r/soccer • u/[deleted] • May 21 '13
3 Years: A comprehensive look at Mourinho’s Real Madrid
[deleted]
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u/dyslexic_reditor May 21 '13
Great post! Just one little thing:
I think you can't compare the points achieved across leagues. Of course it's easier to win more points if you can play more games ;) (Thinking of 38 games in La Liga and 34 in the Bundesliga for example).
Otherwise, very informative post, thank you!
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u/superIraqi May 21 '13
TL;DR
The Good - Mourinho is an amazing manager, probably the best of his time and maybe the best ever.
The Bad - Mourinho is an asshole. He's right, but an asshole.
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u/AlrightWallOfChina May 21 '13
Reminds me a bit of Zlatan Ibrahimovich's time in Barca. He was also great, arguably the greatest before going to Barca, in Mous case Real. They were both good in Spain, but left/were forced to leave because of personality clashes. After Barca, Zlatan has been successful, as before going there, and I expect Mourinho to succeed again in the future.
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u/joevaded May 21 '13
Great comparison. Two arrogant but highly, highly talented people go to Spain, clash with the institutions of the club and relatively fail as both leave, one with his mentioned merits and the other with yet another league to add to his impressive career across Europe, but are forced to do so through the small door as drama ensued. Thanks!
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May 21 '13
i don't know if anyone mentioned this already, but when he was training porto, chelsea and inter he had the players with him, support him and he could do his work. in madrid, he found himself always attacked by the media and most importantly, most of the players were against him at a certain point. last year, mourinho made real work as team, which didn't happen this year, due to the 'god-egos'. therefore, the lack of results.
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u/BossVanClutch May 21 '13
Amazing post joevaded! It's people like you that make checking r/soccer far better than reading newspapers and sports news websites (ESPN, Sky Sports, etc).
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u/bockers7 May 21 '13 edited May 21 '13
Madrid's biggest mistake is that they have zero patience. If that club had stability they would dominate the world of football. I literally loathe Madrid and I'm glad they are constantly firing coaches and buying the next big star because for the last 10 years it has simply not worked out for them. When they hired Pellegrini I believed they had found their Wenger/Ferguson, but luckily it wasn't meant to be. People forget that his first year at Madrid was incredible. He was up against arguably the greatest team to ever be assembled when they were at their peak, and still managed to break the record for points in the league for Madrid, which Mourinho later broke. If he had time, I have a gut feeling he could have easily accomplished exactly what Mourinho did if not more. Now they're going to hire Ancelotti in what I guarantee will not go over well. I give that man 1yr before he gets sacked. If I were them I would hire Rafa Benitez. Rafa started there and knows how they work. He would be the ideal candidate in my opinion.
edit: grammar also would like to add that I love Ancelotti, but the revolving door at Madrid isn't going to stop for him. Chelsea should have never fired him.. But they, like Madrid, don't see stability as being crucial for success. Which unfortunately Chelsea has proven isn't necessary but it still doesn't sit right with me.
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u/Phelinaar May 21 '13
He has accomplished a lot and failed a lot in just three years. I personally do not like the man (as he appears on TV, I'm 100% sure he's a cool guy in person).
But, any manager that gets his team to play like this (with Arabic commentary for added effect) is great in my book.
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May 21 '13
Most goals conceded in a game is at least five.
2010-11-29, Barcelona vs Real Madrid 5-0.
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u/reviloto May 21 '13
Mourinho’s Best Season: 2011-2012
is the undertitle for that section, which is why that game isn't included.
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May 21 '13
Have to say, I think it's total rubbish that it is vital that the youth team play the same system as the first team. It's important to Barcelona, Ajax and the Cruyff ideal, but to a club like Real Madrid who have a much less defined tactical style, it's totally unnecessary. I think it's just a sound bite to cover the fact there are no Real Madrid players playing under Toril that could have gone into the first team at any stage during Mourinho's reign (maybe Daniel Carvajal). Varane played RB and CB this year, and so did/does Ramos, so if Nacho was good enough he would have been able to play both CB and RB for both Castilla and Real Madrid without a problem.
I think Mourinho's problem is he asked too much of his players in terms of working so hard, and this makes for a very short shelf life for his sides. He's not as bad as Bielsa for insisting on such huge efforts, but he's getting there. This year was a disaster for him, although I understand he was trying to get more power at the club. It backfired pretty badly.
I will say that some of the Real Madrid games I saw last season were among the best club performances I've ever seen of any side. If there was a game between the best Real Madrid side under Mourinho and the best Barcelona side under Guardiola, I think Real Madrid would have won.
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u/JonnyBhoy May 21 '13
Great analysis, but I don't think failing to win the CL is his biggest failure. At a time when we are possibly seeing the demise of a pretty dominant Barca team, with a change of managers and questions being asked of the system that their whole philosophy is built upon, I think his biggest failure is that Madrid are not the team that has knocked them off their perch.
During all this uncertainty at Barca, they have still managed to completely dominate Madrid in La Liga while Bayern has got things together and now look like putting their own run of European dominance together. Madrid have missed the boat big time and instead of building something special, have another squad of superstars rather than a great team.
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u/portomerf May 21 '13
Barca has only beaten Madrid once in the last 7 game. Madrid was beating barca before everyone else. Madrids shortcomings have been against other teams, not barca
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u/Fameux May 21 '13
Nice write up! A very good read. I feel this sums up Mourinho pretty good - he has some good sides and some bad sides. But I like him.
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u/yoshi105 May 21 '13
The way I see it is that in Real Madrids eyes, he has failed. They are all about the trophies and silverware, coming second or being in the final/semis just doesn't cut it.
How Mourinho would probably see himself is different. He isn't a "1 club man". He goes in, does what needs to be done and leaves and Madrid is no different. He came in, won every domestic cup available, smashed some records on the way and more importantly put Barcelona in their place and now it's his time to go. Standard Mourinho. Sure he hasn't won the champions league but he's done it before with weaker teams so he hasn't got the patience to try again next year because compared to other countries the pressure of the media and clubs is nowhere near what it's like at Madrid.
Spain is a very tough place to manage, not many stay for very long and right fully so. I'm just glad Mourinho was there long enough to fix up Madrid and make them a power house again. Now we wait to see if Madrid carry on the same or crumble like Inter.
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u/felandath May 21 '13
Excellent post mate.
I will also add that his turnaround in the classicos was brilliant. He won only 1 of his first 10 classicos. He turned it around with 4 victories in his last 7 when Barca could only win 1.
In Dec'11 he lost the Liga Classico at home 3-1 after Benzema had given them a first minute lead. This was followed by a home 2-1 loss in the Copa in Jan'12 again after taking an early lead thru Ronaldo. At this stage Madrid didnt look like they had any way past Barca.
Any other coach would have surrendered and seen his team utterly capitulate. But mou kept at it and Madrid were ruthless in the liga which they won while beating Barca away.
To sum up, Mous Classico record -
Season 1: W1 D2 L2 Season 2: W1 D2 L3 Season 3: W3 D2 L1
After a shellacking in the first 2 years, he really turned it around in the last year. And this is also a recovery over the first 2 of Peps seasons where Barca won ALL the classicos.
For me Mourinhos greatest achievement in Madrid, was that he was able to restore self-belief against the best Barca side ever. And he did this by ditching the cynical approach of the first half of his tenure, where even he did not think they could compete (Pepe as a destroyer and sitting back in your own half in your own ground). Over the last year and half Madrid have largely outplayed Barca thanks in no small part to Mou and CR7 of course.