Ancelotti on whistles: “I’d prefer to play every game at home”

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti gave his pre-match press briefing in Valdebebas this afternoon, the eve of his team’s trip to La Coruña where they will face Deportivo. For the Italian, tomorrow’s game at Riazor is one which his team must win after recent slips against Real Sociedad and Atlético.

Playing away from home: “It’s always much harder for us playing away from home than it is when we are at the Bernabéu. Sometimes we receive criticism from our fans at the Bernabéu – just like we did last season, it’s normal”.

Tough grounds like Anoeta, Riazor: “We are used to playing at these kinds of grounds. We have to improve, we’ve been working on it and we are improving”.

Right-back position; is Carvajal available? “I’m fortunate in that I have a few options because Carvajal is available again – so is Arbeloa and Nacho, who played well against Basel. But we will be without Pepe who is recovering from a sprain”.

Pushing the defence higher up the pitch stifles Bale and Cristiano... “Pushing further upfield is good because if you win the ball by pressurizing the opposing team, it’s easier to finish off an attacking move. What we do need to look at is controlling the ball in our half when we are defending”.

What does Illarramendi need to do to get picked? “I have a lot of confidence in him and he will come in handy for us at some point like he did last season”.

Chicharito: “He will start on the subs’ bench. Chicharito’s position is as a centre-forward, not out wide; we won’t be changing anything in that respect”.

Kroos and Modric overloaded with work in midfield and the option of delving into the reserves: “I don’t think that now is the right moment to do that but we are studying it. We have a lot of games up until October 5 and at some point, we will have to rotate in midfield. We have players like [Álvaro] Medrán who completed the pre-season with us and Marcos Llorente but we have the midfield covered with Illarramendi, Isco and Khedira when he returns. It’s a little too early to start thinking about the younger players”.

Mourinho’s comments about returning to the Madrid job: “What can I say? Mourinho's a great coach who can coach anywhere and if he doesn’t want to come back here then I’m sure he will have many other options open to him. I don’t think he expected a good atmosphere here and if he doesn’t want to return, it’s understandable”.

Mourinho’s revelations about his relationship with Cristiano: “I don’t really know how to reply to that. I don't know what his personal relationship with Cristiano is like, nor is it something which interests me or concerns me – it’s got nothing to do with Real Madrid”.

Losing ground to Barça in the table: “We’re not thinking about that; all we are concerned with is improving both physically and tactically – that’s the only thing which worries us at the moment. We put in a good performance against Basel and now isn’t the time to be worried about what Barça are doing. We need to be calm because the season is very long, that’s one thing we do know. We will fight right up until the very end in every competition. I don’t understand what people are worried about; four months ago we won the Champions League and we could go on to win it again”.

Casillas getting the whistling treatment at the Bernabéu: “I answered that question earlier. I would prefer to play every game at home. Sometimes the fans whistle and in the past they have been right to but I would rather play at the Bernabéu than anywhere else, it’s our home”.

Is Casillas your first choice because you feel he is better than Keylor Navas? “We're very happy with Keylor Navas, he is a quality keeper and was a good signing for us; but tomorrow Iker will play”.

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/1sCf6af

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