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Five takeaways from Real Madrid’s pre-season under Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho’s pre-season at Real Madrid has been ongoing for a long time, but the manager will really count his pre-season only from when the internationals began to return to his dynamics.
The core of the team rolled back in instalments, the latest of which arrived last week, and Mourinho has thus had just over a week with some of the big names of his project including Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and others.
All in all, Los Blancos played five pre-season friendlies of which they won four and drew only the game against Fiorentina. They scored 12 goals in that duration and kept two clean sheets.
Over the past month, Mourinho’s ideas have begun to take shape, and the world has got a sneak peek of what to expect from the new manager through his training ideas and on-field dynamics.
Madrid Universal brings you five takeaways from Real Madrid’s pre-season under Jose Mourinho.
Heavy importance on physical preparation
The new manager’s training sessions have been described as gruelling, unforgiving and harsh on players, for Mourinho prioritises improving the team from a fitness and physical preparation standpoint.
Over the past two seasons, Los Blancos’ fitness and physical status took a turn for the worse and the result was visible on the field as the team was often outrun by inferior opposition. It is now a matter of paramount importance under the new coach.
Mourinho aims to make Real Madrid a unit who are physically imposing and capable of outlasting opponents in late-game scenarios.
It will not only help prevent injuries but also form a clear tactical identity that the manager stands for.
Carlos Espi: The surprise package making an instant impact
Kylian Mbappe may well be one of the best centre-forwards in world football, but Mourinho always had it clear that he required a physical box presence lending profile in attack. Carlos Espi has stepped exactly into that void.
As a player with a dominant physique, good aerial presence and serving as a classical focal point centre-forward, the player has come off the bench to make some useful cameos that suggest Mourinho will love him.
In the four pre-season friendlies he participated in, the youngster scored two goals and his 45 minutes against Schalke were particularly impressive as he showed great movement in the box and a killer instinct.
Further, Mourinho’s system is known as one which rewards strikers who hold up the ball and can compete physically with defenders, making Espi the perfect fit for the dynamic.
He may not be a starter, but he will have a massive role in the coming campaign – much like Joselu did during his time at the club.
Bernardo Silva will be key in midfield
Bernardo Silva spent the prime years of his career playing as an attacking midfielder and a presence who directly contributed to the final third. His role at Real Madrid, however, is set to be very different.
Mourinho has used the Portuguese star in a central orchestration role, utilising his press resistance, ball retention and tactical discipline to instil the two components Real Madrid are lacking through the middle – creativity and control.
Silva is thus poised to play in a deeper midfield role than he is accustomed to, and will likely play as a holding midfielder alongside Aurelien Tchouameni or Federico Valverde.
Given his experience, comfort on the ball and superior ability to dictate play, however, he will be one of the non-negotiables in the department and is set for a massive role in the season ahead.
His ability to integrate with his teammates and control games from the middle of the park will eventually be what drives Real Madrid’s dominance over the ninety minutes.
A long way to go from last season’s troubles
A lot of Real Madrid’s issues from last season directly had to do with the superstar culture and lack of a level playing ground within the dressing room. The idea of bringing in Mourinho was to ensure players stay grounded and work for the team
The pre-season, however, has shown that the problems are far more deep-rooted than appears to the eye and that changing old habits is anything but easy.
In the game against Schalke where the big names returned, Kylian Mbappe was often seen losing possession and making no effort whatsoever to track back and help in defence. His lack of defensive commitment, thus, does not appear to have changed.
Concurrently, Jude Bellingham, was once again seen to cut out a frustrated figure just as he has so often in recent times. He has got into trouble repeatedly for his on-field frustrations, but the discipline does not seem to have been instilled in him yet.
The same stands for Vinicius Jr. who has always been one to get involved with the fans, and he again did the same in the recent friendly.
One aspect that Mourinho must understand, thus, is that there is still a long way to go on certain fronts. Old habits, after all, die hard.
A full new-look defence
Last but not least, the biggest upgrade in the squad under Mourinho is undoubtedly the restructuring of the defence through new summer signings, and all the new arrivals have shown their class so far.
Denzel Dumfries has stood out as a defensively superior option to Trent Alexander-Arnold and the manager is already said to be considering starting the new signing as his starting right-back for the league opener.
Ibrahime Konate and Marc Cucurella, meanwhile, made their debuts for the club against Schalke and both dished out strong performances that make them contenders to be starters.
As the start of the season approaches, Real Madrid have a new-look defence which even kept a clean sheet last night in the final pre-season friendly. There is, thus, reason to be optimistic about the defensive upgrade.
Not many saw the result that unfolded at the Estadio de La Cartuja last night coming, as Real Madrid slipped to a shocking 1-0 defeat to Real Betis.
Jose Mourinho made a couple of changes to his team on the night but fielded one of his strongest possible XIs, acknowledging the difficulty of the challenge Los Verdiblancos posed.
The first half ended scoreless, with the visitors completely dominating the flow of the game but failing to convert their chances. After the break, they only upped the ante and pressed higher to break the deadlock.
Almost against the flow of the game, however, Troy Parrott fired from very close range to put his side ahead through a set-piece, and Real Madrid had just ten minutes to find two goals.
A hard-fought ten minutes, a disallowed goal and a missed penalty later, however, the full-time whistle blew with Real Madrid staring at defeat.
Madrid Universal brings you three takeaways from Real Betis 1-0 Real Madrid.
A first loss under Mourinho
Real Madrid’s lacunae were visible in the team’s first away clash of the new season when they took home a last-gasp win over Espanyol.
They looked comfortable at home, but it has always been clear that they are not invincible.
A first defeat of the season, in that sense, was always just a matter of time as the team continued to develop under Jose Mourinho, and that setback appeared early in the campaign last night.
The defeat to Real Betis at the Estadio de La Cartuja continued Real Madrid’s trend of struggling away from home and exposed the team’s lacunae to the world once more.
A lot can be said about the refereeing and how the result was harsh on Los Blancos, but the fact of the matter remains that a team with the talent that Real Madrid possesses simply has no excuses to look so blunt in attack.
Jose Mourinho’s men created chances in abundance on the night, but none of the team’s star forwards could effectively finish a single chance.
Kylian Mbappe had a rare off-night and even Jude Bellingham did not score from any of his three shots. Vinicius Jr., Arda Guler, Yan Diomande and Carlos Espi all had their chances, but all failed to bury even a single chance.
In the end, it can be called misfortune, but for Real Madrid to have made nothing of an xG of 3.46 and to miss a penalty in the same game has to be dug into. The players did not play poorly, but the lack of a lethal finish came back to bite them.
Mbappe’s controversial penalty
Real Madrid had a massive chance to salvage something from the frustrating night in the 94th minute when the referee awarded the visitors a penalty that would see them return to level terms.
Kylian Mbappe stepped up, and it was taken for granted that the Frenchman would score as usual. Astonishingly, however, Mbappe did not find the back of the net.
For starters, it must be said that the Merengues have no one to blame but themselves for the defeat to Real Betis, for they could not have had a clearer chance to steal at least a point away from the night.
However, there was a clear element of controversy in the spot-kick that must not be misinterpreted as an excuse.
At the precise moment that Mbappe struck the ball from the spot, a Real Betis player was half inside the penalty area with his foot in the air.
Had the player’s foot been on the ground, the penalty would certainly have been retaken, and had he been outside the area, the save would be deemed completely fair. His foot being airborne, yet inside the box, however, opens up a grey area.
The referee on the night believed that having the foot in the air did not warrant a retake, and saw Real Madrid lose their penalty.
However, there are strong grounds to claim that it should have been retaken as his foot being inside the box takes precedence over whether it was grounded or not.
Had the referee’s decision gone differently, one would have backed Mbappe to come good the second time and Real Madrid would have avoided the defeat.
Alvaro Valles deserves his flowers
For Real Madrid to create seven big chances, have 20 shots and an xG of 3.46, and yet not score is simply absurd. But it happened last night against Los Verdiblancos, and only one man stood in between Real Madrid and the scoresheet – Alvaro Valles.
The Real Betis goalkeeper delivered the performance of his lifetime as he stopped chance after chance and denied the visitors any sight of goal.
In 90 minutes, Valles made a staggering six saves, all of which came from inside the box, and prevented a direct xG of 2.98. In simpler terms, Real Madrid should have scored three goals past him with the quality of chances they had, but he directly stopped them all.
Further, Valles saved Mbappe’s penalty under the highest of pressure in a moment that was simply the crowning moment of his entire night.
On a different night, with a different goalkeeper, the outcome of the game could well have been very different.
Valles, however, deserves every bit of praise he is earning for his performance last night, and even Real Madrid fans have no option but to stand and applaud the shift he put in for ninety minutes.
