Real Madrid should try to get out of the zone to return back to their champions track. They are the defending champions and the most trophy holders so they already have a champion's mentality. I'm not surprised if they are bad at the beginning, and won it at the end, because they've done before it. What they should do now is must be able to move to the next round, so if they can do it, they will step up perfectly until the finals.
If Real Madrid want to qualify automatically to the next round, they must return to the top 8. If they end up the league phase in 9th-24th place, they must join play-offs to qualify for the next round. Well, I never doubt Real Madrid players' mentality but it won't be easy if we look at the current condition of Real Madrid. They have a schedule to play against Liverpool in the next match, it won't be easy to defeat Liverpool because Liverpool is on fire nowadays. Liverpool even is unbeaten in UCL until now. I guess Real Madrid possibly misses points in this match.
And I think this is also Anceloti's strategy, he is a genius man who has tactics that can't understood by another coach. he's even willing to lose so that the strategy can not read by another coach to the next the crucial match.
I don't think it is Anceloti's strategy to miss points in the previous matches. Ancelotti must try to win every match to secure Real Madrid chance for the next round. If Real Madrid couldn't get optimum results in UCL now, it is because Real Madrid has some problems. I just hope Ancelotti can fix the problems, so Real Madrid can perform again with their best form.