New Real Madrid coach to move away from Alonso and follow the Ancelotti model – Romano

Real Madrid fans and players alike have been rocked by the news of Xabi Alonso’s departure as the head coach.

It appears the Spanish tactician has decided to leave the club, as he felt he was not being respected enough by the players.

Real Madrid have announced Alvaro Arbeloa as his replacement, with the RM Castilla coach having the monumental task of recovering yet another disappointing campaign for Los Blancos.

Arbeloa to follow the Ancelotti model

While Arbeloa was always a big admirer of Xabi Alonso, he is not necessarily following in the footsteps of his former teammate.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Arbeloa is going to move away from the Alonso model and follow Carlo Ancelotti’s style of coaching.

The Carlo Ancelotti model will be followed at Real Madrid by Alvaro Arbeloa. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

This essentially means Arbeloa will put emphasis on man management and making sure the dressing room listens to the manager, rather than introducing radical new tactical ideas to the table.

The former right-back does have the experience of coaching the Castilla side. But his pedigree will be tested when coaching one of the biggest teams in world football.

Despite his relative lack of experience, Romano adds that Arbeloa was always the favourite for Florentino Perez, as far as replacements for Alonso were concerned.

While earlier reports had claimed Zinedine Zidane as Perez’s favourite, Romano clarifies that the Frenchman was never an option and his visits to Bernabeu were simply to attend the matches.

As for Arbeloa, his primary objective right now will be to rally the troops after a disappointing loss to Barcelona and make sure the team is capable of producing the goods when they take on Albacete in the Copa del Rey this midweek.