Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni shifts blame from Xabi Alonso – ‘We want to press, sometimes we do it badly’

Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has pointed the finger at the players as the culprit of their current crisis. Manager Xabi Alonso is on a run of just two wins in seven games, and is now in danger of losing his job if things do not improve ‘immediately’, as per reports from the club.

Speaking ahead of their clash with Manchester City, Alonso told the press that the squad and the coaching staff were united, a message echoed by Tchouameni.

“We’re all in this together. If we want to win, we all have to fight. With the coach, with the team. We’re on the pitch and we have to do things better. Tomorrow we have a good opportunity to turn things around.”

‘We want to press, sometimes we do it very badly’

One of the notable changes since Alonso held talks with the players over what could be improved is that Los Blancos’ have taken a much more direct approach. However Real Madrid’s press, one of the most important parts of their early season form, has deserted them. Tchouameni confirmed that it was not a conscious change.

“We need to improve in that area. At the start, we want to press. Sometimes we do it well, sometimes very poorly. We need to improve in order to win back more balls.”

‘It’s not the managers fault’ – Tchouameni

Another of the main topics of Tchouameni’s press conference was the attitude of the players, and Tchouameni admitted that his teammates did not give 100% against Celta Vigo in their 2-0 loss on Sunday night.

“I don’t know about attitude, but if we’re not winning it’s because we have to do things better. Play better in defense and attack. We have to do things better. We hope we can. What’s happening now can’t go on.”

“Against Celta, of course, and in other matches too. If we don’t play with maximum intensity, it will be very difficult to win games. We have to understand that to win these matches we have to give our all. We didn’t do that against Celta, and we must do it tomorrow.”

Going still further, Tchouameni assured that it was not Alonso’s fault if they did not give their all.

“Against Celta, the manager had a good plan. But we players are the ones on the pitch. If we lost 0-2, it’s because we had a problem, like a lack of intensity. It’s not the manager’s fault. We’re going to improve.”

Tchouameni assesses Manchester City threat

Another of the problems mounting for Alonso is his injury list. He will face Manchester City’s Erling Haaland with only four natural defenders fit and available. After Eder Militao was diagnosed with a long-term injury, Antonio Rudiger, Raul Asencio, Fran Garcia and Alvaro Carreras are his primary options. Tchouameni was asked how that would impact their plans.

“We’ll discuss the game plan with the manager today. We have a lot of injuries in defense, but there are many players who can perform at a high level. We all need to defend together and show commitment. We’re playing against a great team. Haaland is incredible, but if we play to our potential, we can win this match.”

“Manchester City are a really good team, with the ball, they like to keep the ball, we’ll have to be very compact as a team when we’re defending. But also in our attack, creating opportunities for our strikers, but it’s a good game, we are looking forward to it.

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