Ancelotti: "When it comes to style, you must consider a club's history and your current players"

Carlo Ancelotti’s press conferences have been a breath of fresh air this season and we now get four of them per week, with the latest taking place this Tuesday.

The Italian discussed a number of different topics, including the debate taking place at Barça just now over whether winning or style is more important. Chucking as he started his answer, he said: “Well, you have more chance to win if you play well. But, what is to play well or nice? It can also mean defending well. The key word for me is balance, to do well with the ball and without the ball. When it comes to style, each coach has to look at the history of a club and the qualities of the players the coach has available. Both those factors are important.”

The coach then looked ahead to the Real Mallorca and revealed he is planning some rotations. He said: “I have to evaluate the condition of the players who have played a lot of minutes. I’m thinking about making some rotations, but let’s see today’s training session first. But yes, we’re thinking about making some rotations. It’s difficult to pick the line-ups. It’s normal that those who aren’t playing might not be happy. If the likes of Marco Asensio, Isco or Luka Jovic aren’t happy with not playing then that’s good. But, Asensio, Isco and Jovic are training well. All three will have minutes at some point.

Ancelotti on bringing the ball out from the back

Asked about bringing the ball out of the back and why Real Madrid sometimes do this with three defenders and sometimes with two, he said: “Sometimes we bring the ball out with three and sometimes with two. It depends on how the opposition is set up. We did it with three against Valencia because of the pressing of their front two. It’ll change in every game.”

Ancelotti on injuries

Real Madrid are still missing several players through injury and Ancelotti was asked about the continuing physical issues, but he didn’t complain. He stated: “It’s a problem for all teams, like we saw with Valencia’s issues the other day. We have quite a complete squad, though, and we have to live with the injuries.”

Ancelotti on Vinícius

As has been the case at all press confences this season, Vinícius was brought up and Ancelotti was asked if he is benefitting from the non-arrival of Kylian Mbappé. To that, he said: “No, I think Vinicius is doing well because he is more mature, confident and working on all his qualities. I think the same would have happened even if other players had arrived. He is doing really well and isn’t tired yet. He’s 20 and can keep playing multiple games in a row.”