Real Madrid coach Juande Ramos has hit back at criticism that his tactics with the Spanish giants are ultra-conservative.
Ramos has gotten Real's season back on track with 10 wins from his 11 games in charge, yet despite this has come in for flak regarding their style of play. However he insists that the current squad has forced him to take a more cautious approach.
Speaking on Revista De La Liga, Ramos said: "I think that as a coach I must adapt a certain style of play to suit the type of players I have at my disposal.
"When I arrived we had to separate purely footballing matters from the rest of what was going on and focus on them. One thing that both coaching and playing staff are aware of in a club like Real Madrid is that there are many things to try and balance.
"The first priority was to solve the defensive problems we had. We sorted things out at the back and then started winning games. Now, bit by bit we have to improve other aspects of our play."
TurnaroundReal's 6-1 win over Real Betis last weekend suggests Ramos is well on his way to improving their attacking play. It's a far cry from when the 54-year-old took over at the club last December following Bernd Schuster's sacking, with Real sitting outside the Champions League places and not even considered as contenders to Barcelona's throne.
"Things were well and truly up in the air," he admitted. "I think that whenever there is a change in coach lots of things tend to happen in a short space of time. We had to get things sorted quickly however, as we had a Champions League game followed by a league match against Barcelona three days later.
"My first priority was that we approached those games in the best possible manner, aiming high. Since those two games the administrative set-up at the club has changed dramatically. Of course my primary concern is the sporting side of things, and in that regard, not only have things changed, but I think they've improved.
Stability
Ramos may have lost to arch-rivals Barca in his first league game in charge, but since then Real have gone on a nine-game winning streak to cut the Catalan side's lead at the top to seven points. He believes this is due to the club finding some much-needed stability.
"What we had to try and do was get the club back on track and that a good run of results would get us out of the situation we were in," he said. "We were fifth or sixth when I took over so we had to push on. Once things started to improve the team got into a groove and started gathering both confidence and momentum, which makes everything more straightforward."
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