I think Real Madrid wants to play like a real team, but they haven't yet found out how they complement each other and in my opinion they are short of world class midfielders. Modric is too old although he can still play a great game, that's not the point. But compare this to the times when they had Modric and Kroos, that was insane.
Real Madrid tried to prepare for replacements of Casemiro, Kroos and Modric and they succeeded with replacement of Casemiro with Tchouameni and Camavinga, but they have failed with replacements for Kroos and Modric. Valverde is a good midfielder but he is different than Kroos and Modric, and the retirement of Kroos last summer actually caused big problem in Real Madrid's midfield area.
It will take Real Madrid some more seasons and their players, current and new ones, to gradually replace Kroos and Camavinga. Even last season, they won Champions League is big surprise that helps to reduce fear of replacements of Modric, but they had Kroos in the last season. This season, Kroos left, Modric is counting down very last matches in his career, Real Madrid started to feel more impacts from these legendary midfielders and their retirement. Injuries of young star players actually affect Real Madrid in this season.
The vacuum that Kroos left is still there, and there is no player in Real Madrid that can fill up that space. This is also the problem Madrid is facing this season together with the multiple of injuries they had. Despite all these challenges, Madrid was able to struggle and meet up with Barcelona that was ahead of them initially. I believe Ancelotti is in a search of a world class player that will be able to hold the midfield perfectly like Kroos did in the past.