The Spanish and European champions have struggled to find their best form this season and are still working on effectively integrating the former Paris Saint-Germain star since his arrival this summer.
In their most recent Champions League match, Madrid suffered a defeat against Lille and will face Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday in a rematch of last season's final, which they won to secure their record-extending 15th European title.
“I prefer that (Mbappe) scores goals than he presses,” Ancelotti told a news conference.
“The central striker position in our team has not changed, I ask him the same I asked of Karim (Benzema, who left in 2023).
“To be well positioned and to be ready every time we get the ball back to make a rapid transition.”
Mbappe has netted eight goals for Madrid in 12 matches across all competitions this season, while Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski has scored 14 in the same number of appearances.
The forward faced backlash in France for not participating in the recent Nations League matches after recovering from a thigh injury.
Reports from Swedish media indicate that he is under investigation for an alleged rape incident in Stockholm during a recent trip, which Mbappe has dismissed as "fake news."
One consequence of Mbappe's transfer to Madrid is that Jude Bellingham has taken on a more defensive role, having been the primary attacking player for Los Blancos last season.
The former Borussia Dortmund star has yet to find the net this season in nine games, a stark contrast to his impressive tally of 10 goals in his first 10 matches last year.
“We’re satisfied with his work… because he works a lot on the pitch, he’s always there, he competes, fights, sacrifices himself,” said Ancelotti.
 |
| Real Madrid’s French forward #09 Kylian Mbappe talks with Real Madrid’s Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti as he leaves the pitch during the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and Deportivo Alaves at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on September 24, 2024. (Photo by Javier SORIANO / AFP) |
“The truth is he hasn’t scored the goals he did last year, but the surprise isn’t this year, it’s last year, he scored a heap of goals that no-one expected…
“We’ve always scored goals and we’ll always score goals, we have players with great attacking talent up front… so for us at this moment, the work he is doing is much more important for us.”
Ancelotti stated that Real Madrid’s impressive lineup of attacking players, which includes Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes, contributes to the team’s enjoyment of end-to-end matches.
“I want (rock and roll football) because I have players with these characteristics,” continued Ancelotti.
“We find it harder to play a game based on possession and control because we don’t have players with characteristics to play in reduced spaces.
“A back and forth game suits us well, but we’re focussed on defending better as we did very well last year.”