Is Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti picking the wrong XI?

Should Real Madrid change their line-up more often that they do?

If there’s one criticism that we can level against Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti this year, it is a reticence to utilise the fullness of his squad. Although there have been suggestions previously that club President Florentino Perez might have a hand in squad selection, it’s highly unlikely that the Italian would accept the same.

Perhaps, in hindsight, getting some advice from elsewhere may have been of some benefit. Even though Real are still in with a shout of a La Liga and Champions League double, they are nowhere close to the team they were just before the turn of the year.

Leading up to the Christmas period Los Blancos were on the crest of a wave and a 22-match winning run. Everything was rosy in the garden, but with Luka Modric injured and Cristiano Ronaldo’s knee condition not getting any better, the warning signs were already there that this supposed “best XI” were going to run out of steam at some point.

That they did, and probably a little quicker than anyone at the club had anticipated. It left Real out of the Copa del Rey and, eventually, overtaken in the league by their fiercest rivals Barcelona, who, at one stage, were well out of the title picture.

Ancelotti should have tinkered his starting XI

Did Ancelotti really need to insist on playing the same XI week in and week out? Would it not have been a more studious decision to rely on some of the players that were not getting as much game time as perhaps they should?

For example, does Keylor Navas deserve to be kept on the bench for virtually the entire season whilst Iker Casillas keeps his place between the sticks – despite some particularly dodgy moments during this campaign. The agile Navas was incredible at last year’s World Cup, providing high-quality performances which persuaded Real to buy him in the first place. If he was good enough then, why has he been cast aside so readily?

Casillas is, like Raul before him, a player that encompasses Madridismo, but that is not reason enough to continue with him if he’s not up to it. And frankly he hasn’t been up to it for large parts of this campaign.

Another player that isn’t really cutting the mustard at the Santiago Bernabeu is Marcelo. Like Dani Alves at Barca, this Brazilian enjoys the fruits of getting forward at every opportunity, but neglects his primary role, and one for which he is handsomely remunerated. Fabio Coentrao may not be a full-back of the swashbuckling variety, but he does offer much more defensively than his contemporary. Against the very best that La Liga and Europe has to offer, surely you want your defenders to defend, no?

Talking of which, Pepe. The player everyone loves to hate. But what a player. This season there isn’t any doubt whatsoever that the Portuguese has been one of Real’s best. Raphael Varane was being talked up as the next big thing, but when Pepe was injured he was evidently the bigger miss. Strong in the air, combative in the tackle and quick across the ground, there really isn’t a weakness to his game at present. He deserves a place alongside Sergio Ramos at the heart of Real’s back line.

Ramos’ own injury hurt Real big time. When you play against your biggest rivals, having players like Sergio Ramos alongside you in the trenches is a blessing. The sort of player that happily goes to war and leads from the front, there isn’t a club in Europe who wouldn’t snap your hand off to have him in their side.

Completing the back four is Dani Carvajal. A fixture in the role this season, the youngster has been solid throughout if not spectacular. Showed his teeth – if you’ll pardon the pun – in a super defensive display against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, which helped Real end the recent hoodoo over their local rivals.

Jese deserves a chance

Jese Rodriguez has done well whenever called upon

Toni Kroos is a shoo-in for the defensive midfield role. There aren’t too many, if any, better and more accurate passers of the ball than the German and the sharp transitional play that he thrives upon is one of the reasons why Real remain a real threat going forward.

So we have our passer extraordinaire and in Isco, we’ll always find a willing runner and a player with skill, who has proved in Luka Modric’s absence that he is the man for all seasons. Bright, inventive and incisive, that the Bernabeu always sing his name and religiously give him a standing ovation every time he plays should be enough of a pointer to Ancelotti and his staff.

Perhaps the one thing Real are lacking is a bit of steel in the midfield. We haven’t seen much of Lucas Silva since he signed for Real in January and the club could do with his more physical and robust approach. Those that say he is too young are barking up the wrong tree. He’s only a year younger than Isco. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough and Silva fits into the category. He lacks experience at the top level but there’s only one way he is going to get it. Put him in!!

Last but not least, the “BBC.” Or should that be the “JCB”? Jese Rodriguez has staked a claim on a few occasions now and is knocking at the door on a weekly basis. In a side that Gareth Bale is evidently struggling in and has been for a while now, should Jese not be given a run in the side to show what everyone at the club knows he is capable of? So Bale cost, allegedly, €100m. So what. If he doesn’t fit the template, it’s time to bin him too.

Jese has the pace, power, skill and arrogance to sit very nicely indeed in a front line that is also comprised of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. Ronaldo’s CV needs no further comment, but Benzema remains grossly undervalued and unappreciated. A stunning modern-day centre forward with all of the tools at his disposal, Real’s system doesn’t work without his input and industrious ethic. As complete a centre-forward as is possible to be.

Navas – Coentrao, Pepe, Ramos, Carvajal – Kroos, Isco, Silva – Jese, Benzema, Cristiano. Youth, experience, pace, guile, creativity and physicality. A team to rival the world’s best.

Do you agree? Who would you choose?