Team Focus: How Might Real Madrid Line Up Under Carlo Ancelotti?

The worst kept secret in football was revealed on Tuesday as Real Madrid announced the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as head coach. The Italian succeeds the obstreperous José Mourinho in the Bernabeu hotseat after a rumbustious three years in the Spanish capital having been heavily linked with a switch to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

Understandably, rumours will be rife as to who Ancelotti will look to sign this summer, with Isco set to join from Malaga, while Real are continuously linked with moves for Edinson Cavani and Gareth Bale, of Napoli and Tottenham Hotspur respectively. However, we here at WhoScored.com have looked at how Real may line up under the Italian following his spell with Paris Saint-Germain as they aim to wrestle the Primera Division title back from rivals Barcelona, only including players currently at the club.

Formation

During his full season in charge of the Parisian outfit, Ancelotti utilised a 4-2-2-2 formation 18 times across the campaign; their most used over the course of the season. While it’s not too dissimilar from the 4-2-3-1 Mourinho called upon last season with Real, a change from the previous approach may well be the first port of call for the Italian early on, with the club certainly possessing the personnel to move away from the previous regime. 

On paper, it may come across as a particularly narrow system, with the two attacking midfielders behind the front pairing appearing to maintain a central position to accommodate the marauding full-backs. However, in Javier Pastore, Lucas Moura and Ezequiel Lavezzi, the trio were handed a license to roam in the attacking third, safe in the knowledge that Marco Verratti and Blaise Matuidi were covering defensively. With Real, Ancelotti boasts the players to perform the role and replicate such a system without seeing the defensive solidity of the side compromised, while the attacking fluidity that the club are renowned for would remain.

Naturally, the choice in starters will be determined on the players currently available to the Italian, so while Isco is expected to sign, his failure to do so as of yet means he is unable to be selected in a potential starting XI.

Goalkeeper

After being dropped as Real number one under Mourinho, Iker Casillas is expected to regain his spot in the starting XI under Ancelotti. Although the Spain international only saved 66% of the shots on target that he faced last season – a 5.4% drop from Diego Lopez (71.4% following his arrival from Sevilla) - ‘Sans Iker’ is expected to return to the first team fold for the new campaign.

Defence

At right-back, having been re-signed following a successful spell with Bayer Leverkusen, youngster Daniel Carvajal could go straight into the team having ended last season as the highest rated player (7.63) in his position in the Bundesliga. Only two players blocked more crosses (23) than the Spaniard in Germany’s top tier last season, with the figure significantly more impressive than that of Van der Wiel (10), who ended the campaign as first choice under Ancelotti. The pairing boast a similar heatmap in that they aim to push high up the pitch to support the attack, a facet of Carvajal’s game that will not only appease Ancelotti, but could see the 21-year-old usurp Álvaro Arbeloa in the Real Madrid starting XI.

While Ancelotti often employed the experienced pairing of Alex and Thiago Silva, the Italian has in his possession one of the finest young centre-backs in the game at present - Raphael Varane. Likened to that of Los Blancos hero Fernando Hierro, the Frenchman is tipped to continue his upturn in form after becoming a first team regular towards the end of last season. Though he made just 12 league starts for Real, Varane averaged 5.5 clearances per game - only Ricardo Carvalho (7.2) and Raul Albiol (6.9) made more - with the 20-year-old having been dribbled passed just 0.2 times per game last year.

Expected to partner Varane is Spain international Sergio Ramos, with the defender boasting a similar positional sense to that of Thiago Silva over the season, in that the two players enjoyed moving across their respective defensive third of the pitch, while also encroaching into the opposition half. The pairing won possession in the defensive third a similar amount of times last season - Ramos 102 and Silva 108 - while the former made 2.4 tackles per game compared to the Brazilian's 2, further accentuating the comparisons between the two.

At left-back, judging from Maxwell’s heatmap, Ancelotti may look to favour Fabio Coentrão over Marcelo, such has been the position of each player over the past season in their respective league. While Marcelo has been pushed higher up the pitch than his Portuguese counterpart, the stronger attacking capabilities of Coentrão – one goal and one assist compared to his Brazilian teammates’ zero in both categories – stand the Portugal international in better stead, not to mention the 25-year-old’s defensive discipline, which has seen him closer to his 18-yard box, much like Maxwell with PSG last season.

Holding Midfield

As previously mentioned, Ancelotti regularly fielded the pairing of Verratti and Matuidi for PSG last season, the former providing the creativity from deep and the latter the ability to break up play. Real boast two players of similar ability in their ranks in that Xabi Alonso will look to utilise his passing capabilities, much in the same vein as Verratti, while Sami Khedira would likely play the same role as that of Matuidi. That pairing linked up superbly at times last season and it’s expected they will resume this partnership under Ancelotti.

Attacking Midfield

Pastore and Moura occupied the places behind the front two during the second half of last season, with the duo often pulling wide to attack the opposition. Focusing initially on the Brazil international, Moura would regularly drift to the right flank, before cutting in to fill the space behind the striker. When compared to the primary trio of attacking midfielders available to Ancelotti - Ángel Di María, Mesut Özil and Cristiano Ronaldo - it’s the former that shows the closest resemblance to his Brazilian counterpart. Both players made the same number of accurate crosses per game (0.6) in their respective leagues, while also playing a similar number of key passes - 1.4 pre game for Di Maria, 1.6 for Moura - highlighting the attacking verve of the duo.

The player most likely to start alongside the Argentine would be Özil, and while the Germany international has occupied a relatively disciplined role behind the lone striker, especially when compared to that of Pastore last season, drifting wide to either the left or right flank would allow Di María to cut in behind the frontman. However, what separates the two is Özil's superior creative capabilities. The Germany international created the most clear cut goalscoring opportunities (24) in Europe last season and in making 2.9 key passes per game - an improvement on Pastore’s 1.1 - the 24-year-old would flourish in a similar role to that of the PSG ace.

Forward

Occupying the Lavezzi role would likely be Ronaldo. The Portugal international again showcased his attacking talents for Real last season, ending the campaign with 34 La Liga goals; only Lionel Messi (46) netted more. As with any team, utilising your best player is key to success and in a 4-2-2-2, Ronaldo would not only be handed a free reign to move across the frontline, but also push him closer to the striker, thus allowing him to take advantage of his attacking capability.

The stats weigh heavily in the favour of 28-year-old when compared to Lavezzi also, with Ronaldo completing more key passes - 1.8 to 1.2 - more dribbles per game - 1.7 to 1.3 - and providing more assists - 10 to 4. Not only does his ability to hurt the opposition with the ball weigh in his favour, but in having fired away the most shots from counter attacks (20) and seen no player score more headed goals (6), certain facets of Ronaldo's game would not only bolster Ancelotti’s attacking options, but also aid in replicating the threat Zlatan Ibrahimovic offered to PSG last season.

It's most likely that Karim Benzema would play alongside Ronaldo, regardless of whether Gonzalo Higuaín is sold or not. With Ibrahimovic regularly dropping deep to receive possession for PSG last season, the Frenchman operated in a similar fashion to that of his Swedish counterpart and while his final La Liga tally of 11 goals was way overshadowed by Ibrahimovic’s 30 Ligue 1 strikes, the consistency of linking up play with the midfield sees Benzema edge ahead of Higuaín in a likely starting XI. Benzema’s pass success of 79.2% compared to Higuaín’s 74.8% means the former would serve as a more purposeful threat to Real, not to mention the fact that he completed more passes per game - 23.5 to 19 – and played more key passes – 1.4 to 0.8 – than the Argentine. It’s evident that the 25-year-old would be of benefit to the system more and could complete the final piece of Ancelotti's puzzle.