Ancelotti does have a great ability to manage the team and maximise the potential of each player, even with his experience and expertise, he can overcome the challenges and difficulties of madrid before, but in my opinion the conditions this season are very different from previous seasons, because of the busy schedule including after the change in the format of the champions league, the injured squad is also the reason for madrid slump at the moment, apart from their absence in the transfer market last summer.
Madrid position in the champions league is still unsafe now, so they need two consecutive wins in their last two matches, I hope madrid can use the January transfer window with well, because inevitably they have to immediately improve the depth of the squad if they still want to be favourites in the champions league and la liga this season.
Even before the beginning of this season, when this new season format was first introduced last season, i did mentioned that its going to be a long one for both experienced and new champions league teams because they will be having to play like they are participating in another league away form their various domestic leagues since its going to be using same format as that of the domestic league. so for me, seeing Madrid with this performance in the champions league is feeling like what i did expected in that i have foreseen before now that most teams are going to at some point struggle with the new format of the champions league and even the Europa as its going to be stressful for them all having to play in almost two leagues simultaneously.