Ancelotti: “We will only change the formation if the players aren’t comfortable”

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti talked to the press ahead of tonight’s match against Juventus in Orlando, the last game of the 2023-2024 preseason stage in the United States. It will be Madrid’s very last test before visiting Athletic Bilbao in the season opener on August 12th.

Ancelotti was asked about the diamond formation and how it fits his players. First, he discussed Bellingham’s position.

“Learning this system gives us the possibility to make some changes during the season, I think it’s fine to have different formations at your disposal. From an individual stand point, we got to see Bellingham’s best position. He’s an attacking midfielder and he performs better there than as a central midfielder, we will have to wait and see what happens during the season,” he said.

Ancelotti is open to making some changes during the course of the year, it seems. And that’s mainly because Vinicius might not be as comfortable in the center as he is when deployed on the left wing.

“We have to assess that, and he has to evaluate that too. Usually, players like to play more through the center because that gives them the chance to score more often. When he plays on the wing he makes the difference. He did really well against Milan and Manchester United, and while it’s true that he could’ve been more accurate against Barcelona he did have many chances. I don’t know if he would’ve had those many chances playing on the wing, although he’s the world’s best player there. This is the pre-season and we have to try out these things now,” he explained.

Ancelotti wrapped up his brief press conference by explaining what he liked the most when Madrid used the diamond formation.

“I can tell you that there are not many things I didn’t like. We had some good situations on offense, we were good pressing high up the pitch, also when we turned the ball over. We need to be more vigilant and have more balance but we can fix that. We will only change the formation if the players don’t feel comfortable, if they feel comfortable we will keep using it,” he added.