Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has lamented a lack of balance in his team after a lacklustre La Liga debut for marquee signing Kylian Mbappe.
The opening day of the season for Ancelotti’s Galacticos proved to be one of frustration as they were held to a 1-1 draw on the road to Mallorca.
Mbappe found himself being thwarted by Mallorca goalkeeper Dominik Greif time and again across the 90 minutes in what proved to be a flat La Liga debut.
The French superstar had netted on his maiden Real Madrid appearance against Atalanta to aid his new club in winning the Uefa Super Cup on Wednesday in Warsaw.
Ancelotti named an unchanged side to face Mallorca on the weekend but despite an early goal from Rodrygo his team were unable to build on that lead and let in an equaliser from a corner.
Mbappe was among those who had squandered chances to make it 2-0 as his first shot of the match flew harmlessly wide of the Mallorca goal.
His second effort cam only after Mallorca had levelled and his low shot couldn’t beat Greif and the keeper would deny the French hero again after Ancelloti made a tactical switch in bringing on veteran playmaker Luka Modric for defensive midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni.
Ancelotti believes that he has identified where the problem lies claiming that the team is currently unbalanced.
The veteran Italian mentor believes that this side trade’s defensive solidity for attacking fluidity and called on his side to be a bit more disciplined without the ball.
Real Madrid dominated possession against Mallorca but generated the same amount of shots on target as the team that finished 15th in La Liga last term.
“Last year I was happy with some draws, but not today,” Ancelotti said.
“We could have done much better. I don’t want to make excuses. We just had to do better, with more attitude. You can learn from these games. It’s clear where the problem is. We started the game well, but it wasn’t a good game. We need to defend better. We need more balance. We’ve said it before, we’re very offensive and balance is essential.”
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Ancelotti would not criticise Mbappe for roaming away from the spaces a No 9 would normally occupy in the match against Mallorca stressing that the attacking players are given freedom to roam. Still he conceded that this was part of the reason teams are able to get at them quickly.
He felt that Mallorca were full value for the draw because of how they defended and frustrated his side.
“They [the forwards] swap positions sometimes. Sometimes one or the other occupies the position, depending on how they are doing. The problem is that the team was too open. We have to concentrate more, as we usually do. It’s not a physical or mental problem,” Ancelotti
“When we win the ball back, we all have to think about it together. You can think that it is a problem for the forwards, but it could be a problem for the defence, or for the midfielders. It is not a problem for one, two or three. It is a problem for a team that in this match did not understand that it was a key aspect. Mallorca played a great game defensively. The draw is correct.”
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