Real Madrid urged to drop ‘prisoner’ Mbappe for two reasons; Ancelotti reveals his ‘main problem’
Real Madrid have been urged to drop summer signing Kylian Mbappe after their disappointing 3-1 loss against AC Milan as “he will never be a No.9”.
Mbappe left Paris Saint-Germain when his contract expired in the summer and joined Real Madrid on a free transfer.
La Liga giants Real Madrid missed out on Mbappe on a couple of occasions, but it felt inevitable that he would eventually leave PSG for the Spanish side.
Without Mbappe, Real Madrid won the Champions League and La Liga last season and their dominance was expected to continue with the World Cup winner in the fold.
However, Real Madrid have endured a difficult start to the season. Their recent 4-0 loss to FC Barcelona leaves them seven points adrift of the La Liga table-toppers with a game in hand.
In the Champions League, they are 17th table after picking up two wins and two losses from their opening four games. On Tuesday night, they suffered a 3-1 home loss against AC Milan.
Mbappe has ten goal involvements in his 15 appearances for Real Madrid but he’s been criticised for his performances. Journalist Daniel Riolo has hit out at the Frenchman, claiming he should be dropped.
“You play without a centre-forward because – it was the case last year, it is the case in the French team and it will be the case at Real, I have been killing myself saying it for months – Mbappe is not and will never be a number 9,” Riolo said.
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“Just like everyone else is a prisoner of this thing, Ancelotti is in the same prison.
“I’m going to repeat a sentence that I’ve repeated 150 times: Mbappe, either it’s on the left, or it’s on the bench. And on the left, there’s better than him at the moment since Vinicius has the privilege of seniority and performances, so it’s going to go to the bench because it can’t be otherwise.
“He’s not a 9, there’s one on the bench (Rodrygo) and he’s going to have to be played. Can Ancelotti take responsibility for such a decision? Real are a big club and capable of taking responsibility for such a decision but they can’t continue like this, it’s obvious.”
The reporter also fears Real Madrid may be at “the end of a cycle” with head coach Carlo Ancelotti not acting “normal at the moment”.
“If they don’t manage to do it by putting Rodrygo in, taking Mbappe out to find a team built in a similar way to last year, it will mean that we are at the end of a cycle. Which wouldn’t be too serious because it happens in the history of clubs,” he added.
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“When you are full of victories, when you have won so many Champions Leagues, all these players have had so much success, it happens to be supplanted by others who have the right to work well.
“It wouldn’t be bad to see Barca or Liverpool better. But before arriving at this conclusion, Ancelotti will have to ask himself: what am I doing? Because he is doing things that are not normal at the moment.”
Ancelotti meanwhile admits he’s “worried” and has revealed what his side’s “main problem” is.
“We had a lot of chances. The problem for me isn’t that,” Ancelotti said. “Probably we lacked being clinical, but the main problem we have to fix is how easily our opponents are creating opportunities.
“We should be worried because the team isn’t playing well. We have to be more solid, more compact. We’ve conceded a lot of goals. The reality is what you see on the pitch, which is that we’re missing something. Worry in these moments is normal.
“It will be a long night, but that’s what we have to do, think, all of us, about improving things. When you aren’t solid, you have to be more organised. You can’t say my players are lazy, but right now we aren’t able to work together effectively.”
