A POR LA UNDECIMA!!! (season 14/15 preview)

Can you believe it folks? CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

We actually won La Decima!... and boy did it feel great.

The 13/14 season was of course, incredible for me, and the way we ended it makes you feel proud about all of our players, which truly earned their titles as "Champions League winning players" because of their massive performances. Shoutouts go to Angel Di Maria, Sergio Ramos, and Luka Modric for their outstanding performances.

Now we have an amazing squad which can look at the future with a greatly needed relief. Relief due to having demonstrated that this squad is capable of anything. There is no more pressure about La Decima (I enjoyed when i read Perez say that if we were legends, now we are eternal, which is true due to everything accomplished in our history),  our team can be looked upon as a Champions League winning squad, Players like Ronaldo, Ramos, Alonso will be able to go down as legends for winning La Decima (and hopefully only the first of plenty more for them), etc. All in all, our squad is respected, relieved, and hungry for more, in pursue of a  Quintuple, and living in Paradise, looking to stay there.

Having said this, i can't wait till i see us play all the "Mickey Mouse" trophies we can fight for due to having won the CL, so i will start my preview of 14/15 by naming the In n Outs of our squad.

But before i do that lets look at the first picture i ever posted on this website.

Ozil isn't here any more, Albiol, Higuain, and Callejon left for Napoli, Kaka followed them to Serie A, Khedira will surely leave, and our beloved Benzema i believe will as well, It's just incredible how the makeup of a squad can so drastically change, something that in 14/15 i do not believe will happen in such fashion as in 13/14, but hopefully with at the very least, equally good results.

I don't believe Either of our Goalkeepers will leave, due to the fact that they could experience another Golden Age at madrid, i do not believe Iker Casillas is the type of player which would enjoy playing at a lesser club for the experience, i see nothing to gain for Iker by leaving other than Money.

Transfer Window In-N-Out

What better thing to talk about during the Summer Break of football than about Transfers?

The In N Out of This Transfer window looks very exciting and appropriate, Thus, here is my review about what i expect to happen, and my opinions about what has already happened (First team players only).


The In...

First i start with Daniel Carvajal.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Here are Two Great Pieces on him that i'd like to share.
http://www.whoscored.com/Players/106883/
http://outsideoftheboot.com/2013/06/13/daniel-carvajal-scout-report/

Real Madrid has sorely missed a Proper Right Back for years, (For more information on Daniel, visit my earlier post about some of the young talents joining us this transfer window) and now we finally have one.

With Sergio Ramos we had someone who was never stellar enough in either attack or defense as a right back, and who was always supposed to Play at Centre Back really.

And with Arbeloa we had ( i do not expect him to start over Daniel) someone who was competent at Defending, non existant as an attacker, but who is now irrelevant as a starter due to his considerable decline.

Real Madrid has indeed lacked the presence of a true Relevant Right Back since the good days of Michel Salgado, but now we have a great situation with Daniel. In my opinion, he is the best young right back in the world. At age 20 he was transferred last season to Bayer Leverkusen in a buy back situation due to Mourinho's reluctance to use him. The transfer did him well as he showed his worth and established him self as the World's best young right back ( only Mattia De Sciglio) had a comparable impact, but not as explosive as Carvajal's.

Carvajal is a thumping attacking Right Back who offers an attacking presence comparable to Dani Alves, and Phillip Lahm, and shows great promise in his performances, and in the statistics behind them..

1 goal, 7 Assists, 80.3 % Pass Success,  3.5 Tackles and Interceptions per game, Two Dribbles, 1.5 Key Passes, and an average Match rating of 7.6 throughout the 12/13 season.

He is a great attacking fullback, and shows great potential in his defensive abilities as well, with his work rate.

He is still going to University part time, and due to this and his manner of playing and presenting himself, i see him as a hard worker who i put my full trust in.

At age 21 he managed to make an impact and impose himself as the best young right back out there at the moment(ages 18-22) just as Varane did as a centre back. Carvajal is a purchase we needed, the perfect one as he is a Real Madrid youth product and his circle is now complete.


*(I will omit Casemiro from my list because i'd like to see more of him, but also because i do not expect him to form part of the first team, which is what this article is about) In short he is a defensive midfielder, but not really a special talent the way i see it. He is known for having attitude problems, and if anything i see him being an important part of the Castilla team and possibly being sold later in either next season or the one after if nothing is done with him. He could occasionally appear for the first team.


Onto Isco...

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/82989/
http://outsideoftheboot.com/2012/12/28/ootb-scout-isco/

Rating 5/5

Isco is yet another great and exciting prospect and purchase from Real Madrid.

He is Spain's most promising Gem.

He had a great season for Malaga, and was awarded the Golden Boy Award, by Tuttosport for the 11/12 season, given to the player most deserving in their eyes, of being titled as the best U-21 player in europe.

He is a player capable of playing at many positions, and as he matures his variability should only increase. He has more of the attributes linked to a midfielder like Zidane and Iniesta, than does Ozil. Due to his abilities he has the potential of being able to be used in many roles and schemes and it should be no problem trying to play him with Mesut Ozil.

Isco is yet another Spanish Player, which only adds to the great idea of having many young spanish players in our squad, and he shows great potential to reach world class heights, and play in many positions. With Modric, Ozil, and Isco we have great options that are all different in their own good ways.

He had a great  Euro U-21 Tournament and another very good season with Malaga, and now the 21 year old joins Madrid to play a major part in our team.

12/13 Stats.
Goals -15
Assists - 4
Passing Accuracy -85 percent
Average Match Rating -7.2
Tackles Per Game -1.2
Interceptions Per Game -0.8 ( Better defensive contribution stats than Iniesta or Ozil)

Great purchase from Madrid, and one needed by Madrid considering his skill set, talent, and what we already have in our team. Adds another powerful Dimension to our team.

Onto Asier Illarramendi....

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/87094
http://outsideoftheboot.com/2013/05/04/asier-illarramendi-scout-report/

Rating: 4.5/5

Illarramendi is a purchase we need.

I include him in here already because if every bit of news coming out from the most reliable sources is to be believed, Illarramendi is practically a done deal, and it's one that if handled correctly can in turn be of tremendous value.

Xabi Alonso is turning 32 years old this November, he is on his last year of contract, and he is physically not the same player he was a few seasons ago ( he was always a bit of a Nuisance when it came to his physical abilities such as speed and movement, and that had a negative effect on his playing abilities). Considering this, it is no wonder that Madrid have actively been looking for a replacement, as Alonso is on his last stretch.

If all rumors by Reliable sources such as El Confidencial are to be believed, Madrid first went after Gundogan earlier this year but Dortmund refused to sell until next season, thus we are in the current situation.

Illarramendi is a Deep Lying Centre Midfielder with great vision, intelligence, and defending abilities.

With Both Modric and Illarramendi in our team we have a potent future in the midfield. Illarramendi had a great season with Real Sociedad and went on to have a superb Euro U-21 as his talents got exposed to a wider audience, and in a much more illustrative form, as his great vision and control of the game had a great impact on how the spanish team was run, and came out of the tournament as the player with the highest passing success average in the entire tournament, with 95%.

If you want to think of Similar players then think of Alonso, Schweinsteiger, Pirlo, Sahin, Gundogan...

He is the type of player who has the ability to command the midfield, playmake from the back, and also put in a great defensive contribution.

12/13 Stats.
Tackles Per Game - 3.6
Interception - 2.2
Fouls  - 1.4
Average Match Rating - 7.2
Shots Per Game- 1
Average Passes - 56 ( 86 with Spanish National Team)
Pass Success- 84%
Longballs -4.3

His role in Real Socidedad is not as Expressive as is his role in Spain, thus some considerable differences in Long Balls, Shots, and Passes.

With Alonso on his last stretch, a young promising talent is what Madrid could use, and illarramendi is exactly that. I would give him 5/5 Stars but he cost 10 million than what he probably should.

In any case, he is yet another important player in terms of potential and abilities, for the Madrid side.

Great Purchase with enormous potential.


So there ya have it, those are the Players that have pretty much arrived. Daniel Carvajal, Isco, and Illarramendi all show enormous potential as they have skill sets that can eventually make world class players out of them, with good progress. They have good potential and are the type of players real madrid need. They are young, they are spanish, and they are promising. Carvajal is the attacking thumping hard working Fullback that any world class side needs, and proves to be the most promising player of his kind at age 21, Isco is much of the same with shades of Iniesta in him and great potential at age 21 as well, and finally Illarramendi is 23, still very young, with huge potential, and a very valuable skill set with both him and Isco offering mouth watering possibilities for the present and future with their skill sets. We could build a world class midfield with these players, they were SORELY NEEDED imo, as we see a superb team with Bayern Munich with midfield options such as Luiz Gustavo, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Javi Martinez, Toni Kroos, and Thomas Muller, now we can reply in some way with Mesut Ozil, Asier Illarramendi, Xabi Alonso, Sami Khedira, Luka Modric, and Isco.

Beautiful purchases, but we are not done yet in my opinion.

The N

I will refer to the purchases i think we still need as "The N" for the sake of keeping up with the In N Out reference :D.

Our team is still not complete in my opinion. Albeit we have made very good purchases thus far, there are two areas i believe we have to focus on.

Although i don't hold too much trust in Pepe or Albiol they are still adequate as Bench material, there are three areas i think we have to keep an eye on.

First is the left back position.

I personally don't think we can let go of Fabio Coentrao yet. I think he offers a great overall game as a Left Fullback, specially in his defensive side, and albeit Marcelo is a tremendous World Class attacking fullback (Wingback) he doesn't offer the defensive qualities at the moment to feel secure using him against top competition, specially considering hes coming back from injury. So we need a very capable alternative in case of injury or need. We need to make him stay and i think Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane will do something about this.


The Second Position is the Defensive Midfield.

At Madrid we haven't had a defensive powerhouse since the Man in the Pic (Claude Makalele) left back in 2003, these kind of players are vital in order to keep defensive composure, and we don't have that with Illarramendi, Alonso, Modric, or Khedira.

Khedira im afraid, does not possess the skills to offer anything worthy in the midfield, making him start with us is underachieving as there are possibilities out there that we as a club could and should go after.

We could try to pull of something Similar to what Spain have done in the midfield but it involves schemes that i don't think we will see in Madrid. I think it will always be great to have a very good midfielder who can offer exemplary defensive cover along with passing, and we dont have enough defensive cover in our players atm. We need one more player in my opinion.

There are players like De Rossi, Luiz Gustavo, Gonalons who could offer something but we have apparently gone no where near any of these options.

Geoffrey Kondogbia is the only player of such quality that has been linked to us, and for some time too, but he's a 20 year old raw talent that would be a great purchase if he were to sit on the bench and learn and enter as a sub over a more experienced pro like De Rossi. Either way in any case i would deem the Kondogbia purchase an adequate one, and even a loan to sevilla could be ideal if we find our selves with too many midfielders at the moment ( contradictory but if kondogbia is deemed as not being relevant enough to be part of the squad at the moment then this could happen).

The third area is the Striker position.

The problem is that both Morata and Benzema don't offer enough security when it comes to the position, specially considering all relevant european sides seem to have more adequate options in the front at the current moment.

Benzema has been more off form than in form in his time in Madrid and the only season in which he did impress justifiably was during the 11/12 campaign which was plagued with some inconsistency in it self. Some of this could be attributed to Ronaldo's role in the team but the matter in fact is that Benzema has not shown the consistency to rise to the top and this brings uncertainty into the situation. This along with the fact that hes not a traditional striker with phenomenal abilities to make defenses sweat as someone like Cavani or Falcao.

Benzema will have to show consistency and great performances to justify his presence. The club is posing their trust in him, and with Cavani and Suarez as the two prime possibilities to purchase, we could might as well give Benzema one last shot, albeit Suarez could have been a good alternative, despite his attitude problems.

He brings uncertainty and will be replaced come seasons end if he fails to impress. With Cavani rumored to go to PSG or Chelsea, and Suarez himself linked to Chelsea, Aguero seems to be one of the only possibilities for the future.

Morata is plain and simple a good talent but nothing too special and to have him behind Benzema just doubles the uncertainty and i'm sure that if he wasn't a Real Madrid youth product, a player like him would probably not take the position as second striker with such an apparent lack of thinking behind it.

The bet is risky.

P.S. - Bale is not to come this season as Tottenham won't sell, and as far as im concerned Real Madrid are not actively pursuing a Striker and i personally doubt this will change.

The Out


Ricardo Carvalho - Old Player, having reached irrelevant status by early 2012. Gone for Free.

Michael Essien - Back from loan to Chelsea.

Pedro Leon - Out for 6 Million to Getafe.

Gonzalo Higuain - Not out for less than 30 Million and pretty much an irrelevant player to have at this point as having him "compete" or much better but, stagnate next to Benzema is not needed any longer. I wish him the best in his next club as he can do a good job if given the starting role in my opinion. Benzema will be given the chance to impress.

Adan - Will probably leave with the door wide open for him. No need with Diego Lopez here.

Callejon - Rumored to leave to Napoli for 8 Million Euros, is surplus to the team, specially with Jese possibly joining.

Di Maria - Depends on what the Manager's opinions on him are. I will be indifferent to him as long as he benches, other wise he can leave as Isco will take his spot. ( Not literally, but certainly) in my opinion.

Conclusion: For my opinions on Jese and Morata visit this Article: http://therealmadridzone.blogspot.com/2013_06_01_archive.html

My opinion is that we have done a great job thus far with the Transfers, we need one more credible defensive midfielder, and we might be cleared out of argentinians come season end ( compared to 2 years ago when we had up to 4 of them). Thus far the transfer session has been exciting and rewarding, and i hope it ends with a positive bang,

Hala Madrid!

Isco, Varane, Carvajal, Jese , Morata. What Players Like These Mean For Real Madrid.

Colosal.

Thats quite an adequate word to use whenever referring to SPECIAL players like Isco (Francisco Roman Alarcon Suarez) or Raphael Varane.

Whether it be because of their playing abilities, because of how well they play, or because of their superb performances against top teams, these two YOUNG players offer so much to their teams, and to those who support them.

Hope, Dreams, Visions of Grandeur, and even Nightmares to the opposite team and THEIR followers....

The effect that the magic from players like these can produce is breathtaking.

Colosal.

 Yet it is something Real Madrid as a club, or a fan base, hasn't really been able to enjoy as of late.

During the last 10 years ( Perez Era), Madrid hasn't really experienced the presence of a PRODIGY (much less prodigies...).

Madrid have recently gone more towards buying experienced talent such as Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaka rather than putting trust into young promising talent.

Some "La Fabrica" ( Youth Academy) talents such as Juan Mata and Roberto Soldado have been misused, others like Marcos Alonso or Ruben De La Red have either been stopped in their progress to the first team by accidents or permanent retirements due to health risks, and outside of Mesut Ozil and Sergio Ramos i cant really think of a young Prodigy type player joining Madrid in the last 10 years.

Well it very well may be that the time for that to change DRASTICALLY has finally arrived.

During the past two seasons, there have been glimpses of a possible "youth revolution" in Madrid, and with the Apparent arrival of Isco, lets go over some of the exciting youth prospects for Real Madrid.

Starting with Raphael Varane.

In the summer of 2011, Raphael Varane was purchased by Real Madrid for a transfer fee calculated to be worth around 10 million euros. A player recommended by Zidane, at first most fans didn't really know what to make of his purchase but as time went by, so did the accolades placed by those near him.

Frank Leboeuf ( Former French defender for the French National Team) among others, started making comparisons between him and  Fernando Hierro ( Legendary Madrid Centre Back), while team Comrades like Pepe, Mourinho, and Zidane, threw bucket loads of praise on him because of his performances on the training ground and on "the pitch".

As time went by, he showed clear signs of being a very clean, focused, and most of all, talented young player, and the road to stardom finally culminated earlier this year as Varane would go on to score two goals against FC Barcelona, accompanied with amazing performances against players like Gerard Pique, Lionel Messi, and Cesc Fabregas, to help eliminate Fc Barcelona from the 12/13 Copa Del Rey.

Because of his consistently high performances against all kinds of competition, by season's end, Varane looked like an undisputed starter for Madrid!

La Fabrica hasn't stayed quiet either.

Since at least the 2010/2011 season, things were really starting to point to La Fabrica producing (at the very least) a couple of Special Talents worthy of possible first team use, and in 11/12 those names finally made them selves noticed in special ways. They were Alvaro Morata, Jese Rodriguez, and Daniel Carvajal.

The trio helped Real Madrid Castilla ( Refer to my "La Fabrica" Post to the right) move from Segunda B, to Segunda, helping Madrid's highest level youth team regain their position in Spain's 2nd tier league.

The noteworthy performances of the trio, and specially of Daniel Carvajal led to much speculation about their future and about whether they were to be loaned out soon, or given more time in the youth team to see if they could be part of the first team some day soon.

At the start of the 12/13 season, Daniel Carvajal was sold to Bayer Leverkusen with a (buy back clause), permitting madrid to bring back Daniel to Real Madrid if he showed his worth, and show his worth he did. Bild, which is one of Germany's premier sports papers, ranked Daniel as the best Right Back of the 12/13 season ( in his first year of top flight football!).

Jese Rodriguez also showed his worth as he toppled Emilio Butragueno's record of goals for the Castilla team in a Season, and won the Golden Boot in the U-19 European Championships, for spain. His incredibly fast way of playing the game, along with his individual style have led to comparisons between him and Cristiano Ronaldo, and strangely enough, at the same age they both had around the same amount of hype behind them. Is Jese capable of reaching similar heights? Only time will tell.

Alvaro Morata was the third piece in the puzzle, as he got to play for Madrid's first team on several occasions, his highlight coming in when he assisted Karim Benzema for an early goal against Fc Barcelona in Real's home clash against the catalans earlier this year. He culminated his great efforts by winning the golden boot for the spanish national team during the U-21 european championships.

The three young players showed their worth and have given the Madrid fan base hope for the future. The general idea at this point is that considering that Alvaro Arbeloa is now in decline as an RB, and that Gonzalo Higuain is leaving, AND that they are all great talents, they are all expected to star for the first team.

Morata is expected to serve as 2nd striker, taking over Gonzalo Higuain.
Jese is expected to be a substitute with a role like Jose Callejon's for now.
And Daniel Carvajal is expected to be the starting right back, as he is quite possibly the best young right back in the world.

With Varane imposing himself as the top young Centre Back in the world, and Daniel Carvajal imposing a similar proposal as the top young Right Back in the world, Real Madrid has much to celebrate about. Specially because Real Madrid and it's fan base has been longing for players like Fernando Hierro( at the left) and Michel Salgado ( Both legendary Real Madrid Players who won everything with Real Madrid in the late 90's and early 2000's and Played the exact same positions as Varane and Carvajal) to be replicated in the lineup, and now we have two young prospects who are 20 and 21 Respectively, ready to become the best in their position while making history with Real Madrid for a very long time.

The hope is there. They are Jewels.

And So are Morata and Jese.

Morata is the best striker to come out of La Fabrica after Roberto Soldado and Alvaro Negredo who have both shared success in La Liga and the Spanish National Team.

He is young enough and has the talent to realistically be a very good choice as back up striker in the near future. Whether he can reach very high heights, only time will tell, but personally i feel like he could reach ( at the very least) the height that players like Soldado, Negredo, or Fernando Llorente have all reached as spanish strikers over the last few years. Morata has potential, and albeit probably not the next Raul in either quality or style, i have no doubt he can be a worthy player for Real Madrid and the Spanish National Team someday soon.

Finally, Jese has been scintillating and keeps scoring left and right for his Spanish National "U" teams and Cantera. Legendary players like Zidane and Butragueno have recommended him as a bright star, and he will most probably, (rightfully so) join Real Madrid's first team this season.

At worst, Both Morata and Jese would have to be sold with a buy back option to Other capable teams like with Carvajal, but if anything, the news are that the club is behind them 100 percent( In large part due to Zidane which is an advisor to Perez, as Perez has always been an imbecile with the Cantera), and i doubt the new manager, Carlo Ancelotti will change that.

Oh But this Does not End here...No No No.

According to the some of the Most reliable Spanish Papers sources such as Cadena Ser, As, and Interconomia, Isco (21 Y.O.) will soon be announced as a Real Madrid player, after what had seemed like a battle for the player between Manchester City and Real Madrid.

What this player brings to the table is exquisite. His Dribbling, Passing, Vision, and Quality can make you piss your pants and rip holes in your under wear as if you were watching the 2nd coming of Iniesta. Which you very might well be. Isco was awarded the 2012 Golden Boy award earlier this year, giving him the honor of being ranked as the top (Under 21 years of age) player in europe.

He is the future of the Spanish Midfield. In a few years you might be remembering the legends that are Xavi, Xabi Alonso, and Andres Iniesta, but the young trio of Illaramendi, Thiago, and Isco are the future. And out of all of them, Isco might be the most talented, just as is the case with Iniesta today.

Having Isco Join Madrid is a beauty of a thought, and as controversial as it may sound, if he goes against Mesut Ozil for the starting position, i would have no doubt in seeing a lad like Isco possibly take the spot away from the german midfielder, as Ozil is not nearly as resourceful as Isco is. Isco can player farther up the midfield, just like Iniesta, something that in my opinion would harm Ozil's chances against a player like Isco because of the fact that Whether our Managers in the future are men like Ancelotti, Laudrup, or even Klopp, you can do much more with a talent like Isco in your team.

But if you have both...

High five for the team!

The youth prospects still don't end with Isco though!

Look at the player to the right of that picture just below you.

Does his body build and type look familiar to you?

It is one very smilar to many "recent" midfield greats such as Michael Essien, Yaya Toure, Claude Makalele,  and a few others.

He is simply, quite possibly the next great defensive midfielder.

Geofrey Kondogbia.

He is just 20 Years old and is being seriously linked to Real Madrid.

Under my judgement, from what i have seen of him in Sevilla, he has great strength, and his height and strength help him with his composure. He has to work on his passing skills in general, specially when under pressure. He is still a bit of a raw talent. Regardless, i really do think that if we buy him he could be a good purchase. Worst case scenario i would still see him surpass someone like Sami Khedira in terms of quality.

Rumors are that Madrid are close to buying him and it will be up to Carlo Ancelotti, whether he stays in Sevilla for one more year for more chance to progress ( similar to Daniel Carvajal) or he joins the Real Madrid first team. If Carlo Ancelotti decides to leave him in Sevilla for one more year, Madrid would ideally still go after a DM this year. Possibly Danielle De Rossi....But thats another article lol.

Pictures like the one above, drive Real Madrid.

As i have already stated, Madrid are currently linked with Many youth players that could lead to a very successful present and future.

And there are some special reasons all of these players get me SPECIALLY excited.

When i make comparisons between players like Kondogbia and Yaya Toure, and Isco and Iniesta, and Varane and Fernando Hierro, dont be mistaken into thinking that im 100 percent sure that the young players in the discussion will reach those heights.

The Comparison i make are well asserted ones based on potential shown and playing style.

Having said that, All of the players mentioned get me excited mainly because.

1. I have a personal pet peeve where i like to think of Real Madrid AFTER 2017. I will soon write an article about what the future of Real Madrid looks like in terms of president, but one thing is for certain.

This is Perez's last reign as president. He wont go for another term after 2017 which is when his Time ends.

Eugenio Martinez Bravo, and a Project led by Real Madrid legends such as Sanchis and Hierro are the two "Favorite" ideas that are mainly believed to be the favorites to become the next leaders of Madrid.

Bottom line being is that they promise to correct everything Perez has done wrong with the club, absolutely everything, and they prove their trust worthiness with their quite clear public disapproval of Perez. There is a nice future to look at for Madrid in my eyes, and when i see players like Kondogbia, Carvajal, Varane, Jese, Morata,  and Isco, im thinking of our very possible future and a smile comes to my face.

By 2017 None of those players will be more than 25 years old.

Kondogbia will be 24
Carvajal - 25
Varane -24
Jese- 24
Morata - 25
Isco -25

I can think of a Great Future with Great young players leading into their prime, and as the great Brazilian Formula One driver, Ayrton Senna once said..."That makes me happy".

With these young players we could have this new generation's Makalele, Salgado, Hierro, Cristiano Ronaldo, Morientes, and Zidane ( All great Real Madrid players at some point).

Whether they will all reach the same level, i dont know, but i believe they can reach great levels, due to their potential, and hopefully years from now, we can look the youth of the day again, and wonder if our youth can some day become Carvajals, or Varanes, Or Moratas for Real Madrid.

Hopefully with these players we can move towards being a club where more emphasis is put into youth, (as many of our potential future presidents claim for) and so do most of the fans.

All these players Represent Hope, Dreams, and a Bright Future.

Keep your minds and eyes open, as we Hope to honor and respect the past, Dream to succeed, and look into the future with joy.

To Our Youth.
To Our Club.
and To Us...

Hala Madrid!!!

Mourinho's Legacy. Bringing Mourinho To Madrid Was A Mistake From the Very Beginning.

Through out the article i will use a term i coined, "Resultist". Meaning a context where results are almost the only thing to be valued.

In the Summer of 2010, a year after Florentino Perez's return to the Bernabeu as the president of Real Madrid, came the arrival of "The Special One" Jose Mourinho. The Reigning holder of the Champions League, and Winner of a Treble with Inter Milan, Jose Mourinho was coming into Madrid with the best possible resume, the expectations were as high as they could get, and if you lacked an analytical edge to the situation, (the media's and realistically, the majority) view of his arrival could have been seen if anything as the arrival of "the messiah", the ultimate "solution" to Madrid's problems.

The trophies he had won with Porto, Chelsea, and Inter, along with his cult famous personal encounters against FC Barcelona in the distant and (then) recent past, would have you believe that he had finally arrived to the biggest club of them all to win trophies, and to take down the Catalan Army of FC Barcelona.

As i will show in this post though, His arrival was an error and misconception from the very beginning, and a product born from the broken mentality held up high by the Club's most powerful figure.

The Culture of Perez as i like to call it, is a sort of a dark cloud that i imaginarily portray to be raining on top of the Santiago Bernabeu as long as he is president of Real Madrid. The dark cloud is filled with Acidic Rain that falls upon the Bernabeu and it's people, and infiltrates the Stadium and the people not protected with the negative, incorrect, and illogical ideas of Florentino Perez. His return was a mistake, it was the return of gravely equivocated ideologies, and Mourinho was, and still remains to this day quite possibly the second biggest mistake in Perez's second reign as Real Madrid President. His first being, sacking Manuel Pellegrini, who truly embodied what Real Madrid as a club on and off the field deserves. With Mourinho, Perez effectively sold his soul and the Club's soul to the devil. 

Before arriving In Madrid there are two principle CULTURAL reasons as to why the appointment was a very badly chosen one.

1.  In Madrid there has always been a culture/structure where behavior and values are looked at with a microscope in a special way, in Madrid this is called "senorio", where madrid is looked at or was looked at as a "classy" club to put it simply. Similar to how FC Barcelona stands for their own values as they say with "mes que un club". ( This was problem A for Mou before he went to madrid, as he was/is a very arrogant and controversial figure).

2. In Madrid there is a belief that you have to "die" attacking, people dont want to see Madrid defending on their back foot in their own home. There is a certain spanish style in Madrid's history, epitomized recently in the late 80's with "La Quinta Del Buitre" era in Madrid which won the hearts of many with their beautiful football and gracious presentation, along with a plethora of trophies. ( Problem B for Mou before he went to madrid, as he didn't play his teams with a proactive philosophy.)

So these two culturally based problems were going to make it hard for Mourinho and Madrid to flesh together, because as everyone knew, he had an attitude which would clash with "senorio", and he had the problem with the way he'd make the team play, so controversy and  displeasure was practically guaranteed before he arrived.

On top of that, he had also proven in his track history to be a short term coach who would tend to implode everything in on himself and his club in a very short while.

When Madrid acquired him, Manuel Pellegrini ( Classy man with a very Proactive football philosophy) was sacked so he could come. Most people had an idea that bringing Mourinho to the Bernabeu had its drawbacks, as not only the attitude and style was in doubt, but also his ability to build a long term plan. The whole point with his appointment was for THE ENDS TO JUSTIFY THE MEANS, as Madrid had recently been through a title drought and had suffered because of FC Barcelona's dominance ( two things many thought Mourinho could effectively fix almost exclusively).

This Resultist philosophy that Perez has willingly taken throughout the years would bite Madrid back hard yet again.

Now On to planting my idea as to how i will rate his time here...

Mourinho is more RESULTIST than a coach like Pep Guardiola in that a coach like Guardiola or Cryuff hellped build legacies, canteras(Youth Academies), styles of football, and football with substance that could be evolutionized and revolutionized into being something special. Mourinho brings nothing of this into any team he manages, because as his track record shows, his football is not long term in that sense and if anything he has always shown that his Modus Operandi was ANTI long term. So based on this maybe a coach like Guardiola who is classy and has this long term thing to him could be saved from being "hanged" when judged, but when a coach that is so arrogant and controversial and plays such a negative football and is like what oil is to water when compared to what Madrid stands for comes to Madrid and fails to justify the means with his arrival, the only thing i can do as the majority can is deem his time here as a FAILURE. 

Thus Mourinho naturally never leaves much to judge other than his trophies and his journey to getting them...No Youth Setups, or football philosophies, or long term factors.

Now Lets look at how he performed in the two primary competitions that we were set out to win...La Liga and The UEFA Champions League.

HE FAILED TO WIN 5/6 OF THOSE TOURNAMENTS in his 3 year (2010/2011, 2011/2012/, 2012/2013) stay at the club.

Mourinho's poor tactics played a big part in the overall failure as he failed to build a good team with proper modern mechanics.

He got beat by Fc Barcelona twice in the overall battle for the leagues, and the scheme he brought to Madrid was so poor that we got lambasted 3 years in a row by Dortmund, Munich, and Barcelona. Bare in mind that in each and every one of the Champions League campaigns ,the only time we had real formidable foes in our way to the semi finals was in the 12/13 season when we faced Manchester United, and Madrid only earned the edge to top United, principally because the referee made a mistake by giving a red card to Nani and leaving United exposed with 10 men in the second lef quarter final encounter. Mourinho failed in practically every serious outing Madrid encountered in the Champions League. 

To state it in simple terms, Mourinho's football was so horrible that we lost two La Liga titles because teams figured our tactics out too easily. We were either ill prepared tactically, mentally and/or emotionally throughout all the controversy in the past 3 years, and in the end this all resulted in failure as Real Madrid under Mourinho failed to win 5/6 "real" trophies. That's an 83 percent failure Mourinho suffered in Madrid. 

So he left us with a horrible brand of football if it can even be called a brand, and with 1 trophy out of 6.  So in that side of the coin its a total FAILURE from Mourinho.

On THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN. You could say he brought madrid back into relevance into the CL SEMI FINALS, this is probably the only justification his most dire supporters can use, but the reality is that since VICENTE DEL BOSQUE IN 2003 AND NOT EVEN THEN! No one has been given more power or money to spend than Jose Mourinho, in Real Madrid. What did jose do with that power? He made a circus out of Madrid making the club and it's team look like bastards on and off the field on Multiple occasions with guys like Xavi defending the senorio of Real Madrid, (our OWN CLUB RIVAL) by saying that Mourinho was a cancer eating away at everything Madrid stands for. 

Using Real Madrid's return to relevance in the European stage as a justification for Mourinho's presence is like saying,"hey madrid finally gave someone a chance and when they gave the guy a chance you know what he did? he made us look like clowns, made horrible purchases, and failed to win the trophies more than 80 percent of the time!"

Now about his transfers..They were horrible...

He brought Nuri Sahin yet he ostracized him completely despite some good performances, and the need for him to be used considering Xabi Alonso was worn out from playing almsot every match of the season.

Di Maria proved to be a talented player, but with a very low sense of Football IQ, thus his consistently bad performances( this was clear even in his time with Benfica), yet Mourinho preferred to deny the uber talented David Silva from coming in favor of Di Maria.

Coentrao was a 30 million failure, not needed here, Mourinho tried him in midfield and failed, and he failed at displacing marcelo too.

Altintop?......

Modric maybe his biggest failure. So expensive, could have brought someone like Gundogan or given Sahin more of a chance but he spent so much on Modric just to use him as an impact sub and utility player...

Mourinho wasted Millions of Dollars on players that would prove to be badly made purchases, and never once made changes to areas on the team that proved since almost day one, that they needed fixing such as the Midfield Pivot, or the Right Back  position.

 On top of all of this, he also lost the dressing room. 80 percent of the dressing room was against him. Due to multiple confrontations and mind games he had with players like Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas ( Sub Captain and Captain Respectively), that proved to be his two biggest mistakes in man management while in Madrid.

Mourinho failed.

He failed with the trophies.

He failed with the football.

He failed with the image.

He failed with the money (transfers).

He failed with his players.

Among his only positives, was a sense of being able to bring more credibility in the Dressing Room and Press as a manager who had everything under control, enough to manage such a big club, but in the end, that was a big misconception, and the results showed this. And all the power and trust, given to him, was the type of power and trust, not given to any Madrid manager, EVER!

What he did with all that money, power, and trust, was a disgrace, and he was exposed as a tactically inept coach compared to the current breed of wonder coaches such as Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp, who both massacred Mourinho's Madrid when taking all their confrontations into account. 

Madrid Managed to defeat Dortmund once, the other being two losses and a last minute draw. 

This analysis from Tactics Website Zonal Marking gives a good example of his individual match failure against Dortmund in April of this year .

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/04/25/dortmund-4-1-real-madrid-dortmund-enforce-high-tempo-spells-at-the-start-of-both-halves/

An all too occurring event while in Madrid.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/11/30/barcelona-5-0-real-madrid-tactics/
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/04/28/real-madrid-0-2-barcelona-tactics/
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/04/17/bayern-munich-2-1-real-madrid-what-type-of-player-to-use-as-the-number-ten/

And this in many ways only scratches the surface of all the reasons as to why Mourinho was a bad choice to begin with, and why he failed miserably and was exposed in many ways, as a fraud. But i do hope i gave a proper example as to why Mourinho's stay in Madrid should be deemed as a failure.

A faulty philosophy led to the appointment of such a man, and to the sacking of a Man like Manuel Pellegrini (to the left), which in many ways was as much of a sign of misunderstanding and failure to come, as was the sacking of Vicente Del Bosque in 2003, during Florentino Perez's first reign as Real Madrid president. 

He became the most powerful manager in Real Madrid history, and made a mess out of the Club and His team on so many levels, ( not the only time as his times in Chelsea and Inter were identical in their implosion bar the trophies, but that can be another article).

Maybe if he had won the Champions League at least once it would be a nicer image, but not so much for me. It would not erase any of the very REAL mistakes he made in Madrid, and if we didn't win on the pitch to say the least, it was for very damn good reasons. ( He never made us into "the better team on the pitch"). 

( And the future doesn't paint all too well with Carlo Ancelotti as new manager, atleast right now as they play very smilar styles of football, with a big difference being that Carlo is actually a classy man...)

If i were to describe Mourinho with two words they would be...

Atrocious & Fraud.

...But i shall depart for now, with a much more optimistic pair...

Hala Madrid.