done well with the high pressure because we have played the long ball many times. What we lack is when we have the middle block, we have to be more solid and recover the pressure,” he said before stating that “the squad is closed.”