Real Madrid are blessed with great players and great coaches.
First, it was Carlo Ancelotti winning a plethora of titles with Real Madrid in his combined six years as manager.
Now, it is Xabi Alonso trying to do the same thing at the club in his first games in charge.
Real Madrid players can see the difference, although the respect they have for both of these managers seems to be unmatched.
Obviously, they are two different people with two different sets of ideas. So, what they try to show the team would also be different.
Fede Valverde was asked about this, and he gave a very interesting and detailed reply on what sets Alonso apart from Ancelotti.
He said: "The way of playing is different [with Alonso]. Xabi does not want the midfielders to drop deep too much to receive the ball."
"He asks us to be between the lines so that we can turn and drive. He also wants to have a little more control.”
This is not a dig on Ancelotti, rather it is just a differentiation between the two.
Ancelotti is one of the best managers of all time, but what he did at clubs like Real Madrid had less to do with tactics and more to do with helping the players become the best version of themselves.
Alonso does that too, but with a little more focus on tactics and control, which is something that he wants his teams to have, with or without the ball.
So, it is good to now have a manager who works on these things more than before. It is good to have a person who has to work on that to improve the floor and ceiling of the entire team.
It does not make Ancelotti bad at all, but it does show that at some level, these things that Real Madrid did not do before - they were needed. And it will take some time before they are instilled into the squad.