Performances have improved but it is too early to conclude Real Madrid have put their early-season stutter behind them, coach Carlo Ancelotti said yesterday.

Real lost two La Liga matches in a row, at Real Sociedad and at home to Atletico Madrid, before bouncing back with a 5-1 win against Basel in the Champions League last week and an 8-2 rout of Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.

Ancelotti, who is attempting to integrate new signings Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez in midfield and fix a leaky defence, said he was pleased with the way the Real players had reacted during their last two outings.

However, the Italian added that the European champions still needed “another good result to boost confidence and consistency”.

“The result against Deportivo was very good but it could be misleading because we still have to improve certain aspects of our game,” Ancelotti told a news conference previewing tonight’s La Liga match at home to Elche.

“We have the same problem we had last year, but our attacking game is much better,” he added.

“We have to improve in defence but I think we are in better shape than this time last year.”

Prolific form

Real have conceded nine goals in their last four matches, although weakness in defence will not be too much of a problem if Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale maintain their prolific form.

Ancelotti could be without first-choice centre-backs Sergio Ramos and Pepe for the Elche game and neither player trained with their team-mates yesterday.

“Pepe has still not recovered from the small problem he has in his hamstring,” Ancelotti said.

“Sergio has a foot injury and we are waiting to see if he can recover.”

After hosting Elche tonight, Real play at Villarreal on Saturday before an away fixture at Bulgaria’s Ludogorets in the Champions League on October 1.