Real Madrid is in big trouble.

The superstar club, which had a solid four-point lead on La Liga entering last week's game against Villarreal has now seen its position drop to second in the league, one point behind rival Barcelona.

It is the ultimate reversal of fortunes for a club that went on a 22-game winning streak through the end of 2014 and was being crowned the cream of Europe.

Now who would claim that this team is a Champions League favorite? And given Barcelona's tremendous resurgence, who even thinks this club can take back the League title.

And how does this team go from contender to pretender?

A lot of criticism has been dished out to the players, but perhaps no one has received more hostile words than coach Carlo Ancelotti, the man who pulled all the right strings last season, but has been seen as losing his touch in this campaign.

So what exactly has Ancelotti done wrong according to many? Rotation of his squad seems the most common criticism. But is it valid?

Of the 10 players with the most minutes played in Spain, six are goaltenders, one is a defender, one is Lionel Messi and two are midfielders. One of those midfielders, the 10th player on the list, is Real Madrid's Toni Kroos who has managed 2,262 minutes in Spain this season.

But that total does not include Kroos' minutes played in the Champions League (519) or Spanish Super Cup or the Euro Super Cup or Club World Cup. In total, Kroos has appeared in a whopping 39 matches this season, and there are still two months remaining in which he could rack up over 50 appearances if he plays in every game possible and his team makes a deep run in the Champions League.

Is there no surprise that Kroos has looked more lethargic in recent games and that the German has put together one of his worst string of games of the year? During his last six games, he has actually averaged fewer passes than he has for most of the year (68.8), which is actually a lot less than he averaged as a member of Bayern Munich last season when he played 2,084 minutes in the entire Bundesliga season.

He is obviously being afforded more responsibilities, but he is not as effective as he was at the start of the season. And it is essential to remember that he did win the World Cup this summer in adverse conditions. His body is undoubtedly giving way at this stage in the game.

And if you look at Madrid's squad overall, you will find that there are four others players that have each notched over 2,000 minutes in Spain. For comparison, Barcelona only has two players with over 2,000 minutes -- goalie Claudio Bravo and Messi. Jordi Alba is one game away from 2,000 minutes while Sergio Busquets comes next with 1,863 minutes. Only 12 of Madrid's players have managed over 1,000 minutes in the league while 14 of Barcelona's player have gotten at least 1,000 minutes, thus indicating that there is more prevalent rotation.

And that does not factor in the fact that Real Madrid has played in more competitions than Barcelona.

Part of this overuse has come down to the injuries on James Rodriguez, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos to just name a few. But the reality is that Carlo Ancelotti has had ample chances to give more game time to Asier Illarramendi and Javier Hernandez and has opted for leaving them on the bench.

The Illarramendi usage has obviously been the most contested as he provides the defensive midfield backbone the team so desperately needs for the sake of balance. But even with "Chicharito" one must begin to wonder what the point of giving him 10 minutes at the end of a game is supposed to do for not only his form, but his confidence.

And the reality is that not only are these underused players not producing, but the ones being overused are all starting to falter. Ronaldo has scored just seven goals in 12 matches in 2015. Messi is producing at a greater rate and playing more minutes in Spain, but he also has no knee injury to contend with the way Ronaldo does. Ronaldo may want to play every minute, but there is no denying that he needs to get some rest to be at his utmost.

But Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale have also been woeful of late, combining for a paltry eight goals in 14 games for Los Blancos in 2015. In the case of Bale, he has not registered a goal since Jan. 24, while Benzema has scored twice since Feb. 7. Those numbers will simply not cut it for two players of their caliber and it will not help the team win crucial games coming up.

The reality is that there may be a degree of complacency going around with no one having to worry about their jobs. Ancelotti recently made it clear that as long as the BBC was healthy, they would all play. Does that send the right message to the likes of Chicharito and Jese Rodriguez, the latter of whom has worked months to rehab an injury and struggled to get a chance to prove his worth? And does it make Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema not feel the need to step up their games with no competition for playing time? These are professionals that have standards to uphold, but with tired bodies, they might not feel the need to give it an extra push in games.

For Ancelotti, rotation is crucial and he will certainly get some help once Modric and James Rodriguez start returning. But will it be too late to turn the season around?