Evolution After Revolution

(written with Kaushik and Bassam)

Jose Potter

Sometime ago there was a request from a regular reader (Wang Fei Lei?) for an article on the new season from Mourinho’s perspective. What’s written here is a combination of thoughts / analysis from Kaushik, Bassam and yours truly on the subject matter. While we’re not sure if we are able to provide exactly that, but here are a few thoughts, facts and opinions on the subject matter:

1.0 Results

When Mourinho was signed by Real Madrid as a Galactico coach last summer, it didn’t take long for him to say that this will be a slow project, of which the best results will be seen only in 2012, which was a fair enough thing to say, because all projects, all football teams take time to gel. What the media did though, is interpret this in a whole new way. They coined the idea of “Mourinho’s Second Season”. People didn’t buy it in the beginning, but slowly, even Mourinho himself started making statements that led us to believe that we are destined for big things in the second season, and second season at the earliest. Yet, we made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League, finished second in the league, and even won the Copa del Rey. Not a bad start at all, for a newly assembled team, which seemed to be the norm in the last few years. If this is really a sign of things to come, and the second year is going to get bigger and better, happy times will be back for Madridistas. But will it?

First things first: let us all be clear on how we need to perceive what transpired last season. In my opinion, last season was a period of cleaning house.

Let’s first be clear about what the objective is for this second season: to win EVERYTHING. And if the club was somehow forced into choosing between the 3 prizes on offer: then the choice would be La Decima: to win the Champions League.

1.1 The second seasons of Mourinho’s past 3 clubs before Real Madrid:

1.1.1 Porto 2002/03 – League Champions, Cup Champions and UEFA Cup winner.

1.1.2 Chelsea 2005/06 – League Champions, Cup Semi-finalists and CL knockout stage exit.

1.1.3 Internazionale 2009/10 – League Champions, Cup Champions, CL Winner.

1.1.4 Real Madrid 2011/12 – ???

1.2 Conclusion/s:

1.2.1 There is evidence that his second season is indeed a period where once can possibly expect big things in terms of accomplishments for the club with 2 out of his 3 past clubs winning trebles (league, domestic cup and a European title).

1.2.2 On the back of Mourinho’s accomplishments last season of Winning the Copa Del Rey and getting to the semi-finals of the Champions League, there is much reason to be optimistic. This is also due to the fact that he has managed to break down a few critical psychological barriers that has hindered the team: the phobia of the Champions League last 16, the ‘curse’ of Olympic Lyonnais and of course the psychological edge that Barcelona have over the team. That hint of ‘oh shit, we’re playing Barca next’ has now been replaced with ‘those bastards just got lucky last time ‘round!’

2.0 Personnel / Transfer Market Moves / Tactics

2.1 Mourinho’s major signings in his second season at his last 4 clubs including Real Madrid:

2.1.1 Porto 2002/03

2.1.1.1 Nuno Valente,

2.1.1.2 Derlei,

2.1.1.3 Paulo Ferreira,

2.1.1.4 Pedro Emanuel,

2.1.1.5 Edgaras Jankauskas

2.1.1.6 Maniche

2.1.2 Chelsea 2005-06

2.1.2.1 Lassana Diarra

2.1.2.2 Del Horno

2.1.2.3 Wright Phillips

2.1.2.4 Essien

2.1.2.5 Maniche

2.1.3 Internazionale 2009-10

2.1.3.1 Quaresma

2.1.3.2 Milito

2.1.3.3 Motta

2.1.3.4 Lucio

2.1.3.5 Eto’o

2.1.3.6 Sneijder

2.1.3.7 Pandev

2.1.3.8 (There are many more but these are the significant ones)

2.1.4 Real Madrid 2011-12

2.1.4.1 Coentrao

2.1.4.2 Varane

2.1.4.3 Sahin

2.1.4.4 Altintop

2.1.4.5 Callejon

2.2 Conclusion/s

2.2.1 Mourinho is clearly not fond of superstar galactic-type of players. The closest signing he’s made to a galactico was Wesley Sneijder and let’s admit it: a big part of the galactic impression comes from the fact that he’s ex-Real Madrid.

2.2.2 Porto 02-03: Paulo Ferreira and Maniche went on to follow him toChelsea: neither were good enough to hold their places in the team.

2.2.3 Chelsea 05-06: Maniche and Del Horno turned out to be duds in Chelsea. Lass and Wright-Philips are both starting XI material for a mid-table team or as squad players for a top tier club. Only Essien turned out to be a success. To date, Chelsea are struggling without him fit or in form.

2.2.4 Inter 09-10: Quaresma was a dud. Motta was/is bleh. Lucio, Milito, Eto’o, Pandev and Sneijder all turned out to be successes.

2.2.5 Mourinho’s transfer moves, particularly his 2^nd season transfer moves have been progressively improving in terms of success. From what turned out to be Chelsea duds during hisPorto stint (Maniche and Ferreira), to hit-and-miss picks at Chelsea (Lass, SWP & Essien) to the core of his treble-winning Inter (Sneijder, Lucio, Milito, Eto’o).

2.2.6 Real Madrid 10-11: If we were to look into his signings, the lineup would actually be: Carvalho, Adebayor, Di Maria, Ozil and Khedira (Canales and Pedro Leon were, reportedly Valdano signings). Apart from Adebayor, all are considered to be core members of the team and are considered as successes.

2.2.7 Real Madrid 11-12: Thus far, Coentrao has proven to be a very useful player (not a star though), Varane has shown the makings of a Real Madrid defensive institution for the next decade while Callejon is a solid albeit unspectacular (re)-purchase. The jury’s still out on Sahin and Altintop because of their injury problems.

3.0 Tactics

3.1 Formation

Many believe that this is the season where Real Madrid finally make the bold switch to the 4-3-3 or the trivote, as the first choice formation. I’m sorry but I disagree that it will ever be the first choice formation of Mourinho for Madrid. If we were going to play the trivote with or without Sahin, we’d have done it already. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that we will see it more often especially now with the arrival of Nuri Sahin. The first choice formation however, will still be the 4-2-3-1 with the occasional 4-3-3 on specific games where he feels an extra ‘pivot’ is necessary. For those who believe that the 4-3-3 is the better approach because of some impression that it is ‘more offensive’, I’d also like to point out that in Mourinho’s Madrid, it’s not. With the 4-2-3-1, Mourinho employs the use of FOUR attackers, only one of which (Di Maria) is tasked to go deep and press (Ronaldo, Benzema / Higuain and Ozil press the opposing Defenders and DMs at the most). In his variants of the 4-3-3 however, he has 3 men in near-fixed positions in the middle of the park with 3 attackers up front – one man less compared to the formerly-reviled 4-2-3-1. Even if we suppose that Sahin enters the equation to form a trivote with Xabi Alonso and Khedira, that’s still 3 CMs for you: all of whom are happy to stick themselves in the middle of the pitch.

The key difference between this season’s Real Madrid (thus far) and last year’s is its effectiveness in playing vertical football. The effectiveness of Madrid’s counter-attacking play is the sure sign of the improvements that the team has undergone after one season with Mourinho. If last season, Mourinho worked on the team’s effectiveness in containing attacks and establishing the key patterns of Real Madrid’s direct style of play, this season, he has further added the next step of what to do with the ball once it is won. Last season, the key feature of Real Madrid’s game was the quick exit of the ball to Ronaldo or perhaps Ozil and Di Maria for either of the 3 to dribble their way ¾ or ½ of the pitch to create a scoring chance. This season however, we are seeing Real Madrid take the next step: discontented in merely getting the ball to the front 3 for them to run with the ball, we are instead seeing lightning-quick passing exchanges between them to get the ball into from deep in defense, right into the feet of the scorer-to-be in a matter of seconds through these lighting-quick passing exchanges. The epitome of this play of course materialized during the Ajax game and we saw glimpses of this once again vs. Espanyol later.

3.2 Style of Play

Volde-Mou

3.2.1 Counter Attacking or Vertical/Direct Football?

On the back of Real Madrid’s performances in the last few games, the debate has raged on Real Madrid’s style of play: playing badly for the greater part of 88 minutes of the game, only to snap at the drop of a hat and consume part of the seemingly-rationed 120 remaining seconds of the 90 minutes of football to execute an orgasmic display of vertical football.

This of course is reason enough for the footballing moralists from Catalunya and their ilk to brand Real Madrid’s football as ‘small-team football’: sit deep, absorb the attack and hit them on the counter. Perhaps it is true that the line that defines the boundaries of small-team park-the-bus-then-beak-out-football and a brand of attacking football that is centered on directness (rather than tiki-taka) is a very fine one. And though I’m one of the first to say that Real Madrid’s brand of football has ALWAYS been more of the latter, it is true that our performances as of late has seen us cross the line and become the former many times.

Needless to say, the basis of a successful vertical attacking game is still predicated on being able to swing the ball and the team shape from a deeper position in order to provoke the opposing team into loosening up: making it easy to mistaken it for sitting deep and parking the bus. Real Madrid’s array of passing weapons from deep (Carvalho as the ball-playing CB + Xabi Alonso whose passing range is second to none) facilitate this style of play. Having speed merchants like Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo and a fit Kaka also helps of course – and with players like that executing your offensive moves, as someone said, it becomes easy to get the impression that our vertical attacking moves which are lighting fast in their execution, resemble counterattacks.

The key for Real Madrid, its challenge these days especially in the wake of their last few performances, is to draw the line more clearly to distinguish itself as a vertical-attacking team rather than one with a small-team counterattacking mentality. The devil lies in the details of course: Because a great team with a vertical attacking style will not concede the massive number of goal-scoring opportunities that we have been conceding as of late.

3.2.2 Bashing Through the Bus

The key concern that has emerged thus far this season though was how Real Madrid can cope with teams that sit deep, wait for them and nick a goal for the win on the counter. The team’s shortcomings in facing clubs who employ such tactics (which tend to be the smaller clubs) has proven to be its primary shortcoming and most basic explanation on why the La Liga campaign fell short of silverware.

Last season, it took some time for many teams to figure out that the means to nick points vs.Madrid would be to sit deep and wait for them: deny Ronaldo (and Kaka) space to run to and create and you just might manage to blunt the Merengue attack. And so far, a few games into this new season, we are finding that the problem persists. Perhaps like last season however, all the team really needs is more time to gell together and a bit of extra time to settle into Mourinho’s drills and maybe, just like last season, we will learn to eventually bash through those buses parked across the goalmouth of opposing teams. Needless to say, it’s also perhaps unfair to compare this weakness of Madrid’s as a point of contrast to Barca’s main strength with their tiki-taka: breaking down set defenses. It’s in situations like this where the Guti-esque passing skills of Ozil can come into play and where Mourinho might want to consider the use of a more classic ‘battering-ram-type’ of a ’9′ so as to have someone to knock the ball up to in the box. Either way, the season is young and we may yet see thisMadrid’s improvements in breaking down teams who set themselves up in this manner.

4.0 Organizational Structure: Coach vs. Manager

It’s very difficult to discuss Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid without having to go into the structural changes that Real Madrid have had to go through organizationally to accommodate him. Yes, we are talking about his tussle with Jorge Valdano. It is my view that the events that transpired was a painful necessity and I’ve spoken at length about this previously already.

No Real Madrid coach in the history of the club has ever wielded as much power as Jose Mourinho does now. In fact, he is no longer just a coach, or an entrenador (literally translated: a trainer): he is now an English-style Manager, answerable only to Florentino Perez and Jose Angel Sanchez. This is clearly an arrangement that has disturbed many ‘conservative’ and old-school-types. Ex-President Ramon Calderon (whom I genuinely believe is a Barca secret agent) says that Perez works for Mourinho and not the other way around. I say Mourinho is merely doing his job as the Real Madrid manager: after all, when’s the last time you heard Malcom Glazer tell Alex Ferguson what to do? The last club chairman I saw who tried to do a Florentino (i.e. dictate to his manager what HE-the-chairman wanted), was Roman Abramovich who tried to shove Andriy Shevchenko down Mourinho’s throat… and we all know how that turned out (both for Chelsea AND Sheva).

5.0 Culture Clash?

Darth Mou

Sadly but interestingly, it is the non-footballing aspects regarding Mourinho which spark the most intense discussions and heated debates about him. Discussions about how good or how bad this coach or manager really is for non-footballing reasons is perhaps the ultimate testament to Mourinho’s potential as a media powder keg and the natural divisive and polarizing characteristics which he brings to both the club and the footballing world in general.

Let us however, put to rest the discussions regarding his eye-gouching antics during the supercup as think that I was VERY clear with regards to my thoughts and feelings on the subject matter.

What Real Madrid is perhaps experiencing with Mou is a sort of Clash of Cultures between what many believe are Real Madrid’s older values as a let’s-not-make-too-loud-and-ugly-a-fuss of things type of club to what Mourinho believes should be a revolution against injustices which he feels are being perpetrated on his team. This is of course most evident in the discussions regarding Mourinho’s ranting and raving on officiating – and I do believe that it is in this specific aspect where the culture clash exists. Bassam explains is very well:

“…Unfortunately, Mourinho loves blaming refs and pointing out their mistakes. I think the problem isn’t that Mourinho is ruining the clubs name because he is doing this, but rather that Mourinho hasn’t/refuses to adjust to the Spanish way of doing things. Download Match of the Day (the premier league show about the games) and see the match comments after the game. EVERY single manager gives their opinion on the ref from Fergie to Villa Boas to King Kenny. It seems to be the way things are done there and it seems to be accepted as something that is normal. I will admit i was really thrown off by it. Mourinho managed in England for 4 years, and it’s very probable that such culture fit his way of operating and has stuck with him. Does it make it right? Well, depends on who you ask.”

The odd truth of it of course is that, if the what we know about Mourinho really is true, then even these public rants and feuds are somewhat calculated moves to get the media attention onto his antics rather than onto the performance of his team or certain members of his team who would otherwise be prime candidates for heavy criticism. And though I’m not an insider to the goings-on within the Real Madrid dressing room, I’m pretty sure that the players aren’t given a ‘free pass’ internally for their failings on the pitch: they too get the scoldings and telling-offs from Mou re: their performances if they screw up. I suppose the best analogy I can give would be the difference between getting a scolding from your parents in publc vs. getting it in the privacy of your home. Professional athletes are known to have the biggest yet most fragile egos on the planet: and a manager who knows how to handle them possesses an amazing weapon. The price of course is his reputation – and that’s part of where the mystique lies in: because how much Jose Mourinho does NOT care about other people’s opinion of him (outside of his club) is exactly the same thing that fuels his notoriety and infamy, which oddly enough boosts his reputation and the degree of respect and reverence his players have for him. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

It cuts both ways of course: flipside being that it is these same antics that also take away the attention of the world from the team if they do play well and achieve great things.

Florentino Perez has recently made a very fervent defense on Mourinho: where he justifies Mourinho’s senorio on the basis that this elusive quality is not just about being gentlemen or good sports, but it is also about justice – seeking it out and letting the world know when it is being denied. As a hater of Footballing Morality, I will not delve deeper into that cavernous and folly-laden subject.

6.0 Evolution AFTER Revolution

I once said that when God created the idea of a Real Madrid Manager, he was thinking of Vicente Del Bosque. A true-Madridista himself who was an ex-player and coached at the various levels of the club, he is soft spoken, gentlemanly, a fantastic coach and blessed with unmatched man/ego-management capabilities. Testament to this was his ability to mesh successfully together Ronaldo-the lothario + glutton, the sulky Figo, the still-water-runs-deep Zidane and the uptight Raul into a world-beating team. Unfortunately, Florentino thought he was God and fired him.

What followed was a carousel of coaches who were all at the mercy of Florentino. It was as many people say now, an epic fail.

Florentino ver. 2.0 however thus far, has shown us a man aware of the mistakes he has made in the past. Hiring Pellegrini wasn’t his idea. Hiring Mourinho however was his: and he’s sticking to it. The man, who seemed to play God, who was once infamous for treating coaches as collateral damage, has now shocked us all with his announcement that Mourinho would be in charge for as long as he is president. He no longer believes he is a president-cum-manager like he used to and now defers to Mourinho for all football-related matters. That has been the revolution.

One Copa Del Rey title later, here we are in another campaign looking to dethrone Barca from their throne as a European and Spanish Champion without a single iota of self-doubt. Under the guidance of Mourinho, we now have a team that has gradually developed and evolved into the team that it is now: and the signs are now clearly on the wall that the team is ready to take its next step.

The evolution will continue. There will be more incidents of controversy and brilliance. The voices proclaiming Mourinho as the destroyer of Real Madrid and Spanish football will continue and will probably never end. And while we are able to comment and react to events and incidents that take place, I for one would rather reserve judgement on Mourinho’s legacy at this point.

We have Florentino Perez’s revolusion to thank for the fact that the evolution of Real Madrid under Mourinho will continue. And until it stops, I am not keen to judge Mourinho just yet.

And for the sake of logic and reason, I urge all to do the same.

About the author

Written by Madridista Mac - A fullgrown man with a childlike fanaticism for the World's Greatest Football Club

Kishore R

Brilliant . Just brilliant . Just my kind of views on Mourinho . Del Bosque was and is the best . But i still would like to stick with Mourinho . All said and done he’s the best in the business and best club in the business needs the best manager in the business .
Davison Madridista

Gret article from u guys.It was well written by the three of you and i really enjoyedd every bit of the story .i don’t have anything to add or to subtract on what u have said.keep up the good work guys u are simply the best

AddyDBaddy

Amen to that…Agreed.

Davison Madridista

Gret article from u guys.It was well written by the three of you and i really enjoyedd every bit of the story .i don’t have anything to add or to subtract on what u have said.keep up the good work guys u are simply the best
WangFengLei

It’s Wang Feng Lei actually,,still. FANTASTIC Article Guys. Really appreciated it. But i can SENSE that more will come when the season( or finally Mou2′s seasons?) ENDs. I know passing the judgement now is too premature because we all KNOW the potential this team has,,so I can’t help but think : Will the guys from RMFB will Finally accept Mou’s Antics with more titles? LoL. Afterall,,RESULTS is all what matters right? I know most of people here said things like : Barca’s Golden Era..Cycles will end bla3. But don’t u think the prospect of BEATING Barca at THEIR BEST is a drooling-somewhat-orgasmic sensation? I think that’s why we hired Mou. Yes, Barca and Madrid is Two Best Club On Earth. No need to discuss or worry about others, LoL.
I believe Mourinho WILL lead Madrid into Success. And it looks like Perez shares the same vision. : )

Thanks Mac, Kaushik and Bassam!

http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

Sorry about getting you name wrong.
Kaushik, Bassam and I are very happy to finally ‘release’ this article. For a very long time we believed it was a cursed article because it was just so difficult to write for some odd reason. Anyway, glad you like it.

http://www.facebook.com/mohanad.aljibreen Ned Jibreen

I just hate to be a pessimist, but with how Referee’s are working against us, I feel that no matter how ready we are we might become victims again.

Mourinho has us on the right path, but is that enough? I guess we’ll see at the end of the season. In all honesty though, its 1 trophy we want and thats La Decima. Everything else is extra luxury.

Real2

Referees were biased against Inter & Mourinho too, but they won the treble at the end.

oluwole

to be honest, that season was a rollercoaster ride! amazingly emotional season. I was definite that the FIGC was going to do whatever it took to ruin inter that Season.

Rakshit

love the pics of mourinho mac!!! nailed it bro! mourinho is the best man manager in the present day scene and that can be seen from the loyalty and respect he commands from all the people he has worked with. his methods are out of this world and most time annoying to others but yet they yield results on a continuous basis which is what makes him the “SPECIAL ONE”.
Anonymous

Love this article. Balanced. And that seems to be rare when talking abt Mou.

About busting through a parked bus, I think the team this year has struggled with this because for so long it has been the same team from last year. What I mean is that the other players that Mou bought to treat this problem are all injured and so he cant imploy the new tactics that were devised.
For example, imo the best ways to get past a parked bus (other than the unsustainable brilliant through ball) is the use of overlap on the wings and the late arrival of a deeper player. Coentrao was meant to provide both of these…and was out injured. When the whole team is fit again we will be able to judge if Mou has a plan for parked buses.

Also i think the vertical or counter-attacking success of the side merely outshines the rest of our attacking tactics (eg tiki-taka), not that the other tactics are insufficient. (I was surprised no-one mentioned the 43 pass possession that lead to a goal vs Ajax, i mean c’mon…..how is that not evidence of our abilities in the other style of play?) I think the vertical part works best because again, key players are missing for other styles.
Seeing Hamit play for turkey and Sahin clips on youtube, and thinking of the playmaking abilities of Ozil and Kaka…i cant see any bus working against us once were together and clicking.

As for tactics…im really excited to see how Hamit and Sahin will be used. And i patiently await their first full games so Mac can break down the tactics for plebs like me. lol
James

Who’s the most important player for Real Madrid? For me it’s Ozil.

micha

I think right now it’s still Ronaldo. Ozil has the potential to be one though. He’s the second one for me actually. Even though it’s hard to compare the importance of players because the position they played, Casilas for example also very very important.
oluwole

Ozil who goes missing at away games and cant control a hostile game and goes to sleep in the 60th minute of evey game? yea right! Even a fit kaka will sit Ozil on the bench easily.

Nella

Lol, you’ve got to be kidding.
Away games you said? Zaragoza our first match this season was one example of away game, and Ozil was MOTM on that match, and I could go on more.
Hostile game? I interpret this as tough game, like when he Jose subbed in him in Clasico home lague last season when we’re down to 10 man and losing 1:0 or like recently in Rayo match when we’re conceding early & losing 1:0. In both games, Ozil managed to be the game changer & turn the game around into a draw againts Barca & winning 6:2 againts Rayo.
Goes to sleep in 60th minutes of every game? He made a goal againts Sevilla in minutes 80 something semi CDR last season, also recently he made an assist againts Ajax & created clear cut chances that forced Ronaldo’s penalty againts Rayo after minutes 70, I could go on more as well.
And Kaka is not even Ozil’s replacement, he played the same role as Ozil but couldn’t provide the same kind of creativity, only safe if we want only to counter.

maddy

ozil is misunderstood. too many people expect him to be absolutely sensational and nothing less at every game. hes just 22 and he’s still learning. for those who say xabi is the most important, i dont disagree. but he’s 29 with a wealth of experience, has won a champions league with a top flight premier league team, his significance cannot be compared to young players.
tell me, had canales or kaka played instead of ozil last year, would we have made it to the cl semis or won the copa? or even finished second in the league. honestly?
he may go ‘missing’ in certain games. what i’ve noticed is, in such games, almost the whole madrid team goes missing. and ozil isnt the type of player that can play alone. ronaldo may be, not ozil. his stamina has improved vastly since his time at werder. he’s a slight guy and runs a lot and very fast.
all in all, give ozil a break. kaka is a former world player of the year. it is beyond ridiculous to compare him to the a kid who is playing his second season of champions league football. if we held onto ozil for 5 more years, gave him as much playing time as possible, the results will be magnificent.

xabi

I think some people are getting spoiled by Ozil & taking him for granted. Just this season, besides Zagreb & Espanyol game we can’t even manage to grab our first goal without Ozil being involved.
oluwole

If Kaka had been injury free and in form, Madrid would have won the CL and possibly the league. Kaka played only 12 starts last year and he scored 7 goals. In terms of pure talent and influence, Ozil is not close to the level of Kaka. KI hope he gets there and even surpasses Kaka, as that will be great for real madrid. However, at this time, he is not even close.
Nella

Lol, stop overrarating Kaka dude, it’s not even funny. 7 goals, you forgot like 4 of them are from penalty that were not won by him. Take out your bias glasses.
oluwole

overrating Kaka? is that even possible? look at the insults Kaka is getting simply because he got injured. Oh well, lets see Ozil win Balon d’or and lead a team to world cup and cl glory. cant wait!
Sid

thats just a matter of time. Im sure germany are going to win something big, sooner rather than later, with ozil(along with shweini) being the linchpin of the team. Champs league is something I hope madrid win and if they do ozil is going to be one of the most important players. He may or may not win Balon d’or, but that does not matter. Someone as great as Iniesta hasn’t won it yet. The Balon d’or winner is usually one who bangs in loads of goals (ala Messi, cr7, kaka). Nobody notices the finer things that someone like Iniesta, Xabi or Ozil does.
oluwole

the Ballon Dor winner is one who bangs in goals? Really? You said that with a straight face? Kaka plays the ame position as Ozil and won the Ballon Dor. Zidane, Figo, Nedved, Ronaldinho all play the same position and won it!

even defenders, Matheus, Cannavaro, Maldini, Sammer all won it and they were all DEFENDERS!

no need to make excuses for Ozil. You are just being defensive in a circumstance that does not call for it. CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU MIGHT THINK, I want Ozil to win the Ballon Dor, the league and the CL. it means Madrid does well and it means Ozil (who cost 15 mil) was a huge bargain. All I am saying is, he goes missing in away games and looks frightened in hostile matches. Playing like that will cost him his starting position, talkless of even being close to a ballon ‘dor nominee.

Finally, If Ozil can get to the level of Kaka in the future, we sould all be happy. However, as for this moment, he is not even close.
Nella

LOL. Stop saying Ozil goes missing in away games and looks frightened in hostile matches dude. There were way more games where Ozil showed up in that kind of matches than the ones he didn’t.
oluwole

i wish I can agree with you.
Nella

You keep saying he’s missing in away games but couldn’t even mention which away games? Just last season one of his best games happened in away game (againts Racing) where he played without Ronaldo. Please do back up your opinion with fact.
Nella

I wasn’t saying you’re overrating Kaka as a player in general. I was saying you’re overrating Kaka’s influence/impact on Madrid, especially relatively to what Ozil has done for Madrid.
James

The only thing attribute I see Kaka being better at than Ozil is his shot right now. Besides that he doesn’t really bring anything else more than Ozil (vision, creativity, pace ect.). Also, let’s not forget that Mourinho gave Kaka a chance to prove himself last year in the Classicos (in the second leg of CL) and how did that go for him (and he wasn’t injured at the time)? As a Madridista, I really like seeing Kaka back and enjoying himself on the pitch again, but let’s not kid ourselves, he’s nowhere near Ozil’s level and probably won’t ever be, and that’s just a fact we must accept.

oluwole

The Zaragoza game? Ozil was man of the match? were? In ur brain or in reality? You mean the game Ronaldo had a hattrick? or the game Kaka scored a blinder and had an assist inside 13 minutes? how did Ozil who only had one assist have a better game than one guy who had 3 goals or another who scored one and made one in `13 minutes??? I watch games, I dont need the press to make stories up for me.

you mentioned last seasons clasico game, but quickly omitted 3 of those games: the first game where Ozil was horrendous and hurled off immediately and the other two games were his coach dropped him because he knew he would get run over.

Ozil is a fantastic player and talent, but the truth is he needs to take more responbsibility and more fight! I was impressed with him at the Supercopa, where he dominated and desgtroyed Barca (especially the first leg). However, more often than not, he is busy hiding and curling up in away games and tought games.

I have said it 10000000 times, people do not know the bond Kaka and Mou have. Soon they will find out. Even when Kaka was at Milan and Mou at Inter, I think they were even neighbors. I said it before and I wil say it again, even ignoring that bond, when Kaka is in form, Ozil is not even close. The truth is Kaka is more talented and more intelligent thanOzil. And unlike Ozil, Kaka is a big game player, he shows up for tough games/away games and takes charge. I have no doubt that one of Ozil or DI Maria will remain on the bench this season. No doubt, whatsoever, If Ozil continues to hide away during tough games, he will be the one.

Finally, anyone who says Ozil has been great this season is either biased or simply blind. Ozil has been between average and nearly poor this season. I know for a fact that he can do better because he is 10times the player he has shown in the last two months. He has even criticized himself and his coach has said he must do better. the same coach who has dropped Ozil 2 times already this season.

Nella

Yes, he was MOTM in Zaragoza match along with Ronaldo. You don’t have to score hattrick to be MOTM, there are other way to influence the game. He only assisted 1, but involved in creating the following 2 goals. Not to mentioned 2-3 the sitter Benzema missed and 4-5 other half chances missed.

Againts Rayo & Ajax, the real star was Ozil not Kaka. Ozil was the game changer in Rayo game, nothing good happened before he came on. Againts Ajax, even though he didn’t scored and assisted, he & Ronaldo played crucial role in counter attack for the first goal. He also created 2 tap in for Benzema & Kaka who missed them, and created at least 3 other half chances. Kaka literally didn’t do anything besides scoring the second goal & assisted the third. Just compare their individual highlight and you will see how little good scenes Kaka had in that game compare to Ozil.

And no, I wasn’t saying those above that because of the media. They were actually underrating Ozil’s performances lately.

About Barca game, everyone was bad in the 5:0 match, it was a tactical fail. In another Barca game for final supercopa he played very well during his time on the pitch, create 2 clear cut chances & 2 hald chances missed by Pepe & Ronaldo. First league CL was once again a tactical fail, while Ozil played decent during his time on the pitch in the second leg.

Lol, not sure about talent, but Kaka definitely isn’t more inteligent than Ozil. Inteligent is the part from Kaka that’s supposed not be affected by the injury & since the beginning we all can see his decision making is not as good as Ozil, not even close, he’s too one dimentional minded. Run with the ball is always on his first plan. No creativity whatsoever. Yeah, Kaka is big game player, his contribution was so obvious when he started in first leg CL last season when he did nothing, and even againts team like Rayo he can’t do a shit without the help of Ozil before Ozil came on in minutes 30. Also againts Levante, once again without Ozil he did nothing when he started besides missing sitters. LOL.
Don’t let the media that hype Kaka so hard to sell the ‘Kaka come back’ drama wash your brain.

This season,with RM, Ozil played great (MOTM level) in Supercopa first leg, Zaragoza, Rayo, & Ajax match. Played good to average in Supercopa second leg, Getafe, & Racing. Played average to poor in Zagreb & Espanyol game. While with Germany NT, he played great (MOTM level) in Austria match & Belgium match.
That was a mix. but considering he managed to pulled out quite many MOTM level game, I wouldn’t call him has a poor start.
oluwole

am sorry, but what do you mean by “he was MOTM along with Ronaldo?” When did they start awarding MOTM to two players? Again i ask, was he MOTM in ur brain or in reality? am confused
Mesutozil10

Dude … Özil is way better than kaka. When you ask if ozil has ever lead his nation to world cup or if he has ever won ballon d’or, you can’t compare them. Ozil has been to one world cup where he almost lead germany to the final. If they met uruguy they would have been in the final, but they met the best team in the world and couldnt do much about it. And ozil is a young player who got his breakthroug season two years ago. He will compete against ronaldo, messi, xavi and iniesta to get the balon d’or which kaka didn’t. Messi and Ronaldo was very young when kaka won it and kaka is gettin a bit older, which at some point will affects his game. When ozil is 25-26 he will be one of the best players in the world.

Kaka didn’t even lead his nation to world cup? He was on the bench the whole tournament. Ozil has a big role on the German national team and was playin a very good match against Belgium. He will be very important to the euro 2012 where kaka isnt even on the NT. Ozil is a new player and doesnt have the same experience as kaka. The guy is only 23! And ozil is a important player for Real
oluwole

“Dude… Ozil is way better than kaka.” I understand ur name is Mesutozil10, so such comment is expected. however, as ur friend, I will advice you. dont make that statement in public. lol
Nella

His comment is actually making much more sense that yours.
oluwole

then God bless him. lol
Nella

He backed his opinion with legitimate facts.
Mesutozil10

See your just trying to avoid all the facts because you know it’s right. Kaka is a very good player but it’s now that he is getting his breakthrough after two years in the club. And ozil got his breakthrough in his debut season and is so much more important than kaka is and you Know it …

It’s just a name? It was a quick comment to all your shit that I needed to comment on cus your facts are all wrong.
Should I call myself “oluwole’s is totally wrong” instead?
oluwole

why is Kaka just “getting his breakthrough after two years at the club?” if you are an honest man, you shouldnt even make that statement. Are you just speaking for the sake of speaking? or you really do not know Kaka has been injured for 2 years and has had his first pre-season in 3 years?

I am confident that at the end of this season, Kaka will be more influential than Ozil, who will be on the bench if he continues to play the way he has been playing.
Mesutozil10

“I am confident that at the end of this season, Kaka will be more influential than Ozil, who will be on the bench if he continues to play the way he has been playing.”The way he has been playing? what do you exactly mean with that? Are you serious that you mean that ozil has been playing bad this season? There must be something wrong with you. For example when we where behind against Rayo, Mourinho choose to take Ozil on the pitch, because Kaka couldnt handle it. Then what happend my friend? That shows that Mourinho knows how got Ozil is and how important he is for the team.-how can you seriously mean that you believe that at the end of the season, Ozil will be on the bench? He has maybe been bad in like to games but thats the most. Did you see him in the first leg of the super cup? Yes you are right about kaka being much better in Madrid now than ever, but I think you are hoping to much from him. It will be VERY difficult for him to take the offensive midfield role from Ozil. Kaka is just not giving the same to the team as Ozil does.Maybe he will in his next life … but not in this one.
oluwole

at the end we will find out.
Zlatame101996

Is that your reply? Please just explain to me why you are so much against ozil and why you believe is has been playing bad and why you believe that kaka will be much more important than ozil. I really wanna know.
http://rahulmadrid.wordpress.com/ Rahul Madrid

Can you stop with the whole “in ur brain or in reality” thing already?
oluwole

I guess I can rephrase it.:

“Was Ozil named MOTM in ur imagination or was he actually named MOTM?”

I am honestly confused. He keeps claiming Ozil was named MOTM in a game he was completely outplayed by 3-4 players. So I would like hism to tell me who named Ozil MOTM. I dont think thats too much to ask.
http://twitter.com/solva_gran Solva Gran

Marca.com and the official Real Madrid website (vs Zaragoza). Goal.com choose Ronaldo as MoM because of the hattrick.

Sorry, but scoring/assisting the 5th and 6th goal not really counts as “game changing” or something so Kaká was not even a candidate for MoM in that game.
oluwole

Solva, it is you and others like you who do NOT know Kaka. The Kaka I know and his fans know and Mou know does not care about MOTM award or Ballon d’or. Am not sure when you started watching Kaka, but if u notice, Kaka does not like the lime light. If he is in front of goal and has a chance to score, he will look to pass the ball (Ronaldo goal v. Zaragoza and Benzema goal v. Ajax). That is Kaka for you. Thats one reason I respect the man and while Mou loves him (aside from the fact that they were former neighbors @ Milan). You saw the Marca front page yesterday right? How Mou asked Youth players to look up to Kaka. have you ever heard him say that about Ronaldo, Ozil or the likes? Kaka is the kind of guy who will be first to come into training and even tho he is not starting, support his team with happiness.

Anyways, my issue is not whether Kaka was MOTM. I just wasnt sure why someone was saying Ozil was MOTM, when Ozil had an average game.

Thanjs for giving me the true answer.
Nella

You are so completely bias with regard to Ozil. Calling him had an average game againts Zaragoza? Read my reasons in my previous post again & check this link if you want (RM website MOTM againts Zaragoza). http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1330065204468/noticia/Cronica/Zaragoza_0-6_Real_Madrid.htm
Or rewatch the match again if you want. Ozil is anything except average in that game.
Kayceefacebook

throughout this page I have said: “I hope Ozil surpasses kaka and wins Ballon ‘dor and CL. if that is being biased AGAINST Ozil, then i imagine Ozil will love everyone to be biased against him.

I am an intelligent man and I watch games. I know what I see and right now, Ozil is not close to being Ballon ;dor. He disappears too often in games.

p.s– i saw the link u posted. I completely disagree with their selection. I watched the game and I know excatly what I saw.
Nella

If you are trully an inteligent man, why couldn’t you back up your opinion that Ozil being average in Zaragoza game with facts? I feel like I’m arguing with brick here. What he did or didn’t do that made you think he’s being average in Zaragoza game? I’ve already back up my opinion that he’s excellent in that game with facts that he’s dominating, assisting the most important goal that night (the first goal), involved in another 2 goals, & creating so many other scoring chances (2-3 clear cut chances missed by benzema and another 4-5 half chances). Noone more productive than him that night. Not even Ronaldo who scored hattrick.
James

We all know Kaka is one of the best professionals out there. But if you remember correctly this conversation was about performances on the pitch… BTW would have said what your are saying right now about Kaka just a month ago? I don’t think so. And you clearly don’t watch Real Madrid games and only highlight videos online, otherwise you should know how little Kaka influenced any of the games you mentioned above until the first or second goal had been scored, which is the hardest one to get.
oluwole

Then Mourinho must be fired. Kaka is gonna start his 4th CONSECUTIVE game on Satudrday, If you are correct that he has done nothing lately and yet, the coach continues to START him, then the coach needs to be fired.
James

I never said or implied he hasn’t done anything… He’s clearly been playing better lately. But the media is overhyping him way too much, which leads to people like you running around thinking Kaka is back at Milan level.
Zlatame101996

Not the one against zaragoza where he was shooting at goal and Ronaldo took the rebound, right? The other one … What else should he do ?? Everybody would do the same, and kaka couldn’t shoot from there? Bad example.

Did you see the ozil assist to Ronaldo? Such a good reading of the run and then the pass. Ronaldo couldnt get it much better. Kaka would never make that assist and that’s the difference between kaka and ozil.
Nella

Marca mentioned Ozil as MOTM actually. Goal.com mentioned Ronaldo. While RM website mentioned both of Ronaldo & Ozil as MOTM.
Nella

Dude, read my post above. MOTM isn’t all about hattrick, Ozil created so many goal scoring chances in that game & involved in many build up for scoring chances created by other player as well. 1 assist, involevement in other 2 goals, 2-3 clear cut chances, & 4-5 half chances Ozil produced in that game spoke for itself.
RM website & Marca also mentioned him as MOTM.
http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1330065204468/noticia/Cronica/Zaragoza_0-6_Real_Madrid.htm
Nella

And no, Ozil wasn’t outplayed by 3-4 players at all in that game. LOL.
maddy

i wish everyone would just stop comparing the two. its insensible on so many levels.

1. the difference in age and experience, if both kaka and ozil were 22 starting their madrid careers at the same time, then yes, we would be able to justifiably compare them.

2.at age 22, according to one poster, kaka was best player of the brazilian league, you cant compare this to playing at real madrid at that age.

3. ozil is only in his second season of european football. he had played barely a handful of internationals before the world cup.
Nella

Actuallly RM website mentioned both Ozil & Ronaldo as MOTM for Zaragoza game. Just check this link: http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1330065204468/noticia/Cronica/Zaragoza_0-6_Real_Madrid.htm
Of course most media calles Ronaldo as the only MOTM because of the hattrick. But Marca mentioned Ozil as MOTM. Even Guti praised him after that performance. You really need to took out your Kaka fan boy glasses to admit it.

MOTM isn’t all about scoring. It’s about how much a player impacting the game. I’ve already said it, Ozil not only assisted the first goal for Ronaldo, but also involved in creating the other 2 goals after that. Did you even read my post about how many clear cut chances as well as half chances he created in that Zaragoza game? He’s a creator, you needed to rate him not only by how much he scored ot assisted but also how much he created. He’s our the most prolific creator last season with 165 scoring chances. This season he’s also still leading in that department with 21 scoring chances so far.
http://twitter.com/solva_gran Solva Gran

“The truth is Kaka is more talented and more intelligent than Ozil” Sorry but no.

Just do a research on the 22 years old Kaká. Özil has no reason to feel ashamed when he is compared to him.

Kaká is more experienced and that’s all.
oluwole

Actually, Ozil is 23 years old

Research on 22 year old Kaka:

by 2002 (age 20)
- he had won 4 trophies including THE WORLD CUP.
- he ahd won the Bola de ouro (best player in brazil league) and Bola de prata

between 2002-2004 (age 22)
- Serie A, Super Coppa and UEFA supercup
- Serie A best foreigner
- Serie A best player

I truely hope Ozil becomes better and more successful than Kaka, that will be good for Madrid and Ozil. However, like I said before Ozil is not even close to the level of Kaka in any way. NONE!

Now I tell you, YOU DO A RESEARCH ON KAKA and then re-read your post and see the way u insulted him. I dont blame you one bit. I blame the sad state of Journalism. People forget that what happened to Kaka was not his fault. he never did anything wrong – alchohol, drugs, laziness… he simply got injured! Ask any coach he has ever had, he is one of, if not the most hardworking players they have ever worked with. Like I have always maintained, Kaka will be a starter for Madrid this season..EASILY! one of ozil or dimaria will have to make do with clapping from the bench. no questions about that!
Nella

Ozil will be 23 on October 15th. Today he’s still 22. You can’t compare them just by the trophy or award. Kaka wasn’t even key player in WC won by Brazil back then, while Ozil even though not won the WC at 2010 was key player for Germany, created the most scoring chances in the tournament only second to Xavi.
And after all Kaka & Ozil are very different player to me. Kaka is all about about pace, burst, run with the ball, & shot. But Ozil edges him in term of creativity, quick passing, vision, & decision making.
oluwole

then clearly you simply dont know Kaka. You should have said that earlier. If you think Kaka is just about burst, run, pace..then i am sorry, but hahahahahahahaha I think our discussion can finally end here. i thought we were talking about Kaka and not Cristiano Ronaldo.

by the way, look at what I posted again, by 22, Kaka had been voted best player in Brazil and best player in Italy. Ozil?? NOTHING!
James

Was Kaka nominated for Ballon d’Or at 21? Just wondering…
oluwole

dont have much time to check it now, but at 21, he had already won (1) BEST PLAYER IN SERIE A and (2) BEST PLAYER IN BRAZIL LEAGUE.
Nella

What is wrong with you mate? But I’ll give you your own recipe. What you said above, is it in ur brain or in reality? LOL
James

And your comparing that to a Ballon d’Or nomination?
oluwole

I said “I dont have the time to check it out.” However, Kaka ACTUALLY WON TWO AWARDS! what has ozil won? aside from being an “also ran?” By the way, what d you think about Kaka and Ozil vs. Betis? Like I said, In a near future, Ozil will seat on the bench if he continues to play like he is doing. truely disappointing outing by the german today.
Nella

By 21 Ozil has already starting & shining in the biggest stage of the world leading the offense for Germany NT in AM role. They made to semi final. Kaka around that age in WC still being a sub. LOL.
oluwole

am glad u LOL. that was funny..lol. As long as you dont repeat this comment on the street where you will be laughed at.
Mesutozil10

You are so weird?
zlatame101996

you are looking to much on the stats. When you see Ozil play he is very fast. In every thing he does. But kaka … he is too slow now. When we was in Milan he was very fast and all the things you compare kaka with. He s still got it. But he is doing it slower now.
oluwole

my friend, I am not an idiot. I watch games and I dont need you to lie to me about the “slow Kaka.” If Kaka is slow, then every team madrid has played against this season are snales. Like I said, I am not stupid. Making false statements with authority does not make it true statements. I know the Kaka i have seen this season and very few players have been able to catch him when he runs.
Mesutozil10

Umm you know what? Ozil was in the top 10 of the best players in the world cup. Where was Kaka?
oluwole

Kaka had the most assist in the world cup! FACT! and this, while he was carrying a serious knee injury!
Zlatame101996

Now wasnt it Xavi and then özil?
James

I would like to add that I feel like Ozil has more pace than Kaka right now. Ozil just doesn’t utilize that burst as often. Before anyone rants about my comment, please go on youtube first and watch Ozil’s run against England during the World Cup. I don’t think today’s Kaka would have been able to do it.
Nella

You’re right. The fact that Ozil rarely use it tend to make people underrate his pace. Just recently we also see how fast he was in counter attack for the first goal againts Ajax. He also used it for defending, you can see his run when stopping the counter attack from the ooponent in Racing & Zaragoza games.
oluwole

First of all let me say this clear: DO NOT WATCH THE OZIL AGAINST ENGLAND CLIP!!! lol..he out ran GARETH BARRY!! BARRYYY!!!! Barry is like a snail. even my grand ma will out run gareth barry.

By the way, I agree with you Ozil has lots of pace.

However, “you dont think Kaka will be able to do that?” you dont THINK? or you KNOW??? those who have lied to us at Kaka have lost his pace are…well..lying. You think we are blind or stupid? We have all seen him outrun players for fun in the last few games. Thank God for television. I can use my own eyes to see things.
James

Let me restate myself, Kaka would not have been able to get to that ball. Also, Ozil wasn’t only trying to outpace Barry, he was also trying to get to a ball that 90% (Kaka included) of players out there wouldn’t even had tried to get.

addy

Xabi Alonso.We are a completely different side without him…

xabi

Agreed. Xabi for me. After Xabi, then Ozil & Ronaldo.

Damien6908

so? what about pipita the goal machine

Anonymous

Blindly xabi! Without thinking twice..and it is our problem!
http://rahulmadrid.wordpress.com/ Rahul Madrid

Without a doubt Alonso. We become a mediocre team without him. Ozil is of course a key player but we can replace him with a fit Kaka without suffering too much.
http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

In footballing terms: Alonso. The team functions 2-3 levels below without him.
On overall terms: Ronaldo. His presence in the team, his goals, his attacking style and flair and reputation puts us in the forefront of the footballing world and allows Madrid to cash in in terms of club image to bring in the $$$ to keep the team strong.

James

I agree with you to a certain degree… However we have yet to see the effect of missing Ozil for a long period of time (hopefully we never will) and the effect it has on the team. I do believe that Madrid were a better team offensively during the Clasicos last year with Ozil on the pitch.

Nella

I agree with you. I fact, just this season, except Zagreb & Espanyol, we have never been able to score the first goal (which I agree it’s the hardest goal to get) without Ozil being involved, either in the build up or directly assisting.

http://twitter.com/solva_gran Solva Gran

Xabi and Özil.

Just an interesting fact about number of assists in whole career: Xavi(113);Özil(112);Messi (110);Fabregas(106);Kaká(82);Iniesta(78).

So I would like to see the best playmaker at his own favorite position again from now on. We should stop messing up his confidence with beeing nostalgic or with searching for new toys.

Anonymous

WOW! Can these numbers be verified?? Can we get the link please?

http://twitter.com/solva_gran Solva Gran

I found the numbers on transfermarkt.de , they have all career statistics for all players.

Özil
http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/mesut-oezil/leistungsdaten/spieler_35664.html

Kaká
http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/kaka/leistungsdaten/spieler_3366.html

Xavi
http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/xavi/leistungsdaten/spieler_7607.html

etc.

Anonymous

:O im speechless! Ozil iza BAWS!!! lol
Gotta love that german order and organization to give those stats!!!

Ashsih Dutta

I would not rate a player purely on the number of goals or assists he provides. I’d rather go in for a player who is irreplaceable or untouchable as Mourinho used to term certain players at Chelsea.
Iker is fantastic but so has Adan been whenever he got a chance, team’s level does not drop when such a change is made. All the defenders are capable of playing well at same potential at the moment. In attackers, Benz and Higuain are almost equally good with not much difference, even Joselu has done well in the few opportunities he got. That leaves the midfield and wingers. Lass and Sami are good with Sami being marginally better. DiMaria’s absence recently did not have much affect. We won matches when Ronaldo was injured last season and also before that. However, he does draw a few close markers and many fouls from them in addition to the goals he scores. Ozil and Kaka play in the same position and both bring certain qualities with them which are needed by the team depending upon the opponent and team plans.
Xabi is the only player for whom team is yet to find a suitable replacement. Sahin could be that player but I will not comment on it till I see him play with the team. The team suddenly becomes an average team without Xabi initiating play. Ozil begins to look ordinary without the regular supply. Ronaldo ends up becoming more selfish and gets frustrated soon.
So for me it is Xabi Alonso.

Sal

Acually you forgt one thing. You wer already excellent last year. There was only 1 team standing in youre way of becoming Spanish and European Champions, and thereby the treble. The main challenge is not knowing how to defeat all the other teams, because you were battering them last year too, even in Europe. You can’t win all youre games in a year, so no matter how you play, sometimes you will lose points, every team on the world does. The real challenge is how will you overcome Barca. Their are youre only and last obstical to succes. If you keep winning all youre games you will eventually meet yhem in the cup tounaments. In the league both seem to lose the same points against otehr teams, so the 6 points in la liga in the classico’s (togeher with the psychological advantages (remember 5-0) will determene everything.
Siddharth Kanjilal

On the pitch I think Mou and VDB are very similar. They pick teams on merit (with the exception of VDB’s obsession with once a patetico always a patetico striker Torres) and as per situation. Off the pitch however VDB barely says much, refuses to get into any sort of arguments (he kept playing down the RM-barca feuds) and basically stays invisible. Mou does the exact opposite, picking every small, medium and major matter, expressing his view, and making sure everyone hears it loud and clear.

Like has been mentioned, the drawback of Mou’s approach is the negative image it creates of him, his team and the club. RM being a considered as the original institution of club football, suffers from this “petty” behaviour. Like has been said above, its a clash of cultures.

From the day-to-day point of view, what this does is protect the players (who are ultimately the ones who are going to make a difference) from the non-sense and scrutiny of the press who are too busy analysing and re-analysing Mou’s comments/actions/behaviour.

RM’s past history, culture and traditions are not going to help us today or tomorrow on the pitch. Mou’s strategy just might. What one must notice is the extremely positive feedback he gets from his players and ex-players and people who have worked with him at some level. Obviously he must be doing something right to get that feedback.

I am a big fan of VDB, but given the circumstances we find ourselves in (faced against one of the best Barcelona teams in the history of the game), we need a slightly different/crude approach.

So let’s look at the pros and positives and hope for a better future.

oluwole

I do not believe Mou and VDB are smiliar “on the pitch.” tactically, they take different approaches.
http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

Mou and VDB’s general strategy is the same in the sense that it is their Man/Ego Management of their players that makes them so successful. Their method in doing this however is very contrasting. I of course prefer VDB’s more ‘Madrid-esque’ approach of subtlety and more ’gentlemanly’ methods in this regard

I would say however that Mourinho is a better tactician. VDB’s successes came from early Galactico Real Madrid (who had 3 Balon D’Or Winners + Raul + Hierro, etc.) and the Spanish NT who are experiencing a Golden Age in terms of talent. Whereas Mourinho’s successes at Porto and Inter (a talented team, but nevertheless 1 or 2 notches below teams like Barca, etc.) are borne of his industry and use of players with lesser talents to win titles. The diversity of his successes need to be noted too.

But speaking on the basis on who would be perfect FOR REAL MADRID, I’d go with VDB.

Oluwole

first off, Quaresma was bought in the FIRST SEASON at Inter, NOT second season. Also, if you watched Serie A (i doubt you did, anyways) Motta was the best midfielder in italy during that second season. Not opinion, FACT!

oluwole

by the way, I had to check before I made this statement. Now I have checked, “Motta was voted best midfielder in Italy in the 2008-2009 season- the season before inter bought him. And then after they bought him, he was the best midfielder for Inter. When I hear people mention Sneidjer as the best midfidler, it proves to me that they never watched the matches. Instead, they read the press. Sneidjer was injured quite a lot that season and many times was invisible on the pitch. I must concede, tho, that he was very good in some key matches -Milan, Cska, Dynamo Kiev, chelsea, bayern. However, Motta was overwhelmingly Inter’s best midfielder. Imperative we watch games.

http://real.theoffside.com/ Corey

So you got your facts wrong. Yet you went after Mark for doing the same thing. Simply amazing.

Motta is a water carrier. Water carriers are never world class players. Motta is by no means a great player, but a useful player. Lets not sensationalize a player because he had one or two strong seasons.

oluwole

I NEVER got my facts wrong! NEVER! maybe u didnt understand me. In my first post, I was going to say “Motta was OFFICIALLY name best player in 2008-2009 season.” however, I decided not to put that into my first post UNTIL i had gone to check it out. After checking it out, ONLY THEN, did I make a second post –as an addendum! So, as you see, I did NOT get my facts wrong. I am a journalist and I never ever ever ever ever make a categorical statement before checking it out first.

If you want to, you can call Motta a water carrier or a sand carrrier or an imbecile! thats not an issue for me. to be honest. The facts are what they are. Motta was named the best midfielder in serie A. he then moved to Inter Milan were he was the best midfielder in that team and was instrumental in winning the league, the cup and the champions league! A feat only a handful of players can ever make claim to.

Finally, the man most people agree is the currently the best coach in the world. Not my opinion, by the way, believes Motta is one of the best midfielders he has ever worked with–thats his words, not mine. So, like I said, Motta can carry water, sand or grass..in fact, he can be an imbecile, but it will never take away from the fact that he was named, OFFICIALLY, the best midfielder in Serie A, won the League, CL and cup and dominated a team that had the likes of Eto’o, Milito, Snneidjer, Lucio, Maicon..e.t.c.

http://real.theoffside.com/ Corey

Not even going to read a post with that many letters in caps and exclamation points, just going to say : wah wah wah (wet fart)….
oluwole

Thats understandable. lol…have a great evening.
http://real.theoffside.com/ Corey

Congrats, you got my humor! Commentor of the month award for oluwole! Have a good weekend buddy.

KT

I don’t agree with the hostile tone you have, but I completely agree that Motta under Mou was pretty darn good, and very important to Inter that year. See Barca’s pre-planned strategy (IMO) to get him sent off in the Camp Nou semi-final. Still gives me a laugh at how badly that backfired on them.

oluwole

i dont mean to sound hostile, my friend. Its just that for over two year, people have made this same false statement over and over and over again and now they take is as truth.I know this may be an over-exageration, but under Mou, Motta was world class! My goodness, was he amazing. he controlled the midfield with ease both defensively and attacking. he was almost impeccable, especially from january 2010 – may 2010.

Anonymous

I think milito, motta and snjeider were the peak of Mou career where everyone looked at who is this guy to make Motta a world class player!!.

oluwole

Mou has made more inferior players than Motta look world class. E. – Paulo Ferreira, Nuno Valente, Maniche, Gudjeonsen, Joe Cole e.t.c.

I think people actually forget that Motta has won the CL twice–and was important in both wins. How many players have done the same?

maddy

absolutely brill.
Ashsih Dutta

A gud article Mac, Kaushik and Bassam.

I feel that 4-3-3 actually presents more attacking options than what you credited. It helps put 5-6 players in attack, facilitates overlaps, penetrating the gaps through the centre and in defence the 3 mid fielders plug the gaps between the defence and make it a 3 man screen ahead of 4 man defense. I am saying this from my experience of playing in this formation ever since my school days and have been doing so for last 20 years. While I say this, I repeat what I said earlier that had 4-3-3 been the preferred choice, Mou would have probably signed a few more forwards.

A single style of play is not the way to championship. As the season progresses, the team will play counter attacks, pressing high and also tiki taka depending on the opponents. The combination of players will change everynow and then. I feel that most of the players will get an average of 20-30 matches and the core of the team will average around 40 or so. Players like Iker, Ron and Xabi will continue to be used every match as long as they are fit.

I ignore the likes of Xavi and Pique who will continue to make senseless comments about Mourinho and Real Madrid. They will conveniently forget their own past of violent football and also the treatment of Figo. The Barca PR team operates at full steam all the time and such articles are meant to divide the team and also the fans.

Anonymous

10 points for this post…and 10 more for the final paragraph.
http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

Like I said, I still expect the 4-3-3 to be used among other systems during the course of the season. We’ve seen Mou use a classic 4-4-2 or a 4-4-2 diamond as well. The 4-2-3-1 however in my opinion will continue to be his ‘base’ formation.

Completely agree with your last paragraph – this is why I hate the Football-Morality discussion which many Cules seem to LOOOOVE talking about with the convenient ignorance of their dark past.

Anonymous

long article w lots info..
I think the other team from spain can claim real plays small team ball but lets be clear here. real doesn’t park the bus, the reason they don’t have the ball is because they defend with only 6 and sometimes take them a while to steal the ball, it is not because they let them have it and counter attack. I think they need to address that problem because they are giving up to many goals because they are leaving to many gaps open for opponents which is hard to believe given mou’s teams are created from a strong defense forward.
http://real.theoffside.com/ Corey

And that is why Mark is on our site, because he is brilliant!

About the signings, it is hard to say a coach signed a player because each club has a different protocol for signings. For example, Lass Diarra was signed by the technical director Frank Arnesen as a young player, not sure if Mourinho had anything to do with it, but you can also see that when he brings players from Porto to Chelsea, it has to be his influence. I guess it is a case by case basis, and with that in mind, it is tough to compare managers on transfer policy alone.

http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

Corey just made me blush
Good point re: Lass and other recruits.

http://twitter.com/vrock112 Vanessa G

Probably the best thing ive read about Mou and company in a while! Nicely written and great team effort!!!
Anonymous

While I enjoy reading your articles for their substance and detail Mark, your photoshopped pictures make me giggle like a schoolgirl.

http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

I didn’t know what photos to use for this post so I decided to go with this series of images.
the harry Potter one is recycled from an old article I wrote at my personal blog. So I decided to go with this theme of Mou transitioning from a Hero (Potter) to the ultimate pure-evil Villain (Voldemort): which is what his haters view him as and onto Villain who redeems himself in the end (Darth Vader) or rather, actually has this hidden good side about him: which might perhaps be what he really is.

Anonymous

You know it is one of these articles that you read and just don’t want it finish beautiful guys beautiful

Now, see I am not going into the tactical side of the game, ( I like to speak about the psychological part more or how do I interpret Mourinho). Mourinho is I will say the best coach in the history of the game ( with all due respect to del bosque who I think is the best for us club because he simply understands how our clubs values, believes as much as iker do now, or Raul used too), now back to Mourinho, Jose changed the idea of coaching entirely, he is a coach that is charismatic, good looking, young, never been a famous footballer or even good or average, studied coaching he actually has a.
degree in what he is doing, started as a translator moved to coaching ended up in the biggest club in the world of course with numerous of titles and succes that coaches will dream of, his least successful season with Chelesa, that he actually built and won titles – I know you guys all of these I may skipped even details, I know even most of you know more details than I do about Mourinho – but I am repeating this because I want explain why I think he is the best in history! He even has his own fan club, his own fan base who follow him to whatever club he end up coaching, he even got ibra to say I am willing to die for him ( who said about guradiola it is better for him that I will never see in him the street because if I did I would kick him), if you look at it he opened doors for coaches like guradiola, villas even llorendo to start coaching because who used to hire coach in their 30s to manage club…he changed coaching culture..

Again, why I am going on on about mouriho like this ( just to point out I am not a Mourinho fan, I am a madridista)! I like to speak about Mourinho ‘bad’ influence on our club or players, how he changed Pur players and values, how we are this annoying little ranting clubs that we are never are. Well, as much as I love sportsmanship ( I do believe we girls support this aspect of this sport the most), I do believe Mourinho brings a little bit of excitement, entertainemt to the football world, just look at the comments on any topic regarding Mourinho comments and other coach for example: Kenny daglaish in the last Liverpool derby he said I didn’t see the red card accident I am not planning too, I just want to enjoy my vacation or when de boer said I said to one of my players wit is either cristano dpwn or the ball for the latest Ajax game…just imagine if Mourinho said it, he is charamtistic he is a person that media likes to hate, likes to talk about because as I said before he is a successful coach who shaped the face of football, when Mourinho told the referee Luis Garcia did nothing in the Getafe game, media didn’t speak about it, when guradiola said the portuguese referee is Mourinho coach, well it all disappears because Mourinho said mr. Pep must be seeing something else than when we are seeing, Mourinho is a coach that studied management well, he uses this term call ” emotional intelligence” something that a leader can use to control his followers emotions to benefit his purposes in thi case it is Mourinho key success his ability to mapuliate the media as he wants, he uses it in the same time to motivate his players that look we are on on this side, all other clubs are the other side…

Again why I am going around saying this Mourinho with “eye poking”, I still believe it is cheek punich whatever!, rants, I still believe and support papa Perez in his choice, even we end up with nothnv this season, Mourinho is the perfect coach for us, he is doing everything to win, he is a sore-loser, who isn’t in a football games this is not a tennis game, anyone who speaks abour Mourinho lack sportsmanship ( please yes you Xavi!) please remember that most no-one likes losing, I have plenty of example of how sportmanship is not applicable in a football game starting with *cough* water sprinklers anyone?

I hope I didn’t write a long post lol
http://rahulmadrid.wordpress.com/ Rahul Madrid

I too am very concerned about Real’s inability to batter through “team bus” defences. It’s a serious cause for concern. We can score against Barca because they give us space to attack and plenty of counter-attacking opportunities, but it’s difficult for us to score against teams that park everyone in defence. Most of our key attacking players – Ronaldo, Di Maria, Kaka, Marcelo – need space to be effective. When they are not granted space, our centre forward whether it is Benzema or Higuain won’t get any service so their effect is negated. And this leaves far too much responsibility on the shoulders of Ozil and Alonso to pick out passes through the crowd of defenders. I’m not sure what the solution is to this to be honest. Does anyone have any ideas? What can Mou do to combat this problem? Is a new signing required?

Anonymous

this team is extremely fast however when team play defense with 8, 9 or 10 it is never 1 on 1, my solution is no too much dribbling (1 vs 3 defenders), instead more quick passing, and players running forward and the ball getting fed to their runs.. one game i recall where they did that great was the getafe game, fabio, marcelo and ronaldo where all making runs forward and defenders didn’t know who to pickup, fabio has 2 clear chances that he missed but it was great design that should work vs tight defense.

building the attack wide is hard where there is too many defenders, the balls into the box don’t get to attackers that easily with so much traffic.
http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

We will need to do it the old hard way:
1.)Use width with overlapping fullbacks: this is where a ‘Target Man #9′ is needed (explaining Mou’s demands for one last season given that neither Pipita nor Benzema are this type of striker).
2.) We will need the use of Di Maria’s much-hated, over-the-top, close-quarter dribbling style (he’s our better dribbler in slow speed and at close quarters) to penetrate those parked buses. 3.) Then of course, you will need Ozil’s defense-splitting passes
4.) Long range missles
5.) Set Pieces
6.) Our best imitation of Barca-style tiki-taka.
7.) Figure out ways to ‘provoke them’ forward (a term I learned from that AVB interview)

Teams that play vertical, direct football can indeed struggle against teams who have a game plan of parking the bus. But there’s no other way but to graft, industry and great team play to do it.

Anonymous

Agreed. Though i think a player running in late from deep can throw off the zonal marking in a parked bus ala Coentrao.
And…dont mean to sound rude…but ”Barca-style tiki-taka”?…..how about SPANISH-style tiki-taka!

Anonymous

100% Agree, Madridista Mac. It has been kind of dizzying seeing how our club is changing things re: the organizational structure up top and who ultimately makes the big footballing decisions. Mourinho or not, I firmly believe it is the manager’s job to involve himself in all aspects of the team, and that includes choosing the players, assistant coaches, etc. So I hope that the “English model” of coaching at Madrid stays for a long time.

Is is true that Perez said Mourinho will be his coach for as long as he is president? If so, that’s a very good sign. The stability at top will be nice to get used to, at least for a few more years…

And on another note, international breaks are driving me crazy!!! I feel like it has been forever since I last watched Madrid…can’t wait til things start up again v. Betis!!!

http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

I think that the ‘English Model’ only works if you have a really strong Manager onboard – like Mourinho or Fergie at Man U.

Interestingly, English clubs are beginning to adopt a continental model (making use of a Sporting Director). At Liverpool, Daglish has the title of ‘Manager’ but hovering over him is Damien Comoli who plays a huge role in overall strategy and player recruitment policy.

Anonymous

Me against the world. when did that start. Definitely not during the porto years. In fact, jose’, came out from that stint as a hero, porto appearing from nowhere and winning the champions league against the world footballing elite was another david against goliath story. We all love the under dogs, its a human characteristic, so jose’, back then, an obscure manager or so, was proclaimed hero and was lavished with all the respect and admiration a player, fan, club presidents, journalists can give. Hard work paid off and its time for the big league. enter chelsea..

Its not clear if jose’ was like this from the start, confrontational, egotistic, me against the world, i speak my mind to the point of being a pure ass of a snob, kinda character or was it nourished during the premier league era like my dear friend bassam said. but whats for sure is that, this person, this manager has come in the lime light and we and the world saw who he is and he is anything but a normal character. special one he is, he is special when he is good, he’s special when he talks, he’s special win he wins, he’s special when he loses and he is damn special when he is pure bad, evil, call it whatever!
For one, the years he was in the EPL, the media, tabloids and all had a ball of a coverage. in my many decades of following, watching football, i haven’t seen a manager that ever turned the english media up side down like he did. literally shaking the whole system. the best part was, it was fun times. yes the english culture invites such controversy but jose’ was definitely embraced by the pundits and all and has become the talk of the country from their daily mirror to their evening standard, (RIP news of the world ). He did have his confrontations, and so many, with many managers from the epl, famously sir alex and arsene and definitely with most of the refs with no reservations. Yet its when he migrated to the land of pasta and Parmesan, his clash with the footballing world took a left turn. same person, same actions, yet different lime light, different culture, different media game. enter inter..

Inter times, were same story again, build from grounds up and stack results, which he did with flying colors. through those times, pompous character has even evolved to something even larger or was it that the brits are super cool when portraying jose’ acting crap that we didn’t see this coming! Either way, today there are more people that hate jose’ back in pizza espresso world (except for inter affiliates) than before he set foot there. spain visit sometime in late april, when he walked like as if caesar was resurrected, was the first step to madrid. enter Real..

In real, in madrid, in spain, no one knew what they are introducing to the world of bull fighters, and were they gonna be meeting the bull of them all. If his times in italy were bumpy, so far, here in spain its been the height of all his climaxes ever. Not here to talk about them, we all know them right, but such an approach to things, i am the mold and things should fit me is something he wasn’t willing to give up. good or bad its up for a debate but you feel he is a charging behemoth, a Dyson vacuum that sucks everything and the air around it. he’s like a big cyclone when it comes to his complex character. trust me, am not trying to glorify him, am just merely trying to describe him. sometime i think if someone was paid to make people hate him, they will lose to jose’ so badly. funny right, go figure!
500 days in the job, this is what was in the spanish media today, my god, this reminds me of how the american media has been treating obama and still, well Fox at least, deafening scrutiny of every glimpse for the sake of just bullying him. I used to think this was to sell paper, but that’s a very naive exit one can take to explain this. i will leave this answer for you to come up with..
still madrid.. for the long run we will prevail, come rain or come shine.

its amazing that every club he left behind, the majority of the players he coached if not all would jump off a cliff for him. pretty strange how he can consume everyone around him BUT the ones who are too far.. hmm..

i have visited Sweden some time back, and Stockholm is a lovely city, thou i found Gothenburg cooler. in Stockholm they told me about a special syndrome that they, the swedes, have exported decades ago to the world. a psychological syndrome wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, they called it Stockholm Syndrome!

I am a real fan, and i like my coach. so you tell me, is it Stockholm all over again..
Makoluchi

Hi Mac, long time no “see”….. Where the heck did you come up with this article… My best bet is that it was Bassam’s idea… lol!

Nway,

Great write up brothers…. Interesting read but in my opinion, u released this article too early (coz season is also started) and maybe by Jan is when there would have been a more fairer assessment. What, I thought everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, lol!I am not doing to add or subtract anything that has been said above, very good work. And the pix are jst awesome…. Cant wait 4de international break to end (though its already ended but I still cant wait)….And yes, Mou is the best coach for this squad and I love every aspect of him.

http://madridistamac.blogspot.com Madridista Mac

the article was a request from Wang feng Lei. And he requested it BEFORE the season started. So you can imagine how long and painful it was for us to write it. Kaushik started it and passed it on to Bassam and then it was passed to me. All 3 of us struggled like mad to assemble it together.

Since there was an international break, we then discussed to see what articles we can publish to keep you guys engaged to the site so we literally that to force this one out. Luckily it turned out pretty ok. hahahaha.

Makoluchi

Hahahahahaha!
WangFengLei

O COME on guys. it’s not THAT CURSED. LoL

Anonymous

Apparently valdano admitted that he was responsible for VDB departure, interesting!
http://twitter.com/azal_matti Azal Tammu

very nice and thorough article my friend, thank you for your effort. the only thing will assess whatever we are talking about mou’s second season are the results we get at the end of this season!!
oluwole

Like I said, Kaka speaks for himself. Another blinding goal today! what a player. I expect Mou to select as his line up, as the season goes by:

————————–Cassillas—————————–

-Ramos——–Pepe—————-Carvalho——Marcelo–

—————–Alonso———–Sahin———————-

—————————Kaka——————————-

————————————————_Ronaldo—–

——–Benzema————Higuain————————-

oluwole

Subs: Adan, Varane, Coentrao, Khedira, Di Maria, Ozil, Callejon

SHAMSU MUSAH

A ROMOSE I EARED IN GHANA IS THAT MOURIHO IS COMINGTO CHELSEA

Evolution After Revolution

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