Ancelotti’s arduous task in Madrid
Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid drew with Milan on Sunday and Kaustubh Pandey predicts the Italian coach will face a challenging task at the Bernabeu this season.
Carlo Ancelotti’s last two managerial experiences were meant to be completely new territories for him. Napoli and Everton were two clubs that needed rebuilds after detaching from playing styles that were attacking and more possession-based.
In many ways, they needed a new identity under Ancelotti, who has undoubtedly been an expert at managing lofty egos and getting players to play at their strengths.
It is easy to draw one big similarity between his stints at Napoli and Everton, clubs that were looking for a new identity constantly struggled to find a new one under Ancelotti. There were undoubtedly some great results in bigger games, but there was a struggle when the clubs faced smaller sides. Things stagnated over time and the lack of penetration from midfield became a significant issue at both Napoli and Everton.
Take the Toffees, for example. They started the 2020-21 season with a win over Tottenham. They beat Chelsea, Liverpool and got a draw against Manchester United. They even gave Manchester City a run for their money, constantly changing from a back four to a back three – a bit like how Don Carlo’s Napoli side looked. As time passed, it became stagnant in midfield and Everton relied more on being pragmatic and controlling the opposition off the ball.
Not being able to give the team a clear identity is a rather self-proclaimed weakness of Ancelotti. Despite the league title win, his Chelsea side couldn’t muster one specific approach, and the Italian admitted that in the past.
More than ‘weaknesses’, it’s better to put these as areas where Ancelotti isn’t comfortable. He constantly described Everton as a ‘family club’ and confessed to being more comfortable working at family clubs and not corporate clubs. Ironically, he’s always had more success at corporate clubs in the modern era.
The move to Real Madrid presents a similar sort of conundrum for the veteran. It isn’t the squad that it was in Ancelotti’s previous stint at the Bernabeu. Sure, the likes of Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Dani Carvajal and Marcelo are still there, but they’re now at different stages of their careers. Marcelo is now third in the pecking order at left-back. As good as Modric is, he’s heading towards the end of his career. Most importantly, Madrid’s defensive cornerstones, namely, Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos are gone.
At the same time, a new spine is emerging, which isn’t at the same level as the one composed of the likes of Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Marcelo & Co. during Ancelotti’s first tenure. Youngsters Miguel Gutierrez and Antonio Blanco are developing, Eder Militao will take his chance along with new signing David Alaba. Federico Valverde is still behind in the midfield pecking order, Ferland Mendy has established himself as the regular at left-back, while Marco Asensio and Vinicius haven’t developed as everyone hoped they would hope in Madrid.
In many ways, there is more uncertainty about the club than there was in 2013. There is room for more superstars to emerge and a new spine to be created. It’s almost like a project that may have been ideal for a manager in the Mauricio Pochettino. However, Ancelotti brings a safety net, a move that could perhaps help individual players thrive without binding them to a complex system, as Pochettino could have.
The example of Napoli and Everton showed that Ancelotti perhaps doesn’t thrive where clubs demand him to be a ‘project’ manager. The Madrid job could well be one for a ‘project’ manager who builds for the future, but Florentino Perez doesn’t seem to be having any of it. The Super League flag bearer believes in instant success and achieving things here and now. But the current Madrid squad needs a different approach as it heads towards a transition.
Perez’s decision to bring Zinedine Zidane back in 2019 was a move to quell the need for a transition that the squad was demanding and it is not a surprise that even at that point, Pochettino was a target.
Indeed, Ancelotti will be seeking redemption after failing to land trophies at his two previous clubs. He could succeed at a corporate club once again and bring the paradox mentioned above back to life. A bit like how Ancelotti had mistrust for No.10s during his time at Parma, but became renowned for having as many as three creative midfielders in his Milan team many years later.
Amidst all of these paradoxes, Real hope Don Carlo helps them win either the La Liga title or the Champions League. It is perhaps the only thing that will make Real Madrid happy, but even though their biggest rivals Barcelona will be without Leo Messi, Ancelotti’s tasks seem as complicated as ever. Unless, of course, the last weeks of the summer transfer window see their only real transfer target over the last two years, Kylian Mbappé, move to Madrid.