The rawest night so far this year for Carlo Ancelotti, now rewarded with a renewal until 2026, took place at the end of September at the Metropolitano. Not only did he lose decisively (3-1), but the way in which his colleague Diego Pablo Simeone tried to get around Madrid forced the Italian coach to rethink the new diamond pattern in the center of the field that he had devised for favor the adaptation of Jude Bellingham. The system, the English player's shuttle, offered cracks when it came to defending. The blanket was short. Atlético had riddled the whites with lateral crosses and the three goals came from headers.
From that night a nuanced Madrid emerged, with adjustments that had healing effects. The most obvious escape routes when it came to protecting themselves (the bands) were closed and, despite the numerous and serious injuries at the back, their defensive system was refined after a suspicious start. Madrid has not fallen since then (14 wins and three draws), and in the League they have only conceded 11 goals in the first 18 games, their best figure since the 1971-72 campaign (same balance). He also achieved it in 61-62, according to Opta. The solution, like the goals, came through Bellingham.
The absence of a world-class replacement for Karim Benzema had pushed Ancelotti to explore a new diamond pattern, with the Briton at the top to be closer to the area. The coach, however, was aware that the bet also had its drawbacks. He had it in mind when he flew to the United States in preseason and it didn't take him long to confess it in public. “On a defensive level, it is not the best system,” he declared after the two goals received by Milan in the first test (3-2). A concern that grew in the following two weeks of practice on the other side of the Atlantic: “The team is not used to defending in a diamond,” Carletto noted before returning to Spain with eight goals conceded in four games.
Still, he continued to insist. The conditions of the squad led him to try other avenues, and in attack Bellingham agreed with his invention to bring it closer to the finishing areas within that rhombus. Behind, however, there were cracks.
And then came the slap from the Metropolitan, on the seventh date of the course, the night he convinced Ancelotti that he should give the drawing some thought. Simeone delved into his fears. The white bands were in lesser shape when it came to defending as a result of that diamond and, to make matters worse, one piece of information ended up pouring vinegar on the wound: the six goals conceded had come in the first minutes of each half, which made them start losing in four of the first seven games. Jude's offensive streak couldn't handle everything.
It was the turning point for a Madrid that has reduced the average number of goals conceded from 1.02 last season to 0.75 this season. In the League, his progress is even greater: from 0.9 to 0.6.
The “limits” before Simeone
The solution was to dismantle the diamond when defending and place themselves in the midfield with a line of four to have more width, with Bellingham moved to the left in quartermaster duties to cover that flank, and two pivots in the center. In the middle of his scoring eruption, the Italian sent the Englishman with pick and shovel to close a bank. “You can only do this when you have a locker room with few egos,” warns a source with access to the booth. Then, in attack, the former Dortmund player has been able to move with the same freedom to continue impacting the area.
The deployment of the Briton (20 years old) has allowed Ancelotti to preserve the best of the first diamond (his arrival in the hot zones) and relocate him in defense on the left wing to cover that escape route. His wide radius of action places him as the white player with the most duels won (143), and in recent weeks Carletto's praise has focused more on his scoring than on his goals. Furthermore, with the two pivots Carletto has protected Kroos more, who regained ownership, and in the back of the cave the best Rüdiger emerged. The visit to Girona (0-3) successfully inaugurated the new landscape.
This season, Madrid have kept a clean sheet in half of their League matches (11 out of 24 in all competitions). Last year, the percentage of unbeaten matches stood at 34% both in the championship and overall. Those were times when Ancelotti did not stop demanding (before his course went awry) more “sacrifice, forcefulness and concentration” in duels. Those calls barely had any effect. While Madrid was bleeding in the championship, the domestic potion was held by the prosaic Barcelona at the rate of 1-0 and 0-1. The Blaugranas closed the title with double the number of clean sheets: 26-13. Two crossroads that once again make it clear that the recipes of a team on a roll are varied, but practically all of them share one ingredient: lock.
“The match against Atlético showed some limits,” the Italian acknowledged three weeks ago. “We conceded three goals with crosses. We were not able to control the penalty area well with the two centre-backs. There we modified a little. Sometimes, a full-back's break has to be cut off by a midfielder, which allows us to have the two centre-backs inside the area for the crosses. The team has improved,” analyzed Ancelotti, who in recent times has not stopped valuing the “defensive commitment” of a team where something as unsophisticated as the everyone runs.
Madrid will start 2024 against Mallorca with only one center back (Rüdiger) after Nacho's suspension. While waiting for what the market dictates, Ancelotti has been running out of defenders; However, he found a mold that has allowed him to endure and achieve the best game out of him. That fit also included the redefinition of Bellingham.
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