Carlo Ancelotti was far from happy with his defence during Saturday’s disappointing 2-1 defeat at the hands of Villarreal. The Italian felt that his backline was far too open, which left them exposed on numerous occasions.
One of the players that came into much criticism in the aftermath of the game was Antonio Rudiger. The central defender had a tough afternoon up against Gerard Moreno, who laid on Yeremy Pino to open the scoring, before notching the winner himself from the penalty spot.
Rudiger has had a rather disappointing spell at Real Madrid since joining from Chelsea last summer. There was great expectations placed on the German international following his time in Premier League, but he has been underwhelming so far.
According to Fichajes, Ancelotti has grown unhappy with Rudiger during his first months at Los Blancos. The head coach no longer feels like he can rely on the defender in big matches, which could impact his playing time going forward.
With the club interested in a summer move for RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol, Rudiger’s playing time next season could be severely limited, especially if Eder Militao is played in his more natural position of central defence.
He puts Militao as a wing back and has the nerve to talk about yesterdays match?
Why not play Nacho or Lucas?
Can shaky performances at the back have something to do with constant reshufflings?
He tried Rudiger as wing back, didnt work. He tried Militao as wing back, obviously didnt work.
Players just dont have the time to gel. Back in days, Ramos and Pepe (and eventuallt Varane) played as CB and that was it, no discussion. They had continuity, time to gel and rest is glorious RM history with 5 in 9 CLs.
Ancelotti is working towards his own firing with these shufflings.