"We have to be worried: we're lacking something," admitted Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side's 3-1 defeat at home to AC Milan in the Champions League left them with a lot of work to do to assure they qualify for the knockout stage of their favorite competition.

Kylian Mbappe (L) of Real Madrid vies with Rafael Leao of AC Milan during the UEFA Champions League football match between Real Madrid and AC Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Gustavo Valiente/Xinhua)

Real Madrid didn't just suffer its second consecutive home defeat in the wake of a 4-0 drubbing to Barcelona. They gave a performance that implied there could be more setbacks ahead.

Despite not playing at the weekend after their game in Valencia was postponed due to the terrible flooding in the area, Ancelotti's men looked sluggish and flat. They lacked cohesion in midfield, and after Vinicius Jr had momentarily made the score 1-1 after Malick Thiaw had nodded Milan ahead, they lacked sharpness in attack.

Real Madrid was tipped to win everything this season after adding Kylian Mbappe to an attack that got them out of trouble whenever it needed to last season.

In theory, Madrid should be more dangerous than ever - and they showed that in a recent 5-2 win against Borussia Dortmund after coming back from 2-0 down.

But they are missing something: Mbappe hasn't scored in six games and doesn't look as happy playing in the center as he does on the left. But with Vinicius Jr occupying the left, Mbappe has to play out of position.

Neither of the two help in defense, indeed, Ancelotti recently said he didn't want Mbappe to drop deep as he wanted him to focus on scoring goals. However, that means rivals have few problems bypassing them and can leave Madrid exposed in midfield, where Jude Bellingham is starting to look increasingly frustrated, and Aurelian Tchouameni shows week after week that he isn't the retired Toni Kroos.

Compare Real Madrid's almost total lack of press with Barcelona's ferocious high pressing under Hansi Flick, which can leave rivals asphyxiated, unable to get the ball forward, and committing mistakes Barca's pacy forwards can pounce on.

In contrast, rivals can get an extra man against Real Madrid in midfield, and that inevitably leaves the defense exposed, with either Eder Militao or Antonio Rudiger pulled out of position.

That, in turn, means their rivals can create chances. Milan had nine shots on target on Tuesday night, the biggest number of shots on target against Madrid in the Bernabeu in 20 years, but for the heroics of Andriy Lunin, the score could have been much bigger.

Watching some of Madrid's recent games, it's tempting to think that Ancelotti believes that his attack and the atmosphere the Bernabeu can produce in a fightback is enough to win every game. That is not the case.

At the moment, it looks as if the Italian is trying to hammer square pegs into round holes, and although the sheer ability he can put on the pitch at any moment will win most of his side's matches, so far, the lack of work rate and organization has let them down at key moments.

It could be that the last two defeats are just freak results, and there is time to react, but Saturday's home match against a well-drilled Osasuna could be an interesting litmus test of just where this season could end up. 

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