Carlo Ancelotti has appealed for calm as he attempts to steer Real Madrid’s title challenge back on course with a testing trip to newly promoted Deportivo La Coruna.
Madrid have lost their last two league games – away to Real Sociedad and at home against Atletico – to leave themselves six points behind table-topping Barcelona with just three games played.
But Ancelotti claims to be unconcerned, imploring his team’s fans to adopt a more long-term approach.
He said: “Sometimes I don’t understand why people get so concerned. Four months ago, we won the Champions League.
“Now is not the moment to be worried about points, we have to be calm. The season is very long in all competitions, and I am sure of one thing: we will fight for titles until the end.”
Ancelotti accepts his team have been below par, blaming their disrupted summer preparations for the team’s lack of fluency.
“We had a strange pre-season with the World Cup. Most of the players arrived pretty late and we didn’t have much time to train. It is a problem that we will fix with a bit of time.”
The Italian will be without central defender Pepe for today’s trip to the Riazor, with the Portuguese international suffering from a muscle strain. His place will be taken by young Frenchman Raphael Varane, who earlier this week signed a new contract to the summer of 2020.
Another young player hoping for involvement is central midfielder Asier Illarramendi, who has seen precious little action since signing from Real Sociedad in the summer of 2013.
Illarramendi has not played in his team’s opening three league games, but appeared from the bench during Wednesday’s 5-1 Champions League victory over Basel and is set to challenge for a more regular role following Xabi Alonso’s departure.
Ancelotti said: “The only thing missing for Illarra is a coach who puts him on the pitch.
“He’s not lacking anything else and I have a lot of confidence in him. We’ve got a lot of games in the next few weeks so we will need to rotate players.”
Hosts Deportivo have made a decent start to the campaign after earning promotion as Segunda Division runners-up last season.
The Galician team have collected four points from their opening three games, including a gutsy 1-0 win at Eibar on Monday night.
Experienced coach Victor Fernandez said: “Football always has room for surprises. We will give everything in front of our own fans.”
