What’s Going Wrong With Jese?

Such is my regard for what he achieves and, in almost equal proportion, how he goes about achieving his triumphs, it’s rare that I’m motivated to criticise Carlo Ancelotti — but it’s appropriate right now.

First of all he bears some direct responsibility for Madrid not sneaking Sunday night’s game against Villarreal 2-1 and sitting four points ahead of Barcelona with three weeks to go until el Clasico at the Camp Nou. With just a handful of minutes left, Sergio Asenjo pawed at a cross from the left and the ball obstinately skidded off the tips of his fingers and landed in the path of Jesé Rodriguez.

It was one of those moments for which we love football. What should have happened is that this precocious young talent, bred within Madrid’s Fabrica (their youth-talent factory) should have slotted home into a gaping net with his right foot. As chances go it wasn’t one that would be converted 100 times out of 100, but I’d say that about a 90 percent conversion rate would be fair for the situation in which the wee man found himself.

An archetypal late Madrid win, you might have said in that hypothetical scenario. Archetypal, too, of Ancelotti “the football whisperer.” Only he’s lost his voice a little.

Never mind his previous clever personnel calibrations at Juventus, Milan and Chelsea; it was the way in which the likeable Italian drew the best from his men, both positionally and psychologically, last season that won them the Cup and Champions League double, and left them able to lift the Uefa Supercup and World Club Championship so far this term. In my opinion, it was primus inter pares (“first among equals”) of all his mighty triumphs as a manager.

Had Jesé come on as a substitute and slotted that late goal opportunity, then all of us who write or broadcast about Los Blancos would have relished the poetic nature of a guy who was out for a year, came back from knee damage and popped up as the goal-scoring jack-in-the-box.

Jese has shown he belongs at Real Madrid but some notable mismanagement gives cause for concern.

These are the moments upon which sport flourishes. But we’d also all have tipped our hats to Ancelotti; “a specialist in charge of his fiefdom,” we’d have said.

Okay, Jesé missed. Stuff happens. The world didn’t end, nor did it say that Jesé is no longer a dramatically good Spanish prospect. He just is. But I think there was a fault-line, if not San Andreas then “San Ancelotti,” leading up to the crucial moment.

Here’s the thing. Jesé has a difficult year: knee ligament injuries, fire in his house, knee ligaments needing to be re-operated on because infection has set in, no part in the Champions League final. Rehab. He gets back, he comes on against Sevilla and with the game in the balance and Madrid misfiring, he gets what proves to be the 2-1 winner. Vital three points. Vital Jesé.

Shortly after that triumph, he hears his manager admit that this buzz-worthy player with a knack for getting special or crucially timed goals might have been the “extra” element to win Madrid the title last year. Unprovable, but a fair comment. Encouraging. But immediately afterwards, in one of his genial and interesting pre-match press conferences, Ancelotti commits a gaffe. He says: “When the BBC (Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo) are fit, they all start. End of story.”

Not only is this the wrong message to give to any trio of top players if you wish to avoid relaxation, the specific case in point is that Gareth Bale could probably have benefitted from knowing that Jesé was breathing down his neck.

What was obvious, just as plain as the nose on your face, was that there would come a time when shorn of James Rodriguez and Luka Modric and with Ronaldo seeking full form, a stagnant or torrid game would need turning in Madrid’s favour via a brilliant goal-cameo substitution.

Jesé, far more than Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, was that man. But he’s just been told that after a year of brutal rehab and a winning goal against Sevilla he’s got no chance — literally, no chance — of starting big matches so long as Benzema, Bale and Cristiano can walk straight.

Ancelotti’s decision to go public about Jese’s limited opportunities is a rare misstep by the Italian manager.

“Stay calm young man, keep your focus,” you’d have counselled him. But Ancelotti has been around the young bucks and mustangs of European football for an eternity. He knows that their powder can explode. Couldn’t he see what damage his statement might do to Jesé?

Yet in the two games that followed his remark, Ancelotti reserves Jesé as a substitute until the 86th minute (vs. Deportivo) and 90th minute (vs. Elche), in the latter of which he keeps the kid warming up for about 20 minutes before telling him to get stripped and play with seconds left in order to eat up game time before the final whistle.

TV cameras spotted Jesé muttering his fury at this treatment that, traditionally, almost all players take as a humiliation. Carlo, you should have known better.

So last week when Pepe and Jesé celebrated their mutual birthday with most of the rest of the squad, the fox-in-the-box is spotted coming out of Fox Restaurant at 4.35 a.m. on Friday morning. Or at least someone who was wearing the exact same clothes as Jesé on his way in, was spotted doing that. (Ditto Sergio Ramos, by the way.) An error of judgement. Not the first to make one of those, either, but you’d not be shocked if his discipline eroded the more frustrated at his treatment he realised he’d become.

Flash forward to Sunday. The ball is dropping to Jesé. Winning the match is, potentially, a season-changing moment with Madrid struggling for form, still suffering from injuries and Barcelona closing just ahead of a test of fire at the Camp Nou.

But the guy who Ancelotti has treated in an unusually cavalier fashion for him, a specialist in football-whispering, isn’t ready. His mind is less than focussed, his week’s preparation has been imperfect, his right boot finds the net with the ball — but the wrong side. Close, but no cigar.

While we’re on the subject, I think Signor Ancelotti also missed a trick when James got injured. Right now he’s made Lucas Silva a first choice in midfield despite accumulated knowledge over recent seasons that it’s tremendously difficult for a blue-collar player like him to transition from the far less disciplined or pressurised Brazilian league to the elite level of dominating the centre of the pitch for the European Champions.

Lucas may well become an extremely valuable and successful player for Madrid. I’d confess it’s much too soon to be critical of him and his attributes, per se. However what he’s not doing is adding very much at a time when Madrid are tending to be over-worked defensively in midfield and when they are creating far less from that area. It partly explains the lack of fluency and reduction in clear-cut scoring chances for the front three.

The emergence of Lucas Silva as a midfield option has also helped to sideline Jese somewhat in 2015.

When Madrid were at their splendid best this season back in November and December, they could pick any three from Modric, James, Isco and Toni Kroos. Elite players. With the arrival of Lucas, what has happened is that Kroos is battling with the avalanche of games he’s had to play, more than at any stage in his career and after a World Cup win, while Isco is working double-time to compensate. Lucas, while not critically poor, is adding far too little in terms of ball circulation or ball-winning.

The absolute, clear-cut solution was to promote Asier Illarramendi until Modric returns, almost certainly within the next two games, playing the Basque as an “organising” midfielder with Kroos to his left and Isco to his right.

It’s too late now but at Madrid even if Ancelotti claws back from these nagging errors and wins the title there are hawks at the Bernabéu, notably the President, who will undoubtedly complete a S.W.O.T. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threat) analysis at the end of the season. The Italian needs as few in the W and T categories as possible if he wishes to remain in charge.

Atletico’s house of cards may collapse at great expense

Spain’s reigning champions are risking a 40-million-euro penalty with their unerring propensity to get players sent off or booked this season. Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Sevilla included another seven yellow cards for Diego Simeone’s team and the result is that both Miranda and Antoine Griezmann are suspended for this weekend’s game at home to Valencia. More of that in a moment.

On it’s own, you could dismiss that fact as just part and parcel of playing intensely and having to face the upcoming onslaught from the Europa League holders at the Nervion. But Atleti’s discipline has dropped, markedly, from their title-winning season. In the Copa del Rey they were seeing a yellow card twice as often as last season; in La Liga, they are averaging just over an extra yellow card per game.

Moreover, their red card count through early March is already seven — Tiago was sent off in Germany last week in Atleti’s 1-0 defeat to Leverkusen — when it was only five for the whole of last season.

Atletico’s indiscipline is forcing them to play several key games without key players, which could be costly.

Their bookings and red cards are for the whole range of offences; it’s not simply that Atleti are a massively dirty team. Intense, yes. Capable of trying to “intimidate” an opposition player out of his stride? I’d say so, yes. But what’s doing them damage is that any frustration at knowing, deep down, that they aren’t quite as good as last season is starting to show itself in late challenges, dissent or unnecessary handballs cutting out passes.

So, what’s the 40 million euros about? Well, this weekend it’s Valencia, who just moved to within a point of them, against whom Griezmann and Miranda will be missing. Risk Management (when properly applied) teaches you that you try to avoid the things that threaten you and, additionally, you plan for how to cope if the worst case does happen.

But prevention is certainly better than cure. Ergo: not letting Valencia pip them for third place is a very, very big deal. Atleti will average around 40 million euros for each of their last two Champions League seasons; that sum will increase if they progress to the last four again this term.

Should Valencia finish third, Atleti fourth and the Colchoneros then fail to beat their opponents in the Champions League’s play-off round next August, it could be disastrous financially.

Unnecessarily facing Valencia without two of your best players just isn’t good squad or risk management. On the other side, Valencia had two big players (Dani Parejo and Rodrigo Moreno) one yellow card away from suspension for the Atleti match when they faced Real Sociedad on Sunday. Neither of them was booked, meaning both are available for Los Che to assault the Calderon this weekend. Cracker of a match, but one where Atleti have foolishly put themselves at a disadvantage. Once again.

Emery’s man-management has put Sevilla in prime position for a deep Europa League run and a high La Liga finish.

All hail Unai Emery, the King of rotation?

The chase to win the Europa League is hot this season because of the winner’s guaranteed place in the Champions League. Sevilla want to retain it and have put heavy emphasis on their performances away from home thus far. Four tough away matches — the latest, a win at Red Bull Salzburg on Thursday.

The only thing is that last season Sevilla played nineteen extra matches compared to the bulk of their Liga rivals because qualifying for the Europa league and then going all the way to the final is a long, hazardous route.

What cost them a Champions League qualifying place in La Liga (won by Athletic Bilbao) was the fact that all four of their away wins in Europe last season were followed by losses (two) or draws (two). Eight valuable points: precisely the margin by which they missed out on that last Champions League slot.

In fact, their points ratio after European football away from home last season was 1.3 per game. This season, the four away ties — at Rijeka, Standard Liege, Feyenoord and Borussia Monchengladbach — have been followed by three wins and a draw, a points ratio of 2.5 per match. Impressive. All of which makes the fact that Unai Emery reached 70+ matches without naming the same consecutive starting XI earlier this year, the dreaded “rotation” at its most extreme, just fascinating.

Emery is doing something spectacularly right beyond good coaching and quality football. Perhaps the right blend of rest and competitive activity within a squad can bring superior results rather than just unhappy players and critical media coverage.

Graham Hunter covers Spain for ESPN FC and Sky Sports. Author of “Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World.” Twitter: @BumperGraham.