Ancelotti shellshocked

Posted Monday, February 09, 2015 by Marca.com

Carlo Ancelotti's appearance reflected Real Madrid's defeat and their worst performance of the season.

Losing 4-0 to Atletico de Madrid is not any old result, but it is confirmation that things are going a bit haywire down in the Real Madrid engine room.

Six derby matches in a row without Real Madrid winning a single one, and singing from the same tired old hymn sheet in all of them. As the Real Madrid manager is incapable of coming up with a solution, Atlético de Madrid play just the way Simeone wants.

And as if losing the match were not enough, Real Madrid did not just fall down on tactics, but were a team without a guiding spirit, wandering around the field at the Calderón like ghosts. The Atlético team were the complete opposite. The players were a perfect mirror of their manager, running and fighting for every ball.

Real Madrid arrived at the Calderón with five regulars out, but neither these missing players nor the fact that they had gone five derby games without a win, resulted in a Plan B to get through this derby match unscathed. The only big change Ancelotti made was to select Khedira from the start, a man playing well below his usual form.

Ancelotti did not think of strengthening the midfield, or of varying the usual system of play. Right from the start he went for his usual formula: slowly moving the ball around the park - and once again he came a cropper.