By El Maestro
As 2014 comes to a close, it is hard to put any questions marks on this Real Madrid side. They won four trophies, which includes the long waited ‘Décima’ and concluded with the Club World Cup after beating San Lorenzo 2-0 in the final. Madrid is also currently on a 22-game winning streak and is four games away from tying the record set by Ajax during the 1971-1972 season. Along with this, Cristiano is the top La Liga goalscorer with an astonishing 25 goals, 61 throughout 2014 in all competitions, and should be the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or. With all this, there are very little arguments to have any complaints about the year. However, I do want to give my opinion and perspective about one man: Carlo Ancelotti.
As I have said before, I am not a big fan of Ancelotti. It is not that I think he is a bad manager, just simply that his style of coaching (relaxed, laid back, and acting like everything is fine) does not attract me. Regardless, I cannot go against his work after finally landing ‘La Decima’ and winning four trophies in 2014. He also did a great job responding to adversity back in September after losing two straight games to Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid, which put his in question. Little did we know, that lost to Atletico in the Bernabeu would be Madrid’s last defeat in 2014. Real Madrid went on a 22-game winning streak, which included a 2-8 win over Deportivo in Riazor, victories over Barcelona and Liverpool in Anfield, the Club World Cup trophy, and an undefeated record in the Champions League group stage. Along with this, the players like him and the dressing room seems to be getting along.
Despite all this, Ancelotti has proven to me that he is here to do one thing: Pacificar. In other words, make sure the waters are calm and that everything is under control. There are numerous examples I can use, but the most recent one occurred in the Club World Cup with Sergio Ramos. After the game, Ramos admitted that he was suppose to be out for three weeks, but he did all he could to play the final. I do not blame Ramos for wanting to play the game and I know he was trying to sell himself as a macho man, but all this does is prove my theory of Ancelotti as an easy going guy. Since I know a lot of pro-Ramos fans might take this out of context, I will put it in simpler terms:
I wanted Real Madrid to win the Club World Cup, but the two games they played were against Cruz Azul and San Lorenzo. Even if these teams didn’t go through, the other possible opponent would have been Moghreb Tetouan (Morocco), ES Setif (Algeria), Western Sydney Wanderers FC (Australia) and Auckland City FC (New Zealand). I know FIFA calls it the Club World Cup, but a lot of these teams would not be able to survive even in the most average European leagues. While others criticized San Lorenzo for resorting to kicking and rough tactics, I defended them simply because they had no other choice. Even Ludogorets created more problems than San Lorenzo. With all this said, there was no reason to force any player and further aggravate injuries (This also goes for James as well).
Not to mention that Varane would have played if Ramos could not. It is all fun and games now, but it would not have been funny if both Ramos and James had aggravated their injuries and missed the upcoming fixtures against Valencia in the league and Atletico in the Copa del Rey. In fact, there is still a chance Ramos may not be fit for the first game of 2015 in Mestalla. As I said before, Ancelotti has done a good job handling this team, but he has to do a better job of managing these players. Of course all players want to play every game, but coaches have to make sure they protect each player from themselves. We also should not forget that Cristiano, Bale, and a few others were not 100% fit for the Champions League Final in May because of Ancelotti’s poor management of the squad last season. I am not talking about rotations, but just simply giving starting players necessary rest in fixtures of lesser importance. Hopefully Carletto will not commit the same mistakes he made last year because the squad is much better than last season and should be the favorite to lift the Champions League again in Berlin. However, with the competition more intense this season, Ancelotti has to made sure that each player is 100% fit when the big games start coming around.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2015!
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