Real Madrid: 3 things Carlo Ancelotti must rectify during the international break

Real Madrid have two weeks to turn things around after being defeated at the hands of Espanyol and Sheriff Tiraspol against all odds.

In recent weeks, Carlo Ancelotti’s team selection has come under the scanner, but in fairness towards the former Bayern Munich boss, he has had to contend with enough fitness issues. However, with Toni Kroos now back to full fitness and the injury problems like to resolve themselves by the time the team returns to the thick of the action, he should find solutions.

So far, it is fair to say that Ancelotti has gotten the time he deserves because if results were like this with any other manager, the fans would have made themselves heard. Plus, the entire blame cannot be pushed onto the manager because for Florentino Perez also in the summer transfer window, it was a hollow approach of going all in for Kylian Mbappe and not looking elsewhere.

The upcoming months will also give the squad some more consistency because after the players who are on international duty return in October, there will be just one international break between then and March 2022. These months are usually the time where a season is made or broken, and in light of that, here are three things Ancelotti must work on in the upcoming fortnight.

REAL MADRID MUST PUT DEFENSIVE ISSUES BEHIND THEM

Real Madrid have conceded 12 goals in 10 matches in all competitions this season, therefore averaging 1.2 concessions per game which is a very poor figure for a club that will be expected to go all out for all the trophies they are contending for in the season. The problem seems more with the fullbacks and Ancelotti will have no excuse about this when two of his prime choices return.

Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy are expected to be back in the setup shortly and perhaps for El Clasico in the penultimate weekend of the ongoing month. Lucas Vazquez and Miguel Gutierrez will be relegated to being back-ups who will need to be given chances too, given that Carvajal and Mendy have been out for long. Courtois also should not be overworked for yet another season.

Andriy Lunin was pretty impressive during the pre-season outings against AC Milan and Rangers, so he should get some minutes too. Finally, Casemiro needs to be given a better role in shielding the defence because his poor run of form may be because he has had to carry the ball more often than he did in the past. Also, Eduardo Camavinga needs a fixed role in the coming weeks.