Real Madrid: 3 Things Carlo Ancelotti got wrong against Villarreal

Wrong Substitutions

Villarreal dictated the tempo in the first half and Ancelotti made a half-time substitution replacing Rodrygo Goes with Eduardo Camavinga. Real Madrid did start playing better and had more control. Was it the right time for the substitution? Yes. But was it the right player to be substituted? No. Not at all.

Rodrygo was one of the few players who played better than the rest. He created chances, troubled Alberto Moreno, and also kept Geronimo Rulli under pressure. But the moment he was substituted with Camavinga taking a central role, Asensio moved to the right-wing. He became more invisible there and literally made no impact till he was substituted near the end of the game.

Secondly, Carlo should have brought Miguel on, realizing that Nacho was struggling to attack from the left side. Not only this, he brought Eden Hazard and Isco Alarcon very late in the game. Rather, at least one of them should have replaced Asensio in the 60th minute.

The last fault in the substitutions introduced was the omission of Luka Jovic. If you are still against Jovic then maybe you haven’t been looking at him closely. His volley and header against Mallorca proved to us his dominance in the air. Apart from this, in the game against Valencia, Real Madrid was losing 1-0 before Jovic came on.

He immediately threatened the backline and they had to cover both – Luka Jovic and Karim Benzema. This was what helped Benzema play more freely and we all know what the result was. A 1-2 win with 2 goals in 2 minutes is what helped Real Madrid pick all the 3 points. So, I’m sure Jovic’s presence would have changed the game.