Carlo Ancelotti Analysis
Introduction
Carlo Ancelotti, or as he was nicknamed in Italy, Carletto, is one of football’s most respected managers. His longevity, passion and his approachable manner has made him one of the nicest people in the game. Carlo has been all over Europe’s top leagues as a manager, with various elite clubs, but his career began as a midfielder in the 70s.
He began his career with Italian club Parma, helping the club to promotion in 1979. He moved to Roma the following season, where he won one Serie A title and four Coppa Italia titles, and also played for the late 1980s Milan team, with which he won two league titles and two European Cups, among other titles.
At the international level he played for the Italian national team making 26 appearances, scoring once, and appearing in two FIFA World Cups, finishing in third place in the 1990 edition of the tournament, as well as UEFA Euro 1988, where he helped his nation to reach the semi-finals.
During his playing days, Carletto was a world-class player. He was a creative, cautious, and efficient midfielder who was known for his leadership, skill, composure on the ball, and organisational ability (traits that he’s carried on with management). At the time, he was regarded as one of the best Italian midfielders of his generation.
Carlo’s transition into management firstly began at the Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano (which is translated as Federal Technical Center of Coverciano), where he began studying management in football. Some of the greatest Italian managers today got their coaching badges done here, including Massimiliano Allegri, Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri.
Ancelotti became assistant at the Italian national team under one of the best managers in history, Arrigo Sacchi. From 1992 to 1995, Italy made it to the 1994 World Cup Final, and then the following year, Carlo made his transition into management with Serie B side Reggiana.
Carlo, quite impressively, guided the club in achieving promotion to Serie A. However, he left after the 1995–96 Serie B season, finishing with a record of 17 wins, 14 draws, and 10 losses in his only season with the club.
Since then, Carlo has managed at Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton and now he’s back at Real Madrid. Over the course of the 25 years he has been managing those clubs, Ancelotti has won big in every country that he’s managed. His list of achievements include:
Juventus
- UEFA Intertoto Cup (1998/99)
AC Milan
- Serie A (2003/04)
- Coppa Italia (2002/03)
- Suppercoppa Italiana (2004)
- Champions League (2002/03, 2006/07) and runner up (2004/05)
- UEFA Super Cup (2003, 2007)
- FIFA Club World Cup (2007)
Chelsea
- Premier League (2009/10)
- FA Cup (2009/10)
- FA Community Shield (2009)
Paris Saint-Germain
- Ligue 1 (2012/13)
Real Madrid
- Copa del Rey (2013/14)
- Champions League (2013/14)
- UEFA Super Cup (2014)
- FIFA Club World Cup (2014)
Bayern Munich
- Bundesliga (2016/17)
- DFL Supercup (2016, 2017)
Style of Football
Due to learning under Sacchi, Carlo Ancelotti took inspiration from his system and implemented the high energy 4–4–2 system at both Reggina (his first club) and then with Parma in the Serie A. Some noticeable similarities between both he and Sacchi’s system was that the team was obsessed with space, moving forward and backward in unison.
Unfortunately for Ancelotti, he was so attached to the 4–4–2 system that he missed out on the chance to sign one of the best Italian players of all time in Roberto Baggio, due to his loyalty to the system. So when Ancelotti was at Juventus in 1999, he quickly fixed it, due to Zinedine Zidane.
At Juve, Ancelotti shifted the system to a 3–4–1–2 and there are still elements that are similar to his 4–4–2 system, with the two defensive midfielders and the two strikers. But with Zidane, who creatively was a genius, Ancelotti deployed him as a number 10 behind Alessandro Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi.
A tactical element that was used at Juventus and then carried on by Ancelotti when he went to AC Milan, was Del Piero’s tendency to drop off from being a striker to move into the left half space. At times it looked rather rigid, with a lopsided triangle created with the three up front.
At AC Milan, the famous Christmas Tree formation was deployed in the 4–3–2–1. This was an interesting adaptation of the 4–3–3, as instead of wingers two attacking midfielders would be utilised and they would play behind a lone striker. This system was ideal for narrow and tight play, however the fullbacks would need to provide the width, hence the high levels of stamina and energy they would need to display.
But at the time, the owner of the Italian giants, Silvio Berlusconi was not happy with the implementation of this system, as he deemed it too defensive. Ancelotti then changed the positioning of the front three, by flipping the triangle to create a strike partnership (4–3–1–2). This system ultimately brought success to Carlo, but also created a position in football that hadn’t been seen in years; the “regista” (the Italian term for the deep lying playmaker).
Andrea Pirlo is perhaps one of the greatest registas of all time, but prior to joining Milan, he was an attacking midfielder and Carlo Ancelotti was not convinced that his best position was there. Instead, Carletto wanted Pirlo to be on the ball more frequently in games and this wouldn’t be possible should he be played as a traditional 10.
So Ancelotti moved him to the base of the midfield. This way, Pirlo was better placed to dictate the play from deeper positions. Putting Pirlo here was ultimately a successful move, due to him having a full view of the pitch, being able to turn and play in space, and for him to utilise his highly impressive passing range.
When Ancelotti joined Chelsea, he initially went with the 4–3–1–2 however he changed to either a 4–3–2–1 or 4–3–3, due to pressure from squad members who were used to the style of play from former managers José Mourinho and Guus Hiddink. This, like the positional change of Pirlo, brought success to the Italian, with Chelsea winning the Premier League in the 2009/10 season.
At PSG, Carlo looked to use his 4–3–2–1 but eventually changed it to a multi-functional 4–4–2, similar to the system he used in the late 90s. This was successful to a degree, as PSG were able to progress to the quarter finals of the Champions League in the 2012/13 season.
Going to Real Madrid, Ancelotti was very successful with one of his most notable achievements being the Champions League victory in the 2013/14 season against Atletico Madrid. Under the Italian, Los Blancos were incredible when it came to counter attacks and this part was due to the 4–2–3–1 system used. Of course the structure to build on was done by Ancelotti’s predecessor, José Mourinho but it was Ancelotti’s improvements that caused the damaging impacts.
At Bayern Munich, it was a similar story as the 4–2–3–1 was used again. Although Ancelotti’s time there was short, it was effective, with the German powerhouse winning the Bundesliga in the 2016/17 season.
At both Napoli and Everton, it was almost a throwback to the old days, with Ancelotti primarily using the 4–4–2 system at both clubs. Despite not winning major silverware with either club, they both improved and played tremendous football, particularly Everton, who were able to grind out some impressive results against big teams.
Attacking Style
Quick and direct football would sum up Ancelotti’s style best. During his time at Napoli, Carlo spoke about not needing to dominate possession, rather to be more effective while using it.
“I do think possession is important to control a game, but it has to lead to something. Do you know how many times a team scores a goal after more than 20 passes? In a year, it might happen twice. You tend to score goals after five or six passes. If there’s the possibility of playing out from the back, that’s good, but if you risk getting stuck back there, it’s better not to bother.”
So what was evident with many Ancelotti teams, was the players being more willing to go long and direct if the opportunity presented itself. This more flexible approach ideally provides an alternative to the problem of those teams that couldn’t be broken down through the previous manager, Maurizio Sarri’s endless short passing style.
In most situations from a goal kick, especially if he had players of a good quality, he would look to build from the back.
This approach would be common with a team like Napoli, as he had a goalkeeper and two centre backs who were very comfortable in possession. This is also seen with him now at Real Madrid, as he has players such as David Alaba and Éder Militão who are both comfortable on the ball in deeper areas and under pressure.
At Everton, his teams were prepared to build up by going to the centre backs however due to Ancelotti’s preference to building up play quickly, he was also fine with the ball going long to their striker, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who could either flick the ball onto a winger Richarlison or Alex Iwobi, as their pace would be critical in breaking an opposition’s shape.
In general possession play, the Toffees would look to build up in a 3–2–4–1 shape. Left back Lucas Digne would look to advance high up the left hand side, Bernard would tuck in between the lines next to Richarlison and the right midfielder, either Walcott or Sidibé, maintained the width on the opposite flank, while Calvert-Lewin led the line.
Ancelotti wasn’t afraid to change his shape, in order to create better options in possession. In the 2020/21 season with Everton, Ancelotti switched to a 4–3–3 formation due to concerns of the 4–4–2 in the 2019/20 season becoming too flat and not offering much when they have the ball.
New signing Allan would look to hold his position at the base of a midfield triangle, with both wingers cutting inside in order to leave space for the fullbacks to advance high and usually create overlapping runs. This allowed for more opportunities for vertical progressions.
Switches of play are a common pattern of play with an Ancelotti side. At Napoli and at Everton, this was largely common.
With Everton, particularly in the 2020/21 season, long diagonal switches out from James to the other side, with the Colombian making use of Digne’s late arrival, often unseen (similar to that of Callejon’s run against Liverpool), into gaps vacated by Richarlison. The Everton winger proves distracting for opposition right-backs, and that has seen both his and Digne’s output increase.
Counter Attacks are a hallmark of Ancelotti’s style and he perfected this at Real Madrid, where this style of play arguably won him the Champions League with the Spanish giants in the 2013/14 season. With the pace of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, they were options that were sought frequently when Madrid would break (didn’t matter which area of the pitch, they were effective in all three).
Defensive Style
Often when defending, if the team is not pressing, Ancelotti would task his team to defend in a 4–4–2 midblock. With Napoli, who had the equal third best defence in Serie A in the 2018/19 season, they would stay narrow in their 4–4–2 formation, protecting the middle of the pitch to encourage the opposition into wide areas, where they can then trap them against the touchline by stopping them from playing the ball back inside.
At Everton, it was a similar story, as when Ancelotti arrived at the Merseyside club, caretaker manager Duncan Ferguson would set up in a 4–4–2 when defending and the Italian expanded on this idea. He would set up in a 4–4–2, where they will drop off and take this shape in a mid block, high enough so that they don’t simply let the opposition waltz forward but generally only pressing very high when the situation calls for it.
By looking to maintain this balance, Carlo would instruct his wingers to tuck inside to limit the space through the centre (just like with Napoli) but not too narrow so that it will be hard for them to rush out at speed and press the opposition’s fullbacks.
Again, it makes it very difficult to break down Everton for the opposition when the Toffees set up in this way due to the lack of options available for progressing the ball vertically.
Conclusion
Carlo Ancelotti is a manager who deserves respect and praise for the work he’s done with various clubs. Particularly during his time as AC Milan manager, he had one of the best squads in Italy of all time and his success through winning multiple Serie As and Champions Leagues shows not only the squad’s talent, but also Carletto’s as a manager who’s willing to adapt, be flexible and change if tactical setups aren’t working.
