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Mourinho has thrown down the gauntlet. A team of talented individuals who have mastered the art of conspiring to lose. If there’s anything this Real Madrid team has done well over the last two seasons; it’s losing games. Everything from passive defending, ball-watching, inability to control or use possession effectively, wasting chances, improvising with every attacking opportunity to refusing to defend as a team. Real Madrid have been weighed and measured and have been found wanting.
Putting this into the proper context, as Real Madrid fans, we ought to accept that José Mourinho took over a losing team. In stark contrast, this season, Hansi Flick is overseeing a team that has won La Liga back to back and made Champions League semifinals back to back. Expecting Mourinho to make Real Madrid champions in December is wishful thinking.
This is the reality of Real Madrid. Adding Diomande does not turn the team into winners. Adding Bernado and Carlos Espí still does not turn the team into winners. Winning is what makes winners. Not winning the first 5 games of the season or going unbeaten for 15 games but winning silverware. They do not hand out the silverware this early in the season. This part of the season is for building a structure that can withstand the pressure of a title challenge. That is Mourinho’s realistic job right now.
Real Madrid players repeated the same noise about Ancelotti, Xabi, Arbeloa and are now doing the same with Mourinho. They all say boldly how much they want to learn and how much they are learning. They all say how much they support the manager and how much they want the team to do well. You could almost predict word-for-word what the answers will be at this point. None of it appears even remotely genuine at this point. For players to let down a manager like Ancelotti after so much success and then follow that up with mutiny during Xabi’s short tenure, effectively neutering Arbeloa and now heads bowed in shame in front of Mourinho.. I simply refuse to believe almost anything these players say. It is all so simple, the game is won on the pitch. You defend well, you outscore your opponents. You win the fight. But you have to fight.
So far, the second half struggles are seen as a major part of the team’s problems. However, Mourinho is willing to grant that fitness has not yet reached the desired levels and is also willing to compensate for this using rotations. The excuse will not hold the gates for much longer. Controlling games has to do with structure, discipline and desire. The same team that rolled over for Elche to pull two goals back, got a shot in the arm to find the winner. I would be remiss to not laud the effect of Carlos Espí but him being on the bench cannot be cause for downing tools after going up 2-0.
Real Madrid are interested in signing Man United wonderkind JJ Gabriel. This is now convention at the club. Many will ask about Endrick and Mastantuono and other youngsters who have yet to reach their potential. The reality is that there are no guarantees in this game. If there were a guarantee it is simply that you will lose. You will fail. But there are not guarantees of success. Real Madrid will keep looking to sign talented youngsters and those youngsters will always be victims of circumstances at the club. Timing is everything. Fede, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Jude and now Arda Güler show the positive side of how young players have turned out at Real Madrid. That’s a pretty healthy return. There will be many more not given chances or simply not able to rise to the level to compete. That’s how the cookie crumbles. That’s how the game goes. It’s same old..
Thiago Pitarch will have to develop into a solution for Mourinho. He’s more of a creative number 8 who does his best work offensively and not so much defensively. José has said Thiago needs to work on his legs if he’s gonna play with the big boys. It was tongue-in-cheek but brings me to this thought.. Thiago could be a player who brings a kind of balance. We saw him under Arbeloa but we’ve not seen everything he has to offer. We’ve seen good things and mistakes and weaknesses that can be worked on. If Mourinho will not play Arda Güler in the double pivot, what are the chances he will play Thiago there or.. Are we likely to see a return to the 4-3-3 which isn’t exactly Mourinho’s bread and butter. The 4-2-3-1 is to Mourinho what the 3-4-3 is to Xabi Alonso and Antonio Conte.